SWORD-SWALLOWERS: CLIQUOT, DELNO
FRITZ, DEODATA, A RAZOR-SWALLOWER, AN UMBRELLA-SWALLOWER, WILLIAMDEMPSTER, JOHN CUMMING, EDITH
CLIFFORD, VICTORINA.
It has sometimes been noted in the foregoing pages, that fire-eaters, finding it difficult to invent new effects in their own sphere, have strayed into other fields of endeavor in order to amplify their programmes.Thus we find them resorting to the allied arts of poison-eating, sword-swallowing and the stunts of the so-called Human Ostrich.
In this connection I consider it not out of place for me to include a description of a number of those who have, either through unusual gifts of nature or through clever artifice, seemingly submitted to tests which we have been taught to believe were far and away beyond the outposts of human endurance.By the introduction of these thrills each notable newcomer has endeavored to go his predecessors one better, and the issue of challenges to all comers to match these startling effects has been by no means infrequent, but I fail to discover a single acceptance of such a challenge.
To accomplish the sword-swallowing feat, it is only necessary to overcome the nausea that results from the metal's touching the mucous membrane of the pharynx, for there is an unobstructed passage, large enough to accommodate several of the thin blades used, from the mouth to the bottom of the stomach.
This passage is not straight, but the passing of the sword straightens it.Some throats are more sensitive than others, but practice will soon accustom any throat to the passage of the blade.When a sword with a sharp point is used the performer secretly slips a rubber cap over the point to guard against accident.
It is said that the medical fraternity first learned of the possibility of overcoming the sensitiveness of the pharynx by investigating the methods of the sword-swallowers.
Cliquot, who was one of the most prominent sword-swallowers of his time, finally ``reformed''
and is now a music hall agent in England.
The Strand Magazine (1896) has this to say of Cliquot and his art:
The Chevalier Cliquot (these fellows MUST have titles) in the act of swallowing the major part of a cavalry sword 22inches long.
Cliquot, whose name suggests the swallowing of something much more grateful and comforting than steel swords, is a French Canadian by birth, and has been the admitted chief in his profession for more than 18 years.He ran away from his home in Quebec at an early age, and joined a travelling circus bound for South America.On seeing an arrant old humbug swallow a small machete, in Buenos Ayres, the boy took a fancy to the performance, and approached the old humbug aforesaid with the view of being taught the business.Not having any money, however, wherewith to pay the necessary premium, the overtures of the would-be apprentice were repulsed; whereupon he set about experimenting with his own aesophagus with a piece of silver wire.
To say the preliminary training for this sort of thing is painful, is to state the fact most moderately; and even when stern purpose has triumphed over the laws of anatomy, terrible danger still remains.
On one occasion having swallowed a sword, and then bent his body in different directions, as an adventurous sensation, Cliquot found that the weapon also had bent to a sharp angle; and quick as thought, realizing his own position as well as that of the sword, he whipped it out, tearing his throat in a dreadful manner.
Plainly, had the upper part of the weapon become detached, the sword swallower's career must infallibly have come to an untimely end.Again, in New York, when swallowing 14 nine-inch bayonet swords at once, Cliquot had the misfortune to have a too sceptical audience, one of whom, a medical man who ought to have known better, rushed forward and impulsively dragged out the whole bunch, inflicting such injuries upon this peculiar entertainer as to endanger his life, and incapacitate him for months.
In one of his acts Cliquot swallows a real bayonet sword, weighted with a cross-bar, and two 18-lb.dumb bells.In order to vary this performance, the sword-swallower allows only a part of the weapon to pass into his body, the remainder being ``kicked'' down by the recoil of a rifle, which is fixed to a spike in the centre of the bar, and fired by the performer's sister.
The last act in this extraordinary performance is the swallowing of a gold watch.As a rule, Cliquot borrows one, but as no timepiece was forthcoming at the private exhibition where I saw him, he proceeded to lower his own big chronometer into his aesophagus by a slender gold chain.Many of the most eminent physicians and surgeons in this country immediately rushed forward with various instruments, and the privileged few took turns in listening for the ticking of the watch inside the performer's body.
``Poor, outraged nature is biding her time,'' remarked one physician, ``but mark me, she will have a terrible revenge sooner or later!''
Eaters of glass, tacks, pebbles, and like objects, actually swallow these seemingly impossible things, and disgorge them after the performance is over.That the disgorging is not always successful is evidenced by the hospital records of many surgical operations on performers of this class, when quantities of solid matter are found lodged in the stomach.
Delno Fritz was not only an excellent sword-swallower, but a good showman as well.The last time I saw him he was working the ``halls''
in England.I hope he saved his money, for he was a clean man with a clean reputation, and, I can truly say, he was a master in his manner of indulging his appetite for the cold steel.
Deodota, an Italian Magician, was also a sword-swallower of more than average ability.
He succumbed to the lure of commercialism finally, and is now in the jewelry business in the ``down-town district'' of New York City.
Sword-swallowing may be harmlessly imitated by the use of a fake sword with a telescopic blade, which slides into the handle.
