- South Australian Register, September 18, 1876

It may be that, in former years, the famous Davenport Brothers (William Henry Harrison and Ira Erastus Davenport) were regarded as a mystery. Their performances of apparent poltergeist activity, while they were tied securely inside a cabinet, generated fierce controversy as to whether the brothers were invoking the spirits, or were in league with the devil, or were clever and determined magicians performing a version of what would later morph into Harry Houdini’s escape act.

The brothers were certainly content to allow others to make exaggerated claims on their behalf, while they and their management feigned to have encouraged no such nonsense (1). It was, of course, all grist to the publicity mill, useful for achieving their main purpose – which was to sell tickets and to create an aura of celebrity (exactly the same can be said of a pseudo-psychic of the 1970s who once insisted that he was no magician, but today is quite happy to attend magicians’ gatherings and bask in the supposed glory of his career as “just a performer”). However, the Davenports had the goods; they were skilful and fast in all their manipulations.

By the time the Davenports arrived in Australia on August 22, 1876, their careers had altered trajectory. What was once a controversial display of spooky activity, despite exposures by many famous magicians, had descended into an unseemly contest with their audiences, the focus of their act now being to see whether an audience member could tie them so securely as to prevent any ‘phenomena’ taking place. And so it would prove; the brothers’ careers would end in dismal failure during their New Zealand tour of 1877, and William Davenport would die soon afterwards.

Australians were scarcely inclined to believe in any spirit manifestations. The press announced the brothers’ arrival with reference to “the celebrated Davenport Brothers, the conjurers”, or “those eminent humbugs”, or bluntly, “those arrant frauds”. Which is not to say that such opinions prevented the Davenport troupe from attracting crowds and raking in money; in Adelaide it was reported that they netted £1,000 pounds from a ten-day season.

Alfred Silvester was by no means the only performer to duplicate the cabinet mysteries of the Davenports; Robert Heller’s former assistant, W.A. Chapman had been presenting the feats in Australia since 1870. Herr Martin Tolmaque, a noted Davenport opponent, was also in Australia during the early 1870s presenting his anti-spiritualist feats. In Silvester’s case, he was directly in competition with the spiritists themselves, and their performing partner, William Marion Fay. It is, in fact, William Fay who is the focus of our interest in this story.

Silvester was a step ahead, introducing his “Mysterious Cabinet” at St. George’s Hall a month prior to the Davenports’ commencement in September. It was a major new addition to his repertoire, and featured Alfred2 and Charles as the mediums. An advertisement of August 30 is of interest because Silvester mentioned a “grand farewell season, previous to his departure for India, China and Japan”; indicating that at this stage Silvester regarded Australia as the country in which he was touring, rather than the land he would call home. In the event, the proposed tour did not come about in the form he may have anticipated.

But were the two parties in real competition? Just as the Davenports were due to open in Melbourne, it was reported (2) “The Brothers are to give performances at the Town Hall … Last night I strolled into the café of the Theatre Royal, and sat at a small table sipping a friendly cup of coffee, between the Davenport Brothers and the Fakir of Oolu. All the wizardry of the world seemed concentrated around that table, yet were the wizards in private life affable and civil persons enough.” In other words, a good controversy was beneficial to both. Everybody knew ‘what was what’, and theatrical pragmatism trumped any real antagonism between the artistes.

The Davenports certainly had competition, however. The ‘Age’ (3) declared “The admirable entertainment provided by the Fakir of Oolu at St. George’s Hall continues to increase in well-deserved popularity. As regards both quantity and quality it may be said to be a performance unique of its kind. The Davenport Brothers promise fairly to become eclipsed by Dr. Silvester’s imitation of their cabinet tricks ….”

The following reviews give an insight from both camps, and details of an interesting Levitation effect introduced by the Silvesters.

“In consequence of a public announcement having been made by the Davenport Bros., on Thursday evening, to the effect that the Fakir of Oolu performed his rope-tying tricks by means of ring-bolts, which were so constructed as to be removed from the seats into which they were apparently screwed, Dr. Sylvester [sic] took occasion last night to perform certain rope-tying tricks, a la Davenport Bros., with the view of showing that the feats performed by the latter gentlemen were simply clever deceptions, and were not in any way accomplished by the mysterious agency known as spiritualism. Before the performance commenced, Dr. Sylvester came forward and stated that he wished it to be distinctly understood that what was about to be shown to the audience was simple trickery. The cabinet having been wheeled into position and the doors opened, an ordinary cane-bottomed chair was placed upon the floor of it, and Mr Sylvester, jun., having taken a seat, the doors were locked. After a lapse of five minutes the cabinet was thrown open, and he was found bound to the chair in the most intricate manner.

