New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-05-02
THE TALE-TALE HEART.
If It We're Morn on the Sleeve There
Would be no BIuffing at Poker.

1SesG p6flOruleu.
1t was done by a gambler named
Paxton, q tall, cadaverous, nervous
looking fellow, who is pretty well
known in the West, partly through
his professional dexterity and partly
through certain facility in applying
his index finger to the instrument that
has immortalized Mr.. Colt. I think
he is at present in Dodge city, Kan
sas.
The way it came about was this: I
met Paxton at thesupper table and fell
into conversation with him. He had
been keen observer throughout a
very checkered career, and lnterwove
a running description Of the country
and some very free-hand portraits Of
prominent citizens with a vein oil sar-
donle philosophy that was extremely
entertaining. In short, / WANTED to see
more Of him, and in the course of the
evening dropped into the barroom.
where he was the presiding genius at a
faro table, for the particular purpose
OF drawing him out. Presently the
game dWindled down to nothingness,
and pushing back his chair he picked
up the thread Of our talk, and SO it
drifted on from one topic to another
until something was said about cool
ness In trying positions.
Goodness is like beauty" said Pax
ton; ''lt's only skin deep. No man is
really cool in the presence OF great
danger, but if he can appear to be
and carry it off that is all that is
necessary. And, by the way" he
added, "that reminds me OF some
thing that may interest you. Just
run your eye over that faro layout,
| and pick out q card, in your mind"
did not exactly see the connection,
but did as he told me. On the layout,
or board, were pasted, face upward,
the cards OF one suit, from ace to
king. | mentally selected the Jack.
"Now then" he said, laying his
| hand impressively on mine, ''let's see
If [ can read which it was. But it
seems to me you have forgotten" I
assured him remembered perfectly.
Cali right" he continued, ''think Just
| how it looks"
pictured wildly in my minds eve
the idiotic ef6gy on the Jack, and he
began to count .'Ace, deuce, tray,
four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
jack, queen, king. 1t was the Jack"
he said.
| was o good deal surprised, and
| protested that it must be a guess.
"All right" he said, "select anoth-
er." chose the four, and he began
again. "Ace, deuce, tray, four-that's
1.-THE four
OF course there was no room for the
guess theory after that. and [ went
away completely mystifed 1t seemed
to be perfect example OF mind read
ing, pure and simple, much more
clever aid open than anything done
by Browne. Bishop had not then
come to the front. A few days after
ward Paxton became SO fond OF me
that he told me how he did it.
tits all in the heart" he said.
You may stiffen up your face, wall
your eyes, and not move o. muscle,
but all the while your heart, which
! you can't control, is throb, throb,
throbing away. blabbing everything it
knows. When put my hand on yours
| dropped my finger on your pulse,
and when manned the right card it
gave little quaver, as plain as dav.
The talk about your forgetting the
card was simply to make you think
about 1t as hard as possible.'
The pulse trick that Paxton show
ed me IS simple and easily performed
by any one OF reasonably sensitive
touch. have done it over a hundred
times with as many different people,
and never made a single failure after
the first few attempts when | was get
ting the hang OF it. The jog or quaver
OF the pulse is very characteristic and
| quite unmistakable, and the trick
forms a neat and effective parlor illu-
sion. OF course faro layouts are not
supposed to be accessible, but deck
Of cards or blocks lettered
with the alphabet will answer. l have
found IN most cases, particular
ly with ladies who are delicately or
gained, it can be done by simply re-
| questlng the subject to think OF a
number or letter, but TO insure sue
cess 1T is better to have visual OBJ
iect on which the mind can be more
readily concentrated.
| L OiiOWluS OuI ILLS me SeVeFdl OC06r
things suggested themselves which are
pretty experiments and easily per-
formed. Here are couple Of them:
Take a sheet offoolscap and rule it
crossways into six spaces of equal
width. Then number the spaces, and
request the subject to think intently
of one OF them. While he is doing SO
let him take a pen by the tin OF the
holder and draw a line from right to
left across the sheet, and the line when
1t enters the space on which his mind
was fixed, will almost invariably in
cline toward the body. Furthermore,
| it will show, on close Inspection, a
tremulous edge, while the balance OF
it is firm.
! Another and more striking test
may be performed as follows. Lay
the ace, deuce, tray, and four OF ordi.
nary playing cards face up in a square
on the table. Then let the subject
/ hold q pen suspended by a short
| string tied to the end, above the cen
| tire OF the square, and tell him to shut
/ bic oS,oc nd tni,J, 81 +