NewEraCardTricks 10000545 PDF

P REF AC E .
NC OU RA G ED by the flattering reception given to

my previou s works I herewith submit to the con
,
j uring world of this country a nd England a des ,
c r i p t i on of the very l atest c a r d t r i c k s many of

.
which are now for the first time made public P articular
, ,
.
attention is called to the many n e w sleights which n o doubt ,
will receive a hearty welcome from those of my readers who

have made this very fascinating field of conj uring a special
study .
In the present work I have been greatly assisted by the

,
well known experts Messrs W E Robinson J W Elliott

, . . .
,
. .
a n d Adrian P late whom I

,
hereby thank heartily for the
many favors so cheerfully bestowed I also ack n owledge .
my indebtedness to P rof C onradi of Dresd en G ermany

.
, , ,
who kindly permit ted me to make several extracts from his

“
book ,
Der Moderne K a r t e n k u e n s tl e r ”
.
Hoping this book will prove of benefit to both the ama

t e u r and professional conj urer I remain ,
Sincerely
A . B O T E RB E R G .
'D AN
I NT ROD UC T I ON .
N O RD E R to become a successful conj urer with cards ,
it i s absolutely necessary that the learner should first

thoroughly familiarize himself with the variou s sleights
upon which the most e ffective card tricks are based .
It is impossible to devote too much time to the acquirement

and practice of these moves there being practically no limit
,
to the degree of dexterity that can be reached by practice

and only by practice .
After the necessary degree of proficiency i n the sleights

has been acquired each trick that the beginner intends to
,
perform mu st be carefully laid out and clothed a s it were

, , ,
“
with a certain speech technically termed patter the oh
, ,
j e c t of which is to cau se the trick itself to assume i n the ,
minds of the spectators a plau sible appearance

,
.
The performer s manner should be su ave but not over

’
,
polite a mistake made by most beginners

, . Over politeness
tends to reduce the performer to a level below that of the
spectators ; w hereas his obj ect is to con vey the impression
,
that he is a being gifted with an inexplicable power .

-m _ ~
HE T W O pr i ncip a l sleights u s e d in c a rd tric k s are

“ ” “ ”
the P ass and th e Force b oth of w hich m a y ,
saf ely be Cal led the s i ne q ua 71 0 1 2 of ca rd con j uring

'
“ “
A
” ”
s the Forc e i s pr a ctic a ll y t he P a s s w i t h an
addition t o it I shall first en d ea v or to te a ch m y re ader the
,
“
P a s s , which may be executed ei th er w i t h both hands or
”
wi th one h a nd only .
T H E D O U B L E H A NDED PA S S .
H E P U RP O SE of the
slei g ht i s to c ause the upper
a nd lo w er pa r ts of the p ack di v ided into h a l ve s ,
by t he little fin ger w hich i s h el d betw een the m, ,
to change place s ; that i s t he u ppe r part of t he

’
,
'
p ac k i s m ad
'
e t o t a k e the p l ac e o f t h e l ow er o n e a nd r ice
vers e .U su all y a selec te d card i s pl a c e d on the low e r ha l f

of the pac k the up pe r hal f i s th e n p l a ce d on to p of thi s
, ,
w hereu p on the pass i s mad e in t h e t w i n k l i ng of a n eye t h e

,
'
co nj urer s obj ect to bring th e s e l e c te d card fro m t h e mid d le

’
,
to the top of th e p a c k be i ng t he r eby a tta ined

, .
For this p u rpo s e the pa c k i s held in t h e l e f t hand be

, ,
ing di v ided into t w o ne a rl y e q ual parts by t h e l i ttle fi nge r ,
which i s inser ted b e t w e e n them F i g 2 (Mo s t Amer

,
i c a n . .
conj urers inclu di ng m yse lf pre fer the i n se rtion of the t hi rd

, ,
fi
SLEG S
I T
H E TW Oprincipal sleights u sed in card tricks are

f the “ P ass ” and the “ Force ” both of which may
'( ,
g
'
safely be called the Si ne qua 72 0 72 of ca r d conj uring

fi “ ” “ ”
.
As the Force is practically the P ass with an

addition to it I shall first endeavor to t each my re ader the
,
“ ”
P ass ,
which may be executed either with both hands or
wi th one h and only .
TH E D O U B L E H A ND E D PA S S .
HE P U RP OSE of the sleight i s to cause the upper

and lower parts of the pack divided into halves ,
by the little finger which i s held between them

, ,
to change places ; that i s the u pper part of the

,
pack is made to t ake the place of the lower one and vi ce

ve rs a
. U su ally a selected card is placed on the lower half
of the pack the upper half is then placed on top of this
, ,
whereupon the pass i s made in the twinkling of an eye the

, ,
conj urer s obj ect to bring the selec ted card from the middle
’
,
to the top of th e pack being thereby attained

,
.
For this purpose the pack is held in the left hand b e

, ,
ing divided into two nearly equ al parts by the little finger ,
which is inserted between them Fig 2 (Most American

,
. .
conj urers including m yself prefer the insertion of the third

, ,
8 NEW E RA C ARD TRI C K S .
finger instead of the fourth one as it allows the fingers to

,
grip the pack e t more firmly ) The pack i s now covered by

.
the right hand (Fig . which seizes the lower half of the
pack the fingers being stationed on the upper edge of the
,
cards a n d the thumb at the bottom U nder cover of the .
right hand the upper half of the pack which i s held clipped
, ,
between t h e third and fourth fingers i s drawn away till it ,
j ust clears the lower half .
FIG . 1 .
Simultaneously with this move m ent the right han d lifts ,
u p the lower half the root of the thumb acting as a support

,
.
Thus both packe ts are j u st made to pass each other without

actu ally touching both having n o w changed places
,
.
A close inspection of Fig 3 will serve to illu strate this

.
transposition still better The shaded part (No 2 ) in the

. .
drawing represent s the lower packet while the lighter on e

, ,
(No 1 ) indicates the upper one The original position of

. .
these two halves is shown in A ; while in B the upper part ,
of the pack is represented in the act of being tilted upwards

by the third a n d fourth fingers of the left hand In C the .
,
lift i ng of the lower packet is illu strated ; in D both halves ,
are seen to have passed each other E shows the n e w posi .
tion of the two packets .

NEW E RA C ARD TRICK S .
FI G . 8
.
10 NE W E RA CARD TR ICKS .
The beginner will at first find the making of the pass a

rather awkward and di fficult task but as he continues to ,
practice the fingers will begin to become more pliable as it

, ,
were and act in unconscious unison In a few weeks the

,
.
.
pass can be mastered s o tha t tricks depending on it can be ,
safely exhibited An ideal pass which mu st be absolutely

.
,
noiseless quick as a flash and practically invisible will

, , , ,
however take a year or more to acquire and even then c on

, ,
stant practice must be devoted to it .
TH E H E R R MA NN P A SS .
HE double handed pass that I am about to describe , ,
wa s a favorite wi th the late Alexander Herrmann

who delighted to puzzle with it people versed i n
the usu al sleights In this pass which depends .
,
almost exclusively upon misdirection n o chan ge of the two ,
halves of the pack c a n possibly be seen no matter how close ,
the spectator watches for it The secret lies in the fact that.
the upper front half of the pack is held in an upright posi

tion Behind this half under cover of which the t r a n s p o s i
.
,
tion of the two packets is effected the sp ectator is n ot a l ,
lowed to see .
I n the first position of the two packets the lower or , ,
rather the rear one is held in the left hand the first j oints
, , , ,
of the second and third fingers being stationed at the side of

the cards while the first and little fin gers lie curled up b e
,
hind it (Fig The upper or front pack et C is held in

.
, , ,
the right hand in the position as shown in Fig 4 the thumb

,
.
,
being located above a n d the fingers below the cards expos

, ,
ing as much of them as possible .
Both packets are held i n a perpendicular position C b e ,
i n g turned towards the spectators U nder cover of C the .

,
packe t B which is slipped between the fingers of the l eft

NEW ERA CARD TRICK S . 1 1
hand is tilted downwards and passed around the front of C ,
being then placed on the latter Fig 5 illustrates the act of

. .
packet B passing around C The two halves then occupy

.
the position shown in Fig 6

.
FI G . 4
.
After my reader has once understood the pr i nciple and

purpose of this pass he will be surprised how very useful
,
FI G . 5 .
the latter will prove in cases where the spectator i n a spirit

, ,
of contrariness refuses to have h i s attention diverted by the

,
12 NEW ERA C ARD TRICKS .
'
performer s patter and insists upon riveting his eyes upon

the conj urer s hands
’
.
The best way in which to u se this pass will be to have ,
the selected card laid on packet B upon which C is then ,

'
placed i t s back being turned towards the spectators who as

, ,
we wi ll take for granted keep their eye on the rear card

, .
The pass is then made under cover of C as explained the ,
pack being turned face upwards during this operation thu s ,
complet ely disguising the sleight .
FIG . 6 .
A n ot h e r u se to which this pass may be put

e x ce l l e nt ,
to c on v m ce the spectators that the selected card is neither

at the top n o r a t the bottom of the pack The card in this
,
.
case occupies the top place the regular double handed pass
,
is then made whereby the card is brought to the middle of

,
the pack both packets being held in readiness for the exe
,
c u t i on of the Herrmann P ass After having exhibited .
the top card the performer turns over the left hand which
, ,
holds the pack and shows that the bottom card is n o t the
,
chosen on e either I n turning back the left hand into its

.
original positi on i n which act it is assisted by the right the

, ,
”
Herrmann P ass i s made a n d the desired card is thu s
brought once more to the top of the pack .
TH E C H A RL I E R PA S S .
S the pass of this name i s by far the best one of all

single handed passes I shall describe it only
,
.
Th e pack i s held in the l eft hand a s shown i n Fig ,

.
8 the thumb being kept at one side of the cards

,
and the second and third fingers at the other side while the ,
first and f o urth finger s lie slightly be nt beneath the pack .
By sli ghtly unloosing the thumb the lower half of the ,
pack i s al l owed to drop down into the position shown i n

Fig 8 the first a n d fourth fingers immediately receiving
.
,
this packet and pushing it over towards the thumb press

, ,
FIG . 7
.
i ng it in a n upright position against the l a tt e r f The upper

‘
pack is now allowed to drop down a s shown in ,

9 the ,
former lower half being then placed on top of it (Fig

.
.
Although the various stages of the Charlier pass are illu s

t r a t e d a n d described it mu st however be understood that
, ,
these different moves mu st blend into each other a n d be p r a c

tically made on e .
(This same remark may be applied t o the
two passes previously explained ) I n practising this pass the
.
right hand ought to be left out of the play altogether the ,
left hand only being u sed i n placing the cards i n the posi
tion shown in Fig 2 . .
14 NEW ERA CARD TRICKS .
-Theusual method of empl o ying this pass is to hold the

pack in the position shown i n Fig 7 a n d to request the per
.
son to insert his card in the pack thu s o ffered to him As .
FI G . 8
.
he is about to do s o the performer allows the lower half of

'
the pack to drop int o the position seen in Fig 8 thereby

.
,
silently inviting t h e spect a tor to plac e h is card i n the open

i n g thus made . The right hand the n approaches the pack
FIG . 9
.
and shields it for a n instant at the same time the left hand
,
is rather quickly drawn b ack the right hand following the

, ,
pass being invisibly made under cover of these movements .

T H E F OR C E .
Y THE forcing of one or more cards is understood

the sleight whereby a person is compelled but ,
without his knowledge to draw such cards out of

,
the pack that the conj urer wishes to have selected

,
.
There i s a certain i n d e fin a bl e something about the force in ,
influencing the spectator s choice in an unnoticeable manner

’
.
This part of the sleight is practically impossible to explain ,
but will be readily understood and learned by the b e gi nn e i

after the latt e r has made a few expe r iments on that subj ect .
But n ow to the mechanical part of the force itself A f .
ter requesting the spectators to shuffle the pack thor oughly

the p e rf on n e r rece i ves it back 1 1 n d quickly notices the bot
tom card In the act of advancing to ward a specta tor he
.
,
makes the double handed pass bringing the bottom card to,
the middle of the pack which he immediately spreads out

,
in f a n shape r equesting the spectator to select a card Ju st

,
.
as the sp e ctator i s about to take a card the performer who , ,
h a s i n the meantime gradu ally passed the upper h alf of the

cards from one hand into the other arrives at the former ,
bottom card of which he has carefully kept track a n d ex

, ,
posing this card a trifle more than the others causes the ,
spectator s choice in nine cases out of ten to fall upon this

’
, ,
particular card The beginner is cautioned not to commit

.
t he u su al mistake of exposing o r offering the des ired card a t

too earl y a stage of the “
Force ”
At the moment that the
.
spectator s fingers are about to close on a card the desired

’
card mu st be there a n d n ot sooner .
I n case the performer fail s to force a particular card ,
the customary expedien t is to request a person to retain the

drawn card whereupon the conj urer goes to a more obliging
'
person (ladies are the easiest to force cards on ) a n d after

forcing the desired card does the trick he originally intend
,
ed to perform after which he requests the first spectator to

,
replace his card in the pack which i s t hen shuffled The .

N EW ERA C ARD TRI C K S . 1 7
conj urer then performs with this card one of the many exist
i n g tricks with a chosen card .
After a performer h a s thoroughly mastered the art of

forcing he can even venture to force a ca r d while the pack
,
i s held by one h and o nl y T h e desired card in this case i s

.
the top card I n the act of advancing to w ard the spectator

.
,
“ ”
the performer makes the Charlier P ass thereby bringing ,
the card from the top to the middle of the pack but allow ,
ing the two pac k ets to form a step The upper packet i s .
then spread a l i t tl e by the left thumb but none of the cards ,
are exposed nearly as much as the desired card which is the ,
top card of the lower heap U pon requesting a spectator to .
kindl y select a card the latter s choice will most always fall
,
’
u pon the card that is exposed t h e most Dependant upon .
this fact is a still bolder fo rm of forcing the cards i n this

, ,
case being placed on a tray held by the performer I n ar .
ranging the cards the performer simply takes care to expose

,
the card or cards that he intends to force more than a n y of

-
,
the others .
C H A N G ES .
of all sleights of this nam e is to chan ge

H E OBJE C T
a card held in the right han d for the top card of
the pack which is held in the left C han ges are
, .
especiall y useful when the performer h a s made a

mistake ha v ing b y some accident lost the chosen card
,
.
T aking any card out of the pack he places it without s how , ,
ing i t s face on the table and boldly asserts that it i s th e

, ,
c hosen card which he requests its owner to name

, U po n .
th u s becoming acquainted with the name o f this card he ,
spreads out the pack u n der the prete xt of showing that the
,
chosen c ard i s not c ontained am on g th e others I n reality .

,
he quickly fi nds th is ca rd a n d slips it beh i nd the others ,

18 NEW ERA C ARD TRI C KS
‘
thus bringing it to _
the top of the pack P icking up the
-
.
card on the table he adroitly changes it for the top card of

,
the pack 1
,
. the chosen one and exhibits it ,
.
“
The changes mostly employed by conj urers are the Top ,
” “
Change and the B ottom Change a description of which ,
is herewith given .
TH E T OP C H A NG E .
HE C ARD to be changed is held face downward

between the thumb a n d first finger of the right
hand while the pack i s kept in the left hand the
, ,
thumb lying loosely a cross the back of the cards ,
the finger being stationed at the bottom of the pack which ,
of course is also held face downwards Just a moment .
FI G . 1 1 .
“ ”
previous to the Change the thumb of the left hand se
,
c r e t e l y pushes the top card of the pack over towards the
right thereby causing it to proj ect over a trifle beyond the

,
rest of the cards The hands a r e then brought together for

.
a n instant only , a n d the top card of the pack is quickly

NEW ERA CARD TRI C KS .
9
seized by the first and second fingers of the right hand (Fig .
1 1 ) which is immediately withdrawn le a ving the card it ,
formerly contained on the top of the pack being retained ,
there by the thumb The act of bringing the two hands to

.
gether i s generally disguised by some appropriate gesture

by the performer who after havin g successfully executed
, ,
'
the slei ght usu ally rubs t h e card on his sleeve or requests
,
some spectator to breathe upon it then s howing that the ,
card h a s changed into another .
This change if adroitly executed is practically i m

, ,
possible to detect It is one of the most u seful of sleights

“
and for this reason ought to be practiced until the beginner

is thoroughly proficient in it .
TH E B O T T O M C H ANG E .
N TI I I S
form of the sleight the card to be exchanged ,
for the one on the top of the pac k is left at the bottom
of the latter The pack is kept in the left hand b e
.
tween the thumb which i s lying across the the top of

,
the cards and the first finger which is placed at the bottom
, ,
the remaining fingers of the same hand being held loosely

at the same place i n readiness to receive the card to be ex
changed which card i s held between the second a n d third
,
fingers of the right hand The hands are now brought to

.
gether for an instant only during which act the card in the
,
right hand i s left at the bottom of the pack being inserted ,
between the second a n d third fingers while at the same ,
time the top card of the pack which has been previously ,
pushed towards the right by means of the left thumb is ,
quickly s eized and carried away by the thumb a n d l ower part

of the first finger of the right h a n d (F i g '
.
“
As already stated in the description of the Top Change ,
there must n ot be the slightest lingering while the hands ,
a r e pl aced together for that very short period of time n e ce s
FIG . 12 .
sary to execute the change In the same manner as the

.
“ ”
Top Ch ange this sleight is generally a ccompanied and
..
disguised by an auxiliary movement of the bod y from the

right towards the left .
~
TH E NE W T OP C H ANG E .
HE P ERF ORMER seizes the c a r d _ s a y the Six of ,
Di amonds th at he i s about to exchange for the top

,
card of the pack between the thu m b a n d fingers

,
of the right hand holding the pack in the left

,
hand as shown in Fig 1 3 the top card of the pack being

.
,
slightly pu shed over towards the right hand by means of the

left thumb .
The conj urer thu s first shows the Six of Diamonds to

the spectators sitting to hi s right then to the one s directly
'
,
NEW ERA C ARD TRICK S . 21
opposite him and finally to the persons to his left Afte r

, , ,
.
having done s o he apparently p l aces the card on the table

,
to h i s right but in the act of passing the right hand over

,
FIG . 13 .
FIG . 14
.
the pack in the left the Six of Diamonds is left on top of

,
the latter the Ace of Hearts being noiselessly seized instead

,
a n d pl aced on the table .

TH E ME X I C A N T U R N O VER .
HIS E X C EL L E NT and very u seful sleight is s o far

but little known in conj uring circles in this
country It i s however extensively used in Mex
.
, ,
1 c o where professional gamblers employ it almost

,
exclu sively in playing Three C ard Monte The purpose of .
the sleight is to change a card lying on the table for one

held in the p e rfor m e r s h a nd ’
.
The method of procedu re is as follows : The card in the

right hand is held between th e first and second fingers the ,
second finger r e s ti ng on the back of the card

‘
Holding the .
latter in this m a nn e r a t an a n gl e of about 45 degrees the

,
~ .
,
conj urer pu shes its side under the card on the table thereby ,
appearing to turn over the latter A s however the card in .

, ,
the hand has re ached half way under the one on the table ,
the exchange is deftly made th e right thumb drawing u p

,
the card from the table and the fingers releasing the o ther
,
card instead turning it over at the same time

,
.
The sleight is not at all di fficult to acquire but mu st be ,
quickly performed i n which case the illu sion will be found

,
to be an excellent one .
TH E EX C E L SI O R C H ANG E .
HI S indetectable change which is the invention of ,
my ingeniou s frie nd Mr Adrian P late is n o doubt

,
.
,
the best of all changes that ha v e been invented u p

to the present day The beauty of the sleight lies
.
i n the deliberateness a n d apparent fairness with which it i s

executed .
I n performing it the selected card is secretly brought

,
94 NEW ERA CARD TRICK S .
If these m ovements w hich are not nearly a s complicated

,
as they appear to be are executed in a natural and deliber

,
ate manner the deception created will be as perfect a on e a s

,
.
the performer desires ;
TH E C OL OR C H A NG E .
HEColor C hange is a novel a n d i l l us i v e sleight b y

‘ '
’
the aid of which th e front card of the pack which ,
is held in the right hand is mysteriously trans ,
formed into another card generally a selected one

,
.
This ch ange takes place under cover of the left hand which ,
is sho wn to be empty pr ior to being pla ced over the cards ,
a n d also after t h e transfo rmation has tak e n place .
FIG . 16 .
FIRST METH O D .
The pack is held i n a perpendicular position be t wee n

the thumb and middle finger of the right hand a s indicated ,
i n F ig 1 6
. The fingers of the left hand are for a moment
.
,
only placed over t h e cards the thumb resting on the back

, ,
NEW ERA CARD I RI C K S 25
‘
.
of t h e pack A s this hand is taken away with a slight down

.
ward movement the rear card of the pack is carried along

,
with it (Fig 1 7) being clipped between the root of th e t humb

,
.
and that of the first finger .
FI G . 1 7 .
A s th e fron t card o f the pa ck is still i n its place n o on e ,
w ill attach any suspicion to t his move m ent Wh i ch practically ,
resembles a n indicato r y gesture The I l eft h a n d i s then a

.
fl
moment later replaced on the pack a n d t his t i m e l e a v e s the

“ '
p almed card on the top of t h e l a t t e r h an d is then r e

The_
‘
'
. .
m oved a n d the transformation of the front card is seen to
h a v e t a k e npl ac e
'
S E C ON D M ETH O D .
This is a v ari ation of or rather an improvement on the

, ,
last sleight as in this method the pack is held i n a more

,
natural and easy manner as shown i n Fig 1 8 It wi l l be

,
. .
n oticed that instead of being held perpend i cularly the posi ,

26 NEW ERA C ARD TRI C K S .
tion of the pack in this case is almost a horizontal one As .
the right hand which has previou sly been shown empty
,
,
passes over the pack with an upward movement it seize s ,
FI G . 18 .
FI G . 19
.
a ndcarries away the rear card of the pack clipping it b e

,
tween the root of the thumb a n d first finger (Fig .
hand is then replaced on the pack a n d the palmed card left

there .
NEW ERA CARD T RI C KS . 7
THIRD METH O D .
In this version of the C olor C hange the pack is held i n ,
a hor i zontal position in the lef t han d the thumb of the lat,
ter being kept at on e side of th e p ack the first finger on the ,
back and the remaining fingers at the other side of the cards .
The right hand now covers the pack for a moment only , ,
or more properly speaking passes over it U nder cover of

, .
this movement the first finger of the left hand pushes the
,
rear card of the pack forward it being received and palmed

,
FI G . 20 .
by the right hand during its transit The execution of the .
sleight will b e facilitate d if the tip of the first finger of the

left hand i s slightly moistened previous to the trick Fig . .
2 0 gives a rear view of the operation The act of passing .
t h e right hand whic h h a s previously been shown empty

, ,
across the pack must be made to appear a gesture of no par

,
t i c u l a r importance.
The hand in which the card is placed i s then replaced

upon the pack a moment later and the card left on the top ,
a fter which process the change i s exhibited .
F OU RTH METHOD .
Here we have an entirely different manner of a cc om

p s h i n g the Color Chang e
l i I n this method one hand only
,
.
, ,
which holds the pack is used While every one is l ooking

,
.
at the front card of the latter it is seen to suddenly trans

,
form itself into a n entirely different one .
The pack is firmly held i n the left hand between the root
,
FI G . 21 .
FIG . 22 .
of the thumb and the first j oints of the first and second fin
gers (Fig . The thumb then pushes the first card t he Five ,
of Clubs upwards about one and a half inches pulls it over

, ,
towards the left side and then slips the card on the back of
,
the pack where it is held clipped between the first j oint of

,
the thumb and the lower j oint of the first finger (Fig .
The operation i s generally covered by a rapid rotary gesture

of the hand .
Besides being very u seful in effecting a visible change

of a card this sleight may be employed to excellent a d v a n
,
tage in making a sort of a slip pass whereby the top card

,
of the pack the back of w hich i s turned towards the spec

,
t a t or s
,
is transferred to the bott om without their being
aware of the fact .
TH E C AR D V
P AL JI .
THE Card P a l m i s understood the method of

se cretely removing one or more cards from the top
of the pack a n d holding them concealed on the
hand .
TH E R E G U L A R P A L M .
'
SECRET L Y obtain p os s e s s m n of a s e l e c t e d c a r d _
which has been brought to t he top of the pack by
means of the pass the following course is u su ally
,
adopted : The pack i s held i n the left hand the ,
the c a rds of course being upp erm ost The right

, ,
.
then placed lengthwise over the pack while at the ,

30 '
NE W ERA C ARD TRI CKS .
same time the left thumb pushes the top card of the pack
over into the right which seizes the card and is then partly
,
closed j ust enough to give it a natural appearance Fig 2 3 . .
shows the manner in which the card is held resting against ,
the slightly bent first j oints of the second and third fingers
and the root of the thumb .
The right hand is now carelessly dropped to the side ,
or placed on the hip while with the left the pack is handed
,
to a spectator with the request to shuffle it A still better .

,
but m uch bolder plan is to seize the pack with the same
,
hand in which the card is concealed and in this fashion hand

i t out to be shu ffled the left hand being casu ally shown emp
,
FI G . 23
.
ty during the maneuver The proper way in which to hold

.
the pack for this purpose is to grasp it between the first

,
j oint of the thumb and the lower j oint of the first finger of
the right hand the inside of which is turned toward the
,
floor Care must be taken to hold t he fingers of this hand

.
'
closely together s o that the spectator to whom the pack i s

, ,
given cannot get a glimpse of an accidentally exposed part of

,
the palmed card When the pack has been returned to the
.
conj urer the latter receives it with the left hand a n d care
,
lessly passing the right hand over it leaves the palmed ca rd ,
on the top .
time the l ittle fing er tilts the first card lying above it u p
wards the cards being thereby rapidly and invisibly pro
,
p e l l e d into the right hand which instantly palms them

,
.
HE S L EI G HT or rather flourish of this title has of

, ,
late years become quite popular with the conj urers

of this country some of whom have attained a
,
wonderful proficiency in performing it; having

'
e l a b or a t e d t h e original idea conside rably Foremost among .
these are my friends Mr Elliott w h o I believe is the orig

.
'
,
'
,
‘
i n a t or o f the mo v e and Mr Harry Houdini another very

'
.
, ,
FIG . 24 .
dextrous card manipulator I shall give a full description

.
of the sleight proper but can only treat the elaborations in

,
brief for the simple reason that on account of their great ,
di ffi culty they would be appreciated by a select few only A s

,
.
the name of the sleight indicates one or more cards are ,
palmed or rather kept concealed on the back of the hand

, , ,
being transferred to there from the front of the hand The .

. NEW ERA C ARD TRI C K S . 33
card is first seized between the thumb and first finger of the
right (or left ) hand the inside of which i s turned towards
,
the a u dience From this place it is transferred to the posi

.
tion shown in Fig 2 4 being held betw een the first and
. .
,
.
fo u rth fingers i t s lower end be i ng bent into a convex form

,
‘
FI G ; 25 .
as indicated in the illustration T h e second and third .

.
gers which have rem ained passive up to this moment now

, ,
curl under the lower edge of the card (Fig and twirl it .
over to the back of the hand where I t is held as shown i n ,
Fig 2 6 By reversing the process the card i s made to a p

. .
,
pear a t the finger tips .
My readers will of cou r se understand that a s the e x e c u ,
tion of the sleight takes but a moment the four different

‘
stages or moves are practically made to form one com

, ,
pound movement only .
The improvements of this sleight consist of being able

to show the hand empty from both side s and still have the
card palmed anyway In the act of turning over the hand
.
,
i n order to show that the card i s not concealed on its back it ,
is removed from there and by a very adroit process which

, ,
i s almost impossible to describe is brought back to the i n ,
side of the hand where it is palmed by clipping its upper

“
c orners between the first a n d second and the third a n d

34 NEW ERA C ARD TRICK S .
fourth fingers respectively From this position it is instant

.
l y transferred once more to the back of the hand .
By dint of considerable practice the two performers ,

“
that I have men t ioned i n the beginni ng of this article are e n ,
FI G . 26 .
abled to palm a number of cards in this fashion then produce ,
one card after another at the finger tips still showing both ,
sides of the hands emp t y at any stage of the trick .
NE W T H O U G H T C A R D SL EI G H TS .
N DE S C RIBIN G the followi ng entirely new methods of

discovering the name of a card that a spectator has ,
secretly thought of I take great pleasure in making

,
my readers acqu ainted with some of the most interest ;

ing and inde t ectable sleights in the whole range of con
j uring All these methods a re the sole invention of my
.
very ingenious friend Mr Wm E Robinson

, . . . .
NEW ERA C ARD TRI C K S . 35
FIRST METH O D .
N THIS form of the trick the performer takes a pack ,
of cards that has j ust been shu ffled by a spectator and

holding the cards of the order of which he h a s a b s o
,
l u t e l y no knowl edge in the right hand with the backs

, ,
) f the cards towards himself passes them one at a time into

,
.h e left hand at the same time requesting a spectator to

,
.hink of a n y card that he desires After the person has .
fig u i fi e d tha t he has made a selection the performer closes ,
1 p the pack a n d gives it a thorough shu ffl e He n ow fin .
shes the trick i n any manner that he chooses producing for , ,
n s t a nc e
, the thought card at any number called for or ,
3a u s i n g any card that some one else selects at random from
h e pack t o change into the thought card

,
.
The secret of this entirely new d od ge d e p e nd s p r a cti

‘
ally upon a novel application of the Mind Reading Act a ,
Bishop a n d Cumberland As the performer deliberately

.
hand to the left he counts ,
y watching the eyes of the

to whom he is rather close It is a curiou s fact .
,
on as the latter has made a silent choice hi s eyes ,
a recognition of that fact by the glance losing its

The conj urer can thus i nvariably tell which card
selected and having kept tally on the number of
,
,
sed knows its exact position i n the pack It is a .
easy matter for him to make the pass at this

thereby bringing the desired card to the top of the
which i s next subj ected to a vigorous but false shu ffl e .
nish of the trick which is optional with the performer

, ,
to be made as brilliant a one as possible .
conj urer employing this plan of discovering a card

thought of is apt to be suspected of being in league
,
satanic maj esty for he takes an unprepared pack of

,
that has j u st been shu ffled a n d without as much a s

,
ing at one of the cards places the pack behind his

,
which he turns towards the spectators P assing the .
from one hand to the other he invites a spectator to ,

36 NEW ERA CARD TRI C KS .
think of on e of them ; then closing up the pack and after ,
shu ffling it produces the selected card in any way that he

,
sees fit .
SECOND METH OD .
This method which i s entirely di fferent in principle to

,
the preceding one depends mainly upon a no v el way of ,
forcing a card As the conj urer rather rapidly passes the

.
cards from one hand into the other he keeps the attention ,
of the spectator engaged by about the followi n g remark :

“
Now s i r a s I pass these cards from one hand into the
, ,
other in this fashion please have the kindness to think of ,

” ”
one of the cards The moment that he exclai m s
. think ,
he stops for an instant only fully exposing the face of the ,
card that he is about to transfer then actu ally placing it in ,
the other hand and passing the remaining cards in quick

succession on top of it The person will in almost every .
,
case select the card that the performer has made a brief
stop at for the very simple reason that he did not kn ow to
,
a certainty what the conj urer wished him to do until the

“ ”
latter came to the word think of the short sentence he ,
uttered It is also almost impossible for him to select any

.
of the cards that follow the one that the performer intends
to force becau se they are intentionally passed too quickly
,
before h i s eyes .
The artist who ha s slipped the little finger of the left

,
hand above the forced card while transferring it to the other

hand closes up the pack a n d in the act of turning around
, , ,
makes the pass thereby bringing the card to the top of the
,
pack P alming off this card he allows the pack to be thor

.
,
oughly shu ffled replacing t h e palmed card after it has been

,
returned to him a n d then finishes the trick in a n y way he

chooses .
THIRD METHOD .
The ruse employed in this version of th e feat is really

as ingenious as the preceding on e .
NEW ERA CARD TRI C K S . 37
The performer advances towards a spectator a n d hold ,
in g the pack with the faces of the cards towards himself ,
auses them to spring from one hand to the other in the

m anner familiar to all conj urers At the same time he r e
‘
.
,
quests a spectator to think of any one of the cards that he

s ees . The gentleman does as requested and is very much
s urprised when a few moments later the conj urer produces
,
in some mysterious manner the card that he actually se

,
l e ct e d .
In th i s case another novel force resembling in principle ,
the preceding one is used It is practically impossible for

, .
the spectator to note in particular any of the cards a s they

, ,
are sprung from one hand to the other for the very reason ,
that they pass be fore his eye in too quick a succession to

each other When about half of the cards have been
.
sprung the performer stops for an instant s a y a qu arter of

, ,
e con d thereby causing an extremely brief cessation of

,
springing and thus causing th e last card that has been

more fully exposed than any of the others .
readily grasps t h e chance o ffered to him and

rd which the performer who quickly places ,
t sees as well as he,

The rest of the .
of the other ones in the u su al

the pack is closed and the pass made
the chosen card is brought to the top of the pack ,
he performer then dealing with it as best suits the occasion .
TH E NE W GLI MP SE .
Y THE G limpse is understood the very a dv a nt a g
sleight of secretly getting sight of a selected

e ou s
card which has been replaced i n the pack or of a ,
card preparatory to forcing it .

