Hodgson had quite the run in with Harry Houdini when Houdini did his European tour. Hodgson, an ex-cop, took Houdini up on his boast and offer of money concerning his ability to pick any lock. Hodgson had some cuffs of his own design and soon had Harry trundled up like a papoose. At the end of the night and with the help of some dirty tricks (breaking the keys off in the locks, etc) Hodgson left Houdini a broken man, though he lost much of his good will with the English people, not that that mattered much to him, I think.
I had heard about that.