Samuel Spencer Baldwin (January 21, 1848 – March 13, 1924), or Samri Baldwin, most well known as "The White Mahatma" was an American magician.Mulholland, John. (1938). Beware Familiar Spirits. C. Scribner's Sons. pp. 197-200.
Biography
Baldwin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He became interested in magic whilst watching the Davenport brothers perform séances. He began to duplicate the tricks of fraudulent mediums such as Anna Eva Fay.Christopher, Milbourne. (1975). Mediums, Mystics & the Occult. Thomas Y. Crowell. p. 176. He was the first to take the "question and answer" mentalism act to the stage.Polidoro, Massimo. (2001). Final Séance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle. Prometheus Books. p. 59.
Baldwin exposed the tricks of fraudulent mediums and claimed to have learned the tricks of the fakirs of India.Siegel, Lee. (1991). Net of Magic: Wonders and Deceptions in India. University Of Chicago Press. p. 396. He was married to the stage mentalist Kitty (1853-1934) would assist him in his performances, they had one daughter Shadow.. Retrieved June 30, 2016
The magician Fulton Oursler when writing on the subject of magic and spiritualism, used the name Samri Frikell. He made it by combining the names of Samri Baldwin and another magician, Wiljalba Frikell.Mulholland, John. (1938). Beware Familiar Spirits. C. Scribner's Sons. p. 138.
Baldwin was one of the first magicians to have practiced a stage escape from handcuffs.Woog, Adam. (1999). Magicians and Illusionists. Lucent Books. p. 60. He had performed this feat as early as 1871.Gresham, William Lindsay. (1959). Houdini: The Man who Walked Through Walls. Henry Holt & Company. p. 82. Early in his career the magician Harry Houdini demonstrated a handcuff escape at the Alhambra Theatre. The manager C. Dundas Slater noted that Baldwin had performed the trick many years before Houdini.Randi, James; Sugar, Bert Randolph. (1976). Houdini, His Life and Art. Grosset & Dunlap. p. 43. "The manager, C. Dundas Slater, gave Houdini a trial, but was not impressed with his handcuff act, having witnessed these tricks as far back as 1871, when Samri Baldwin, the "White Mahatma, performed them. What interested him, though, was Houdini's innovative addition of the "challenge" to the audience."
Magician Joseph Rinn noted that Baldwin in his day was believed to possess psychic powers but this view was erroneous because "he never pretended to be anything but an entertainer."Rinn, Joseph. (1950). Sixty Years of Psychical Research: Houdini and I Among the Spiritualists. Truth Seeker Company. p. 414
Baldwin died at his home in San Francisco on March 13, 1924.
Publications The Secrets of Mahatma Land Explained (1895) Spirit Mediums Exposed (1879)
Quotes
References
Further reading Bruce Macnab. (2012). Houdini Meets the White Mahatma. In The Metamorphosis: The Apprenticeship of Harry Houdini. Goose Lane Editions.
Samri S. Baldwin (1895) Secrets of Mahatma Land Explained http://www.iapsop.com/ssoc/1895__baldwin___secrets_of_mahatma_land_explained.pdf
External links Civil War Era Magicians Houdini And Samri Baldwin Baldwin, The Mahatma