The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-23
THE TALE-TALE HEART.
If 1t Were Worn on the Sleeve There
Would be no Bluff1ing at Poker.
From the Mem York 81

From the NeJO York Sum
Some years ago, on the frontier in a
little den, half hotel and half gambling
house, saw a most astounding feat per-
formed.
1t was done by a gambler, named Paxton,
q tall, cadaverous, demonstrating fellow,
who is pretty well-known in the West,
partly through his professional dexterity
and partly through certain facility in APP
plying his index finger to the instrument
that has immortalized Mr.. Colt. l think he
is at present in Dodge City, Kan.
The way it came about was this: | met
Paxton at the supper table and fell into con-
versation with him. He had been a keen
observer throughout very checkered
career, and Intervene running description
of the country and some very free-hand
portraits of prominent citizens with vein
of sardonic philosophy that was extremely
entertaining. In short, / wanted to see
more of him, and in the course of the even
ing 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 upthe thread of our talk, and so 1t
shifted on from one topic to another until
something was said about GOODNESS in trying
positions.
Goodness is like beauty" said Paxton
''it'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 something that
may interest you. Just run your eye over
that faro layout, and pick out card. in
| your mind"
/ did dot 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 inn
pressively on mine, let's see if [ can read
which it was. But it seems to me you have
forgotten assured him l remembered
perfectly. "All right" he continued, think
| Just how it looks
l pictured vividly in my minds eye the
ldiotic effigy 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 a good deal surprised, and protested
that it must be guess
"All right" he said, 'select another, f."
| 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 COM
pletely mystified. 1t seemed to be- a per-
feet example of mind reading, pure and
simple much more clever and 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.
"Its all in the heart" he said. 'You may
stiffen up your face, wall your eyes, and
not move muscle, but all the while your
heart, which you can't control, is throb,
throb, throbbing away, blabbing every
thing it knows. When put my hand on
yours l dropped my finger on your pulse,
and when named the right card it gave
a little quaver, as plain as day. The talk
about your forgetting the card was simply
to make you think about it as hard as pos
| sibe."
Then he told me a story that had heard
before, but which is good enough to tell
again, particularly as his version OF it is no
| doubt authentic.
| troll your heart, and it tells everything, so
| if a man had his heart on his sleeve, as they
| say in books-why, all | have to remark is
| that he'd have a big percentage against
him in poker game. That is exactly what
happened to Jake Kinney. Of San Fran
! cisco. He was In his time the fin st short
card player alive, and when he sa down in a
poker game he simply turned into wood.
| His face had no more expression in IL than
a brick, and, although he would bet his
last dollar on ten high in Just the same sing
song voice that he would ON four aces, It
was very hard TO catch him bluffiing. Final
| ly he got into an argument with a Los
Angeles man. and the other fellow cut him