This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/8/2023
HOUDINI, Harry (Erik Weisz, 1874 – 1926). Two Candid Photographs of Harry Houdini and Harry Cooke, Signed. [Los Angeles, April 1923]. Pair of candid sepia tone images of Cooke, a retired magician and civil war veteran, standing on the home of his porch in the company of Houdini. In one image, the men stand next to each other, and in the second, Houdin holds a baby in his arms with Cooke looking on. Each 3 ¼ x 2 ¼”. Each image SIGNED AND ANNOTATED by Houdini in ink on their versos, identifying the location of the photographs, the year, and the subjects. Near fine condition. During the Civil War, Horatio (“Harry”) Cooke served as one of Abraham Lincoln’s Special Scouts – a secret group of spies that worked to secure actionable intelligence that could be used to hasten the end of the war between the states. The outfit was captured by Rebel forces on October 20, 1864. However, even then a budding escape artist, Cooke, it has been written, used his knowledge of knots and deception to survive the episode. Ironically, he had performed a simple rope escape for the President upon their meeting some time before his capture. Cooke would later witness Lincoln’s assassination, and, as his biographer related the story, mentored Houdini as both an escape artist and debunker of fraudulent mediums.