The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-28
st. Louis Globe Democrat.

~ ONE OF the modern professions,
that depend in a large measure
~ on the element of chance, seem
to foster belief in the superna-
tural that could scarcely have existed
in the dark ages. Every gambler has
his series Of mascots and hoodoos. His
private "hunch'' is a thing to be
watched for and obeyed. The. men
and women, too, we must confess
who follow the races, get tips that
come from a far more trustworthy
source than the average stable boy or
race-track tout would be. Six years
ago the bookies at the fair grounds
thought for awhile that they We're go
ing BE sWamped, and all because
the spirit of a departed Jockey had
acquired the objectionable habit Of
visiting a party of Spiritualists In Sc
Iance and revealing the names Of the
long shots that were booked to win.
Everybody has heard Of the gray
cat that used to hang around the Chi
cago Board Of Trade and rub her she'd
ding coat. against the left leg Of the
lucky Spectator. The quantity Of hair
she left on his trousers was fair
gage of his days success. Some of the
members came to trust so entirely in
.bornly refused to. do business on those
days when she, neglected to greet them
with a rub and a purr.
& Cold logic may argue until it is blue
in the face. It savails nothing. For
all, the reason and all the ridicule, the
superstitious man has the ''incontro-
vertible fact to offer in rebuttal. He
knows that certain: circumstances al
ways follow certain omens, and that
by giving heed to his ''hunch" he has
;snatched victory = from defeat times
without number. Fhe man who has
no patience Withg superstition has moth
ing. but. egativesxtheory on his side,
and it is but natural that he invariably
fails in an. attempt to argue with the
man who has the facts. 81.
Nowhere is this unstable element
Of chance" more constantly to be- reck-
:oned with than on shipboard.$'= From
the admiral on a man-o'-war to the
roustabout on a. Mississippi steamer,
there is scarcelysSa man on the water
who is without the veins.of supersti-
ton. Any old tar you might chance
to pick UP could tell YOU Stories from
his personal experience that would
convince you Of theseintervention of
supernatural forces Phantom ships
that presage disasters lights$t that glow
suddenly on the masts and dreams
that have been fulfilled TO the minutest
details, he will relate; but the chief
tprognosticator Of all the water peo-
pie. is the rat. There is not ne
gro roustabout on thesriver who could
be chained to his boat: after the rats
had left her. ST s i Il .ss,ze<'.,
Only a few years eago, when one Of
the New Orleans packets was making
aalanding a little way below st. Louis,
a. nj ossbacked, gray whiskered rat
marched pompously up the gang
plank, paused andslifted himself on
his hind legs, emitting a peculiar
squeal, and then scurried up to- the
bank, In five minutes there was con
sternation in the lower deck, and the
mate was compelled to use his ak to
prevent all his men from leaving him.
That rat, they. declared, was the old
man of the boat. They all knew him.
The thing that happened that night
would, il all probability, have hap
pened Just the same eff Mr.. Rat had
made the journey as8Susua1. Il So at
least, the rational laild lubber would
say. The river was high and the
pilot, relieved Of thes5necessity of pick
ing a narrow channel, had difficulty