FIRST METH OD .
N THIS the regular form of the sleight the little fin

, ,
ger of the left hand i s inserted below the chosen card ,
while the latter i s being returned to the pack the r e ,
maining fingers of the same hand resting on t h e top

of the cards In the act of handing the pack to a s pectator
.
to shuffle t h e performer slight l y raises the upper one of the

,
two packets and thu s obtains a rapid glimpse of the lowest

card in the upper heap which card is the selected one
,
The .
spectators may now shu ffle the cards as long as they ma y

desire without incommoding the conj urer who knowing the
, , ,
name of the card chosen is enabled to discover it with the ,
greatest ease .
S EC O ND ME TH OD
This method of getting a glimpse of a card will prove

of great advantage in any trick where it is necessary to
force a card for the sole reason of being able to have the
pack shu ffled after the forced card has been replaced in t h e
,
pack which is generally handed to the spectator for this

,
purpose This sleight does away with the u s ual forcing of

.
the bottom card of the pack which card the performer has ,
previously noted The obj ection to the last mode is that a

.
sharp spectator may also have seen this particular card a n d ,
noting that the selected card is identical with the former

bottom card of the pack thus obtains a partial clue to the
,
m odus Op e ra ndi .
In order to execute the slight the performer holds the ,
pack in the first position necessary for the making of the

Charlier P ass only more perpendicularly In the act of
,
.
advancing toward a certain spectator he allows the lower ,
half of the pack to drop down (or to second position of the

Charlier pass ) a nd is thu s afforded a rapid glimpse of the
bottom card of the upper heap which is instantly dropped ,
back on the lower packet a step being however formed by , , ,
the two enabling the conj urer to tell the j oint of division of
,
the two packets T h e l p a ck is then spread out i n the u su al

“
.
purposes acqu ainted with the name of the chosen card

,
itself .
MBL ERS the bridge extensively in causing

us e
their opponent to cut the cards at a certain place

desir e d by the operator whereas in conj uring the
, ,
bridge serves principally to discover by its aid a ,
selected card which has been replaced and shu ffled into the
pack by the spectators themselves .
A s this result cannot be attained by any other method ,
unless prepared cards are u sed the u sefulness of the sleight

,
will readily be perceived Holding the pack in the left hand

.
,
the thumb resting across the back of the cards the per ,
former seizes the upper and lower ends of the pack and
gives the cards a sharp bend towards himself A spectator .
is then invited to chose any card that he desires and told to

look at it closely s o that he will be sure to recognize it .
While he does s o the conj urer gives the pack another

,
bend this time in t he opposite direction to the first bend

,
.
The pack is then handed to the spectator with the request to

replace his card and after shu ffling the pack thoroughly ,
to return it to the performer As soon as the latter receives

.
the pack he holds it rather loosely and w ill n ow find that

,
owing to the different curve of the selected card the pack ,
will open itself at the very spot where this card i s located .
It is an easy matter for him to insert the little finger at this

place then making the pass and bringing the selected card
,
to the top of the pack after which he proceeds with the

,
trick i n any manner that he desires .

NEW ERA C ARD TRICK S .
TH E P R E AR R AN G E D P A CK .
S THE title indicates the cards contained in the ,
pack are previou s to the performance placed in

, ,
a certain regular order which the performer knows

by heart To facilitate the memorizing and recall
.
ing of this order a sort of formula or artificial aid to mem

,
ory is generally employed the most popular one being the ,
following :
Eight kings threatened to save ,
Eight King Three Ten Two Seven

, , , , , ,
Ninety -fi v e queens for one s i ck knave .
Nine ,
Five Queen Four On e
, , , ,
Six Knave
,
.
The words of this verse suggest as will be observed , ,
the values of the cards printed below them The performer .
must also h ave a regular order of the four suits as for i n , ,
stance : Hearts Clubs Diamonds Spades

, Thus the first
, ,
.
,
cards of the prearranged pack would be : Eight of Hearts ,
King of Clubs Three of Diamonds Ten of Spades Two of

, , ,
of Hearts Seven of Clubs etc the last card being the

, ,
.
,
Knave or Jack of Spades .
A number of capital tricks explained in this book de ,
pend exclusively upon the u s e of the prearranged pack .
When the reader who is advised to get up a formul a of his

,
own arrives at the description of these tricks he will

‘
, ,
readily observe the many ways in which the prearranged

pack may be employed to good advantage .
TH E GL I DE .
HE G L IDE is a simple but useful form of the

Change whereb y the bo ttom card of the pack is
,
apparently removed and placed on the table the ,
performer however taking the second card from

the bottom instead .
He first holds the pack in a perpendicular position thu s ,
exhibiting the bottom card .The hand is then lowered to a

horizontal position whereupon the bot t om card is apparent
,
FI G . 27
.
ly removed _What really takes place I s that by means of

.
,
the previously moistened third finger the lowest card is ,
drawn toward the performer for about an inch and the next
card in our illustration (Fig 2 7) the Six of Clubs is taken
,
.
,
instead a n d placed on the table .

N EW ERA CARD TRICK S . 43
TH E R E V
O L U TI O N .
N THIS sleight which is mostly u sed as a finale to a

,
card trick the pack which is held face do w nwards i s

, , ,
then dropped on the floor or table whereby a card u s , ,
u a l l y a selected on e appears at the top of the pack

, ,
reversing itself du ri ng thi s operation so that it now lies face

uppermost .
The selected card is first brought to the top of the pack

by means of the pass being retained in this posi tion by a
,
False Shu ffle . The performer then transfers the pack from
the left hand to the right during this act pushing the top ,
card of the pack over toward the right by means of the

left thumb The right hand now with some force drops
.
, ,
the pack on the table from a height of about two feet T he .
pressure of the air acting on the protruding portion of the

,
top car d causes the l atter to turn over s o that it n ow lies

,
face upward s .
There are several novel tricks which depend altogether

on this sleight . On e of them is the following :
A card i s chosen and placed on the table by the per
former who then drops the pack upon the chosen card
, ,
which apparently j umps to the top of the pack turning face ,
u pwards during this evolution .
This rather neat trick depends upon the clever e x e c u

o f the T op Change and the Revolution After the chosen .
c ard has been exhibited the performer changes it for a n

,
other card by means of the Top C hange then placing the ,
s ubstitute on the table G etting the pack into the position

.
n e ce s s s a r y for the Revolution he drops it directly on the ,
c ard on the table cau sing the upper card which is reall
, y ,
t h e selec ted one to turn over

, .
In the s econd trick the chosen card after the False

, ,
S hu ffle is left the second one from the top of the pack The
, .
latter is then dropped on the table the uppermost card b e ,
i n g made to turn over The performer asks if this i s the

.
desi red card a n d appears to b e surprise d at learning t h a t

such i s not the case He then states that having committed

.
this error he will try to remedy it by causing the wrong

,
card to visibly change into the chosen one For this pur .
pose he removes the top card carrying with and hidden b e

, ,
hind i t the selected card Both cards which the audience

, .
,
believes to be one are replaced in their original position on

,
the top of the pack being allowed to protrude a little at one

,
side of the latter The pack is now rather vehemently

.
thrown on the table t h e r eb y ca u s i n g both top cards to turn

‘
over the wrong card thu s visibly changing into the right one
,
.
F A L SE SH U E E L E S
A L S E Sh u ffle s are of two kinds , the obj ect of on e

being to keep in vie w one or several cards only ,
while th e remainder of the pack i s given a genuine

shu ffl e . By means of th e other False Shu ffle the
entire pack which is generally prearranged is kept in the
, ,
same order throughout The variou s methods by which this

.
lat t er result may be accomplished will be described first .
HE simplest form of the False Shu ffle is the cutting

of the pack in whist fashion by taking off the ,
upper half of the pack placing it on the table and ,
placing the lower half of the pack on top of it .
By this process the cards are only cut but n ot shuffled for , ,
when the former bottom card i s found and all card below it
are placed on top of the pack the latter will be restored to
,
N EW ERA C ARD TRI C KS . 45
tsorig i nal order As well known as this fact i s among con

.
l urers it is astonishing how little the general public is a o

,
1 u a i n te d with it .
In order to thoroughly deceive even t h e persons that

i re acqu ainted with this principle of the simple cut the ,
n od e rn conj urer divides the pac k into either three four or ,
ive heaps which he places together in such an irregular

,
> r d e r that one who h a s not actu ally tried the same process ,
wi l l be positive that the cards have become hopelessly

nixed A s this i s however not the conj urer s i ntention I
.
, ,
’
,
1 asten to make my re ader acquain ted with e the m od us
rd fl di s o that he can go and do likewise S upposing that

‘
,
.
.h e pack has been divided into three heaps which we will ,
'
all A B and C and which are placed on the table as follows :
, ,
B .
L ower Heap . Middle Heap . U pper Heap .
Heap A i s place d on C and B on A and C which process , ,
ill be found to preserve the original order of the cards .
For four heaps :
Seco nd Heap . Third Heap . U pper Heap .
C i s placed on B A on D CB on AD ; or A on D B on
.
, , ,
D BAD on C
,
.
For five or more heaps :

The P a ck is placed on the table a t A a few cards are
ken from the top and are placed at B ; a few more are taken
pl a c ed at C the same process being repeated ,
E A i s t h en quickly placed on B B on C C on
.
, ,
n E If these ingeniou s a n d very u seful methods

.
v e been well practised and can be performed
hands being used at the same time the con ,
sure that there isn t the slightest doubt in the ’
spectators that the pack has n ot been thor

,
SH U F F L I NG TH E E N T I R E P A C K .
S THIS method _ of apparently shuffling the entire
pack is by far the best of all existing False Shuf

fl e s the beginner need not trouble himself with
,
learning any other method a s this one and a j u ,
d i c i ou s combination of the various trick C uts will answer ,
for all occasions .
The prearranged cards the order of which the conj urer

,
does not wish to disturb by shu ffling are held in the left ,
hand the thumb of which begins the false shu ffle by push
,
ing a number of cards which we will call A into the right

, ,
hand Now from the bot t om of the pack remaining in the

.
,
left hand which we will call B a number of cards are passed ,
upon the top of A A few cards from the top of B are then
.
transferred to the bottom of A the performer continuing in ,
this manner until all the cards have been successively passed
from the left into the right hand If desired this apparent .
shu ffle may be repeated a f e w times If i t i s smoothly and .
rapidly executed the illusion will be found to be all that can

,
be desired .
F OR O NE C AR D .
N THIS method one particular card only is to be kept

, ,
in view said card having been brought to the top by

,
means of the pass The pack i s then taken in the

.
left hand thc thumb of which rests on the back of

,
cards while the fingers are placed underneath Exercising .
a slight pressure with the thumb on the top card the per ,
former seizes the pack with the right hand a n d lifts off all
cards excepting the top on e which is thereby brought to the
bottom the cards held in the right hand being then promis
,
c u o u s l y shuffled on top of it .
Tri ck s W 1 t h Ca rds .
NE P L U S U L TR A .
FIRST METH O D .
HE spectators are requested to examine and shuf

fl e an ordinary pack of cards the performer r e t i r ,
ing to a su fficient distance to be prevented from s e e

ing what is taking place At his request the s p e ct a
.
tors select a t random an y number of cards say seven from the ,
pack and write down their names on a slip of paper which

, ,
one of their number folds up and p laces in his pocket The .
selected cards are placed face downwards on the table i n ,
a separate heap by the side of the pack which is also turn

,
ed face downward When affairs have reached this stage

. .
the performer advances a n d asks a gentleman to replace the

seven selected cards on th e top of the pack and then to cu t
the latter whist fashion that i s give the cards a single ou t
, , , ,
the other surrounding spectators being also invited to cut

the cards in this manner .This having been done the per ,
former seizes the pack and taking off the four top cards ,
bu t w i thou t di s tu rbi ng Me i r Orde r pl aces them on the table

,
on the spot indicated by A the next four top cards are

.
placed at B the next at C and four at D also He then

. . . .
recommences at A by placing four cards on top of the those

.
already there and continues i n this manner until there are

,
twelve cards each in heaps A B C and D ,

Fou r cards are
, ,
.
still remaining in his hands These he disposes of by plac

.
T h re e of t he P ri n ci p a l C a rd C o nj u re rs of Am i
e r ca .
N EW ERA C ARD TRI C K S . 49
ing the topmost one on top of heap A the next on B , , a nd
the remaining ones on C and D
D
He now picks up A then B which he pl aces on top of , ,
A in h i s hand On this h e places C and on top of this D

. .
, ,
.
Again the cards are d e alt in four heaps but in this case , .
only one card at a time is placed s u cce s s i v l y on A B C , ,
and D s o that the performer i s oblige d to make this ro u nd

,
thirteen times when all the cards are evenly distributed

,
:
T hey are then picked u p i n the same fashion as already

d escribed i e,
B onA C on B a n d D on C
. .
,
.
, ,
.
Once more they are dealt out a s indicated in the follow

ing table No 1 by placing the topmost card which we will
.
, ,
call No 1 in the upper right h a n d c or ne r and dealing the

.
,
next six top cards towards the left In placing the se cond .
he commences at the right side at the s pot i n ‘
H e proceeds in this manne r until he h a s l a i d

e cards face do w nwards i n seven rows of seven cards
, ,
which pro cess leaves three cards rema i n i ng I n his

ands : these he places at 5 0 5 1 and 5 2 ,
.
T ABL E NO . 1
5 4
12 1 1
19 18
26 25
33 32
40 39
47 46
52 51
All these preliminaries which 1 n actu al practice occu py ,
uch less time than it takes to describe them having been ,
through with the perf orm er now slowly passes his

,
to and fro over the card s whic h as will be r e , ,
are lying fa ce downwards and suddenly seizing ,
m exhibits it asking the spectator holding the

, ,
er whether that is not the fi rst on e of the s elect

'
,
50 NEW E RA C A R D TRICKS
'
ed cards a nd receives a surprise d answer i n the a ffi r mative “
The performer then proceeds to pick out the rema i n i ng SI X

“
cards i n rapid succession to each other calling due attention ,
to the fact th at he d i s cov e I s them I n exactly the same orde r

i n which they have been chose n .
I n orde r n o t t o confuse m y rea de rs I will teach the m ,
only h o w to perform the f eat l ea vin git t o those wh o have a

,
taste for the solving of m athematic al problems to discove r ,
t h e key to the secret :

,
I shall firs t explain t h e si mplest me th o d of pe rform i n g ‘
the feat For this it is necessary th at the conj urer sh oul d

.
secretly remove prior to e xp e r I m en t one of t h e card s of

, ,
the pack which card he ma 1 k s s l i gh tl y on the back j ust s u f

'
, ,
fi ci e ntl y to enable him to disti nguis h it from the other cards .
While the spectators are Occupie d wit h the s el e c tmn of thei r

cards the performer palms the ma r ke d card in h i s righ t
,
hand After the gentleme n has repla ced t h e chosen card s

.
o n the top of the pack as requested by the con j urer the lat ,
'
ter p l a ce s h i s right hand for a mo m ent on the p a ck p u s h i n g , ‘
it towards the spectators and inviting them to cut the cards

“
By the aid of this little pretext he i s enable to leave t h e ,
palmed marked card on top of the pack w i tb o u t being ob

,
served .
An y ot h er suitable expedient will ans w er equ ally as well

as for instance seme trivial remark pertaining to the e xp e ri
ment as long as the spectator s attention i s t h ere by diverte d
,
’
m o m e n t a rl y from the slight movement of placing the palme d
card on top of the selected ones T he spectators then cu t .
the pack as often as they please after w hich the performe r ,
deals out the cards (quadrating is the technical term for t h e

two di fferent ways of mixing them ) as already set forth
‘
T he cards having been l a id on t h e table I n rows of seve n

cards each and the remaining t hree cards placed in a s e p
,
arate smaller r o w at the bottom the real process of findin g ,
t he chosen cards begins .
For this it is necessary to have committed to memory

the following abbreviated T able No 2 or if the studen t .
, ,
NE W ERA CARD TRIC KS . 51
should find the m e m or i z 1 n g too di ffi c ult a task have it ,
written on a small c a r d w h i ch he holds openly or concealed

,
in his hand consulting it a s he proceeds with th e picking

,
out of the selected cards .
TABL E NO . 2 .
JS 8C 5D 10 H 1 0S 7C 4D
3D 8H 58 2C 3H KC 1 OD
— o u
9D JH AH JC 8D 98 6C
— _ g
50 2D 7H 4s AO 2 H QC
51 1 as Q D Ks 1 00 7D 8S
78 4C AD 6H 38 KD QH
'
—o
so 41 1 AS J D , Q8 90 6D
I l xn gn
l 6s
\
In placing the cards in rows the conj urer h a s kept his ,
eyes open for t h e previously secreted marked card and h a s ,
carefully not ed which place it occupies We will suppose .
that it i s card No 1 2 according to Table No 1

. Consulting . .
T able No 2 the performer finds the twelfth place on the

.
,
latter a n d sees that it is occupied by the Five of Spades .
This is the starting point Knowing that according to the

.
order of t h e cards described in T able 3 the Six of Spades ,
follows the Five of S pades he consults Table No 2 a n d finds,

.
th at the Six of Spades is the first card i n the small row or ,
more properly speak i ng the fiftieth card according to T able

,
No 1
. . P icking up this card he will fin d that it is the first ,
o n e of the selected cards .
Once more referring to Table No 3 (which of course

, .
,
he knows by heart ) he sees that the card following the Six

,
of Spades is the Seven of Sp a d e s Consulting Table No 2 he . .