Several gentlemen, well-known to the audience (in response to a request) came forward and essayed to release the captive, but so mysteriously was he tied up that six minutes elapsed before they were able to discover the last knot, which was ultimately found beneath the performer's right arm under his coat. After nearly ten minutes vigorous tugging and pulling upon the part of the committee the attempt to untie him was given up in despair, and the Fakir was requested to untie his son himself. The chair and the captive were then lifted back into the cabinet, and in three minutes and fifteen seconds he stepped out unbound.

Another most remarkable feat way performed as follows. A piece of planed cedar, having four holes bored in it, intended to represent the seats in the Davenport cabinet, was handed to two gentlemen from the audience, together with two iron rings and two pieces of sash line. Passing the ropes through the holes wood, they tied them securely, through the iron rings, and then sealed the knots, with their own seals. The board, thus prepared, was placed in the cabinet, in which, the Sylvester Brothers had been previously secured, and in a few minutes the door was opened, when the rings with, the seals and ropes intact were found to have been detached from the board. The musical instruments played as usual, "spirit" hands were thrust through the orifice in the cabinet, and the whole of the light seance of the Davenport Brothers was imitated, with great fidelity. The other optical and mechanical illusions during the Fakir's entertainment were produced in the ordinary manner and were received with the customary applause."

“Those ingenious demons - the Davenports - have visited us, and are bewildering us, in a most satisfactory manner. They exhibit in the Town Hall, and their performances are certainly most perplexing. They are rivalled at St. George's Hall by Dr. Sylvester, the Fakir of Oolu, whose son, with a confederate, perform the bulk of their feats, in the same manner, under similar conditions. But the Davenports are masters of their craft, whereas the others are young beginners at the business. The cabinet business is most skilfully managed, and the results produced completely unaccountable, but perhaps the most baffling feat to the onlooker is that wherein Professor Fay in the dark seance, while seated at a table in the hall, not enclosed in any way by the cabinet, contrives to get his coat taken off without disturbing the seals of the cords which bind him, and afterwards, while still tied, to put on the coat of one of the committee appointed to investigate the bona fides of the performance. The whole world of Melbourne is in a flutter of excitement anent the Davenport doings, and the Spiritists are half inclined to discountenance their proceedings, for, say they, spirits who would prostitute their functions to making money for the Davenports must be of a lower order than those frolicsome demons who delight in spelling out untrue answers with the planchette or assist in the levitation of cauli-flowers. As they will probably come your way after they have worked out "the pockets" here, you will have an opportunity of judging of them.”

“The Fakir of Oolu had a crowded house at St. George's Hall last night. Dr Silvester has now got up an entertainment of the most recherche description; comprising every description of amusement. The doctor tried the dark seance for the first time last night and it was a great success. The Silvester Brothers were tied in the cabinet, and the lights put down, whereupon, almost instantaneously, the musical instruments in the cabinet were seen to rise, and gyrate above the stage, having been previously phosphorised, bulls-eye lantern having then been opened, one of the Fakir's sons was seen to float out of the cabinet into mid-air. That it was no spectral apparition produced by mirrors was easy to comprehend, as the young man spoke while floating, and thus indicated his change of position. After being "levitated" for some time, young Silvester floated back to the cabinet, which was closed. On its being opened, the two young men were found seated, and tied as securely as before. This feat elicited great applause. The ease, precision, and gentlemanliness of the Fakir's legerdemain are the subject of complimentary remarks every night. During the cabinet seance an amusing circumstance occurred. A gentleman volunteered to enter the cabinet along with the Fakir's sons, but he had not been inside long, ere he halloed to be taken out. Even when the doors were opened, he tugged and strained at the ropes, and wanted to get away, to the great amusement of the audience. He had evidently had enough of the ‘spirits.’  “

On a side note at this time, Silvester’s comedian and veteran clown from the Theatre Royal (who had earlier been dismissed from the Fakir’s company), Mr. Tom Lewis, met with an untimely death in Hobart, when he was thrown from a runaway horse buggy and broke his neck.

The Davenports and Fay headed off on a regional tour of Victoria and South Australia during October, visiting Ballarat, Castlemaine, Deniliquin, Port Adelaide, Kadina, Moonta and Wallaroo before arriving in Adelaide in mid-November (where they found themselves once again opposite Doctor Silvester). While they were raking in the money, their careers were soon to come to an end when the brothers were soundly trounced in New Zealand, and William Davenport succumbed to tuberculosis. Meantime, we will follow Dr. Silvester’s continued activities.

