Editing Harry Houdini (section)

===Overboard box escape===
[[File:HoudiniSubmergedCrate.jpg|thumb|left|Houdini prepares to do the overboard box escape c. 1912.]]
Another of Houdini's most famous publicity stunts was to escape from a nailed and roped packing crate after it had been lowered into water. He first performed the escape in New York's [[East River]] on July 7, 1912. Police forbade him from using one of the piers, so he hired a tugboat and invited press on board. Houdini was locked in handcuffs and leg-irons, then nailed into the crate which was roped and weighed down with two hundred pounds of lead. The crate was then lowered into the water. He escaped in 57 seconds. The crate was pulled to the surface and found still to be intact, with the manacles inside.

Houdini performed this escape many times, and even performed a version on stage, first at Hamerstein's Roof Garden where a {{convert|5500|USgal|L|adj=on}} tank was specially built, and later at the [[New York Hippodrome]].<ref>{{cite book| title=Houdini His Legend and His Magic| last=Henning| first=Doug| author-link=Doug Henning| year= 1977| publisher=[[Times Books]]| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtMTAQAAIAAJ&q=hamerstein%27s+roof | isbn=978-0812906868}}</ref>