picture 44

This is a picture of the card that describes the automation that was called "The Turk". It was a machine type apparatus that people tried to figure out how it was able to play by itself without any one around to move its hands. What people did not realize was the fact that there was a small access area where a midget who was an expert level player would get inside and pull the levers to get the machine to pick and move the pieces.

The original Turk machine burned in a fire in Philadelphia in 1854 but a magician recently rebuilt a working replica based upon the original blueprints.

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