HAD HARDEEN GUESSING.
'Handcuff King' Worked 57 Minutes
Getting Free of Boyle's Contribution.
Theo. Hardeen, who styles himself "The Handcuff King" and is playing this week at the Shubert, worked 57 minutes last night before he was able to release his wrists from a pair of handcuffs which Detective E. P. Boyle put on him. Hardeen's act is supposed to last only 20 minutes and after he had worked 15 minutes in vain to free himself from the cuffs, he came out to the front of the stage and tugged away at the cuffs in full view of the audience, meanwhile keeping up a running fire of conversation.
"These cuffs were sent here by the manager of a rival vaudeville booking agent," he said. "I'll bet a thousand pounds, no I mean a thousand dollars, that this officer cannot say otherwise."
For half an hour longer Hardeen kept up his talk, working his wrists in the cuffs, as he paced back and forth on the stage. At last, when he freed himself, the audience, which had waited without wearines, broke into cheers.
Detective Boyle said last night that the handcuffs were his own.
