The story of the magician Cheng Liansu — other people's tricks, fictional life and accidental death on stage

On March 24, 1918, the circus world suffered a serious loss. During his performance at London's Wood Green Empire Theater, the famous illusionist Cheng Liansu tragically died. The magician was mortally wounded when performing the most ordinary trick — "catching" a pistol bullet with his teeth. Falling on the stage after the shot, the Chinese exclaimed: "I was shot! Lower the curtain!". This scream struck the audience no less than the fact of the injury itself. But let's tell you everything in order…

Chinese magician Cheng Liansu was born in 1861 in Westchester County, New York in a family of ordinary Americans named Robinson. The boy was named William, after his grandfather. From an early age, Billy was fond of magic tricks and was a regular at all the fair booths and chapitoes that turned out to be in his area. The boy himself tried to repeat many numbers and by the age of 14 he had achieved some success in this matter.

As a teenager, William Robinson began earning money by performing magic tricks. For several years, the young magician performed in theaters, circuses and exhibitions, receiving a good income from his craft. But it soon became clear that it was incredibly difficult for an American with the surname Robinson to achieve success. An artist certainly needs a highlight for a successful career.  William began performing under the pseudonym "Mystery Man", hiding his face with a mask. But the audience perceived the next "man without a face" sluggishly — this move was quite hackneyed.

Then Robinson decided to take advantage of someone else's merits and just steal the idea. He stole the image and the main numbers from the world-famous illusionist Max Aucinger, who performed under the pseudonym "Ben Ali Bey". Taking someone else's name, role and tricks, William began to exploit them in full. He posed as a black magician from Egypt, who does not speak English. The image allowed the magician to perform the numbers in silence, intriguing the audience with mystery.

Robinson has been successfully performing as an Egyptian magician for several years. Noticing a decrease in interest in his performances, he changes his image again. William becomes "Nana Sahib: Necromancer from East India" and then "Abdul Khan from Constantinople". All this time, he shamelessly steals other people's numbers, without even trying to create something of his own, unique.

William's throwing continued until he met the real Chinese illusionist Jin Lingfu (real name Zhu Liankui) in 1898. This man was a court magician of the Chinese Empress for a long time, and then began touring the world. The Chinese impressed Robinson with illusions, which he performed much better than those magicians whom the American considered his teachers.

After attending several performances of the Chinese, William realized that his future in The Celestial Empire. He almost completely copied the image of an Asian artist and began touring as Cheng Liansu. But two years later they had to cross paths again and it all ended in a real feud.

It all started with the fact that Linfu showed a very complicated trick with the appearance of a bowl of water with a child sitting in it from a piece of cloth. The magician said he was ready to pay $ 1,000 to anyone who could repeat his number. Robinson, already adept at copying other people's illusions, was able to unravel the secret. He repeated the trick exactly and officially recorded it.

But Jin Lingfu unexpectedly refused to meet with the American and even more so to pay him something. In 1900, $ 1,000 was equivalent to 31 thousand modern dollars, and this is, after all, 1.8 million rubles. It is quite clear that Robinson was furious. He wanted revenge, and the opportunity soon presented itself.

One of the London theaters was eager to organize a performance of Jin Lingfu. But the invitation of a venerable artist was very expensive. Therefore, when Robinson came to the director of the theater in the image of a Chinese and offered to perform for a reasonable fee with the tricks of a Chinese magician, he was welcome. The men shook hands, and William coped with his task perfectly.

After this London debut, Robinson, under the guise of a Chinese Cheng Liansu, successfully worked in the British capital for 4 years. But then Jin Lingfu arrived and it so happened that they had to perform in halls located fifty meters apart from each other. The audience was confused, as they were confused by Chinese names and could not understand who was who. As luck would have it, two more Asian magicians in Chinese robes arrived in London: Pi-Pa-Pu and Goldin-Pu. This led to even more confusion.

Lingfu was very angry when he found out that someone was exploiting the image of a Chinese wizard, and even stealing his numbers. He challenged Robinson to a magical duel. The Battle of the Magicians was to be held by The Weekly Dispatch with a photo recording of all the events. A real Chinese magician demanded that the impostor repeat 10 of his most difficult numbers.

But that wasn't all. Jin Lingfu insisted that after the competition, Cheng Liansu went with him to the Chinese embassy. There he had to prove that he was a real Chinese, and not a pathetic fake. Robinson pompously accepted the first part of the duel and trumpeted the date and place of the battle through the newspapers. But he and the newspapermen were silent about the second condition. After several demands to clarify the program of the competition, Linfu furiously refused to fight.

The "drain" of the Chinese competitor was in the hands of the impostor. Cheng Liansu immediately declared himself the winner of the competition. This incident hit Linfu's reputation hard. Tickets for his concerts began to sell poorly, and by There were rumors in London that he was the one stealing the numbers from Liansu. We can say that the enemy was completely defeated, and with his own weapons. The disgraced Chinese left Europe and did not appear there again.

Robinson exploited the image of a Chinese wizard for another 14 years and earned a lot of money. At the same time, he always kept silent, and the entertainer warned the respectable audience that the magician does not know other languages except Chinese. William skillfully made up, so there was no doubt. His permanent assistant, Olive Pat, also portrayed the Chinese Sue Sien. The magician called her his wife, although the true wife and children were waiting for the magician at home.

But fate overtook the plagiarist and impostor. For what reason the blank shot in London's Wood Green Empire became fatal is still unknown for sure. According to the script, the assistant loaded an old pistol, pouring gunpowder into it and putting a bullet. But the powder was not enough for the charge to leave the barrel. After the clap and flash, the magician simply showed the audience the bullet, which he had previously hidden in his mouth or under his clothes.

Most likely, they forgot to check the barrel of the weapon before the performance. For some reason, the gunpowder from the artists' last release remained there. After the gun was partially loaded, the volume of gunpowder became sufficient for a real shot. When the stricken Cheng Liansu shouted in pure English that he had been shot, the audience froze in disbelief. Many were struck by the remark of the silent Chinese more than the injury itself. So the main secret of the magician, who, except for the robe, had nothing to do with China, was revealed.

William Robinson, still alive, was rushed to the hospital, but the wound turned out to be fatal, and two hours later the artist died. The magician was 56 years old, and he was at the peak of his career. This is how one of the greatest hoaxes in the world of commercial magic was revealed. Today it is difficult to judge Robinson for his actions. One thing is for sure — he was an outstanding and talented person.

More than a century has passed since the death of Cheng Liansu, but we still love magic tricks. However, it is not necessary to risk using a gun, you can try to repeat one of these numbers.