The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-08-07
MAGICIAN WAS FAIR.
Hermann Produced Cards From the
Air, Which Caused Trouble.

I'VE used to get tired of hearing men
say, while watching our principal per
form his repertoire of card tricks on
the stage, I'd got into a poker game
with a fellow who knows how to ma
nipulate 'em like that said man
who WAS for many years connected
with the mana cement of Hermann the
noted magician and prestidigitator
who died few years ago. The nat
ural inference TO be drawn from such
remarks was, of course, that Hermann
would not hesitate to avail himself of
his extraordinary skill with the cards
to shred people with whom he hap
pened to sit into a game So that. as
l say, il always got us "a bit on the raw
when We heard such remarks. In the
first place, we knew, as everybody who
ever got well acquainted with him
knew, that Hermann was a man Of the
most absolute personal integrity
man who was giving himself the worst
of it in money matters throughout his
entire career, and who was constantly
being done for large sums by men who
PrOfessed to be his friends. We knew
in the second place. that Hermann was
very ordinary poker player. He was
rash performer in a regular game
with his personal friends, trying to get
away with absurd bluffs and calling on
ish misDlays. and l never knew him
to get up a winner from a poker sit
ting. He could have, had he been so
disposed, won Just about as many mil
lions as he figured he could use if he
had shaved off his mustache and his
MephistOphelean gOatee and gone into
the business of poker playing for rev.
enue only, for there was simply moth
ing that he could not do with a deck
rnrr -
ful eyes of experienced men at that.
But, of course, he never even enter
tanned dream of such a thing.
Hermann rarely played serious
poker with men with whom he was not
on terms of friendship. for he always
had the feeling that if he won the sus-
picion would be bound to find Judgment
in the minds of the other players that
he had employed his professional skill
with the cards 10 annex the pots. So
that in his travels around he preferred
TO mystify and have fun with the cas-
ual acquaintance. mostly club men
who entertained him, with whom he
sat into games of draw.
AT the Cheyenne clubs in Cheyenne
he once took a Chance of standing for
leaden puncture, owing to a whim-
steal stunt that he pulled off in a game
of draw that started off in earnest. but
that quickly degenerated into a farce.
| owing to Hermann's uncontrollable in
clination to stack the cards in the most
/ amazing fashion. Three we'll known
Cheyenne men were in the game with
the magician. and when he began TO
! give them all pat fOurs and such like,
at the same time they enjoyed the fun
Of watching how he did it, for they all
knew him. They were trying to faith
ON his method of riffiing them and
dealing them from all over the deck.
when nonresident member of the
Cheyenne club. a southern Wyoming
ranch owner. came along. The ranch
man asked to be allowed To sit in-he
knew the three Cheyenne men and
the three who knew Hermann and were
entertaining him passed the magician
the wink
They took to playing seriously for
a few minutes, and the game went
along without incident until the deal
reached Hermann on "a buck Jack.
Hermann dealt the out of town MEM
ber who sat next to him on his left.
Z four kings. and, Of course, the ranch
/ man opened the pot with a bang for
the size of It. Hermann handed out
the signal to the other three. who were
waiting for the fun to begin, to stay
along and they did. When the betting
I began, the ranch owner couldn't shoot
his checks 10 the center quick enough.
and all hands. including Hermann.
kept right on raising him back until
! the ranchman's countenance became
wreathed in funny beatitude. for he
felt. naturally enough. that he had a
cinch
Suddenly Hermann reached over
and. with his thumb and forefinger.
yanked card out of the sleeve of the
ranchman's dinner coat
'Ah-haI he exclaimed jumping up
from his seat, what is this that we are
up against% and ne held up the card
an ace-and giared sternly at the
ranchman. while the other three were
putting in their best licks 10 keep their
faces straight.
THE ranchman's face suddenly
! turned purple. and he became speech
less He was and Is known as one of
the squarest men in Wyoming. and
here a COATED stranger with foreign
! accent, a man he had never clapped an
eve on before and whose name he
didn't even Fnow. had held him up as
/ . card cheat
And yet aHOtheri' exclaimed Her
mann, again bending over and picking
another ace from out Of the other
sleeve of the ranehman's dinner coat.
The ranehman stood up IN a dumb
fury As he did so perfect shower
Of cards fell from his has onto the floor.
and then Hermann grabbed the huge
ranch owner by the lapel of the coat.