,
fi nds that the Seven of Spades occupies the forty second p o

52 NEW ERA C ARD TR I C K S .
sitio ; consequently he picks up the forty second card on

u ,
-
the table and thus h a s discovered the second one of the

chosen cards .
T AB L E NO . 3 .
Diamonds . 27
. Ace of S pades
The next card that he look s for in T able No ; 2 is the ,
Eight of Spades which lies in the twenty -ninth p l a e c

,
.
Therefore the twenty -ninth card of the ones lying on the

,
table m u s t b e the next card wanted .
The fourth card in this same case would be the sixteenth ,

card Thus K D sig n ifies the King of Diamonds

.
.
,
2 S
t he Two of Spa des etc , .
T AB L E NO . 4
.
. 3D
After my intelligent re ader has mastered the simple

rules governing this most interesting a n d absolutely i n
detectable feat he can then embellish it accordin g to his
,
fancy a n d by the u se of a few additional dodges obtain an ,
almost marvelou s result Thu s the secreted palmed card

.
, ,
may be dispensed with t h e performer picking u p the pack

,
for a moment a n d bending on e corner of the bottom card ,
which will l ater on serve a s a starting point in the same ,
way as the marked top card did .
Another still better way I s to u s e a pack with a marked

printed back (obta inable at all magical repositories ) i n
wh ich case the performer only has t o note the top card of
the selected ones which he afterwards easily discovers
,
among the others He can even invi te a spectator to do all

.
the qu adrating and laying out s o that he need never touch

,
the cards during t h e entire experiment on which point of ,

.
course he lays great stress I also suggest the blindfolding

, .
of the conj urer b y means of a borrowed handkerchief it b e

*
,
i n g a we l l known fact among magicians a n d second sight .
artists that a person may seemingly be securely blindfolded

,
NEW ERA C ARD TR I CKS . 55
a nd still be able to see out from under t h e handkerchief :
provided the latter has b e en folded into a rather small com ,
pass But the greatest on e of the additions to this m y s t e r i

.
o u s feat consists in the u s e of a pack of B i s ea u te cu rds

,
be t ,
ter known as Stripp ers which may be shu ffled after the
.
,
selected cards have been replaced on top of the pack For .
t hi s p u r p o s e the performe r takes o ff t h e u pper half of the

'
pack and turns it half way around s o that its narrow ,
ends are opposite to t h e r e m a i n i n g wide half of the pack ,
“ ”
P i/fies both into each other by means of the well known
table shu ffle familiar to all card players
,
Half of the strip .
pers now l a y o n e way a n d the other half the opposite way

,
All that the performer therefore has to do in order to r e

, ,
store the pack to i ts former order is to simply pull one half ,
of the pack out of the other a n d pl ace the two packets to ,
gether .
The attention of my readers is also called to the variou s

w ays of cutting cards and thereby mixing them tho roughly
, ,
as explained i n the earlier pages of this book The combi ,
nation of ruses that I would suggest are a marked stripper

pack a nd the blindfolding of the performer Equipped i n ‘
thi s manner t h e artist may challenge the world (a n d e s p e ci

,
ally the ubiquitou s gentleman who h a s a smattering of c on ,
j uring ) a n d convince them that there are still a few things

,
“ ”
n o t dreamt of i n their philosophy Some of my readers .
e specially th e professionals may raise the j ust obj ection

,
'
,
that this feat i s not suitable of being performed before a

large assembly of people Neither are a number of standard
.
tricks which nevertheless are very popul ar

, .
For an experiment to be exhibited in the parlor this ,
c ard feat in my estimation eclipses all others especially as

, , ,
it is entirely unknown to the conj urers a n d the public alike ,
this being the first t i m e t h a t the explanation has ever be en

made public .
SEC OND ME T H OD .
“
In this version of the Ne P l u s U ltra Trick a n entirely
'
di fferent e ffect is obtained by exactly the same means .

After th e selec t e d cards have been r e turned t o the pac k and

the latter cut and qu a rr a t e d as d escribed the performer ,
takes the cards back uppermost and rapidly deals them

, ,
face uppermost one at a time upon the table pl acing one

, , ,
card on top of the other When he has done this he han ds .

,
the pack back uppermost to a spectator and requests him to

, ,
deal off the cards one at a time upon the table After the
, ,
.
gentleman has dealt off say s i x cards the conj urer asking ,
“
him t o stop exclaims :
, The next card that you will take
from the top of the pack is the second one of the chosen ,
ones . The spectator who selected the second card is asked

to call out i t s name w h e a e u p on the gentleman in possession
,
of the pack i s in v ited to turn over the top card and d i s

covers i t to be the ond j ust named A few more cards are .
then dealt off in the same manner a s before when again the ,
conj urer interrupts th e gentleman and invites him to turn

over the card which is now on top and which is also found
to be one of the chosen ones s a y the fourth one In a s i m ,
.
i l a r manner the remaining selected cards are indicated by

’
the conj urer while the pack remains in the possession of

,
the spectators during the entire time .
The secret depends u pon the u s e of a simplified key ,
formed b y the keys or tables described in the preceding

method My reason for n ot e xpl a ni ng this key before i s
.
,
simply that I wanted my reader to firs t thoroughly understand

the true nature of t h e feat The key used is the following .
one ;
27 14 1 43 30 1 7 8 46 33 24 1 1 49 1 5
47 37 3 41
'
2 40 31 18 5 34 21 12 50
- 29 16
28 19 6 44 35 22 9 51 38 25 42
7 45 32 23 10 48 39 26 13 4 20 36 52
As in the first method the performer secretly notes the ,
cards directl y above the selected ones and then allows the
pack to be cut as often a s the spectators desire After this .
has been done he subj ects t-h e p a ck to as many false cuts

,
'
and s h u ffl e s a s he sees fit and then qu adrates it in the man

n e r already s e t forth After the qu adrating process he
.
,
deals o ff the cards one at a time face uppermost upon the ,
table counting them a s he does so and noting the exact

,
number of the card that he previously placed above the

selected Ones We will suppose that this card occupies the
.
twenty ninth place C onsulting the key he finds that No

.
,
.
2 9 is followed by Nos 1 6 7 45 32 30 etc which numbers

.
, , , ,
.
,
indicate the position of the selected cards in the pack .
Thus the seventh card is the second on é of the chosen ones ,
No 1 6 the first No 30 the fifth etc thus enabling the con

.
,
. .
,
j urer to give the pack to a spectator and to predict at what

numbers the selected cards will turn up .
The first method if desired may be accomplished i n

, ,
this manner also After the cards have been placed i n

.
eight rows upon the table the conj urer after discovering
,
the position of the starting card finds its number in the key ,
and proceeds to pick up the cards following the starting

card the exact arrangement of the cards being shown i n
,
Table No 1 . .
A still more sensational finish can be given to the trick

by the performer predic ting in an envelope handed to a ,
spector previous to the performance the exact position that ,
the selected cards will subsequently occupy in the pack .
For this purpose the same method is used that is employed

“
in the trick called Divination of Thought described i n ,
the latter part of this book .
PENE T R A T I O N OF MA T T E R .
FIRST METH O D .
HE following trick which originated in this city,
several years ago h a s since then become popular

,
with conj urers t h e world over being no doubt on e ,
the of best of latter day card tricks

- I can con .
s ci e n ti o u s ly
advise my readers who until to d ay were una c
,
q u a i n t e d with the trick to add it to their repertory

, .
After a card has been chosen a n d shu ffl ed back into t h e

pack the latter is enclosed i n a borrowed handkerchie f
, ,
which is held by its upper ends as illustrated in Fig , .
FI G . 26 .
Tapping with his wand against the cards i n the h a n d k e r

chief the performer states that he will cause the selected
,
card to separate itself from its mate s a n d to visibly pene

trate the fabric While he is explaining this a n d
.
,
tapping the pack with the wand at the same time the chosen ,
card the name of which the conj urer has p reviou sly asked
,
for is observed to gradu ally force itself out through the

,
handkerchief It is seen to protrude further a n d further

.
,
until thc entire card becomes visible and at l ast flutters to

the floor The handkerchief is instantly opened out a n d the
.
cards contained i n it removed no trace of a n y preparation

, ,
whatever being noticeable

,
The pack is then examined
.
a n d the selected card is found to be missing from it .
After the card has been chosen the gentleman is r e ,
qu ested to return it to the center of the pack whereup on ,
the conj urer makes the pass thereby bringing it to the top
,
a n d then palming it i n his right hand over which he n o w .

NEW ERA CARD T RICK S . 59
S preads the previou sly borrowed handkerchief arranging ,
the latter in such a way that i t s center i s directly over

the palmed card which is thus hidden beneath it P lacing
,
.
the remai nder of the pack in the middle of the h a n dk e r
FIG . 29
.
chief exactly above the palmed card th e performer folds

, ,
the front half of it toward himself Now seizing the pack

.
a n d the handkerchief with the left hand he passes the ,
the right hand along it thereby folding the loose portions

,
of the handkerchief over towards the back and then seizes

it by i t s four corners the chosen card being by this opera
,
tion held in the folds of the handkerchief as illustrated i n ,
Fig 2 9 which as my reader will perceive is a rear view of

.
, , ,
the position of the handkerchief and card It will n o w be .
found that by hitting the cards in the handkerchief short

, ,
quick taps with the wand the concealed card will become
,
dislodged and gradu ally make i t s appearance with a m y s t i

f y i n g effect .
S EC OND ME THOD .
In e ffect the trick I am about to describe is somewha t

similar to the preceding one but her e all resemblance ,
ceases .
Three or four cards are selected a n d placed with the r e

m a i n d e r of the pack in the center of a handkerch i ef which .
,
must be a tolerably large one Seizing the four corners of

.
the l atter the performer lifts it up and commands

,
the chosen cards to penetrate the handkerchief G iving t h e .
lat t er a sudden shake the desired cards are seen to issue

,
from it fl uttering to the floor The handkerchief may now

,
.
be inspected as well as the pack it still contains and from

,
which the chosen cards are found to have vanished .
FI G . 30 .
’
The handkerchief which in this case i s the performer s
,
propert y has been prepared for the trick by making in its

,
center a double fold B (Fig which must be a trifle wider

.
than the four cards which the conj urer then conceals in it .
These cards are duplicates of the ones to be forced later on .
To give the h andkerchief a less suspicious appearance than i n

the illustration it i s crumpled slightly whereby the fold is
, ,
made to appear less c on s p i ci ou s After the desired cards

.
have been successfully forced they are collected by a s p e ct a

,
‘
tor and by him returned to the middle of the pack which the ,
performer holds open for that purpose Making the pass .

,
he brings them to the top a n d palms them off secretly ,

tator holding slip No 1 calls out his card a n d number of .
slip the assistant places a duplicate of this card on place 1

,
of the following table the second card is laid on place No 2 , .

,
etc After all of the cards have been called out he gathers
.
up the four rows commencing with 32 and finishing with 1 6,
as the last card .
TABL E .
25 3 4
26 7 8
27 1 1 12
28 1 5 1 6
Requesting a spectator to collect all the cards that were

distributed the performer retires for a moment to fetch a
,
handkerchief bringing with him the assistant s pack which

,
’
,
he has palmed Receiving the cards the spectator collect

.
,
ed he places them ou top of the palmed pack both being

, ,
divided by the little finger which is inserted between them ,

.
At a suitable moment he takes off th e top pack which as ,
will be remembered contains the collected cards secretly , ,
disposing of these by dropping them into the profonde or

on the servante of a chair or tables Spreading out the pre .
arranged pack he shows that i t is well mixed and then

,
covers it with the handkerchief under cover of which

.
,
he transfers the top card No 32 to the bottom of the pack .
a n d producing the next card No 1 from underneath the .
handkerchief holds it up without exhibiting i t s face how

, ,
“
ever and asks : ,
What card does the gentleman who holds ,
s lip No 1 wish to see .

'”
The name of the card desired is .
given whereupon the performer turns over the one i n his

,
hand and shows it to be the card mentioned Replacing his .
hand under the handkerchief he draws off the top card (No ,
.
1 7 of the pack ) and placing it on the bottom produces the ,
next second card after first requesting the s p e ct a t or t o call

, , ‘
out its name continuing in this manner until all the t hirty
,
two cards have been produced from underneath the hand

d e r c hi e f i n their su ccessive orde r .
NEW ERA C ARD TRICKS . 63
TH E C AR D R E C E P TA C L E .
L T H OU G H the contrivance of this name is n ot

very popular with A m erican conj urers it is , ,
nevertheless a useful adj unct which c a n be used

, ,
to excellent advantage in the performance of sev

eral quite clever tricks .
The Card Receptacle as illu strated i n Fig 31 is u su ally

,
.
,
FI G . 31 .
made of cardboard or black cloth It has four compart .
ments each of which i s made to contain the eight cards of

,
.
one suit arranged from Ace S even Eight to the King

, , , .
This case which is concealed i n the profonde (a secret

,
pocket 'i n the coat tail ) thus contains a P iquet or Euchre

pack of thirty two cards which is the best to use as by em
-
, ,
ploying a full pack of fift y -two cards too much time would ,
be required in picking out the card desired It i s necessary .
that the conj urer should devote considerable practice i n

learning to select a n y desired card quickly a n d unobs erved
from the receptacle of the existence of which the s p e c t a
,
tors are n ot supp osed to have the slightest idea .
Sometimes two receptacles are u sed each of which is ,
divided into two compartments only one receptacle contain ;

,
i n g the Clubs and Spades and the other one the Hearts and
,
Diamonds I n this case one receptacle is concealed in the

.
,
left profonde and the other one in the right .
I n the descr i ption of the following two tricks I shall ,
give examples of the u ses to which the Card Receptacle

may be put .
TH E A P P E A R A N C E O E DE SI R ED C AR D S .
FTER requesting the spectators to call out the

name of any card they like the performer passes ,
for inspection a _piquet pack of thirty -two ordi

“
nary cards and invites them to shu ffl e the cards

thoroughly After this has been done the pack is returned
.
,
to him whereupon he simply passes h i s empty hand over

,
the bottom card cau sing the l atter to be instantly trans

,
formed into the very card that the spectators hav e previous
l y decided upon .
While the company is occupied with the inspection a n d

shu ffling of the cards the conj urer carelessly drops his
,
hand to his side and secretly removes and palms from the ,
receptacle concealed i n his profonde the card called for by

,
the spectators After the pack has been returned to him

.
,
he adroitly places the palmed card on the back of it next ,
giving the cards a False Shu ffl e keeping the top card in vie w
,
only Then holding the pack with the bottom card facing the
.
company he makes t h e Color Change thereby transferring

, ,
the rear card of the pack to the front .
If desired the trick may be repeated once or twice the

, ,
artist requesting the spectators to name another card a n d

handing them the pack to be shu ffled again While this is .
being done he obtains from the case and palms the desired
,
card being however careful to bear in mind which card or

, , ,
cards have been taken out of the receptacle so that n o m i s ,
calculation on h i s part can possibly be made .
TH E . MYS T ER I O U S P R OD U C T I O N .
HEN the spectators have shu ffl ed an examined .
pack of cards the latter is placed in the inside

,
breast pocket of the coat of t he performer ,
who now repeatedly produces from this pocket

any card the specta t ors call for .
In this incomprehensible trick two Card Recep t acles , ,
containing two compartments only are previou sly concealed ,
i n the breast pocket The shuffled pack is placed in front

.
of them the performer simply taking the desired cards out

,
of the receptacles .
Another arrangement which is considered superior to

,
the preceding one consists of the u s e of a prepared

,
double breast pocket : In the rear pocket is concealed the

Card Receptacle which in this case is one made of cloth
,
.
P reviou s to placing the shu ffled pack in the first compart

.
ment of the double pocket t h e conj urer invites a spectator

,
to insert h i s hand in the latter to prove it empty the trick ,
then proceeding in the manner described .

