Mere moments later, he was out, and his assistant who had been in front of the crowd while Houdini had been entering the trap was discovered inside the very barrel Houdini had just left, all locks and straps intact. He was locked in a stout barrel with straps and padlocks, and this all placed inside the facsimile of a German prison cell. Almy, Bigelow & Washburn put out a large print ad in the Salem News that “Houdini has accepted a challenge from our shippers and packers to nail and rope him up in a packing case at Salem Theatre this evening” on April 17th. As was his wont, he would issue challenges to locals and business owners to attempt to contain him. He was one of several “Handcuff King” performers, yet he was beginning to become the frontrunner of the pack.
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Houdini’s performances themselves were fairly typical of his tour at the time. While the description of Houdini’s performances in Salem do not include the “Witches Chair,” it is not far-fetched to think that he may have brought it with him and his entourage. Hardeen and Houdini are the only people to have ever escaped from these horrific devices. There are two of these chairs currently on display in Maine, one in its home town of Oakland, one which was used in an escape by Houdini’s brother, Hardeen, in Bangor, Maine in 1912, with one missing from The Samoset Resort in Rockland where it used to be prominently displayed. Baker in 1896 for public humiliation of vagrants and hobos.
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The highlights of his show in Boston had been an escape from a seemingly impenetrable case made by the Seigel Company, a dramatic extrication from double confinement in the “Boston Tombs” (the City Jail), and the frightening, and peculiarly named, “Salem Witches Chair,” purportedly a Puritan torture device, but in reality a much more modern invention, having been built and patented in Oakland, Maine by Sanford J.
Harry houdini muscles full#
Having just finished an extremely successful run in Boston, where he had been for seven weeks, he promised a full 6 shows at the Salem Theatre, located at 259 1/2 Essex Street in 1906.