Before moving away from the Davenports, some marriages should be noted within the Davenport and Silvester troupes.

The Davenports, in addition to having Mr. William Fay as their second attraction with his performance of the “Dark Séance” routine, also travelled with Mr. Edward Daniel Davies, a prominent ventriloquist who worked with life-sized figures; a talented but unusual attraction in a supposed “spirit” troupe. On January 19, 1877, Davies married Mrs. Elizabeth Barton, a widow from Adelaide. It was not his only marriage, Davies going on to marry twice more before his tragic end in 1896; at the age of 72, he shot himself in the head shortly before a performance season in Perth.

Davies’ daughter was Eva Norah Lang Davies (1858 – 1932) and she also travelled with the troupe as pianist. On February 1, 1877, Eva married William Davenport married at Invercargill, New Zealand. This of itself was curious, as William was already very ill with consumption and was not expected to live for long. Following his death, Eva had a battle with the Rookwood Necropolis over the monument erected at William’s grave. Far from being left stranded without a husband, Eva went on to become the first actress to play the role of ‘Josephine’ in Gilbert & Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore”, in an admittedly unauthorised production (May 1879) at the Sydney School of Arts. She built a successful career as an operetta star, re-married to Thomas O’Brien, and finally moved to New York where she would die at the age of 74. (4)

Alfred’s marriage to an Australian lady was one more reason to form an attachment to Australia. The ties to Britain were now relatively few – his first wife was deceased, his son was married and capable of working independently in this country, and the rest of the family was working with him in a successful career. Daisy Silvester would, in the next few years, marry an Australian resident. It seems, also, that Adelaide held an attraction to Alfred as a place to settle. None of this was explicit at the time, since he was about to depart Australia on an extended tour, but the signs can be seen in retrospect.

The Melbourne season ended on November 13 with a farewell benefit and a promise to return to Melbourne another time. Two weeks later the show opened at Adelaide’s Theatre Royal, still under the management of J.C. Rainer, and again in competition with the Davenport/Fay combination. The ‘Register’ expressed a wish that some of Silvester’s old magic business could be returned to the bill, there being so many ‘novelty’ items; although the Entranced Lady and the Mysterious Cabinet spirit effects were praised. The ‘Express’ of November 28 mentioned that “the Entranced Lady then appeared, supported apparently by a single prop under her elbow for about a quarter of an hour after which, to all seeming, the last support was removed, and she remained suspended, like Mahomet’s coffin, for about another minute.” Daisy Silvester must have been remarkably well supported, or exceedingly strong, to have managed fifteen minutes of suspension.

The houses, which were rather thin at the start, soon picked up, and by December there were some featured “ghost dramiettas” which appear to have been sketches written to suit the Pepper’s Ghost illusion – “The Great Wager”, and “Lost in the Forest” or “Goblins of the Haunted Dell.” Leo the educated lion and ‘Masks and Faces’ made a welcome reappearance, Alfred2 continued to float out of his cabinet above the heads of the audience, and the sparking Fountain had the added benefit of lowering the blistering temperature of the theatre on a mid-summer Adelaide evening. The season continued until January 3, 1877.

This raised a most interesting conjunction of performers. Both Harry Keller and William Fay had worked with the Davenports as early as 1869. Keller, as a twenty-year old, was their business manager and assistant but he quickly learned “the ropes” for himself and when, in 1873, he quit the troupe after an insult from William Davenport, Keller and Fay joined forces and toured on their own account, featuring Keller’s magic and a séance routine in the style of the Davenports.

The only reason that William Fay broke away from Harry Keller again, was due to a disaster in August 1875 when the steamship Boyne, on which they were travelling, was lost in the Bay of Biscay, losing all their props, their clothes and gold, coins and gems amounting to over twenty thousand dollars. It was then that Fay decided to re-join the Davenports as they worked their way towards Australia.

So there was a three-sided exhibition taking place, all composed of professional spirit magicians who knew each other’s secrets and held varied degrees of friendship or rivalry with one another. While we will not attempt to follow Keller’s tour, it was full of its own public controversy over the séance routines he performed. At some point, Keller met up in person with the Davenports, and reported back to his father that William Davenport appeared very ill; as he was, with advanced consumption.

