Ragtime: Chapter 13 Summary & Analysis

The interurban streetcar lines are but one expression of the early-century mania for the tracks which crisscross and connect the young country via all types of large and small trains. In New York, trains even run underground, and around this time, the city is digging a tunnel under the East River to extend the subway into Brooklyn. The work is hard and dangerous, but New Yorkers have extreme respect for the so-called “sandhogs” who do it. “Blowouts”—when the compressed air pumped into the tunnel so the workers can breathe encounters a weak spot in the tunnel roof—are common. One particularly violent one sucks four sandhogs through twenty feet of riverbed and sends them hurtling into the sky on a geyser of water. Only one survives.

Hearing about the catastrophe—and the survivor—inspires Harry Houdini, who rushes to Belleview Hospital and insinuates himself into the suffering sandhog’s hospital room. The man—an Eastern European immigrant—lies in traction, covered from head to foot in casts and bandages. Houdini introduces himself. He expresses his respect for what the man achieved, which easily outclasses any escape Houdini has invented on his own. He wants to know how it felt and how the man did it. He offers money for the secret. The injured sandhog can only groan. Two of his relatives gently but firmly pick Houdini up and escort him from the room. Although he could, Houdini chooses not to resist them.

Humiliated and feeling washed up, Houdini stalks through the streets. He’s frustrated—no matter how inventive his escapes are or how good he is at them, he knows he’s just a performer. He only matters to people when they’re watching his act, but he wants to be unforgettable, a hero. His outdoor escapes become increasingly outrageous, but nothing earns him the enduring fame and respect he desires. He decides to go on a European tour. He books passage on a German ocean liner. His beloved mother sees him off at the pier, waving until she can see him no longer on the crowded deck.

In Germany, Houdini performs to great acclaim in the newspapers, but he still feels unfulfilled. Then he sees a demonstration of a French aircraft, manufactured by a company called Aéroplanes Voisin. He’s enthralled. He buys one and arranges to use a nearby army parade ground as an airstrip. With the help of a Voisin mechanic, he learns how to use the aircraft. When he lifts off the ground for the first time,  Houdini experiences a moment of ecstasy. Soon he's buzzing happily over the German countryside every day. He decides to seek fame as an aviator.

Having attracted the attention of local soldiers—he is using an army parade ground, after all—Houdini begins to teach some of the more eager officers how to fly. One day when he lands, he finds several important-looking cars waiting for him. The Commandant of the local army base asks him to conduct another demonstration flight for the benefit of some visiting, extremely senior members of the German military. And for the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand.