STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF NEW YORK ss:-
CITY OF NEW YORK

   JULIA KARCHERE, being duly sworn, deposes and
says: I reside at No. 278 West 113th Street, Borough of
Manhattan, New York City.

   I am a relative of Beatrice Houdini, the widow of
the late Harry Houdini, I was also a member of the theatric-
al company of the late Harry Houdini during the years 1925
and 1926, and before that I resided with Mr. and Mrs.
Houdini at 278 West 113th Street, New York City.

   With the exception of the injury to Houdini's
ankle at Albany in the autumn of 1926, Houdini was not sick
during the period stated or for some years before. I was
with him on the train from Schenectady to Montreal on the
trip referred to in the accompanying affidavit of Julia
Sauer. I have read such affidavit and it is true in all
respects whatsoever to my personal knowledge,

   Houdini had no stomach upset on said trip and did
not vomit. Neither was he suffering from any illness as far
as i know or could observe during the summer of 1926, and i
saw him practically every day during such period. His
activity during such summer in preparing his new show and
otherwise was such as would have been entirely impossible
had he been ill.

   I was with the late Harry Houdini on Friday, Oct-
ober 22nd, 1926 at the Princess Theatre, Montreal, Canada.
About the middle of the day, there being no matinee on that
day, I, together with Miss Julia Sauer and other members of
Houdini's company, left Houdini to go to luncheon. We did
not return to the theatre until the middle of the afternoon.

Upon returning, we found Houdini in pain and he stated to us
that he had been violently struck a number of times by a
student of McGill University. He said that three students
of the University had called on him in his dressing room and
he had made the remark that his physical condition was such
that blows did not bother him and that he would permit himself
to be struck to prove that what he said was true. He further
stated that he was lying down at the time and intended, of
course, to stand up and brace himself and prepare for such
blows as might have been delivered, but that while he was
actually engaged in reading his mail, and before he had an
opportunity to anticipate the striking of blows or to prepare
for them, one of the students, possibly because of a misunder-
standing of his remarks, had struck him violently a number of
times from a standing position, such blows being delivered in
the neighborhood of his abdomen and before he had an opport-
unity to prepare for them and without his knowing that they
would be struck while he was reclining and reading his mail.