Roll up! Roll Up! Come And See The Amazing Enigmarelle.

New York 1904, Mr Frederick J. Ireland introduces his automaton wonder 'Enigmarelle' to the world's stage, according to the Langport & Somerton Herald on Saturday 29th October 1904;

"Science and Invention. The latest automaton has made its debut in New York. It is called 'Enigmarelle,' and it will walk, dance, write its name on a blackboard, go through calisthenic exercises, and smoke a cigarette. It has even been arrested for furious riding on a bicycle."

After being shown around the US Enigmarelle was ready to cross the pond, in 1905 Mr Ireland, the automaton's owner, creator, constant companion and booking agent landed in Great Britain. Their first performance was at the London Hippodrome Theatre.

The Penny Illustrated Paper - Saturday 17th June 1905.

"Another startling novelty has made its first bow at the London Hippodrome this week. The directors have engaged a really enigmatical turn called 'Enigmarelle.' When Mrs Shelley wrote that marvelously sensational romance 'Frankenstein' it was prophesied that sooner or later science would discover a means whereby her brilliant ideas would be carried into complete execution, or, at least, nearly so.

The occasion has now arisen. The modern Prometheus, who has invented 'Enigmarelle,' has evidently based his plans upon those of 'Frankenstein,' and succeeded far beyond the expectations of even himself in producing the most startling reproductions of a human figure possible.

It is purely mechanical. The marvel is, this modern Prometheus has not succeeded in making it talk. When wound up, or rather, set going, 'Enigmarelle' walks straight, or at angles, or in circles without the slightest assistance, and, astounding to relate, writes its own name on a blackboard.

It weighs 190 pounds, and is six feet in height. Another remarkable phenomenon regarding 'Enigmarelle' is the dismemberment of the legs, arms and head; a complete exposure of the interior of the head and body, and immediately afterwards, the revivification of the automaton. We have heard of the Iron Horse, but the magneto-electric-cum-human nondescript is certainly new and strange.

'Enigmarelle' consists of nearly as many component parts as a ninety horsepower racing motorcar, and probably cost ten times more to construct. It took ten years to complete, the latter five being expended on solving the problems of making it write its own name without assistance.

Frederick Ireland Showing The Inner Workings.

To those who are interested in mathematics, in scientific research, in horology, and the solution of the vexed question of perpetual motion, 'Enigmarelle' will undoubtedly prove a splendid object for study; while to the lay mind it will prove itself one of the most curious inventions of the human brain.

Until the inventor (the modern Prometheus) discloses his secret of maintaining the perfect equilibrium of this enormous moving weight, it will remain to everybody exactly what it is, 'an enigma.'"

The Folkestone Express, Sandgate, Shorncliffe & Hythe Advertiser - Saturday 24th June 1905.

"The Mechanical Man. 

Some time ago we were puzzling over 'Phroso,' who was (so some people said) a man behaving like a machine. Now we have 'Enigmarelle,' who is a machine behaving like a man.

Enigmarelle is a piece of work indeed, in action something like Mlle. Genee (Dame Adeline Genee DBE, a famous dancer in Edwardian times) in the first part of the doll ballet (only Mlle. Genee cannot help being graceful, and Enigmarelle cannot help being clumsy): in apprehension like enough, at any rate, to a man to be able to ride a bicycle round the arena alone and to write his name unaided on a blackboard.

He is made of 365 different parts; his back bristles with switches and handles and knobs; the front of his chest opens to show the wheels go round; his head comes in two and proves to be full of electric lights; and his forearm and legs come off to show the magnets and metals of which they are made.

And through it all he preserves a pleasant smile on his waxen face, and does not stop his turn, like the pygmies, when you applaud him. His exhibitor makes no secret of his composition, or so it appears to a layman in electricity. His remarks bristle with storage accumulators, volts, amperes, rheostats, and so forth, as thickly as Enigmarelle's back with switches. The result of it all is a most uncanny monster."

With the Hippodrome run complete it was time to take the mechanical wonder on tour, however, not everything went to Mr Ireland's plan, during a promotional event in London Enigmarelle fell foul of the law.

Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper - Sunday 20th August 1905.

"Obstruction by Advertisement.