T he I m p r o v e d. My s t e r i ou s P r o d u c t i on .
N TH I S improvement over the preceding trick the ,
idea of the double pocket is carr ied s till further The .
advan t age of this version of the trick is t hat no special

constr u ction of the performer s coat pocket is n e ce s s
’
ary and besides the lat ter may previously turned inside out
, ,
to prove that it contains nothing .
A detachable inside pocket made of black cloth is u sed, ,
FIG . 32 .
for this purpose its upper edges being sewn to a U shaped

.
spring wire ; the turned points of which c a n easily be push

ed through the material of the real coat pocket i n which i s c on ,
ce a l e d the C ard Receptacle with its u sual contents For the .
sake of e fi e ct several articles such as letters a card case

, ,
etc are previously placed in the trick pocket Thus equip

.
,
.
ped the conj urer allows the cards to be shu ffled after which ,
he states his intention of placing them in his coat pocket ,
the contents of which he first removes then afterwards turning ,
the False P ocket inside out showing it empty The shuf .

~
fled pack is placed on the inside a n d the performer then

produces from the receptacle in the pocket proper any card

desired by the audience .
This pocket may also be used to good advantage i n the

following trick : Several cards are selected returned t o the ,
pack which i s shu ffl ed by one of the company The c on .
j urer then places the pack in his pocket having previ ou sly ,
pulled it partly out and shown it empty He then pro ceeds .
to produce the selected cards one after the other For this .
purpose the Card Re ce p t a ca l e is not required .
The performer forces three cards duplicates of which ,
he had previously concealed in the pocket proper It is .
the trick pocket of course that is turned out and shown to

, ,
be empty .
I m p r ov e d Ca r ds R e a d B e h i n d T h e B ri ck .
OR T HIS feat it is necessary that the artist should

have two packs of cards with simil a r backs On e ,
.
of these packs i s prearranged in any certain order

that the conj urer may know and conceal either b e
hind h i s back under the vest or in a poc k et made specially
,
for the purpose The performer introd uces the unprepared

.
pack and after having it thoroughly s huffled casu ally calls

, ,
the attention of the spectators to the bottom card at the ,
same time noting it himself .
After causing himself to be securely blindfolded he ,
places the shu ffled cards behind his back quickly exchanges ,
the m for the prearranged p ack a n d then slowly produces the

top _card of the latter hes itatingly calling out its name
,
He .
proceeds in this manner calling out the cards in succession

,
until he arrives at the card identical with that of the bottom

.
card of the secreted pack At this moment he turns around

.
,
presenting his back to the spectators s o that this particular ,

card faces them and proceeds to draw o ff and name the cards
from the other side or bottom of the pack simply calling off ,
the cards in their reverse order This process seemingly .
leaves in its original position the bottom card of the pack ,
which he took care to exhibit before the experiment This .
card is the last one named and the maj ority of the spec
,
t a t o r s probably noticed this card (really its duplicate ) at the

bottom of the first pack shown Everything appears to be
.
fair and above board the deception t h ereby being made the
,
more effectu al .
TH E H YP N OT I SE D C AR D .
H E RE i s a slight preparation required for this pretty

trick The conj urer previously procures a long
.
human hair and b y means of a tiny pellet of wax .
attaches it to th e middle of the left edge of the ta

ble Near this edge lies the wand to the tip of which is
.
,
attached the other end of th e hair .
After a card h a s been selected at random the performer .
places half of the pack I n the center of the table, then

seizing the wand and t ransferring i t from its position at the
le ft to the th e right side of the pack thereby tightly
'
stretches the hair across the back of the c ards on the ta ble .
The spectator who cannot see the hair is requested to

, ,
place his card on top of the others whereupon the conj urer ,
places the balance of the pack evenly on them Seizing the .
wand with h i s right hand he states that by exercising a

,
hypno tic influen c e over the cards he wi ll cau se the chosen

,
card to e xhibit itself By imperceptibly raising the wand

.
,
the upper half of t h e p ack is gradually lifted by the hair

and turn s over the undermost card of the upper half which
, ,
is the chosen one thereby becomes revealed

,
In the act of .
j e c t s is shown C i s a thread which passes from an assist

'
.
,
ant con cealed behind the right wing through a staple in the ,
floor a n d the n upwards To its other end is attached a

.
small metal clip which is slipped over the e n d of a mechan

,
FI G . 29
.
ical card in su ch a manner a s to hold the flap down a n d when

,
pull e d off by means of the thread C the flap spr i ngs back ,
to its normal position changing the face of the card

,
.
Another thread A is stretched horizontally across the

stage one e n d being held by an assistant behind the left
,
wing and the ot h er by the assistant on the right already

, ,
mentioned On the back of the m echanical card near its

.
,
upper edge are glued two small strips or hooks cut out of a n
,
other card with a similar back These Strips serve to s u s

.
pend the card on the thread A These necessary pre para .
tions having been made the conj urer forces a card similar to
,
the on e concealed by the flap of the mech anical card This .
trick card with its fl ap held back by the metal clip should ,
'
be lying face upward on the left stand ; its presence here b e

,
i n g concealed by a silk handkerchief carelessly thrown over

it
.
Returning to the stage with the pack into which the

selected card has been placed the performer lays the hand
.
kerchief aside a n d places the pack directly over the trick

card then s h ows both goblets proving them unprepar e d
,
.
The pack with the mechanical card on i t s back is now taken ,
u p and placed in the left goblet the assistants at the same

,
,
time lowering the thread A stretched across the stage from

po s ition A to B enabling the performer to secretly slip it
'
under the hooks of the rear trick card At his comman d .
the assistants simultaneous raise the ends of the thread A

and thereby pulling the card out of the goblet The assist .
ant ou the right slowly draws in hi s end of the thread ,
causing the card to a ppear as if floating through the air .
By the time the card has reached the c enter of the stage it
has been declared not the one selected It is commanded to .
stop a nd transform i tself into the desired card T he assist .
ant a t this moment gives a quic k j erk to the thread C there ,
by di s e ng a gm g the clip from the card which thu s instantly

,
changes to the selected one It is then made to resume its

.
j ourney and to pass into the right goblet from which it is ,
taken by the performer who in the act of removing the

,
card detaches it from the thread and shows it to be appar

,
ently unprepared .
T H E L O ST F O U ND .
ANDIN G A pack to a spectator the per

of ca r d s .
former re quests him to select any card that he de

sires t o replace it anywhere in the pack and then
,
to cut the cards While this is being done the

.
,
conj urer observes what is taking place carefully noting as ,
near as possible the position the replaced card occupies

after the ou t which may leave it either near the top middle
, ,
or bottom of the pack Suppose the card to be near the top

.
,
occupying the eighth ninth or tenth place tha performer

, ,
holds the pack behind him a n d taking three cards from the
t op shows them and after asking if the chosen card is
,
a mong them ,and receiving a negative reply places them ,

aside He takes another set of three cards from the top

.
repeats the process with them placing them on the table , .
To take the next three cards from t he top would be too

hazardous as the desired card may be any one of the three
, .
The conj urer therefore takes for the next three but one card ,
from the top and the remaining two from the bottom of the
pack If the chosen card happens to be one of them he
.
,
k nows it as it is the on e removed from the top of the pack

, .
If however the chosen card was not among the three

, ,
cards last shown the performer proceeds in the manner

, ,
referred to until the presence of the card in a s e t of three is

,
asserted when he may simply name the card or after r e

, ,
placing all the cards bring the trick to as elaborate a finish

,
as he chooses If however after the cut the card happens

.
, , ,
to be near the bottom or middle of the pack the conj urer s

'
manipulations mu st necessarily be changed accordingly .
TH E C AR D C A U G H T ON T H E P L A TE .
HE ARTIST r equests a gentleman to select from

the pack any card he may desire a n d then to mark
it s o that he will be sure to recognize it The ,
same spectator is then handed the pack and r e

quested to replace his card and shu ffle the cards The p e r .
former next introduces an ordinary china plate which he

freely shows from both sides proving it to be unprepared ,
.
He n ow takes the plate in one hand and throws the pack i n

the air with the other A s the cards descend i n a shower
.
,
he makes a lunge among them with the plate upon which ,
he catches the chosen card which is given to t h e spectator ,
w h o identifies it by his mark .
The trick i s as simple as it i s pretty no previous prep ,
aration be i ng necessary for its performance Before h and .

ing the cards to one of the com p any with the request to se
lect on e at random the performer bends the ends of the
,
pack in a downward direction After a card h a s been r e .
moved and while it is being marked the conj urer again

, ,
bends the pack but in an opposite direction so that af ter

, ,
the spectator has returned h i s card to the pack n o amount ,
of shu ffling will prevent the pe rformer from immediately

finding the desired card It will be the only one bent i n a n
.
opposite w ay to the rest of the cards the pack opening ,
slightly at the very place where this card i s situ ated A ft e I .
i n serting the little finger under the chosen car d the per ,
former brings it to the top of the pack by means of the pass .
T hen he places the cards for the time being on the middle
, ,
of the plate to which he h a s previously attached a small

,
pellet of adhesive wax By slightly pressing the top of the

.
pack the chosen card on the bottom i s made to adhere to

,
the plate which the conj ur e r then seizes and turning i t s

,
bottom towards the spectators allows the free cards to slide ,
into h i s hand They a r e then thrown into the air the select
.
,
ed card being apparent l y picked out from among them with

.
,
t h e plate After detachin g the card from the plate the

.
,
conj urer secretly removes any remaining traces of the wax

adhering perchance to the back of the card then giving the ,
card to the spectator who selected a n d marked it for i d e n ti

fi c a t i on .
TH E L A NTE R N OF D I O G E NE S .
this cle ver piece o f apparatus cann ot

L T H OU G H
very well be called a novel one despite this fact , ,
it i s but little known among conj urers that a

pretty trick can be performed by i t s aid The a p .
paratus consists o f a transparent gl ass bo x mounted o n a n ,

ornamental metal base the whole presenting the appear

,
ance of a minature lamp post Fig 34 ,

. .
Besi des this there is a shallow lid by the aid of which

, ,
the open top of the glass box may be securely closed I n .
the interior of the lid which i s about three inches long a n d

,
two inches wide is concealed a folding card which is held i n

,
place by a clip B which can be released by pressing the stud A

situ ated on the outside of the lid The lower half of the .
card is blackened to resemble the interior of the lid thu s

, ,
rendering the card invisible when held i n position by the
FI G . 34 .
clip In the performance of the tr ick the glass lantern

.
,
which is about as high a s a card is long is exhibite d sepa ,
rated from the lid and seen to be perfectly empty The lid
‘
is then casu ally sho w n and placed on the lantern proper the ,
card not being visible on account of its blackened lower half .
A borrowed handkerchief is now thrown over the upper

part of the lantern a n d the stud A being pressed during
,
this operation causing the card concealed in the lid to b e

,
come released . On account of the elastic hinge i n its center ,

NEW ERA CARD TRICK S . 75
the c ard unfolds and assumes an upright position in the

glass box A duplicate card is now forced by the performer
.
,
who after vanishing it in any manner he may s e e fit sub ,
sequently finds it in the lantern all parts of which may now

,
be freely sh own .
Ex t r a or d i n a r y R e s t or a t i on .
N THI S striking improvement over the well known

“ ”
and popular Torn Corner Card Trick
,
a slight ,
preparation of the pack is required All the Aces .

,
with the exception of Ace of Spades are previously

removed . The latter card is prepared by neatly inking i t s
edge all a round s o that it can easily be distinguished from
, ,
he other cards by look i ng at the edge of t h e pack .
FIG . 35 . FI G . 36 .
From the pack thu s arranged the Queen of Hearts is

or c e d on a lady wh o is requested to tear the card into
“
ine pieces which s h e is asked to place on an ex

,
t he performer who secretly adds

,
ate corner which he had previou sly

e n of Hearts the latter being con
,
apparatus s a y for instance the S and

,
corn e r in view th e conj urer invites

,
y to take a piece of the torn card ,

taking good care to note who gets the duplicate corner He .
then requests each spectator holding a piece of the torn card

to take from the pack a n y card he desires The performer.
really forces the Ace of Spades known by its blackened edge

o n the person holding the duplicate corner T o increase .
the e ffect of the trick he may force this card i n the second
,
‘
or third instance then inviting each on e of t h e remaining

,
spectators to take the pack face downwards into his hands

,
a nd allowing him to draw a n y card he likes After this has .
been done the performer states that he will leave selection

,
to chance the person holding the highest card shall retain

, ,
the piece of the torn card in his possession while all the
other pieces are collected A s the gentleman who took the
.
Ace of Spades also holds the duplicate corner the remain ,
i n g pie ces are collected a n d placed into a Card Box or Magic

P istol from which they are caused to disappear only to r e
, ,
appear fully restored minu s the retained corner or piece i n

, ,
the S and Frame which h a s been sho w n empty covered by

, ,
a handkerchief a n d given to a lady to hold The frame .
is uncovered a n d in it is found the Queen of Hearts as com

m a nde d . The card is taken out a n d given to the gentleman
who selected the Ace of Spades ; he fits the retained corner
to it which o f cou rse is found to match exactly .
AP PAR E N T SE C O ND S I G H T
ROM a n unprepared preferably borrowed pack of

, ,
cards the artist requests the spectator s to select

, ,
during h i s absence a n y number of cards which

, ,
are to be placed in a separate heap upon the table

, ,
a nd covered with a bor rowed handkerchief After the .
return Of the performer he is i s blindfolded a n d the sele cted

,
press t h e fin e needl e point of the Card Marker through the

handkerchief into the cards By the passing of the needle
.
point through the cards there is formed a sli g ht proj ection

,
.
,
hardly discernible to the eye but readily distin guished by

the touch After the ch os en cards h a ve been shu ffled into
.
the pack it i s an easy matter for the conj urer to pick out
,
.
behind his back the desired cards by simply feeling for the
,
proj ections made by the point of the needle After having .
succeeded in marking the covered cards th e performer de ,
taches hook C by pushing it out of the ring with one of the

,
fingers of the right hand the Card Marker being then i n

,
s t a n t l y pulled inside of the s l e e v e o w i n g to the action of the

,
tightly stretched elastic .
FIG . 38 .
A more portable form of the C ard Marker is a Finger

Ring which has a needle point brazed to it as shown i n Fig
,
.
38. Those of my readers who do not wish to incur the ex

pense of purchasing either form of the contrivance can s u b ,
s t i t u t e for the la tter a short pin which can easily concealed

,
between the fingers its point being pressed into the cards i n
,
the same manner as with the regul ar contrivances .
T H E A T TA C H E D C A R D .
S P ECTATOR is invited to step forward a nd is

requested to assist the conj urer i n the trick about
to follow Introducing a n ordinary pack of cards
.
the performer asks him to select a card w hi ch i s , ,

NEW ERA C ARD T RI C K S . 79
s ay the Five of Hearts and to return it to the pack which

, ,
is then shu ffled Handing the pac k to the spectator the

.
,
performer tells him to remove hi s card from the latter but ,
to h i s astonishment the gentleman finds tha t the Five of

Hearts has mysteriou sly vanished Both he and the con .
,
j urer institute a search for the missing card which i s finally ,
discovered sticking under the back of th e gentleman s coa t ’
coll ar .
FI G . 39 .
F this cle v er sleight of hand trick it will be necessary

or
0 have an extra Five of Hearts plac i ng both on to p of the

,
ck As the spectator steps forward to assist the per

.
the top card of the pack and while

gentleman places the hand in which the card
,
confidential manner on the back of the per

i t l y pushes the palmed card partly under
He then makes the pass and forces the ,
e Five of Hearts on the assisting spectator ,
to the pack The performer makes the pass

.
,
the top of the pack and proceeds to

keeping the Five
the top In handing the pack to the gentle
.
e request to pick out his card he palms o ff the ,
dispo ses of it while the spectator is engaged i n

is card w hich of course he is unable to find
, .
ormer who also pretends to be at a loss as to t h e .
of the missing card then asks the person to

,
t h e search for it During the s earch the spec

.
,
80 NEW ERA CARD F RICKS .
tator is artfully induced by the performer to turn hi s back

to the company They immediately appraise h i m of the
.
presence of the card by their merriment The performer .
then pretends to first discover the card and after removing

it dismisses the gentleman with a hearty handshake a o
, ,
companied by the remark that he is evidently somewhat of

a conj urer himself .
C A R D S SH O T A G A I NS T A H AT .
HE P ERF ORM ER borrows a silk hat which he ,
places on his table s o that the crown of the hat

, ,
which has been previou sly covered by a borrowed

handkerchief i s turned towards the company
,
.
Three cards are then selected and after being torn into small
pieces by the persons who drew them are loaded i nto the ,
Magic P istol which the conj urer discharges at the hat

,
.
After the report of the pistol the handkerchief i s seen to

,
fall revealing the three selected cards completely restored

, ,
on the crown of the hat They are removed and the hat is
.
returned to its owner with the u su al thanks on the part of

t he performer .
The preparation for this trick consists of neatly cover

i n g with newspaper the backs of three card s duplicates of
, , ,
the ones that the conj urer intends to force The point of a .
thumb tack is then pushed through the face of the middle

card i n such a way that it will at the same time penetrate
a corner of cards 1 and 3 (See Fig All three are then
.
placed on a sheet of paper similar in appearance to the on e

with which they are back e d the paper being then placed on
,
the conj u rer s table Even at a short distance it will be i m

'
,
.
possible to _ notice the presence of the three cards on the

paper .
The crown of the hat i s then placed i n a careless m a n

NEW ERA C ARD TRI CK S . 81
ner directly over these cards which by a slight downward

, ,
pressure on the part of the performer become attached to ,
the hat by means of the thumb tack The handkerchief is .
now placed over the side of the hat in such a manner that
when the hat is lifted and its crown turned towards the
FI G . 40 .
om p a n the handkerchief will completely hide the prepara

y,
While arranging the hand k erchief the conj urer s e ,
l y atta ches to on e of its corners a bent pin or small ,
r p hook to which i s fastened a fine black thread which

,
ses to an assistant behind the scenes .
The three duplicate cards are then forced and after hav
been torn into small pieces are loaded into the barrel of
,
pistol a s de scribed At the moment the latter is dis

.
r g e d the assistant gives a slight pull to the thread caus

, ,
the handkerchief to drop down exposing the three ,
ards attached to the crown of the hat .

