by George A. Pletz (ger353@desupernet.net)
In 1865, Charles Hooper, a Bristol cabinet maker, began to build Ajeeb, a copy of The Turk, a chess playing Automaton built by Baron Von Wolfgang Kempelen in Vienna sometime around 1879. Obviously, he was taken with the mystery of The Turk as much as he was by the money Ajeeb would make him. After all 'The Turk of Bratislava' had played chess against such famous figures as Napoleon and Benjamin Franklin and won. Poe had even written a story about this great illusive machine, detailing how the ruse worked. Ajeeb's countenance was made to match the great departed Turk, which had been destroyed in a fire in Philadelphia eleven years prior to Hooper's start on the project, to bring to mind its great success in the world of high society.
Ajeeb made 'his' first appearance in The Polytechnical Institute in London in 1868. Then =93he=94 resided at The London Crystal Palace for 1868 to 1876 after which Ajeeb was displayed at The Royal Aquarium in Westminster in 1877. Eventually the automaton made its was to Berlin where it was seen by somewhere around 300,000 people.
Next, Hooper took Ajeeb to New York in 1885. Here Ajeeb was operated from within by various chess masters. Some of Ajeeb's famous opponents were Harry Houdini, Teddy Roosevelt, and O. Henry. In 1886, Ajeeb was placed in The Eden Museum in New York City. By 188-, Hooper sold Ajeeb to Jim Smith and retired to England. Smith move his prized automaton to Coney Island. Here the operator was Sam Gotski.
During his time as operator the diminutive Pole was required by Smith to take on an apprentice to learn the ropes of how Ajeeb worked. In one instance, a sore loser shot Ajeeb in the torso and supposedly wounded its operator. However Gotski, Smith, and several others knew that the apprentice had been killed. To cover up for there still successful automaton, they got rid of the apprentice's body. Due to the hobo/transient nature of the apprentice who was known by no reputable or believable sources, the murder was never discovered.
By 1898, Sam was no longer the operator. He left complaining of strange occurrences from inside Ajeeb where the automaton was moving on its own accord. Gotski and Smith remained mutually silent in regard to their crime despite of their separation.
Sam then moved into the New York City Dinner Club circuit where he worked behind the scenes for struggling magicians. By 1926, the elderly Sam became friends with stagehand Gustav Burzendt, a distant relative of Kempelens of Vienna, who had developed a curiosity in Mechanomancy due to the Baron. There friendship was brief. It was cut short when Sam started to suspect that Gustav knew something of the incident.
Sam disappeared from New York City, never to be seen again.
In that time Ajeeb had gone through two other operators. Both sometime later reported to friends and family brief incidents where Ajeeb seem to acting on its own accord. Allegedly, the last operator refused to play anything but checkers due to strange occurrences within the automaton.
Gustav Burzendt now fueled with desires to surpass his great uncle, desired to gain Ajeeb. When he couldn't afford to buy it from Coney Island, he began to contemplate its theft.
In 1926, Ajeeb was allegedly destroyed by a fire on Coney Island.
In 1932, two men, Frank Farina and Jesse Henley bought a copy of Ajeeb from a mysterious craftsman named Gus Burns and took it on tour of Canada. Henley was master at checkers and never lost. While on tour they heard rumors that their Ajeeb somehow possessed occult powers. Farina curious investigated the source of these rumors and discovered that it was a confusion concerning another chess playing machine also called Ajeeb which was also touring Canada.
This one was not only a chess player but was an astute observer of human nature.
Some thought it could tell the future. What Farina
discovered no one knows. In the flurry of World War Two, Farina, Henley, and
their Ajeeb disappeared from sight.
Stories of Ajeeb sightings have proliferated through the dwindling numbers of Clockworkers slowly since these adepts are not very sociable. Naturally many are conflicting but there are several point of consistency. Ajeeb resides somewhere in Ontario and is more than likely being served by the descendants of Burzendt.
Whether not Ajeeb is a haunted automaton or the remaining Clockwork of bygone era is what most interests Clockworkers. "A golden means between machine and spirit not fully known" is how most Clockworkers respond to Ajeeb inquiries if at all.\
If there is a Clockworker who has sought the council of Ajeeb, none will admit to it. It represents their greatest fear, a creation that far outstrips its creator.