Ivan Ivanitz Chabert, the only Really Incombustible Phenomenon, as he
was billed abroad, or J. Xavier Chabert, A.M., M.D., etc., as he was
afterwards known in this country, was probably the most notable, and
certainly the most interesting, character in the history of
fire-eating, fire-resistance, and poison eating. He was the last
prominent figure in the long line of this type of artists to appeal to
the better classes and to attract the attention of scientists, who for
a considerable period treated his achievements more or less seriously.
Henry Evanion gave me a valuable collection of Chabert clippings,
hand-bills, etc., and related many interesting incidents in connection
with this man of wonders.
It seems quite impossible for me to write of any historical character
in Magic or its allied arts without recalling my dear old friend
Evanion, who introduced me to a throng of fascinating characters, with
each of whom he seemed almost as familiar as if they had been daily
companions.
Subsequently I discovered an old engraving of Chabert, published in
London in 1829, and later still another which bore the change of name,
as well as the titles enumerated above. The latter was published in New
York, September, 1836, and bore the inscription: "One of the most
celebrated Chemists, Philosophers, and Physicians of the present day."
These discoveries, together with a clue from Evanion, led to further
investigations, which resulted in the interesting discovery that this
one-time Bartholomew Fair entertainer spent the last years of his life
in New York City. He resided here for twenty-seven years and lies
buried in the beautiful Cypress Hills Cemetery, quite forgotten by the
man on the street.
Nearby is the grave of good old Signor Blitz, and not far away is the
plot that holds all that is mortal of my beloved parents. When I
finally break away from earthly chains and restraints, I hope to be
placed beside them.
During my search for data regarding Chabert I looked in the telephone
book for a possible descendant. By accident I picked up the Suburban
instead of the Metropolitan edition, and there I found a Victor E.
Chabert living at Allenhurst, N. J. I immediately got into
communication with him and found that he was a grandson of the Fire
King, but he could give me no more information than I already
possessed, which I now spread before my readers.
M. Chabert was a son of Joseph and Therese Julienne Chabert. He was
born on May 10th, 1792, at Avignon, France.
Chabert was a soldier in the Napoleonic wars, was exiled to Siberia and
escaped to England. His grandson has a bronze Napoleon medal which was
presented to Chabert, presumably for valor on the field of battle.
Napoleon was exiled in 1815 and again three years later. Chabert first
attracted public notice in Paris, at which time his demonstrations of
heat-resistance were sufficiently astonishing to merit the attention of
no less a body than the National Institute.
To the more familiar feats of his predecessors he added startling
novelties in the art of heat-resistance, the most spectacular being
that of entering a large iron cabinet, which resembled a common baker's
oven, heated to the usual temperature of such ovens. He carried in his
hand a leg of mutton and remained until the meat was thoroughly cooked.
Another thriller involved standing in a flaming tar-barrel until it was
entirely consumed around him.
In 1828, Chabert gave a series of performances at the Argyle Rooms in
London, and created a veritable sensation. A correspondent in the
London Mirror has this to say of Chabert's work at that time: "Of M.
Chabert's wonderful power of withstanding the operation of the fiery
element, it is in the recollection of the writer of witnessing, some
few years back, this same individual (in connection with the no-less
fire-proof Signora Girardelli) exhibiting 'extraordinary proofs of his
supernatural power of resisting the most intense heat of every kind.'
Since which an IMPROVEMENT of a more formidable nature has to our
astonished fancy been just demonstrated. In the newspapers of the past
week it is reported that he, in the first instance, refreshed himself
with a hearty meal of phosphorus, which was, at his own request,
supplied to him very liberally by several of his visitors, who were
previously unacquainted with him. He washed down (they say) this
infernal fare with solutions of arsenic and oxalic acid; thus throwing
into the background the long-established fame of Mithridates. He next
swallowed with great gout, several spoonfuls of boiling oil; and, as a
dessert to this delicate repast, helped himself with his naked hands to
a considerable quantity of molten lead. The experiment, however, of
entering into a hot oven, together with a quantity of meat, sufficient,
when cooked, to regale those of his friends who were specially invited
to witness his performance, was the chef-d'oeuvre of the day. Having
ordered three fagots of wood, which is the quantity generally used by
bakers, to be thrown into the oven, and they being set on fire, twelve
more fagots of the same size were subsequently added to them, which
being all consumed by three o'clock, M. Chabert entered the oven with a
dish of raw meat, and when it was sufficiently done he handed it out,
took in another, and remained therein until the second quantity was
also well cooked; he then came out of the oven, and sat down, continues
the report, to partake, with a respectable assembly of friends, of
those viands he had so closely attended during the culinary process.
Publicly, on a subsequent day, and in an oven 6 feet by 7, and at a
heat of about 220, he remained till a steak was properly done, and
again returned to his fiery den and continued for a period of thirty
minutes, in complete triumph over the power of an element so much
dreaded by humankind, and so destructive to animal nature. It has been
properly observed, that there are preparations which so indurate the
cuticle, as to render it insensible to the heat of either boiling oil
or melted lead; and the fatal qualities of certain poisons may be
destroyed, if the medium through which they are imbibed, as we suppose
to be the case here, is a strong alkali. Many experiments, as to the
extent to which the human frame could bear heat, without the
destruction of the vital powers, have been tried from time to time; but
so far as recollection serves, Monsieur Chabert's fire-resisting
qualities are greater than those professed by individuals who, before
him, have undergone this species of ordeal."