Another controversy involving Keller was his performance of the “Flying Cage” or vanishing birdcage trick, which was always reputed to be highly dangerous to the bird involved. Keller found himself in a dispute over the apparent cruelty of the trick (with a witness claiming that birds were frequently crushed by the cage), but after presenting a personal demonstration to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, he was given approval to continue performing it. This feat was soon appropriated by Alfred2 after the Keller troupe had left, and was passed down the family line to Alfred William Silvester (Alfred3).

The Bendigo Advertiser of March 24, 1877, reported that Keller had given an outline of his life, first starting out as a shoeblack and newsvendor in New York, then being apprenticed “to a celebrated professor of legerdemain, who was the instructor of the well-known Fakir of Oolu.” This professor was Isaiah Harris Hughes (1813-1891) a British magician who moved to the United States and in a close coincidence, he billed himself as the Fakir of Ava. Hughes did live in Buffalo, New York, so it is not out of the question that Silvester might have studied with him, and gives us a clue as to the origins of Silvester’s adaption of the “Fakir” character.

It would be surprising if Alfred Silvester did not meet up with Keller at some point and, as Keller had considerable experience of touring, Alfred probably learned some valuable tips for his proposed upcoming move out of Australia.

Alfred Silvester and a troupe of six ventured out on a tour of regional South Australia, to Burra Burra, Clare, Kapunda, Gawler and Port Adelaide, experiencing some lower audience numbers due to the extreme heat. They moved by steamer to Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo before finishing the month at White’s Rooms back in Adelaide, where the audiences improved.

A return season to the School of Arts in Sydney, and a side-trip to Newcastle’s Victoria Theatre, ran from late February to near the end of May, and included a panoramic exhibition of the Prince of Wales’ visit to India, with (said Sydney ‘Punch’) “the most excruciating jokes and puns that can be conceived, and all without a solitary blush.” Silvester also introduced the English boxing champion, Jem Mace, to give representations of classic statuary including Hercules struggling with a lion, Samson carrying away the Gates of Gaza, and Ajax defying the lightning.

The show, still with Alfred2 and ‘Madame Silvester’ in the cast, was tending towards a full variety production. There were selections of music from Offenbach, Billy Barlow performed his “Blue-tailed Fly”comedy, Madame Silvester and ‘Miss Emilia Beaumont’ sang, and the usual starring items of magic were featured, along with the Fountain.

For the first time, the company moved north to Queensland, starting at Ipswich on May 29, through to Brisbane, Warwick, Toowoomba and back to Brisbane.

It seems that the first person to ‘acquire’ Harry Kellar’s vanishing bird-cage trick (the invention of Buatier De Kolta) may have been Alfred Silvester himself. The Queenslander of June 30 reported, “Dr. Silvester gave a short magical séance, and introduced the celebrated bird-cage trick with great success. The cage was composed entirely of wire, with a small wooden perch in the centre, and contained a canary. The Fakir appeared on the stage holding the cage in both hands, and endeavored to induce the bird to hop on to the perch; after trying for some half minute or more, he gave the cage a sudden jerk, and nothing more was seen of either cage or bird. Where it went to, or how it disappeared from the hands of the magician was more than any uninitiated spectator might even guess.”

At this point, the Fakir was starting to run out of new touring locations. A June 1877 advertisement in the Melbourne Argus advised that he was ‘open to business – certainty or share’. But more to the point was that his son, Alfred2, had not accompanied the troupe into Queensland. He had finally decided to make a break and become an independent performer, creating a company billed as “The World-Renowned Illusionists and so-called Anti-Spiritualists”. Through to the end of the year, Alfred senior and junior would travel sometimes in close proximity, and to avoid hopeless confusion we will, for now, follow only Alfred senior, before taking up the story of Alfred2.

Alfred continued short stops around the coastal townships of Queensland into the start of September, where he was reported to have “middling” houses, and having to substitute a Gift Show for his fountain exhibition due to the difficulty in providing water. A change was due, and it came in the form of the Davenport Brothers and William Fay.

The Davenport Brothers had been touring in New Zealand since February 1877, meeting with challenges from highly antagonistic audiences, determined to bring the brothers undone by securing their ropes so intricately that they would be unable to free themselves and work their manifestations. The full story of these events, and that of William Davenport is told in greater detail in my essay “Confessions of a Closet Magician” and in Bernard Reid's history of magic in New Zealand.

Nearing the end of their tour, on May 29 at Auckland, a dispute arose when the challengers tied the ropes with such vigour (using the “Tom Fool” knot) that Ira insisted they were being subjected to injury. Denied their demands to have their bonds loosened, the brothers refused to continue and were finally released. When the performance continued the same knot was used, and the brothers would not submit, leaving the stage. Amongst chaotic scenes, the ventriloquist Mr. Davies tried to calm the audience, saying said it was not fair that Mr Fay and himself should suffer from the short-comings of the Davenports. Davies and Fay completed their parts of the show that evening, but the partnership was over, and the lengthy, controversial and successful career of the Davenport Brothers was finished.

