Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-12-18
DOES LUCK EVER GO BY LAW?
Four-Leafed Glover and Foolish 1s
Not Always a Hoodoo.

OF the many popular superstitions
of the day which have been handed
down from the dark ages, when ig-
norance was rife and belief in omens
was as fixed as the religion of the
times, the adherence to several Of
the most common is worthy of ana
lysis, remarked member Of the
faculty of one of the local UNIVERSE
titles to a Washington Star reporter.
Il have given the subject consider
able study and research, and I have
come to the conclusion that good
luck or bad luck which may follow
the possession of certain symbols, or
which may result from the perfor-
nance or the> performance of
certain acts at particular times, may
be attributed to the operation Of the
law Of coincidence, and the good for
tune or the bad fortune, as the case
may be, would have resulted in any
event.
II will give you an easy illustration
of the operation of the law of coin
cidences as applied to a symbolical
number that will be quickly under
stood, but 1t illustrates the principle
even better than We're an abstruse
proposition offered. During the past
summer a horse which had been run
ming consistent last in the races in
which he had been entered on the
tracks around New York, won one
day at the remunerative odds of 100
to 1, and his owner, who had back
ed him for sentimental reasons for
small amount, naturally cleaned up
a considerable cum.
This horses number on the rae
ing program was 10. 1t is we'll
known that the racing fraternity is a
superstitious one and the fact that
this horse won at such large odds
while carrying the number 10 was
duly exploited in the racing papers.
I followed this case up and found
that thereafter for some days all
horses on the racing program bear
ing the number 3 were we'll played
for this reason alone; that within
a week or so another horse bear
ing the number 1S again won at con-
siderable odds, but that thereafter
for several weeks, during which 1
had the instance followed, no other
horse bearing the number 10 came
in first.
Both the first and the second
horse, OF course would have won
these particular races, whether their
numbers had been s or 8, respective
ly, or any other number upon the
program, and their winning, while
bearing the alleged 'hoodoo' number
of IS was merely concidental to their
entry and their getting under the
wire first, yet so powerful is popular
superstition that the minds Of other
wise sane individuals We're swayed
by the coincidental application Of a
number to horses circuit around
a race course.
1.-THE same principal holds true as
to the horseshoe superstition, the
four-leaf clover fallacy, the rabbit
foot idiocy and the bright new penny
delusion. In touring through the
country, if one will take the trouble
to observe, he will note that a horse
shoe, and sometimes several Of them.
may be seen tackled up over the
doorways or upon barn doors Of
abandoned homes ana firms Of tum =
BILE down abodes, and very often the
more ramshackle the place is the
more horseshoes or symbols Of good
luck may be seen plastered over the
place. Sometimes the heel of the
shoe is up, to hold the good luck
in, and again it will be- reversed
which position some people think
lets the good luck OUT But the evil
dences Of failure and dilapitatton are
lindisputable, and the fact that horse
shoes may also be seen tackled unon
premises where thrift is evident proves
nothing, as matter of fact, beyond
/ that certain pieces of curved metal
are held in position on wood by their
nails.
1T is the same with the four-leaf
clover which is merely freak of ma
ture, as a twin tree, though this fall
lacy is somewhat sentimental and
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