It was announced some time ago, in one of the French journals, that
experiments had been tried with a female, whose fire-standing qualities
had excited great astonishment. She, it appears, was placed in a
heated oven, into which live dogs, cats, and rabbits were conveyed.
The poor animals died in a state of convulsion almost immediately,
while the Fire-queen bore the heat without complaining. In that
instance, however, the heat of the oven was not so great as that which
M. Chabert encountered.
Much of the power to resist greater degrees of heat than can other men
may be a natural gift, much the result of chemical applications, and
much from having the parts indurated by long practice; probably all
three are combined in this phenomenon, with some portion of artifice.
In Timbs' Curiosities of London, published in 1867, I find the
following:
At the Argyle Rooms, London, in 1829, Mons. Chabert, the Fire-King,
exhibited his powers of resisting poisons, and withstanding extreme
heat. He swallowed forty grains of phosphorus, sipped oil at 333
degrees with impunity, and rubbed a red-hot fire-shovel over his
tongue, hair, and face, unharmed.
On September 23d, on a challenge of L50, Chabert repeated these feats
and won the wager; he next swallowed a piece of burning torch; and
then, dressed in coarse woolen, entered an oven heated to 380 degrees,
sang a song, and cooked two dishes of beef steaks.
Still, the performances were suspected, and in fact, proved to be a
chemical juggle.
Another challenge in the same year is recorded under the heading,
"Sights of London," as follows:
We were tempted on Wednesday to the Argyle Rooms by the challenge of a
person of the uncommon name of J. Smith to M. Chabert, our old friend
the Fire King, whom this individual dared to invite to a trial of
powers in swallowing poison and being baked! The audacity of such a
step quite amazed us; and expecting to see in the competitor at least a
Vulcan, the God of all Smiths, was hastened to the scene of strife.
Alas, our disappointment was complete! Smith had not even the courage
of a blacksmith for standing fire, and yielded a stake of L50, as was
stated, without a contest, to M. Chabert, on the latter coming out of
his oven with his own two steaks perfectly cooked. On this occasion
Chabert took 20 grains of phosphorus, swallowed oil heated to nearly
100 degrees above boiling water, took molten lead out of a ladle with
his fingers and cooled it on his tongue; and, besides performing other
remarkable feats, remained five minutes in the oven at a temperature of
between 300 and 400 degrees by the thermometer. There was about 150
persons present, many of them medical men; and being convinced that
these things were fairly done, without trickery, much astonishment was
expressed.
The following detailed account of the latter challenge appeared in the
Chronicle, London, September, 1829.
THE FIRE KING AND HIS CHALLENGER.--An advertisement appeared lately in
one of the papers, in which a Mr. J. Smith after insinuating that M.
Chabert practised some juggle when he appeared to enter an oven heated
to five hundred degrees, and to swallow twenty grains of phosphorus,
challenged him to perform the exploits which he professed to be
performing daily. In consequence M. Chabert publicly accepted Mr. J.
Smith's challenge for L50, requesting him to provide the poison
himself. A day was fixed upon which the challenge was to be
determined, and at two o'clock on that day, a number of gentlemen
assembled in the Argyle-rooms, where the exhibition was to take place.
At a little before three the fire-king made his appearance near his
oven, and as some impatience had been exhibited, owing to the
non-arrival of Mr. J. Smith, he offered to amuse the company with a few
trifling experiments. He made a shovel red-hot and rubbed it over his
tongue, a trick for which no credit, he said, was due, as the moisture
of the tongue was sufficient to prevent any injury arising from it. He
next rubbed it over his hair and face, declaring that anybody might
perform the same feat by first washing themselves in a mixture of
spirits of sulphur and alum, which, by cauterising the epidermis,
hardened the skin to resist the fire.
He put his hand into some melted lead, took a small portion of it out,
placed it in his mouth, and then gave it in a solid state to some of
the company. This performance, according to his account, was also very
easy; for he seized only a very small particle, which, by a tight
compression between the forefinger and the thumb, became cool before it
reached the mouth. At this time Mr. Smith made his appearance, and M.
Chabert forthwith prepared himself for mightier undertakings. A cruse
of oil was brought forward and poured into a saucepan, which was
previously turned upside down, to show that there was no water in it.
The alleged reason for this step was, that the vulgar conjurors, who
profess to drink boiling oil, place the oil in water, and drink it when
the water boils, at which time the oil is not warmer than an ordinary
cup of tea. He intended to drink the oil when any person might see it
bubbling in the saucepan, and when the thermometer would prove that it
was heated to three hundred and sixty degrees. The saucepan was
accordingly placed on the fire, and as it was acquiring the requisite
heat, the fire-king challenged any man living to drink a spoonful of
the oil at the same temperature as that at which he was going to drink
it. In a few minutes afterwards, he sipped off a spoonful with
greatest apparent ease, although the spoon, from contact with the
boiling fluid, had become too hot for ordinary fingers to handle.
"And now, Monsieur Smith," said the fire-king, "now for your challenge.
Have you prepared yourself with phosphorus, or will you take some of
mine, which is laid on that table?" Mr. Smith, walked up to the table,
and pulling a vial bottle out of his pocket, offered it to the
poison-swallower.
Fire-king--"I ask you, on your honor as a gentleman, is this genuine
unmixed poison?"