Fay and Davies advertised a postponement of an appearance at Grahamstown “Having withdrawn from the Davenports”. They set out to continue performing on their own, with William Fay taking on the cabinet feats of the brothers in addition to his own ‘Dark Séance’, but only two nights into the tour, Fay was very nearly defeated when he was tied so tightly that the ropes were found to be covered in blood, after he took some half hour to create his ‘manifestations.’

William and Ira Davenport retreated from New Zealand and returned to Australia. On July 1, 1877 William Henry Harrison Davenport, who had been suffering from the final stages of tuberculosis throughout his appearances in New Zealand, suffered a burst blood vessel and died at the Oxford Hotel, Sydney. He had been married to his wife Eva for only a few months. William lies buried at the Rookwood Cemetery where his grave is inscribed with the words “Sacred to the dearly beloved memory of William Henry Harrison Davenport of the Davenport Brothers. Born at Buffalo U.S.A. Feb.1st 1841 and who departed this life July 1st 1877 after a long and painful illness which he bore with great courage and gentleness. May he rest in peace. Erected by his loving wife.”

Also on the bill was a Professor William Mitchell, the “Fire Demon” with a ‘pyrotechnical fire act’ in which he went through the full Salamander repertoire of eating live coals, drinking burning sulphur, sealing wax, oils and melted metals, biting a red hot iron bar in two and shooting flame from his mouth. Mitchell appears previously to have been a performer with Cooper & Bailey’s Menagerie and, just before William’s death, was with the Gibbons & Davenport (no relation) combination troupe from the United States.

In what seems to be a hastily arranged tour, the group made a rapid trip northwards, travelling through Maitland, Singleton, Glen Innes, then into Queensland with shows at Warwick, Toowoomba, Dalby and Brisbane, lasting only to August 23. By early September they were back in Sydney at the Theatre Royal, where for their final night ‘Punch’ reported: (9)
“Mr. Davenport, in conjunction with Professor Fay, has been giving a series of “manifestations,” but has been hardly so well supported as he deserved. Professor Mitchell, as the Fire King, is not a burning and shining light; and his tricks are performed somewhat clumsily. Mr Punch is glad to notice that this (Friday) evening Dr. Silvester appears for the benefit of Professor Fay. Mr Punch is always glad to welcome Dr. Silvester, for there is a genuine ring about his performances that contract very favourably with many others. His piece de resistance upon this occasion will be the flying bird-cage trick and the lady in the air. Madame Silvester will also give one or two of her most popular ballads. Professor Fay and Mr. Davenport also appear in their manifestation.”

Alfred continued an unbroken and well-attended tour, returning to regional Victoria, and then back to Tasmania through to late December 1877, with a reception that indicated he was being welcomed back as an old friend. Charles Silvester was by now an accomplished cornet player, and reviews frequently mentioned his talent.

He was on his way out of the country, destined for a lengthy overseas tour - and accompanying him was Professor William Marion Fay.

(1) The Weekly Times, August 26, 1876 said, “whatever the agency be, neither the brothers, the professor [Fay], nor the cabinet, appear to have anything to do with them. With wise discrimination the brothers advance no doctrines; they simply say, through Professor Fay, that the feats are performed, and each person is free to form his or her conclusions.”

(2) The Queenslander (Brisbane QLD) September 2 1876, from the Melbourne correspondent.

(3) The Age, September 5, 1876

(4) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/156673325/eva-norah-davenport_o'brien

(5) https://barlowtheinimitablebluetailedfly.weebly.com/life-overview.html

(6) See “Kellar’s Wonders” by Mike Caveney and Bill Miesel, Mike Caveney’s Magic Words 2003.
https://www.magicwords.shop/books

(7) A. Litherland Cunard, himself worthy of a separate story, settled in Australia where he became a theatrical manager and died in 1905. He is buried in Melbourne General Cemetery.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/217513375/archimedes-socrates_cicero-litherland

(8) Newcastle’s historic Victoria Theatre, the oldest-surviving heritage theatre in New South Wales, has survived the many indignities of becoming a cinema and a shopfront, and in recent years has been undergoing a complete renovation to once again flourish as a centre for live entertainment.

 
(9) Sydney Punch, September 15, 1877 p.7