WAR I N P E A C E .
LL MA G ICIANS are acqu ainted with the feat i n

which three chosen cards are caught on the p o int
of a sword out of the air into which the pack
,
h a s been thrown The cards which have been

.
,
previou sly concealed in a receptacle attached to the hilt of

the sword are i n this case pulled to the tip of the latter by
,
means of a stout elastic cord .
As a good sword of this description is quite a n e xp e n

sive article which at i t s best i s obviously mechanical and
, ,
will not bear close inspection I take pleasure in making my

,
readers acquainted with a simpler method of doing the

trick by which any sword even a borrowed on e m a y be
, , ,
used.
P reviou s to the trick the conj urer takes four cards and
,
out of the center of the first one cuts a n oval shaped piece ,
a little larger in circumference than the tip of the sword

which he intends to u se In the second card he cuts
.
a hole still larger t han that in the first on e etc each of the ,
.
,
four cards being provided wi th a larger hole than that in the

card preceding it The four cards are then connected by a
.
fine black thread an in t erval of about four inches being left

,
between the cards which the performer then conceals in his

,
pochette (a small pocket se w n on the rear side of the leg of

the trous ers ) or any other convenient part of his person .
He then forces duplicates of the four prepared cards

and has them returned to the pack secretly placing on the ,
top of the latter the four cards of his own which he h a s in

, ,
the meantime secretly palmed .
After exhibiting the sword he takes it i n the right hand, ,
holding the pack by o n e corner in his left and placing the

tip of the sword against the back of the cards inserts it i n ,
the largest hole of the topmost one He then proceeds to .
toss the pack into the air at the same time making a lunge
,
with the sword after it The four cards which owing to

.
,
the holes i n them are retained by the sword n ow slide along

, ,
NEW ERA CARD TRICKS . 83
the blade of the latter the first card remaining near t he tip
,
while the others a r rr n g e themselves along the bl ade of the

sword .
TH E NE W C AR D TAB L E .
OST conj urers are familiar wi th the construction

“
of that u seful apparatu s known as the Card
” “
Tripod or Card Table which i s generally
,
u sed i n the restoration of burnt or mutilated

ards
c .
FIG . 41 .
W ith the card table of the old form only on e change

be made while with the n e w improved apparatus two
, ,
in ot changes take place without altering the app earance

i s shown as A i n Fig 41 B is . .
a sh a llow lid fitting over the top of A ; C i s a second lid

, ,
which in turn fi t s somewhat tightly over B D is an orna .
mental cover w hich has an extra inside lining conforming

, ,
in shape and appearance to the lid proper This lining .

,
which is indicated by the dotted lines in the drawing can be ,
moved up and down by manipulation of the knob on the .
upper part of the lid for the purpose of forcing C out of

,
the cover when desired .
To illu strate the u ses to which this apparatu s may be

put we will suppose that the conj urer intends to perform
,
the Torn C orner Card Trick He prepares for this by plac

.
.
i n g on C a duplicate of the card s a y the Jack of Clubs that

.
,
FIG . 42 .
he intends to u se in the experiment and pl acing C in the ,
lower end of the cover which it fits rather tightly On A

, .
he places another Jack of C lubs from which a corner has ,
been torn (or still better a piece torn out of its center) the
, ,
fragment lying for the time being concealed in the conj ur

, ,
a
er s vest po cket O ver A lid B is then placed

’
, , .
These preparations having been made the performer ,
advances towards the company and after forcing a third ,
Jack of C lubs requests the person who selected it to tear

, , ,
the card into small pieces While that i s being done he oh

.
,
tains possession of the fragment concealed in his vest pocket

a n d after receiving the torn pieces from the gentleman ,
returns to him what seems to be one of them with the r e

quest to retain it i n his possession the performer hand ,
i n g him the extra corner or piece The torn pieces are .
laid on the table that i s on B the cover is then fi r m l y

, , g
second ge n tlem an is then told to call out his number w hi ch ,
we will su ppose is Seven A disinterested spectator i s 1 n

.
v i t e d to count o ff seven cards from the top of the pack ,
w hich during all this time has been lying on the table a n d ,
to show the next card to the company ,
To their astonishment they discover it to be the card

,
thought of which the artist without approaching the pack

, , ,
h a s caused to appear at the very number secretly thought of

by another spectator .
So much for the e ffect of the trick which certainly is ,
o n e of the most mysterious ever invented In order to know .
the card thought of the performer uses of the various ex

,
p e di e n t s previou sly explained under the heading of

“
Sleights,
then instantly brings the chosen card to the top
of the pack While inviting the second gentleman to think
.
of a number a n d to whisper it to h i s neighbor he quickly ,
counts o ff from the bottom seven cards and by means of the

pass brings them to the top of the pack which he then
, ,
places on the table The chosen card i n our supposed

.
,
FI G . 43
.
case the Nine of Hearts n o w occupies the eigh th pla ce

, ,
counted from the top of the pack The gentleman is next .
requ ested to state the number he thought of and i n nine

cases out of ten it will be found that he has tho u ght of
,
number seven i n which instance the trick which is p r a c t i

, ,
a
cally finished proceeds as described If the number eight

,
.
h a s been decided upon the gentleman is simply told to turn

,
up the eighth card counted from the top of the pack If .

NEW ERA CARD TRICKS . 87
nine i s the selected number the conj urer himself takes the
,
pack from the table and in the act of handing it to the gen
t l e m a n by means of the Slip P ass brings one card from the
, ,
bottom to the top of the pack If a number below seven ,
has been taken the performer i s obliged to transfer a cor

,
responding number of cards from the top to the bottom of

the pack by means of the pass But as I have already r e .
marked these expedients although not detracting to any

, ,
extent from the me ri ts of the trick will seldomly have to be ,
employed .
A My s t e r i o u s C h a n ge .
V
E RY pretty e ffect
may be obtained by the intr o
duction of the following trick The several novel .
sleights u sed ought however to be thoroughly p r a c

,
ticed before an attempt i s made of performing the

public After a card say the King of Hearts has
.
,
en and returned to the pack the latter is given a ,
e whereby this particular card is left o n the top

,
The conj urer then pretends to be able to pick

sen card by running h i s fingers over the top
,
d g e of the pack slightly r u ffli n g it and removing the two

,
ards on the top whi ch are the King of Hearts a nd another

,
ard s a y the Ace of Hearts which he must hold in su ch

, ,
hink them to be one card only .
cards are held slightly convexed ,
e palm the thumb at the lower end and the fingers at

,
end of the cards Thus exhibiting the cards which

.
,
m p a n y appear to be but one and that the Ace of
r m e r asks if this is the card selected and upon ,
t is not replaces the card in the middle of the

,
other hand allowing it to protr ude nearly

,
The pack itself i s held in the extended left hand the ,
thumb of which rests on one side of the cards the first ,
finger at their upper end and th e remaining fingers at the

other side of the pack which faces the palm In the act , .
of replacing the cards with the right hand the position of ,
FI G . 44 . FIG . 45 .
the fingers holding i t i s changed the card being now held

, ,
by i t s upper end only the thumb and first finger resting on

,
the back of the card and the other fingers on the face side
or bottom With the left thumb the pack is slowly ru ffled
.
and the card in the right hand inserted sideways While .
this is being done the second finger of the right hand

,
pu shes the lower one of the two cards that is the Ace of ,
Hearts towards the pack the first finger of the le ft hand

, ,
completing the work of imperceptibly pu shing the card ‘
home leaving th e selected card to protrude from the rest of

,
the pack When properly e xecuted this sleight i s absolute

.
,
l y invisible it being shielded altogether by the upper o n e

,
of the two cards which as w ill be remembered i s the King of

, ,
Hearts although the spectators really believe it to be the

,
'
Ace of Hearts T h e p e rf or m e r once more asks whether

.
the protruding card is not the selected one and is told that
the selected card has n ot been shown He then takes the .
proj ecting card and places it face downwards on the ex

tended hand of the gentleman who is told to breathe upon ,
it w hen it i s thereby apparently transformed into the de

,
~
sired one .
TH E C A R D A ND H A ND K E R C H I EF .
HE following i s a nea t trick in which a selected ,
card visibly appears on a handkerchief held by

the performer A handkerchief i s borrowed from
.
some obliging male spectator and i s f or the time ,
ae i n g spread on the performer s table A card s a y the’

.
, ,
F ive of Diamonds is placed on a plate and burned

,
Its .
FIG . 46 .
ishes are loaded i nto the Magic P istol which is given to a ,
t gentleman who is requested to discharge i t

, at the per
’
ormer when the latter commands .
F I G; 47 .
Taking the handkerchief by its four corners a n d h old

ing it a s shown in Fig 47 the conj urer explains that upon
.
, ,
of the pist ol he will release t wo of the corners of

,
illustrating this by actu ally dropping the

90 NEW E RA C ARD TRI C KS .
two front corners of the latter thu s exposing t h e entire ,
handkerchief and incidentally showing that nothing is a t

t a c h e d to it .
Seizing the corners again he commands the spectator to ,
fire At th e moment of releasing the corners the restored

.
,
Five of Diamonds is seen attached to the center of the hand

kerchief which after the card has been removed from it i s
, , ,
returned to its owner .
P reviou s to the trick a duplicate Five of Diamonds is

,
placed face downwards on the conj urer s table To the back ’

.
of this card is fastened a small pellet of adhesive wax In .
spreading the handkerchief on the table the performer s o ,
arranges that the rear half of the handkerchief is placed

directly over the hidden card and by a little pressure it is , ,
made to adhere to the handkerchief A Five of Diamonds .
is now forced and after it is burned its ashes are placed

, ,
into the pistol which a s described is given to some gentle

, ,
man to h old .
In picking up the handkerchief the conj urer folds the ,
front half over the rear half and holds it as shown in Fig .
47 the Five of Diamonds being attached on the rear side of

,
the half CD of the handkerchief consequently it i s invisible ,
from the front In releasing the two corners in h i s explana

.
tion the conj urer dro ps the front half thereb y proving the
, ,
handkerchi ef to be se e mingly unprepared Regaining p o s .
session of the two corners he requests the gentleman to ,
fire and at the proper moment releases corners C D the

, , ,
side of the h a n d d e r ch i e f to which the card is attached be ,
coming v isible disclosing the card In removing the Five of

,
.
Diamonds he secretly scrapes off the small pellet of wax a n d

,
carelessly throws the card on the table s o that in case any

one should express a desire to examine the card h i s w i s h ,
ca n instantly be gratified .
TH E I T I NE R A N T C AR D .
HE conj urer introduces an ordinary pac k contained ,
in the original case a n d still securely sealed by

the usu al government stamp After opening the .
case and removing the pack he divides t h e latter ,
into two heaps one of which i s made to contain all the red
.
cards that i s the Hearts a n d Diamonds ; the other one con

, ,
sisting of all the Clubs and Spades or black cards I n v i t , .
ing the spectators to choose one of these heaps without i n ,
fl u e nci n g their choice in the least he requests some one to

,
ta ke the selected heap and to wrap it in a sheet of paper ,
the ends of the parcel being then securely sealed After .
this has been done a lady is asked to indicate one of the

,
cards of the remaining heap which is then given to her,
to hold The card j u st chosen which we will suppose to be

.
,
9 Q
0 6g
F I G . 48 . F I G . 49 .
the Ten of Hearts is now commanded to leave the heap i n

,
which it i s contained a n d told to j oin the cards in the sealed

parcel The latter which consists of the black cards i s
.
, ,
opened and found to contain the chosen card the Ten of ,
Hearts while from the heap held by the lady t h is same

, ,
card is found to be missing .
In order to be able to perform this interesting feat the ,
performer requires duplicates of two spot cards of the pack ,
say the Ten of Hearts a n d the Nine of Spades Taking a .
pack of cards with the backs similar to those of the dupli

.
tate cards he carefully removes the government stamp

, ,
w hich seals the case and taking out a red a n d a black card
, ,
92 NEW ERA C ARD PRI C K S .
attaches th e Ten of Hearts to the back of the black card

and the Nine of Spades to the back of the red card by ,
means of white unscented soap Both double cards ought

, .
then in order to obtain a good result be placed for some

, ,
time under pressure after which they are ready to be used

,
.
Adding these cards to the others in the case the performer ,
closes it and and neatly replaces the stamp in its former p o

s i t i on .
Thu s prepared he proceeds as described by first call

, ,
ing the attention of the company to the newness of the

pack which they will believe is undisturbed in its original
,
pack age The pack i s then divided into red a n d black cards
.
,
and after one of the heaps i s chosen which in our case was ,
the one containing the black cards it is w rapped and sealed ,
as explained Seizing the remaining heap of red cards the

.
,
conj urer induces a lady to indicate the Ten of Hearts by ,
means of the force He immediately makes -the pass brings

.
,
the card to the top of the pack and disposes of it at the first
opportunity o ffering itself .
Before the sealed parcel i s opened ths performer takes it ,
in h i s h ands for a moment presumably to show to the com

,
pany that the seals are still intact but in reality t o gain an
,
opportunity to bend the parcel back a nd forth by which ,
process the Ten of Hearts adhering to the back of the black

,
cards becomes detached and is subsequently discovered

,
among the black cards by a spectator .
T h e T e rp s i ch or e a n Ca rd .
FT ER some trick with a chosen card the performer ,
gives a pretended explanation of his tricks by ex ,
plaining to the audience that all that i s necessary ,
is to have the cards well trained when the ) ; will ,

94 NEW ERA C ARD TRI C KS .
The operation is repeated and this time a thread ,
stretched horizontally across t h e stage is lowered by an as ,
s i s t a n t behind t h e scenes to a level with hook A under

, , ,
which the thread i s slipped by the performer at whose com ,
mand t h e card proceeds to execute a dance the assistant ,
manipulating the thread keeping time with t h e mu sic , .
Finally the card is seized the thread being allowed to slip

,
o u t from u n d e r t h e hook whereupon the performer af ter

, ,
again detaching and palming off the little apparatus once ,
more p a s s s e s the card for inspection .
TH E C AR D I N TH E P O C K ET .
N t his trick which wi ll p a rticularly commend it

,
.
self to the beginner w h o has not yet mastered the

various sleights necessar y for the performance of the
more elaborate tricks a card that a spectator h a s s e
, ,
c r e t l y thought of disappear s from the pack a n d is dis

,
covered i n the tail pocket of th e performer s coat ’

.
The performer commences the exp eriment b y o ffering the

spectators a pack of cards with the reques t for one of them
,
to note and bear in mind a certain card and to note at what

number counting from the bottom of the pack the card
, ,
lies 1 This having been done a n d the pack returned to the

.
conj urer the latter under the pretense of looking for the
, ,
chosen card quickly passes the card s one by one from the
, , ,
left hand into the right by which process the former botto m
,
card now become s the topmost one Above the last card .
,
he places three m ore indifferent cards tak en from the bot

“
tom of the pack Acknowledging th at he is unable to d i s

.
cover the card in this manner he returns the pack to the ,
spectator requesting him to count off from the top of the

,
pack the same nu mber of cards that his card was removed
,
from the bottom card After h i s request h a s been complied

.
with the conj urer knows that the fourth card from the top
,
of the pack mu st be the selected one Seizing the three .
uppermost cards he places them face downwards upon the

,
table and boldly asserts that the chosen card i s among them ,
inviting the spectator to look and see that such i s really the
case While the person i s engaged in doing so failing of
.
,
course to disco v er hi s card among them the conj urer takes ,
advantage of this opportunity to palm off the top card of

pack then throws the latter on the table asking the gentle
, ,
man to name the card .
FIG . 57
.
We will suppose it is the Four of hearts The Four .
” “
f Hearts my dear s i r says the conj urer That cannot be
, , , ,
s I have had this card in the pocket of my coat all the even
ing into the indicated pocket he produces the ,
e c t e d card and upon inspection of the pack it is found to

,
e missing .
T h e Sp e cta t or a s C onj u re r .
IKE several other tricks described in this book the ,
experiment that I am about to expl ain cannot pro ,
perly be called a n e w on e but the fact of its being ,
so little known renders it practically new to most

,
From a paper of pins a number are selected by the ,

.
spectators on e of whom is then requested to choose a card

,
from the pack said card being s a y the Eight of Hearts

, , ,
.
This card is retu rned to the pack a n d the cards shu ffled .
The conj urer then produces his m agic pistol a n d proceeds to

load into it the selected pins giving the pistol in charge of ,
the spectator who drew the Eight of Hearts Seizing the .
pack the performer explains that he is about to throw the

,
cards into the air requesting the gentleman who holds the
,
pistol to take good aim at the cards and to discharge the

,
pistol at t h e word of command The cards are tossed into .
the air the pistol fired and among the cards fallen to the
, , ,
floor is discovered the selected Eight of Hearts being

, ,
pierced by exactly the same number of pieces that have

been loaded into the pistol .
When the paper of pins is returned to the performer ,
the latter by a furtive glance immediately kn ows the num ,
ber of pins that have been removed By means of a s i m .
ple _ s ystem of cues he conveys this information

,
to the assis
tant behind the scenes who quickly takes a duplicate Eight
,
of Hearts and sticks into it the same number of pins that

the spectators have selected It is best to previou sly blacken
.
these pins slightly in a candle fi a m e In the meantime the .

