The Portland daily press., 1900-02-01
PARIS'S FORTUNE TELLERS.
Is One OF the Tricks of
the Trade.

(From The London Pail Mall Gazetts.)
Paris. Jan. IA trial will come ON
In day or two at the Asslze Court
which though Of trilling importance In
itself. will attract attention on account
OF the personality OF the proseoutrix and
the profession exercised by the prisoner.
The widow OF perhaps the most famous
Of contemporary French surgeons, Of
that mastery operator. DIR. Pean, has
been compelled to take proceeding 8
against . fortune teller, whom she aoous-
es Of having sent her numbsr Of iibell.
Gus post cards.
Few people would suspect what an OK
traordinary numbsr of fortune tsilers
drive Q thriving trade In Paris. One of
the principal tuuotionaries at the Prefeo-
ture of Police informed me recently that
his department had the names and all
dressss of over two thousand persons who
make their living. and In many cases an
excellent living. blythe most elementary
anu common of all the forms of the
pseudo scienoe Of divination, by telling
fortunes fro IN cards. There are other
varieties of fortune tellers galore; those
who predict the future from u handful of
pins thrown at hazard o n sort Of chess
board, or from the shapes assumed BY the
dregs OF coffee in the bottom Of q saucer.
those who reso rt to mesmsrism and
somna mbulism, the ohirographists, the
drawers Of horoscope 8, and many others.
The cartomancists however, are In the
ma jority. The methods OF all of them are
identical, but their prices vary greatly.
Their stook-in-trade, apart from some
little imagination, considerable cunning,
and unlimited impud encs. consists solely
OF the tarot a specially prepared pack OF
cards, as q rule clumsily' hand painted
and pasted on TO squares Of card board
The cost Of consulting the taIot ranges
from few shillings, eagerly paid by in
mum cradle servant girls and minor demi-
mondaines, to f5 and even e.. The for
tune teller who can command these latter
prices deals with society ladies, but the
most sssiduops clients OF all are actress
co, who, with scarcely an exception, be,
lieve In the talents OF the cartomanoists
and many OF whom go week after week
to the same wise woman and swallow,
with inconprehensibie dooility, the CON-
tradictory revelations elaborated for their
benetit. 1he cheaper fortune tellers al 9
seldom or never consulted by men, but.
curiously enough, the cartomanoists
whose charges are high. often have men
among their customers. There Is one
well-known speculator on the Paris
Bourse who never ventures his money
U u less the tarot has assured him OF the
likelihood OF his being successful; and 1t
must re admitted that his confidence In
the cards has, so far, not betrayed him,
for he Is exceedingly rich.
The police have made desperate efforts
on various occasions to put q st op to this
form of swindiinR, but they have had
practically to abandon the On tefpriss Is
hopeless. The Parisisnns On n no more
dispense with her fortune teller than
with her dressmaksr or ssmilli ner. How
ever, not few members OF the soothsay.
ing corporation ultimately get into
trouble with the police BY declining TO be
content with what must be called the
Legitimate" profits Of their profession.
Owing to the hold they obtain over thsir
victims, and the knowledge they acquire
Of their secrets, they are tempted not In
frequently to launch out into blsckmail-
ing and other disrepu table transactions.
which land them not infrequently in the
criminal dock. Indeed, an aocount Of
what goes on In connection with these
fortune-telling dens would make . very
curious chapter In q description of the
ssamy side OF Purisian life.