His sufferings at first were very severe, but he is now, when not in motion, comparatively easy.The knife is 9 1/2 inches long, 1 inch broad in the blade, round pointed, and a handle of bone, and may generally be distinctly felt by applying the finger to the unfortunate man's belly;but occasionally, however, from change of its situation it is not perceptible.A brief notice of the analogous case of John Cumming, an American sailor, may not be unacceptable to our readers.About the year 1799 he, in imitation of some jugglers whose exhibition he had then witnessed, in an hour of intoxication, swallowed four clasp knives such as sailors commonly use;all of which passed from him in a few days without much inconvenience.Six years afterward, he swallowed FOURTEEN knives of different sizes; by these, however, he was much disordered, but recovered; and again, in a paroxysm of intoxication, he actually swallowed SEVENTEEN, of the effects of which he died in March, 1809.
On dissection, fourteen knife blades were found remaining in his stomach, and the back spring of one penetrating through the bowel, seemed the immediate cause of his death.
Several women have adopted the profession of sword-swallowing, and some have won much more than a passing fame.Notable among these is Mlle.Edith Clifford, who is, perhaps, the most generously endowed.Possessed of more than ordinary personal charms, a refined taste for dressing both herself and her stage, and an unswerving devotion to her art, she has perfected an act that has found favor even in the Royal Courts of Europe.
Mlle.Clifford was born in London in 1884and began swallowing the blades when only 15 years of age.During the foreign tour of the Barnum & Bailey show she joined that Organization in Vienna, 1901, and remained with it for five years, and now, after eighteen years of service, she stands well up among the stars.She has swallowed a 26-inch blade, but the physicians advise her not to indulge her appetite for such luxuries often, as it is quite dangerous.Blades of 18 or 20 inches give her no trouble whatever.
In the spring of 1919 I visited the Ringling Bros., and the Barnum & Bailey Show especially to witness Mlle.Clifford's act.In addition to swallowing the customary swords and sabers she introduced such novelties as a specially constructed razor, with a blade five or six times the usual length, a pair of scissors of unusual size, a saw which is 2 1/2 inches wide at the broadest point, with ugly looking teeth, although somewhat rounded at the points, and several other items quite unknown to the bill-of-fare of ordinary mortals.A set of ten thin blades slip easily down her throat and are removed one at a time.
The sensation of her act is reached when the point of a bayonet, 23 1/2 inches long, fastened to the breech of a cannon, is placed in her mouth and the piece discharged; the recoil driving the bayonet suddenly down her throat.
The gun is loaded with a 10 gauge cannon shell.
Mlle.Clifford's handsomely arranged stage occupied the place of honor in the section devoted to freaks and specialties.
Cliquot told me that Delno Fritz was his pupil, and Mlle.Clifford claims to be a pupil of Fritz.
Deserving of honorable mention also is a native of Berlin, who bills herself as Victorina.
This lady is able to swallow a dozen sharp-bladed swords at once.Of Victorina, the Boston Herald of December 28th, 1902, said:
By long practice she has accustomed herself to swallow swords, daggers, bayonets, walking sticks, rods, and other dangerous articles.
Her throat and food passages have become so expansive that she can swallow three long swords almost up to the hilts, and can accommodate a dozen shorter blades.
This woman is enabled to bend a blade after swallowing it.By moving her head back and forth she may even twist instruments in her throat.To bend the body after one has swallowed a sword is a dangerous feat, even for a professional swallower.There is a possibility of severing some of the ligaments of the throat or else large arteries or veins.Victorina has already had several narrow escapes.
On one occasion, while sword-swallowing before a Boston audience, a sword pierced a vein in her throat.The blade was half-way down, but instead of immediately drawing it forth, she thrust it farther.She was laid up in a hospital for three months after this performance.
In Chicago she had a still narrower escape.One day while performing at a museum on Clark Street, Victorina passed a long thin dagger down her throat.In withdrawing it, the blade snapped in two, leaving the pointed portion some distance in the passage.The woman nearly fainted when she realized what had occurred, but, by a masterful effort, controlled her feelings.Dropping the hilt of the dagger on the floor, she leaned forward, and placing her finger and thumb down her throat, just succeeded in catching the end of the blade.Had it gone down an eighth of an inch farther her death would have been certain.