,
performer has forced the other Eight of Hearts which is r e ,
placed in the pack T hen making the pass and palming

.
,
off the top card which is the selected one he retires for a
, ,
moment to fetch the pistol disposing of the palmed card ,
card and palming i n its stead the prepared card Return

, ,
.
i n g to the stage he seizes the pack with the same hand i n

,
which the card i s palmed leaving it on the top The pins

,
.
are then loaded into the false compart m ent of the pistol the ,
latter being subsequently discharged at the pack as the ,
performer throws it into the air The card pierced by the .

,
pin s being among the falling cards is then discovered i n

, ,
their midst .
When ready to exhibit the trick the artist places the

,
'
prepared hand flat on the table and pu shes a card under

each end th e needle Fig 5 3 Two more cards are next
, . .
FIG . 53 .
FIG . 54 .
99
placed between t he first two and the hand Fig 5 4 With ,

. .
the exception of two cards the remainder of the pack is

.
then inserted i n a circle between the first four cards and the
palm which the performer now turns over in order to intro
,
duce the remaining two cards shown by dotted lines in Fig

,
.
55. One e n d of one of these cards i s pl aced underneath the

Ace of Diamonds a n d above the Five of Spades thu s hiding ,
one half of the needle wh i le part of the last card is placed

,
underneath the Five of Spades and above the Ace of Dia

monds the needle being thereby hidden completely
,
.
FI G . 55 .
The conj urer n ow exhibits both sides of the hand bend ,
n g back the cards to allow the company to inspect the sur
ce of the inside of the hand to prove that there is a b s o

,
tely n o preparation of any kind .
By exerting a slight pressure on the backs of the cards ,
e fingers of the hand holding them the l oop of the

'
hich holds the cards is broken and all the cards to

, ,
with the needle drop to the floor

,
Or if the c on
.
,
h e ca n cau se all the cards to

1 00 NEW ERA CARD TRI C KS .
hand I n this case he secretly draws t h e needle out from

.
,
under the skin at the first O pportunity whi ch o ffers itself .
TH E DE M O N E N VE L O P E .
HE performer enters bearing a large envelope i n ,
on e hand and a complete pack of cards in the

other P lacing the envelope against a candle
.
stick or some piece of apparatu s on his table so

, ,
that it remains i n full view during the course of the trick he ,
proceeds to shu ffl e the cards Then seizing a n ornam ental .
dagger or paper knife he goes among the company and

, ,
handing a spectator the dagger requests him to insert it ,
anywhere i n the pack The performer takes off all the

.
cards above the knife and asks the gentleman to take the
topmost card of the l o wer heap on whic h the knife now ,
rests cautioning him to remove the card so that he

, ,
.
,
the performer c a nnn ot obtai n a glimpse of its face I n a

, ,
similar manner s i x more cards are selected at random by

,
di fferent spectators each one retaining his card in his pos

,
session Remain i ng away from th e company the performer

.
,
calls for his assistant who is told to hand the envelope to

,
some prominent ge n tleman who is then requested to open ,
it Doing s o he discovers in it another envelope on the

.
, ,
outside of which is written the na m e of the card selected by

the first gentleman who is requested to hold up his card s o
‘
, ,
that everyone ca n see that both the card a n d the name on

the envelope correspond The next envelope is opened a n d
.
,
inside of it is found a third on e bearing the name of the ,
second card chosen The trick proceeds i n this manner t he

.
,
gentleman discovering as many envelopes on e inside of ah ,
other as there were cards selected each envelope bearing

, ,
the correct name of a drawn card .

told to take the envelope from the table a n d to hand it to a

gentleman whom he requests the audience to select While
, .
this is being done the assistant turns about to pick up the

,
envelope at the same time obtaining possession of the one

,
concealed under his coat He secretly places it on top of

.
“
the one on the tab l e and picking up both he adroitly places

, ,
the empty envelope under his coat and turns around with
the nest of envelopes i n his hand bringing it to the gentleman
,
the spectators have decided upon It is to be understood .
that the assistant mu st be clever enough to change the e n

v e l op e s i n a second s time without being de t ected in the act
’
.
The trick which is now practically done is then brought

, , ,
to the conclusion described If presented with the n e ce s

.
sary amount of address it will not fail to bring the per

,
former a hearty round of applause .
The U bi q u i t ou s Ca rd .
V
FA ORITE trick with conj urers is to discover a
selected card that has been shu ffled back into the
,
pack at any number counted from the top of the

, ,
cards that a spectator choses

,
.
The method that I am about to explain besides being ,
superior to the older forms of the trick has the advantage ,
that it is entirely unknown As u sual after the selected

.
,
card has been returned to the pack the pass is made a n d ,
the card is brought to the top After having given the cards
.
a False Shu ffle the conj urer asks at what number the spec
,
t a t or s wish him to fin d the chosen card We will suppose .
that Fifteen is the number told to him Holding the pack .
“ ”
i n his hand he counts
,
One a n d transfers the top card ,
which is the desired on e to the right hand seizing it between

, ,
th e first a n d second fingers The next card i s transferred

.
NEW ERA C ARD TRI C K S . 1 03
to the right and placed above the card already there the tip ,
of the first finger being u sed as a division between t h e two
cards . In this manner the other cards are successively ,
zo u n t e d into the right hand counting until the number thir ,
teen i s reached At this stage the performer instead of

.
, ,
taking the top card of the pack leaves the selected card ,
which is at the bottom of the ones in his right hand on top ,
of the pack this movement being made to exactly resemble

,
that of taking o ff a card It ought to be well practiced a n d

.
,
if properly executed will be found very illu sive ,

Counting .
“ ”
Fourteen at the execution of this sleight the performer
, ,
s tates th at the next card is the fifteenth on e which ought to ,
prove the selected card and requests the gentleman to name ,
ni s card . He does s o whereupon the performer turns over

,
th e top card of t he pack and shows it to be the desired on e .
F ou r Ca rds Ca u gh t A t T h e F i n ge r T ip s .
OU R
cards after being selected are returned to the
, ,
pack which after being shu ffled is handed to a

, ,
spectator with the request to throw the pack into

the air causing the card s to separate and come
,
in a shower Reaching with both hands among th e

.
nding cards the performer catches two of the selected

,
at the finger tips of each hand a s shown i n Figs 5 6 ,

.
Di fficult as the trick may appear at first reading it will , ,
wever be found quite simple when the explanation is

,
ce understood .
In the first place it is necessary to have duplicat es of

,
o of the cards selected the Five of Clubs a n d the Three ,
Hearts which are placed face to face a n d are concealed

,
the pocket of the left coat tail The duplicates of these .

‘
1 04 NEW ERA C AR D TRICK S .
F I I G . 56 .
FI G . 57
.
1 06 NEW ERA CARD TRIC KS .
the sp e ctator tosses up the pack a s instructed the conj urer ,
reaches with both hands among the des cending cards a n d

produces the chosen cards adhering to h i s fingers on a o
‘
count of their having been previously moistened .
As some performers will find it di fficult to cause the

cards to adhere by this method I suggest that j ust before
, ,
the experiment a little powdered rosin a small quantity of

, ,
which ca n be lying on the table be rubbed on the thumb ,
and middle finger of each hand By this p lan the cards are
.
,
certain to adhere .
Another version of this trick dispens e s with the s p e c t a

’
tor s help The two cards n ot f r oce d that i s the Ace of
.
, ,
Clubs and Six of Hearts are left at the to p of the pack after
, ,
the latter has b ee n given a false s h u ffie by the performer .
The top card 1 s then brought to the bottom of th e pack b e ,
i n g turned over during the O peration The conj urer then .
seizes the pack bewee n the middle finger a n d thumb

of the right hand and pressing firmly with these fingers
,
throws the pack into the air the top and bottom cards be
,
ing retained in the hand while the other hand (which

, ,
meanwhile has obtained possession of the two cards con

,
ce a l e d in the coat t ail pocket ) reaches among t he falling cards
and pretends to pick out the selected cards from among

them .
FTE R s h o w m g an unprepared pack of car d s the .

,
conj urer h a s one of t h e m r s e l e cte d, s a y the Ten .
of Sp ades as k ing t h e s p e ct a to r to mark the c a rd

,
‘
on i t s f a ce w i t h a pencil While thi s i s being

fl
.
.
.
done and the attention of the company drawn t o the person ,

,
the p e r form e r con t ri v e s without being ob served to attach

, ,
a small pellet of adhesive wax to the back of the top card -

NEW ERA CARD T RICK S . 1 07
of the pack Requesting the gentleman to return his card

.
,
he o ffers him the pack at the same moment making the

.
pass ther e by cau sing the person to place his card directly
,
on the prepared former top card which we will suppos e is ,
the Jack of Diam onds Squaring up the pa ck and pressing

.
it well together so as to cau se t h e two cards to adhere a n d

,
appear as on e the conj urer advance s towards the spectator

, ,
spreads out the pack and forces him to select th e double

card However he does not permit him to remove this card
.
, ,
but simply reque s ts him to indicate it Seizing this card .
FI G . 62 .
himself and showing it t o be th e Jack of Diamonds the per

former places the pack aside and taking a s harp penknife ,
pierces the center of t h e gd o u bl e ca rd a nd threads it on a silk

ribbon which should b e about on e fourth of a n I nch i n width
,
-
a n d about thr e e yards long .
Req uesting two specta tors to a s sist him he g ives each ,
of them one e n d of the ribbon to h old and covers the ca rd

which i s t hreaded on t h e latter with a l a rg e h a n d k e r c h i e f , .
I ntro du ci ng h i s _
hand u nder it he s e parates the two cards , ,
a n d placi ng his h and o ver t h e J a ok : of Diamonds i n the

. ,
,
same manner a s in pal ming moves t he hand a n d with it

.
, ,
the card along the ribbon It is a n e a s y matter for him to

, . .
remo v e the card from t h e ribbon by simply taking o n e e n d

‘
.
.
a ,
of it and under th e p r e t e xt of tran sfer i ng it to the s p e c t a

’
, . .
tor s o t h e r h a nd sli p ping o ff and retai ni ng the card palmed

’
, ,
.
He next introduces a sea led e nvel op e which he proves to be ,
empty by holding it in front of a can dl e t hus a llowing the , ,

1 08 NEW ERA C ARD TRI C K S .
audience to see through it On the back of the envelope a

.
,
small qu antity of adhesive wax h a s previou sly b een placed ,
which enables the performer to secretly attach the palmed

Ja ck of Diamonds .
The attention of the spectators i s n ow called to the fact

that the Jack of Di amonds is threaded on the ribbon and
that the selected card the Ten of Spade s i s contained in
, ,
the pack A change i s then comm anded to take place U pon

. .
removal of the h andkerchief from the ribbon the marked ,
Ten of S pades is fou nd instead of the J ack o f Diamonds .
Then showing his hands to be quite empty the artist takes ,
the envelope which during this time h a s been standing u p

,
right against t h e candlestick and off the end Blow ,

.
ing into the envelope so a s to cau se it to expand he appar ,
ently shakes the Jack of Diamonds out of it the card really ,
coming from the rear of the envelope If neatly done this .

,
will be found a very illu sive e ffect .
F D e s ce n s us A r e r u o
’
ue tl is
f
.
'
N this invention of the celebrated P rof Conradi the pe r .

,
former introd uces a transparent glass case into which

he places an ordinary pack of thirty t w o ca r d s pre
‘
- .
,
v i o u s l y examined and shu ffled by the company The .
glass case is plac e d uprig h t on a minature glass top table ,
which stands on one of the regular side tables Fig 6 3 , . .
Any card whatever that the specta tors now n ame wi ll

, , ,
at the pe rformer s command vi sibly rise out of the shu ffled

’
,
pack in the case the conj urer remaining i n the audience

,
during the operation T h e card is remo v e d from the cas e

.
and the same experiment is re p eated a s of t en as desired , ,
with any of the cards remaining in the case .
The construction of the apparatu s req uired for the per

1 1 0 NEW ERA C ARD TRICKS .
th read attached to an anchor stop same a s used i n the con ,
struction of Anchor watches the a ssistant behind the scenes .
is enabled to stop the drum a t any compartment he desires .
'
Each of t h e s e c om p a r tm e n ts or c hambers contains a metal

plunger the upper e n d of the which has a clip soldered to it
‘
“
, .
Into each clip i s previou sly pl aced a different mechanical

card of the kind described only the lower edge of the mid ,
dle part of the card being held by the clip By means of a .
piston rod contained in the hollow leg of the table the

, ,
plunger of that particular ch amber that happens to be di

r e c tl
y under the hole in the table top is pu shed upwards , ,
through the rod of the glass top stand and in the hole in th e
glass . The folded card attach ed to the clip of the plunger
is thu s brought directly behind the glass case on the stand .
The moment the card passe s through th e hole i n the glass ,
it expands the piston continuing for a distance of nearly

,
three inches in its up w ard movement thu s cau sing the card ,
to apparently rise out of the pack The performer takes it out .
of the clip which together with the plunger sinks back into
,
the table according to the manipulation of a thread in the

assistant s hands .
Witnessed from behind the scenes the trick proceeds i n ,
the following manner After the conj urer has pu t the ex

.
’
a m i n e d a n d shuffled pack into the glass card case on the
glass top stand he advances to the company inviting some

, ,
on e to name an y card that he would like to have rise out of
pack As soon a s a ca rd has been decided upon the assist

.
,
ant who c a n plainly see the revolving d rum the back of ,
the table being devoid of drapery sets th e latter in motion ,
by releasing the stop When the drum has r evolved far enough
.
for the compartment containing the desire d card to come , , ,
under the hole i n the table top the anchor stop is made to ,
snap back into place thus stopping t h e revolution of the

,
drum By pulling the cord operating the piston he causes

.
,
the latter to rise carrying w ith it the plunger containing

,
the desired card which subsequently appears to rise out of

,
the case .
TH E OB E D I AI V
T C AR D .
L T H OU G H the e ffect of the trick that I am about ,
to explain is practically the same a s that of C o n

,
radi s F a ci l i s Descensus Averno a n entirely dif

’
,
f e r e n t and much simpler plan is employed We .
dispense with all mechanism nothing bein g required in the

,
w a y of properties but two packs of cards a Card Receptacle

, ,
(Fig . 31 ) and a black thread w hich is

,
stretched hori z ontally
a cross the stage . On e of the packs each card of which is ,
p rovided w ith two small cardboard hooks or strips gl ued to

“ ”
it s back (vide The Queen of the Air ) is di s tributed i n suits
in the fou r divisions of the Receptacle which is then c on ,
ce a l e d i n its u su al place i nthe profond e While the remai n

'
.
,
unprepared pack i s being shu ffled the conj urer asks ,

'
e one to name a card that he wishes to have rise from

pack As soon a s the name of the card has been m e n
.
.
e d the performer secretly obtains a si m ilar card from

.
Receptacle palms it and places it on the top of the

,
k after the latter has been returned to him I n inserting .
card in a glass case or goblet he secretly slips the thread , ,
the assistant h a s lowered for the purpose under the ,
in the back of the rear card The desired card is .
old to rise out of the pack At the word of command

.
s i s t a n t slowly pulls the thread ; causing the rear card
the glass Th is trick c a n be repeated several

.
performer taking the pack out of the case on

ach occasion and under the pretext of having some on e
h u ffl e the cards in the meantime retains and palms the de
,
ired card from the Receptacle .

