The Great Lafayette

Blipped the grave stone of The Great Lafayette and his dog Beauty, who remains are interred at Piershill Cemetery, Edinburgh.

A mighty strange story now …

The Great Layayette (aka Sigmund Neuberger) was one of the finest and most popular magicians of the late 19th and early 20th century. 

Early in 1911, he began a tour of Britain. The pampered object of the Great Lafayette's affection was his dog Beauty, a perky terrier given to him as a pup by fellow conjurer and admirer Harry Houdini. Beauty had her own suite of brocaded rooms, ate five-course meals, and wore a diamond-studded collar. Beauty died four days before the opening of a show at the Empire Palace Theatre in Edinburgh. 

After initial resistance from Edinburgh City Council, Neuberger arranged for the dog to be buried in Piershill Cemetary. The Council agreed to provide a plot on the condition that Lafayette himself would be buried there upon his own death.

Four days later, in a freak accident, Lafayette was performing his signature illusion "The Lion's Bride", when a lantern set fire to the set, which went up in flames within minutes. The audience, thinking that this was all part of the illusion, did not evacuate until the theatre manager signalled for the orchestra to play God Save the King. Many of the company, however, were trapped on stage when the safety curtain was lowered and jammed, leaving only a small gap at the bottom, through which a strong draught of air fanned the flames into an inferno. 

Lafayette himself had ensured that the side doors to the stage had been secured, to exclude unwanted interlopers and prevent the lion's escape.

Lafayette escaped but returned in a vain attempt to rescue his horse. He became trapped in the burning building and perished. Ten of his fellow players from the company were also killed in the fire. The theatre burned to the ground. The body of Lafayette was apparently soon found and sent to Glasgow for cremation.

Two days after the fire, however, workers clearing the understage area found another body identically dressed as Lafayette. It transpired that the body at the crematorium was that of the illusionist's body double. 

On 14 May the urn containing the Great Lafayette's ashes was taken through Edinburgh, witnessed by a crowd estimated to number over 250,000, before being laid to rest in the paws of his beloved (and by then, stuffed) Beauty, at Piershill Cemetery.

Who would have thought there would be such a story in a suburban Edinburgh cemetery.

There’s a film in there for sure …

Have a good day, all.