The Runaway
From Appleton, the Weiss family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But Ehirich’s father did not have much luck finding work there, either. The only way he found to earn money was by giving Hebrew lessons. However, he could not earn very much this way.
Meanwhile, two more children were born and the Weiss family often had trouble paying the rent and putting food on the table. The older Weiss boys left school to help support the family. When Ehrich was only eight years old, he worked after school selling newspapers and shining shoes.
In later life, Houdini preferred not to talk about those years in Milwaukee. But there were a few bright moments. When he was nine, friends in the neighborhood organized a children’s circus. They charged five cents, and each child did some tricks.
Ehrich’s mother made him a costume, and he performed on the trapeze. He called himself “Eric. Prince of the Air” and his best trick was to pick up pins with his teeth. He also performed as a contortionist (a person who twists his body into strange positions). This early training on the trapeze and as a contortionist was useful for him later in life. It helped prepare him for the kinds of tricks that made him famous.
Though Ehrich continued to work after school, he was earning very little. He wanted to earn more to help his family, so he decided to go to Texas. He had heard it was a good place to find a job. Since he knew his parents would not allow him to leave, he ran away. This was not a very well-planned escape. He took little food, clothes, or money. He also got on the wrong train, so that he ended up in Kansas City, Missouri.
In Kansas City, he sent his parents a postcard. He told them not to worry. He was going to Texas to make some money and he would be back in a year. His mother kept the postcard, and after she died, he kept it. He never threw away anything with his signature on it.
He did not get to Texas. Instead, he walked out of Kansas City, hoping to find work on a farm. But all the he could find were small jobs and a free meal now and then. Walking and riding wagons, he made his way through the states of Missouri and Illinois.
One day, tired and hungry, he knocked on a farmhouse door in southern Wisconsin. A women named Mrs. Flitcroft took one look at him and brought him inside. She gave him a good meal and a bath and sewed a hole in his pants. Ehrich remained there all winter. He became good friends with her son al. Along with helping on the farm, he also earned some money in the nearby town, which he sent home to his parents. For the rest of his life, he remembered how kind Mrs. Flitcroft had been.
While he was with the Flitcrofts, he got a letter from his mother telling him that his father had gone to New York City. He was hoping to find work as a rabbi there, since there was such a large Jewish community. Ehrich left the Flitcrofts and moved east to be with his father.
Once again, Ehrich’s father was unable to find any work except giving Hebrew lessons. For a boy like Ehrich, however, New York was full of opportunities. He quickly got work as a messenger for a department store. In a year, he and his father had saved enough money to bring the rest of the family to New York.