Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1888-05-03
THE TALE-TALE HEART.
fit We're Worn on the Sleeve There
Would be no BIuffing at Poker.

y
a little den, hall hotel and half gam
bling house. saw most astounding
feat performed.
1t was done by gambler named
Paxton, a tall. cadaverous, nervous
looking fellow, who is pretty well
known in the West, partly through
his professional dexterity and partly
through a certain facility in applying
his index finger to the instrument that
has immortalize6 Mr.. Colt. | think
he is at present in Dodge city, Kan
sas.
The way it came about was this: |
met Paxton at the supper table and fell
into conversation with him. He had
been keen observer throughout a
very checkeied career, and interw owe
a running description OF the country
and some very free-hand portraits oil
prominent citizens with vein OF sar.
donic 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
Il
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; its only skin deep. No man is
really cool in the presence of great
danger, but il he can appear to be
and carry it off that is all that is
necessary. And, by the way" be
added, chat reminds me OF some
thing that may interest yon. Just
run your eye over that faro layout,
and pick out a 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 them" he said, laying his
hand impressively on mine, 'let's see
| il | can read which it was But 1t
seems to me you have forgotten" ]
assured him ] remembered perfectly.
GAN right" he continued, "think just
how it looks"
pictured wildly in my minds eye
the idiotic effigy on the Jack, and be
began to count: Ace. deuce, tray,
four, five, six. seven. eight, nine, ten,
jack, queen, king. 1t was the jack, :"
| he said.
/ was good deal surprised, and
| protested that it must be guess.
"All right" he said, "select anoth.
err" 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 alter that, and | went
away completely mystifed. 1t seemed
to be a perfect example oil 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.
Its all in the heart" he said.
You may stiffen up your face, wall
| your eyes, and not move a 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
l dropped my finger on your pulse,
and when named the right card it
gave little quaver. as plain as day.
The talk about your forgetting the
card was simply to make you think
about 1t as hsrd as possible"
The pulse trick that Paxton show.
ed me Is simple and easily performed
by any one OF reasonably sensitive
| touch. have done il over a hundred
times with as many different people,
and never made single failure after
the first few attempts when was get.
ting the hang OF it. The Jog or quaver
oil the pulse is very characteristic and
quite unmistakable. and the trick
forms neat and effective parlor illu'
| sion. OF course faro iayouts are not
supposed to be accessible, but deck
| OF cards or blocks lettered
with the alphabet will answer. have
| found in most cases, particular.
ly with ladies who are delicately or
gained, it can he done by simply re,
| questing the subject to think OF a
number or letter, but to insure sue
cess 1T is better to have visual oh,
| ject on which the mind can be more
! readily concentrated.
| Following out this line several Other
| things suggested themselves which are
pretty experiments and easily per
formed. Here are couple OF them
| Take a sheet of foolscap and rule il
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 Sc
let him take a pen by the tin OF the
! holder and draw n line from right to
left across the sheet, and the line wher
it 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 o.
| 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 lace up in a square
on the table. Then let the subject
hold a pen suspended by a short
string tied to the end, above the cen
tire OF the square, and tell him to shut
his eyes and think OF one of the cards
In a few seconds the pen will begin tC
oscIllate toward the one, and finally
swing directly over it. Neither of thest
experiments should be explained be
forebapd, as in that case the subject
will probably exert his will power to
defeat them, and they may fail.
In connection with this curious ten
dency Of the heart and muscles to be
tray themselves | had my attention
called some time since to an article II
the Revue Scientifique PARIS describ
ing an apparatus to do on larg,
scale what Paxton did on asmail. II
was the invention of Prot Masso and
| consisted OF a table on which a mar
could stretch at full length and, hav
ing an equiposG so delicate that the
slightest disturbance OF his centre o
gravity would cause large indicating
needle below to move to one
| side or the other. 1t was de
signed to show how the heart and cir
culation are instantly affected by th'
mind, and some strange things wert
done on it. The slightest emotion
would cause the needle to incline to
ward the head, and it would dart il
| that direction even when the man or
the table was asleep and a noise wa,
made in the room, though not sniff
GENTLY loud to awaken him. Masso
relates that an Italian professor sub
mitted to the experiment and, reclin
ing a5 full length, read to himself from
two books, q poet in his own Language
and Homer in the original. The
needle was passive while he read tn,
| Italians verses; but when he came &c
the harder task of translsting Homer
it moved toward the head and re
manned fixed immovably there. TAX
en- all in all, am inclined to think
that the little force pump in ones
breast is about the only truthful or
| gan. and that when novelists speak O