At West London Police Court on Thursday Mr E. H. Dobson, manager of the Shepherd's Bush Empire music hall; Mr W. A. Bennett, Press representative at the hall; Mr F. Ireland, and George Dee, were summoned for being concerned in causing an obstruction in Goldhawk Road by parading a mechanical figure called 'Enigmarelle,' which has been exhibited at the hall.

Enigmarelle in Goldhawk Road

The magistrate (Mr Garrett), after hearing evidence, observed that there was no question that an obstruction was caused, and the common sense view of it was that the defendants wished to advertise the mechanical figure. 

The larger the crowd the better the advertisement, and the object of the defendants was 'to cause a crowd to assemble.' He fined Ireland 40s, Dobson and Bennett 20s each, and Dee 5s."

A description of one such spectacle was published in the London and Provincial Entr'acte - Saturday 26th August 1905.

"Drives A Coach And Horses Round Nottingham.

'There he is; can't you see him walking along there? He's walking right enough.'

These and similar exclamations were uttered by a crowd that jostled and swayed outside the Empire at 11.15 on Wednesday - a crowd so varied in its units as to force upon one philosophical reflections of how universal a failing is curiosity.

South Sherwood Street was impassable, blocked by people who had come to see Enigmarelle, the marvellous electric 'man,' who heads the Empire bill for the week, and whose appearance caused quite a sensation in London recently. 

The announcement had been made that Enigmarelle would drive a coach and horses in the streets of the city, and the sceptical and those who have seen the Empire performance and were, perhaps, convinced that Enigmarelle is really a dummy and does not contain a living figure of any kind, were at one in their anxiety to see how it could handle the reins.

Dressed in its black velvet and gold braided costume, with its pink cheeks and fixed waxen smile, Enigmarelle walked, with its ponderous, staggering gait, to the coach that was waiting; climbed, with some assistance, up a ladder on to the box, and abruptly sat down.

The the reins were strapped to its wooden fingers; on the moving of a lever in its back there was a sound of the sharp growling of an electric contact spark, the figure raised its arms from the elbow, and off started the horses. With an excited, amused, wondering crowd following, the coach was steered down Kings Street, through the Great Market Place, along the Poultry, up Clumber Street, and Milton Street, and along Mansfield Road to Carrington.

Then, turning turning the coach to the left, the dummy drove along Gregory Boulevard, down Radford Road, Alfreton Road, and Derby Road, and then into Wheeler Gate. Still the crowd followed as the coach proceeded down Arkwright Street to Trent Bridge, and, 'doubling' to the left, returned up London Road to Speinton, and by way of Lace Market to the Great Market Place.

All the while Enigmarelle's 'manager' sat behind the figure and manipulated the switch board on its back, and an assistant, sitting beside it, gave it what little assistance it required in controlling the four horses."

Frederick Ireland toured Enigmarelle around Europe for the next couple of years, finally returning to America in 1908. He still entertained crowds with his grand creation, but by 1913 it was wearing a bit thin. The automaton was wheeled out (I believe) for the last time at the Exposition Internationale Du Surrealisme, Paris in 1938, however, he failed to perform to everyones disappointment.

A Hoax?

Was Enigmarelle really such an intricate automaton? A carefully crafted machine who could perform amazing feats at the beck and call of its creator. In fact, no, it wasn't, inside the colossus of cogs, wheels and flashing lights, Enigmarelle alas had a human heart, Frederick Ireland never gave the secret away.

Mr Alba W. Root

So who was the powerhouse within the new Prometheus, his name was Alba W. Root, Root had lost both of his legs in a railway accident when he was a child. 

Later in life he would perform tricks on bicycles while wearing wooden legs, and work closely with vaudeville comedy act the Kelly Brothers, he was promoted as "the champion legless bicyclist."

Members of Roots family remember seeing Enigmarelle's head in the family home attic, a terrifying spectacle I'm sure! It is said that Kelly and Root owned Enigmarelle and they employed Frederick Ireland as manager, they performed in the USA, Great Britain and Germany, and by 1905 - 06 they were earning around $250 USD per week.

It was one of the best hoaxes of the Edwardian period, an audacious stunt that paid off handsomely, well played those men. Now that's what I call Steampunk!

Alba Root Performing His Bicycle Tricks.