One hundred twenty four years ago, Garnett was visited by one of the most famous magicians and escape artists of all time, before he was famous and he impressed the locals, both good and bad. Harry Houdini and his wife Bess, spent two month in Kansas as part of the California Concert Company. His first paying job was $75 a week.
Their first performance drew rave reviews, but they needed something bigger and decided to conduct a séance based spiritualism and contact the dead. They announced they would name a murderer on the loose in Garnett after a recent unsolved killing of a woman. That never transpired, but the next night Bess made contact with a local six-year old who died the week before. Houdini’s wife, Bess, relayed a message to the crowd telling his mother not to cry, there would be another one soon to take his place.
Houdini also made some remarkable escapes while in Garnett. He asked the sheriff to lock him in the jail, which he did, but before the sheriff could walk across the room, Houdini had escaped and was standing beside him.
Before leaving town, Houdini was approached by Garnett business leaders and offered $25.00 to never come back and reveal more secrets. It’s unknown if he accepted the money, but he never made his way back to Garnett.
