Having lost his father at an early age, Houdini sustained an exceptionally strong relationship with his mother, Cecilia Steiner Weiss, both as a child and as an adult. His tenure proved short, however, and after a life of hardship he died on October 5, 1892. Mayer Weiss was to serve as rabbi of the German-speaking Zion Reform Jewish Congregation in Appleton, Wisconsin. Their name had been changed from Weisz to Weiss by immigration officials upon their arrival in the United States c. When this postcard was written, Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss was father and husband to the impoverished immigrant family struggling to become established in America while communicating primarily in German, Hungarian, and Yiddish. A postcard from 'Your truant son, Ehrich Weiss,' to the mother he adored is the earliest example of Houdini's handwriting in the collections of the Library of Congress, relic of the early evasion by the young man who had been born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary, on March 24, 1874. The future 'Genius of Escape Who Will Startle and Amaze' ran away from home when he was twelve.

HOUDINI: A BIOGRAPHICAL CHRONOLOGY HOUDINI: A BIOGRAPHICAL CHRONOLOGY 1878-1898: From Hungary To America, The First Stage

Houdini handcuffs