Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-08-14
WYMAN'S TRICKS OF MAGIC

cent from hNt1t-SOnte OF MS 1TtChS
Professor John Wyman, who died at
Burlington, VT, on Sunday last, was one
of the most notable magicians and ven
.triloouists of the old school IN this coun-
try. He stood for many years without a
peer among the old-time "wizards," the
pioneers of an art which has since found
many imitators. He was the best known
public performer in the South and West
thirty wears ago, and no one ever attained
there a wider celebrity. His genial good
fellowship added off the stage to the
friendships his talents made on it, and
Wyman was equally at home IN the
nursery, or among rough men on the
frontier, or IN the cabin of Mississippi
steamboat-men who lived by their wits
and were quite INSCRIPTIONS as to their
methods of getting ahead. By his in
genuous humor Professor Wyman became
popular-popularity at that time often
depending on a sort of bravery so daring
that it seemed almost playful. Not to be
too playful, however, he always carried
arms; and not to be too ingenious he
took care that no one ever got the advan-
tage of him.
Kind hearted and charitable by nature,
Wyman never looked upon an imposter
without indignation; but, like all success
full magicianS, he possessed quick sense
of the ludicrous The Mississippi steam
ers, when the great river was the Amer
lean highway between the North and
South, were common resorts of CONNER
cial travellers, gamblers, planters and
SPECTATORS. The cabin of a crowded
steamer during the long evenings, be-
tween St. Louis and New Orleans, was a
sort of treasure room for sharpers, in
which the rich planter who possessed
more money than he had experience lost
all he had, and sometimes even his life if
he became noisy over the loss Of the
first
1t was on one of his many journeys
down the Mississippi, when the great
river bore its tide of human freight be-
fore the war, that Prof. Wyman met Ike
Walton, one of the most noted gamblers
il those days, and man who valued very
much his reputation for honesty in his
trade But many men were victims to
Walton's honesty. On this particular
night Walton had reached the bottom Of
his purse and was desperately in want of
money as well as food. Hunger tempts
many men to crime, and Walton found a
young planter who possessed
passion for gambling and the
means to crafty it. Not daring
to trust to cards, which, it is said, never
run in favor of hungry men. Walton
proposed a game in which ''skill" count
ed for nothing. The game then intro
duced was similar to the celebrated three
card monte trick, only, instead of cards,
small wad of paper was used. Three
cups were brought from the kitchen, and
the paper ball, not larger than pea, was
placed before them on the table. Wal
ton turned the cups over, and he, shift
ing them rapidly from place to place,
covered and uncovered the paper with
confusing rapidity, and finally wagered
$50 that the young planter could not tell
what cup the ball of paper was under.
The wager was quickly taken up and as
quickly lost The trick was played again
and again until the victim had lost all he
had The success of the gambler was
simply matter of slight-o hand. AS
the small bali of paper was covered for
the last time Walton picked it up by
pressing it under finger nail. The
planter raised the cup where it should
have been and the wager was lost; but
the gambler to further the deception
promptly lifted one of the two
remaining cups, scraping OFF
the ball of paper as he did so,
leaving it on the table as the cup was lift
ed from it. When the planter had done
Walton asked for newcomers to bet. Wy
man had never gambled in his life, but
here was an occasion to him which made
the loss of refusing seem greater than the
sin of accepting. Besides, he believed
that the young planter had been deceived
by deliberate trickery.
When he had lost 500 himself he was
sure of it. 'Here is the paper" said
Walton, raising one of the cups with a
smile. The gambler had made $500 with
in the hour, the prospect of needed re-
freshments opened before him, and he was
in good humor. Although cheating in a
gamblers sense, he had resorted to 1t with
reluctance.
"There it is again. said he shifting the
cups rapidly before Wyman. CHOW you
sect it plainly enough, and now"-setting
two of the cups down with bang-'you
don't" Wyman, in the meantime, had
torn bit of paper from newspaper,
rolled it up compactly like the other, and,
"palming it." quietly slipped it under a
cupas he raised it from the table The
most surprised person in the room was
Walton himself. He regarded the wizard
with look in which wonder and alarm
were mingled He could not help admir-
ing the others trick, but to expose 1t was
to expose his own. The stake was again
made and again lost, as thad been before.
81 never played this BEFORE, said Pro-
fessor Wyman, "and it's a good game If
you don't become too fond of it. L don't
suppose l have played game for amuse-
ment for years. think little recreation
like this is good thing once in while
in that way. l have the advantage of
you, who cannot make recreation of
what you do as regular business. l sup
pose you play this every day." he con-
tinued simply as he again drew the stakes
from the gambler.
Walton wiped his forehead and did not
feel that he was by any means too accus-
toned to the sort of amusement he was
then I'm iergoing, and signifed that his
capacity for enjoyment of that kind had
not been impaired by use.
The next turn in affairs showed the
professors consummate skill both in
observation and practice. The gambler,
in moving the cups, left for the first time
the ball Of paper, which he had hitherto
had all to himself, under one of them.
But Wyman's perception had not been
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