One of Houdini's greatest tricks as an escape artist and a magician was his ability to escape from handcuffs and chains.

These two historical documents (above) tell about an interesting challenge between Houdini and the Weed Chain Tire Grip Company.

Click on the pictures to enlarge these documents from the Library of Congress, American Memory web site.  Ask yourself the following questions:

1. When and where were these documents published?

2. What was the challenge that Houdini made?

3. What was the challenge that the Weed Chain Tire Grip Company made?

4. What kind of product do you think the Weed Chain Tire Grip Company made?  What was it used for?

5. Why do you think the Weed Chain Tire Grip company was even interested in what Houdini was doing?