Ragtime Chapter 5 Summary

  • Harry Houdini makes a celebrity visit to the Tombs to test some new leg iron. He escapes easily. Meanwhile that other Harry—Harry K. Thaw, Evelyn's husband and the guy who killed Stanford White—watches from a nearby cell. He strips naked as well and makes lewd gestures from his cell. Ew, this guy sucks.
  • Houdini refuses to perform at a party for a wealthy socialite, because the rich make him uncomfortable. After agreeing when they offer more money, he instead does his act for the other performers—freaks and circus folks—and splits. What's up, Houdini: we always knew you were cool.
  • We're told Sigmund Freud has just arrived in America. Freud is an alienist—which is what people called psychiatrists back then—but the public thinks of him as a German sexologist. Which means they think he's uber-kinky.