On page one of the McGill Daily student newspaper for Tuesday, October 19, the day after Houdini opened in Montreal, is a story based on an interview with Houdini in his Princess Theatre dressing room by an enterprising reporter, twenty-two year-old Gordon Nelles. That day Houdini was scheduled to lecture about fraudulent mediums to students at the McGill Union Ballroom on Sherbrooke Street, across from campus. The article no doubt contributed to the frenzy and assured that there would be a rush to attend the lecture. [Don Bell p26-27]
Bell shared part of the article, entitled “Houdini is Sworn Enemy of All Mediums” in his excellent book, The Man Who Killed Houdini. Today, I thought I would share the full article, which I think you will find very interesting; I know I did. The parts in bold did not appear in the Bell Book.
HOUDINI IS SWORN ENEMY OF ALL MEDIUMS
Magician Desires To Expose All Spiritualists
DEFIES LOCKSMITHS
Believes in God and a Life Hereafter
By J. G. Nelles
“Now if you would just say a few words—” I asked and paused, to fix myself more comfortably in the chair beside the couch on which Harry Houdini reclined in his dressing room at the Princess Theatre. Before I could finish the sentence however, this master wizard and terror of fake mediums has recited with a twinkle in his eye, the whole alphabet from “A” to “Z” and was winding up with a series of words something like dog, rat, cat, hat and fat.
“There”, he finally said with a smile as I gulped for breath, “those are a few words, is that what you wanted?”
“Well not exactly,” I feebly protested, “give me something on spiritualism in Montreal.”
“Ah yes,” the magician cut in, right here in Montreal you have them, mediums, I mean. I’ve already tested some of them. I sent two of my agents to a well known one in the city with a picture of myself. They said it was a photograph of their son whom they had lost and wanted to find.
Spiritualist claimed he could return the “son”, that he was at present on the ocean and that by the working of his spirits at night, he could get them to come back, provided that –$25 was paid on the spot and $35 in subsequent installments.
“I can’t see how the law permits such people to go on fooling the public”, Houdini commented.
Lightly contemptuous at first, Houdini’s tone grew more serious as he proceeded to denounce the practices of all spiritualists. His keen eyes narrowed slightly with the right lid giving the slightest suspicion of a droop. He spoke earnestly and it became obvious that this was the subject nearest his heart. His genius as a man whom no lock ever made by human brain could permanently shackle was but a means to the end. To spend his life in the relentless pursuit of these “Spiritual” criminals was his supreme desire. His whole attitude suggested this. A soul lit by one idea had kept him constantly on the track; writing in magazines, giving addresses to the public and lecturing to the staffs of civic police and detective agencies. The exposure of fraud is, with him, an obsession and his marvelous ability to reproduce by natural means any phenomena created by a materialistic fakir has made him a subject of the most intense fear and hatred by the criminal class.
But how does he do it?
Do you extricate yourself from situations by brute strength? he was asked.
“Yes partly”, he replied. “By strength, skill, and—he tapped his head, knowledge”
Suddenly surmised the knowledge that lay behind those clear, piercing eyes, which gleamed so ominous at the mention of fraud. What would one give for the knowledge that engaged this man to leap into San Francisco Bay, handcuffed with hands behind his back, and pounds of ball and chain locked to his body, and return free to the surface a moment later? Or the knowledge that show him the way to escape without a trace, from a hot water boiler inside which he had been riveted by the employees of the Marine Water Works of Toledo Ohio?
The secrets of his genius will probably die with him. He spoke guardedly at times, almost evasively, of his accomplishments.
To what religion do you belong? he was asked,
“I come from a long line of college _______ and rabbis”, he said, “what would you suggest?”
“That you are a follower of Judaism”
“Probably yes”, he admitted
“Do you believe then, in God and a life after death?
“I certainly believe in a supreme being and a life in the hereafter,” he said
But you do not believe in the ______ separation of body and mind ______ and the existence of ectoplasm?
“No absolutely not?
“Nor mental telepathy”
“No”
“How do you explain the phenomena of a medium repeating aloud what another is thinking?”
“It is only coincidence. If you refer to premonition. A mother may say to her child who has met with an accident playing in the street, that she knew of its occurrence before she heard of it. That is because she had in mind while the child was out the feat that he would be hurt.
Thus Houdini explained all the pretentions of spiritualist as mere coincidence not the result of any supernatural power.
But speaking to him leaves one convinced of the frauds of those who call themselves mediums and yet at the same time a suspicion that Houdini himself has some wonderful power, the depths of which no other human has ever plumbed. Personal contact naturally gives no clue to his ability to extricate himself from the strongest criminal bonds of Washington and Scotland Yard. He still remains as baffling as ever and as mysterious as always. But how does he do it?
In 1986, sixty years after the interview with Houdini, Gordon Nelles insisted curiously that Houdini had already received the blows when he interviewed him Monday afternoon, October 18. The Whitehead punching incident took place four days later [and the Pickleman punch was thought to have been the day of the lecture on October 19th, not the 18 th?]. [Interestingly] Nelles recalled that Houdini had a heat lamp beamed on his stomach as he reposed on a cot in the dressing room. “He looked not very well, pretty white and his wife Beatrice was worried about him.” [Bell p28]
Also, on page one of the McGill Daily student newspaper for Tuesday, October 19:
Houdini to Lecture at Five Today
Houdini master magician of our time will deliver a lecture before McGill students in the Union Ball room this afternoon at five. Houdini is probably the world’s most famous magician, famous not alone for his spectacular feats of magic but also for his recent activities in showing up fake mediums and fortune tellers, and it is on this particular phase of his work that he will speak this afternoon.
After his lecture the great magician will answer any questions that are put to him, “I wish that you could make all the students understand that I would like a regular barrage of questions,” he said to a Daily reporter yesterday.
Since a very large attendance is expected at this lecture no outsiders will be admitted until immediately before the lecture commences, thus giving all students ample time and opportunity to hear the lecture. In order to be sure of admittance it is advisable to bring handbooks as admission will be by showing of athletic tickets.
Next week, will take a look at his lecture in more detail:
- Houdini’s McGill Union Lecture on Fraudulent Mediums
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