HOUDINI'S HEROES: DR. LYNN

Hugh Washington Simmons, a/k/a Dr. Lynn

The world has forgotten Dr. Lynn, but Houdini never did. Late in his career he bought the Doctor’s entire show from one of Lynn’s numerous children. Harry then presented, with credit, the act which first fascinated the young Houdini with magic. Last week we investigated aspects of Dr. Lynn’s influence. 

Researching last week’s post, we became intrigued with Lynn’s colorful history. He was a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain; the story of his life parallels that of modern America.

Dr. Lynn's autobiography

An expert researcher and magic historian in London, Mr. Dean Arnold, is working on verifying the amazing details of Lynn’s life for possible publication. But here are some tidbits as they’ve come down to us via MagicPedia and other sources:

Dr. Lynn, who sometimes used the name Hugh Washington Simmons, was born in 1831, either in England or Australia. Lynn left the British navy around 1861 to begin a career as a magician in Australia and the Far East. He billed himself as "Professor Simmons, the Great Basilicothaumaturgist" when he reached San Francisco in 1863.

In San Francisco he became friends with the most popular writer in America, the now forgotten Artemus Ward. Ward was Abraham Lincoln’s favorite writer and outsold Mark Twain. In his book "The Genial Showman” Ward’s sidekick E.P. Hingston recounts hilarious stories about how he and Ward helped Dr. Lynn get famous in America. You can read the whole chapter here.

That chapter ends with the remarkable conclusion that Dr. Lynn became “court conjuror” to the President of the Mormon Church, Brigham Young.

Brigham Young

Ward, Hingston and Lynn visited President Young in Salt Lake City in 1864. The President of the Mormon Church is a living prophet to his followers. Young impressed Lynn, a ladies’ man, because he had 90 wives.

Sketch by Artemus Ward

The day after they all met, Lynn/Simmons dispatched a message to Brigham Young that he had to see him on an urgent matter. When Young ushered Simmons in, the magician claimed that the new patent leather boots on the prophet's feet were a pair he had left behind the day before. The prophet disagreed. His boots had been custom made, he said, and there was not another pair like them in Utah. The magician countered that the boots had his name written on the bottom. Young removed one boot and turned it sole upwards - only to read "SIMMONS" in bright red letters! Yanking off the other boot another fiery red "SIMMONS" blazed up from its sole. When Brigham Young regained his speech he offered the wizard a high post and his daughters in marriage if he would become a Mormon. 

How did Dr. Lynn/Simmons do it? Send in your thoughts with a reply to this post. We’ll reveal the secret next week.

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