This Day in History: Oct 22

Sucker punches and low blows; the coward's way out. Hitting someone when they are incapable of defending themselves may give the opponent an advantage, but it is by far the most yellow-belly thing one can do.

Harry Houdini is known for being an illusionist, escape artist and magician. What he is not known for, however, is his death. Although there are many rumors about the cause of Houdini's death, his demise is much less appealing than the sensationalistic gossip of poison.

When the death certificate was filed Nov. 20, 1926, according to www.msnbc.msn.com, Houdini's body was already buried in Queens, without an autopsy. The certificate states that the cause of death was due to peritonitis from a ruptured appendix. The damaged organ was a result of an over-zealous college student, Gordon Whitehead, repeatedly punching Houdini in the abdomen on Oct. 22, 1926. One key witness to the attack was Jacques Price.

According to Price, Houdini was relaxing after one of his performances when Whitehead entered the room. He asked Houdini if it was true that he could take a hit to the stomach. Houdini replied he could, with proper time to prepare. Whitehead suddenly began repeatedly hitting the magician in the abdomen.

However, unbeknownst to Houdini and those around him, the lack of preparedness would become the cause of the performer's demise.

Houdini and his wife continued to travel towards their next destination to perform their act, the Garrick Theater in Detroit, Michigan, without him seeking medical attention. There, Houdini performed what would be his last show, during which he was reported to have a fever and passed out during his act.

After the show, Houdini was hospitalized at Grace Hospital with peritonitis secondary to a ruptured appendix.

He died Halloween afternoon, at the age of 52.With Houdini's death came the question of how much of his performances were real and how much were an illusion. In his will he left his entire library, the key to his tricks, to the American Society for Psychical Research on the condition that the research officer and editor of ASPR, J. Malcolm Bird, resign. Bird refused, and Houdini's items went to the Library of Congress.

Whatever caused Whitehead to sucker punch Houdini is unknown. What is relevant though, is the fact that his attack sped along the death of a brilliant magician.