When Murray gets to the shop, he is immediately impressed by the straitjacket, and he soon finds a promising clue: the jacket was manufactured by Swanfeldt Tent and Awning Co., a favorite brand of Houdini's. William giggles with excitement, but Murray isn't done yet. He leaves to try to find a photograph of Houdini in this specific jacket from his personal collection of resources — the likelihood of which he describes as "a one-in-a-million chance." Miraculously, Murray returns to the shop with several photographs taken in St. Louis, Missouri, on January 1, 1915, that show Harry Houdini in a strikingly similar straitjacket to the one on the table before them. If these photos are of the jacket now in William's possession, that would make it at least 96 years old at the time the episode was aired.
Because the Swanfeldt straitjackets were handmade, Murray decides to count every stitch on the jacket to see if there are discrepancies with the photos. If the stitching is identical, then it is likely that the jacket was Houdini's. In the process, and to everyone's excitement, Murray finds several key similarities between the jacket and the photos: a rivet that has been flattened and an uncharacteristic double stitch. This is all the proof he needs to authenticate the straitjacket as having belonged to Houdini.
