1904, Houdini performed his legendary "Mirror Cuff" escape at the London Hippodrome. It had taken a Birmingham blacksmith five years to build the cuffs, which featured an impossible-to-pick set of nesting Bramah locks. (Timeline 1899 1) The challenge was big news in the press for weeks. After an hour-long struggle, Houdini emerged free from the cuffs and was carried away in triumph by the adoring crowd. The next year Houdini bought a seven-acre farm in Stamford, Connecticut and an elegant brownstone in fashionable Harlem. His mother, sister, and two brothers moved into the brownstone, which would serve as Houdini’s home base for years. In 1906, Houdini made a splash with his widely publicized escape from the Washington D.C. jail that once held Charles Guiteau, the assassin of President James A. Garfield. (Timeline 1899 1)In 1907, the first of Houdini’s "manacled bridge jumps" was captured on film in Rochester, New York. After the jump, Houdini proudly wrote in his diary, "Ma saw me jump!" Afterwards, Houdini began performing his Khan 5celebrated milk can escape. As the master showman, he reminded the audience in his ads that "Failure Means a Drowning Death." That same year Houdini published his controversial book, "The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin." Two years later, Houdini made the first "real" flight on the continent of Australia, piloting his Voison on a sustained flight of three and a half minutes. (Timeline 1899 1)In 1912, Houdini performed his underwater box escape in New York's East River before a huge crowd. "Scientific American" magazine pronounced it "one of the most remarkable tricks ever performed." In September, Houdini debuted his famous Chinese Water Torture Cell escape at the Circus Busch in Berlin. In 1913 Houdini legally changed his name from Ehrich Weiss to Harry Houdini. On July 17, Cecilia Weiss died. Houdini fainted upon receiving the news after a performance for the royal family in Sweden. (Timeline 19...
