The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1889-03-23
THE TALE.TALE HEART.
If It Were Worn on the Sleeve There
Would be no BIuffing at Poker.

| "Soto NO tto ESAOt6
Some years ago, on the frontier, in
a little den, half hotel and half gam.
, bling house, saw most astounding
feat performed.
1t was done by a 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 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 1t came about was this:
met Paxton at the supper table and fell
into conversation with him. He had
been keen observer throughout q
very Checkered career, and interw owe
running description OF the country
and some very free-hand portraits of
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 1T 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 irving positions
Goodness is like beauty" said Pax
ton; '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 some
thing that may interest You. Just
run your eye over that faro layout,
and pick out card. in your mind"
l 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
il I can read which it was. But 1t
seems to me you have forgotten" l
assured him remembered perfectly.
Cali right" he continued, "think just
how it looks"
pictured wildly in my minds eye
the idiotic 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.
l was a good deal surprised, and
protested that it must be guess.
"All right" he said, "select anoth-
er." chose the four, and he began
again. SAGE, deuce, tray, four-that's
1.-THE four"
| OF course there was no room for the
guess theory after that, and l 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.
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 hard as possible"
The pulse trick that Paxton show
ed me Is simple and easily performed
| by any one OF reasonably sensitive
touch. I have done it 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
OF the pulse is very characteristic and
quite unmistakable. and the trick
forms 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
ganized, it can be done by simply re-
questing the subject to think OF q
number or letter, but to insure sue
cess it is better to have visual OBJ
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 a couple of them:
Take sheet of foolscap 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 pen by the tin of the
holder and draw line from right to
left across the sheet, and the line when
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,
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 q square
on the table. Then let the subject
hold a pen suspended by short
SCrlUS lieu 10 GIlo eIlu, dUONo GIl0 CSI1-
tire OF the square, and tell him to shut
his eyes and think OF one of the cards.
In few seconds the pen will begin to
oscillate toward the one. and finally
swing directly over it. Neither OF these
experiments should be explained be-
forehand, 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 IN
the Revue Scientifque (Paris) describ-
ing an apparatus to do on a large
scale what Paxton did on asmall. 1t
was the invention of Prof. Masso and
consisted of a table on which q man
could stretch at full length and, hav-
ing an equiposo SO delicate that the
slightest disturbance OF his centre OF
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
l.