The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-10-20
FORTUNE TELLERS
PLEAD FOR MERCY
Can't Live Under Weekly Tax of
$50 While Reading Palms at
SO Cents a Throw.
NO cLAIRvoYANTs IN TOWN
Council to Break Up Practice by
License if Law Permits
Them to Operate.
NO cLAIRvoYANTs IN TOWN

staggered at the thought of having
10 pay license tax OF $50 week to
| look INTO the future forty years ahead
at dollar n glimpse, n number Of
| fortune tellcrs, palmists. clairvoyants
ana others or their ilk will appear be-
lore the Finance Committee Tomorrow
night to make protest against Council
| man fogerss high tariff ordinance.
Inc state imposes license tax OF
| Ssoo on gypsies. or other companies
| Oh strolling persons. who receive re-
ward Tor pretending to tell fortunes"
ana the soothsayers regard this as sum-
cient especially as they discover hidden
fortunes Tor starving relatives. and for
only 500 or so call up other regions to
taik TO some dear departed one. And
they are particularly unselfish, for one
never heard of IL clairvoyant finding
the proverbia1 pot of gold for himself
Olten the police are called In to help
ma the hidden money. and Incidentally
also to locate the clairvoyant
Some Clairvoyant Jokers.
Some years ago n South Richmond
citizen enlisted the advice OF a clair
voyant as to how to make an easy
living. He gave the clairvoyant 81 900
to bury, so that 1t would grow The
Iclairvoyant performed the funeral
ceremony The dupe exhumed the en-
Nelope week after. 1t contained
newspaper clippings. The police have
been trying ever since to exhumc the
clalrvoyant. More recently clair
voyant told young woman that she
had very rich uncle in Europe, and
that he was thinking about dying and
leaving all his money to her He
couldn't tell at the first SIS visit exactly
where the uncle was living. He suS-
gested another Visit. and still more
visits until he had $50. Then he told
the young woman that the diamond
rings she was wearing were unlucky.
and offered to throw them away The
next day his lady friend" was wear
ing them. and he was forced to return
them under threat OF prosecution.
Astrology was the first science OF
tho hideinner vision, and was much in
practice by the ancient Chaldcans and
Assyrians. Palmistry Is n pretended
lore almost as moss-covered and equal
~ convincing. Table tapping is an
other form OF the art A medium taps
the table--without exhibiting the
"ircs-and departed relative comes
forth and gives sonorous advice
There is some claim for palmistrv as
an indication of character and ten
dency. but only by hard work have
the palms led to fortune Calloused
hands denote that the owner is n
laborer. Shapely hands. with slender,
tapering fingers. denote artistic tenn
permanent. Thick wrists, stumpy
fingers and fiat thumbs denote instinct
ana force. Such man may murder"
said palmist. and / suspect that
Hans Schmidt has such hand"
He'd Not Overlook Fortune.
We'll said palmist yesterday.
when he talked of the proposed raise
In the license, Il expected this when
the Gypsies and fakirs began coming
; In. Richmond is the wisest town when
the people get to know anything |
ever saw. and I've knocked around a
goou pit. You can't fool EN-. though
never tried 1t and never threw my
self into no trance. Just read the
pains. 30 cents for character reading
and 81 for general reading. Why, dye
suppose I'd he here like this with only
one suit OF clothes and an order from
iriehn Tor pair of shoes, If could
look into the future and find q fortune :?
not much, I'd be spending that for
tune right now, believe me, son. of
course. there are fakirs. just as there
arc In any other business. But / never
| bamboozled anybody out of anything
IN my me- though know some of 'cm
as VIII. Just plain reading with me.
People come TO US with mighty
queer requests some times. The other
day man offered my wife 1000 in
cold cash IL she would help him Kill
his wife. What did she do? She fooled
nm MI, along until she got out of him
all she could. and then she told the
police No, they amt found him as
! ! know of. And n young woman want
ed my wife to fix II up 50 she could
leave her husband. She wanted advice,
, and my wife gave 1t to her My wife
told her to stick to her husband, rs she
| promised to do at the altar. and she's
sticking. That's good advice. amt it?"
| About Thirty Palmists Here.
Palnlistry was first practIced ex-
clusively by the Romany tribes, who
follow each other around ne world
and pass the information each receives
along to the next tribe. 1t is now n
fad with society. and many n bejeweled
| woman practices the secret art in the
darkness of her drawing room. They
learn 1t from the professionals at heavy
cost, but no one has ever accumulated
enough from n palmists advice to
pay for supper when he was hungry
He had to go out and beg, or borrow.
| Richmond has about thirty men and
women who come under the head of
fortune tellers. a palmist said yester-
day, and he has travelled the country
over, that there is not single clair
voyant In Richmond. There are only
two or three In the world" he said,
and they've never been to Richmond"
Major Werner, remembering how
often the police have been called in
after the clairvoyant has gone, is much
in favor of the raise In license But n
Councilman said that If fortune telling
A., Is genuine the increased license would
be exorbitant and prohibitivc. while,
| If 1t is not genuine It's practice should
| q Inv ny.