1 12 NEW ERA C ARD TRIC KS .
The Ca rd Ap p e a r i n g O n T h e B o t t l e .
FT ER exhibiting an unprepared bottle from which ,
liquid is poured the conj urer places it on the

,
table and then requ ests a S pectator to select a

card which is loaded into the Magic P istol Dis
,
.
charging th e latter at the bottle the selected card i s s u d ,
d e n l y seen to make its appearance at t h e neck of the latter .
It is remo v ed and together with the bottle passed out for i n

s p e c t i on .
FIRST METH O D .
N this way of doing the trick a contrivance i s employed ,
which can be quickl y at tached to the edge of any ta '
ble s e e Fig 6 4 E i s a s qu a r e p i e ce of metal bent at

,
. .
,
righ t angles The u pper half of E i s slipped under

.
FIG . 64
.
the loo se cover of the table which i s turned u nder along

,
the rear edge By means of a spring hinge the bent w ire ,

.
‘
A i s fastened to E To the lower end of A is soldered a

, .
,
clip B w h ich con tai n s a duplicate of the card that the con
, ,
:
1 14 NEW ERA C ARD TRIC KS .
t he card held by the clip B After the d uplicate of the

,
.
card h a s been s uccessfully forced it is t orn into small pieces , ,
one corner of which is re t ained b y the spectator .
The remaining pieces are loaded into the pist ol which ,
is discharged at the bottle upon the neck of which the r e ,
stored card minu s one corner w hich i s apparently the one

,
retained makes i t s appearance

, .
The conj urer requests the spectator t o give him the

corner kept out and making the pass with it pretends to
, ,
throw it at the card on the neck of the bottle At the same .
moment the assistant j erk s off t h e hood covering the cor

,
ner of the card which after being taken out of the clip i s
, , ,
passed for inspection .
S E C OND METH O D .
In this form of the t rick the necessary apparatus which , ,
consists of a me t al tube abou t four inches in length i s con ,
ce a l e d in the neck of the bo t t le This tube contains a metal .
disc w h ich is pushed upwards by a spiral S pring under

,
neath it To the center of this disc i s soldered a clip which

.
holds a folding card (Fig same as u sed for passing i n

.
to a bottle The disc i s then pu shed down as far a s it will

.
go when a small catch t o which a thread is fastened springs

, , ,
into place and preven t s t h e disc from fl ying upw ards again .
This small appara t u s as I ha v e already said fits in the neck

, ,
of the bot tle being prevented from falling on the inside by

,
a small rim or fl ange t urned on its upper edge P reviou s

,
.
to the tric k th e t ube lies conce aled on t h e servante from

, ,
which the conj urer ob t ains it after the bottle h a s been u n

cor k ed After the pal med t u be has been secretly slipped
,
into the neck of the bo t tle a duplicate of the folding card ,
is f orced and loaded in t o the pistol which is fired at the ,
bott le At the same t ime the assis t ant who is holding the
.
,
thre ad attached to the catch of t h e t ube pulls it w hereby , ,
the disc becomes released and i s carried upwards by the

spring causing the card w hich e xpands a s soon as i t -i s
, ,
outside of the bottle to appear at i t s neck

,
.
NEW ERA CARD TRI C K S . 1 15
The Ca rd On The T a bl e Ed ge .
S THE title indicates a selected card mysteriously

appears on the rear edge of the table The a p .
paratus employed for this trick is practically of

same construction as the one u sed in the first
n e t h od of the Card and Bottle Trick It consists of a metal.
) late,
Fig 6 6 which by means of the sharp points A A A is
.
,
; e cu r e l y attached to the lower surface and near the rear
FI G . 66 .
dge of
the t ab le D is a spring hinge B a metal arm the
.
, ,
r end of which ends in the clip C which holds the card , ,
the experiment Arm B .
folded fia t under the metal

F to which the thread E
,
i s fastened It will be apparent .
e att a ched to the lower side of a

to p without i ts presence being
,
the performer desires the card to

the bolt F by pulling the thread
u r illustration i s shown in t h e
1 1 6 NEW E RA CARD TRICKS .
act of turning over flies upwards and folds against t h e r e a r

,
'
edge of the table cau sing the selected card to appear a s d e

,
sired It is then taken out of the clip a n d passed for i n s p e c

.
tion .
TH E J I YS T E R I E S O F T H E Z ODI A C .
L T H OU G H
the experiment that I am about to ex
plain depends upon a mathematical principle the
, ,
latter is s o c l everly arranged and s o exceedingl y

well disguised by all sorts of pretexts , that the
conj urer who adds the feat to hi s repertory of parlor tricks
, ,
need n ot have the slightest fear of any spectator no matter ,
how astute disco v ering or even being able to explain the

,
modus operandi .
We have in the line of conj uring a n u m b e r of clever feats , ,
depending upon mathematical principles which feats com ,
pared with the present one pale into comparative i n s i gn i fi ,
cance I have no doubt w ith due deference to the i n t e l l i

.
,
gence of those of my re a ders who w ill m aster this feat that , ,
the maj ority of them will even fai l to s e e the reason why the
peculiar result at the finish of t he trick is obtain ed P ara ,
.
d o x i ca l a s thi s ma y seem it need however pre v ent no on e ,
fro m learning to pe r form the myster y Fo r the sake .
of clearness we will s u p p o s e t h a t o n e spectator , w hom we

' '
,
‘
will Call A takes a n active part in the course of th e tr i ck

‘
, ,
although i n actu al practice it w ill b e found m uch more mys ‘
t e i ou s a
r n d effective i f -all or at least the maj orit y o f spec
,
t a t o r s participate .
The performer c om m e n ce s b y explaining that the m y s n
t e r y he is about to introduce i s a purel y astrological on e ,
a n d for t his reason it will b e ne cessary for him to know the
spectator s (A s ) birthday b y th e aid of which afte r a mo

’ '
-
, ,
1 18 NEW ERA CARD TRI C K S .
the next in On e and the remaining twelve cards are then

,
evenly distributed i n heaps of four in the second third a n d , ,
fourth divisions of the circle This having been done the

.
,
conj urer produces a sheet of paper on which is neatly a n d ,
legibly written the following table which a s it is identical , ,
“
with a table u sed i n the Ne P lu s U ltra Trick we will ,
therefore call No 3 . .
T AB L E NO . 3 .
Diamonds . Spades .
( 6
A ce of C lubs . 40 . Ace of Hearts .
Two Tw o
Thre e 42 . Three
Four Four
Five Five
Six Six
Se y en Seven
Eight Eight
Nine 48 . N ine
Ten 49 . Ten
Jack 50 . Jack
Queen 51 . Queen
King 52 . King
He expl ains th e l aw of S imple order of the cards ,
NEW ERA C ARD TRICKS . 1 19
relating that when cards were first invented the four suits
represented the four seasons of the year : Diamonds (Rose )
being spring Clubs (Trefoil ) the summer Spades (Acorn )
, ,
fall and Hearts (Cup ) winter (This i s. true in fact ,
as in Spain this nomenclature still is used ) Spe ctator A .
who is willing to take part in the experiment i s invited to ,
take possession of the sheet while the performer retires

,
to th e furthest end of the room From this point he dictates

.
,
to A whom he has provided with paper and pencil what he

,
desires him to do He first requests A to think of a card

.
and then to find it in Table No 3 in his possession T he

. .
number preceding the card i s to be put down and multipli

ed by 33 To this result he i s told to add the number of the
.
month in which he was born To this i s to be added 7 x7

, ,
or as the performer states : There are seven days to the

week which days are governed by seven principal planets
,
.
two numbers multiplied together make 49 which ,
”
add to the s u m already obtained Next borrowing
.
n e s watc h he tells A to add to the total the number of

’
, ,
seconds indicated by the watch at the same time ,
the o w ner of the latter to verify the number To .
hu s obtained is then added A s birthday that is ’

,
he month in which he was

birth card which he h a s ,
t For this pur p ose A is

.
rd in th e T able No 3 and to put .
the spectator is requested to

number of weeks in the year ) .
be disregarded only the re m a i n ,
b e kept and marked R so t hat when the performer

,
occasion to refer to R later on the spectator will ,
w what i s meant To R the gentleman is told to

.
,
the name of the century which for a few years to come

,
result obtained i s to be divided by 4 (four

quotient thereby obtained R i s
divided by
5 (the number of o n e s senses ) This will result in a quo

’
.
tient which s a y is 8 and a remainder which we s uppose is

, , ,
3 The performer then requests A take the third card in sign

.
8 of the Z odiac and to his utmost astonishment the s p e c ta

, ,
tor finds i t to be the very card of which he thought If a .
number of persons say twelve each having a different , ,
birth day birth month birth card and thought card partici
, , ,
pate i n the experiment and at the end of it each person ,
finds hi s card at the place where the final quotient and r e ,
m a i n d e r indicates the result will simply dum bfound th e m

, ,
especially if they are people above what may be called ordi , ,
n ary intelligence .
In order to undeceive my reader a s quickly as possible ,
I b e g to state that the pack of cards used is prearranged in

'
'
the order s e t forth in T able No 5 but as the cards are s u b .

,
j e c te d to a thorough but False S hu ffle and Ou t by the per

former and also are repeatedly cut by the company no one ,
will have the slightest idea that the cards are laying in a ,
certain order .
Ano t her poin t to be added to the deception of the spec

t a t or s 1 s that the conj urer in distributing the cards in heaps
,
of four in the Z odiac begin s in the S ign decide d by the

,
throw of the die which really i s an unprepared one

, Of .
course one can dispense with t h e die it being used for the ,
e ffect only the idea to create the impression of chance com

,
bi n e d with astrology being at the bottom of this mystery .
It i s for this reason that I have placed in parenthesis b e

, ,
hind each numerical dictation a plausible reason for the ,
division or addition and cannot too strongly urg e m y r e a d e r s

,
to resort to these expedients thu s misleading the comp any ,
as much as possible from the true secret of the feat .
“
But h ow a b ou t the number of minutes sho w n by the
‘
. ,
watch that you dictated to me when you performe d t his

, , .
”
experi ment for my benefit some o f my p e rs on a l p rofe s s , ,
i o n a l friends wil l ask Ah 'there i s th e rub my frie nd s when

.
, ,
I distributed the c ards I n the Z od i c I secret l y l ook e d a t the ,
bottom car d of division 1 3 technically known as the Su n ,

122 NEW ERA CARD TRI C K S .
all the other numbers first I f n e ither the hour nor th e

.
minutes will furnish the de s ired excu se for th e dictation of

the number of the Su n Card the performer waits until t he
,
second hand approaches the right number Then S howing .
the watch to t h e gen tleman from whom it has been borro wed ,
the conj urer exclaims : The seconds are twenty one are t he y
“
,
not and by that time the s econd hand having arr i v ed at

) ”
,
twe nty o h e the gentleman therefore corroborates the per

,
former s statement
’
.
The only thing that still remains to be explained is t h e

figuring out of the birth card This is also easy for all .
,
that is required is to double the number of the month in

which the person is born then add to this t h e da y of bi rth
,
a n d subtract the total from ft y fi v e

fi - .
Example : Birth card for the 5 th of April (4t h month ) .
Double number of month 2 X 4= 8 ,
Add the day of the month ,
—
1 3 42
Subtract total from 5 5 55 —
,
42 according to Table No 3 is the Two of Hearts w hich

,
.
, ,
is the birth card .
A n other example : December 1 0 th (1 2 t h month ) .
1 2 x
5 5 — 34= 2 1 =Eight of . C lubs .
L ast ex a mple : June 2 4t h (June is the 6 th month ) .
6x
12
55 of Clubs .
NEW E RA C AR D TR I C K S . 123
I shall next give several examples of the entire process

of figuring knowing that they will m aterially assist my
,
r eaders in learning the experiment w h ich i s not nearl y a s ,
di fficult a s it appears at first glance .
Date of person s birth Febru ary 9t h ; ergo birth card

’
, , ,
T wo of Hearts or 4 2
, The Thought Card 2 7 the Ace of ,
S pades. S un Card Six of S pades (36 minu tes)

, .
M ultiply Thought Card by 33= 981

Add month of birth ,
Days of Week P l anets 49 , ,
Minutes ,
36
Birth Card ,
42
Birthday , 9
Month of Birth 2
Divide by 52 weeks ,
52 J 1 0 30 19
Add Century ,
Divide by 4 seasons ,
Add remainder ,
Divide by 5 senses 5 5 5 7= 1 1 Sign of Z odiac .
55
Remainder , 2 No of Card in Sign

. .
124 NE W E RA C ARD TRICKS .
Second example
Date of P er s on s Birth July 1 5 th
’
Thought C ard ,
.
Ten of Hearts S un Card Fi v e of Hearts (4 minutes )

.
,
.
Thought Card 49 x
,
Add Birth Month 7 ,
7 x7 49
Minutes ,
4
Birth Card ,
26
Birthday ,
1 5
Birth Month ,
7
Divide b
, y
5 2 Weeks ,
52 ) 1 72 5 (33
1 56
Add C entury ,
Divide by 4 Seasons ,
4)
Add Remainder ,
9
Divi de by 5 Senses ,
5 ) 1 6 =3 =Sign .
1 5
Remainder ,
1 ==
C ard .
126 NEW ERA CARD TR I CKS .
which the performer now places on the glass Fig 70 slip .

.
,
'
ping the coin be t ween the edge of the lat ter and the cards
“
The whole is next covered by a handkerchief apparently to ,
make the trick the more difficult b u t in reali ty to prevent ,
the spectator from seeing where the coin comes from when ,
it falls into t h e glass The conj urer then borrows a half

.
dollar and pre t ends t o transfer it from the right hand into the
left really retaining it in t h e right wi t h which he seizes
, ,
h i s wand placing it on the end of t h e pack opposite to the

one under which the com 1 s concealed Holding the closed .
left hand above t he pack he suddenly opens it and hits the ,
u pp er end of the wand a gentle tap w her eby the end of the
pack holding the coin against the glass t ilts up and releases ,
the coin which drops into the glass and is removed by the
,
performer who after substituting for it the coin he has

,
palmed re t urns the la t ter to i t s owner

,
.
S E C OND METH O D .
The plan employed in this version of t he trick is a very

ingeniou s one indeed .
In one of the cards of the pack previous to the perfor ,
mance four slits A B and C D are cut wi t h a sharp pen

, ,
knife The dis t ance between B a nd C mu st be adapted to

‘
admit of a hal f dol l ar being placed into th e slits as shown ,
in Fig 71 being held nei t her too loosely or too firmly The
.
,
.
card and coin thus prepared i s plac ed in the second one from
the bottom of th e pack which may now be freely spread ,
ou t fan like and sho w n from bo th sid es

, ,
the performer ex ,
e r ci s i ng a li t tle care n o t to expose the prepared card J u st .
be fore placing the p a c k on the tumbler he remo ves the bot ,
tom card and places i t on t h e top of the pack

.
T aking the .
b or row co i n and prete nding to pl a ce it in h i s left hand i n

, ,
re a lit y keeping i t palm e d in th e right wi t h which he seizes ,
the w a nd h e h olds t h e latte r i n a vertical position i t s lower

, ,
end re s ti n g on the p a c k The closed left hand then strikes

.
the up pe r e nd of t h e wand a q uic k blow cau s ing the pac k ,
to ben d i n ward a trifle t hereb y forcing the concea l ed coin

,
.
wt of the slits cau sing it to drop visibly and audibly into

,
h e tumbler with very p retty effect The left hand as it

.
t rike s the wand i s opened and shown to be empty .
FIG . 71 .
FIG . 72 .
Our second diagram F i g 72 shows a plan by which two

.
,
ins are held by the slits A B C D E F G H m a de i n t h e

, , , ,
bottom card By this method one coin at a time i s made to

.
apparently drop through t he pack i nto the tumbler under

neath ; the performer for this purpose applying th e lower
e n d of t h e w and to one e n d of the pack and dislodging the
coin held there afterwards moving the wand to the other e n d

,
and releasing the secon d a n d last coin in a si m ilar manner .
THIRD METH OD
This version of the trick di ffers materially from the
methods j ust described a s during the course of the trick
,
the magician stands at some distance from the glass a n d

while in this position invites a spectator to come forward
,
FI G . 73 .
a nd examine cards glass and coins, proving the absence of

,
preparation .The table on which the tumble r is placed must

be either a regular con j ur i ng table with a bellows or box top
or if the latter is n o t availa ble a parlor table with a partly
,
open draw er may be used Face downwards on the table

.
lies a card the back of which is painted the same color as

,
the table top To the edge of this card is attached a black

.
'
silk thread A Fig 73 about fourteen inches in length which

,
.
,
is firmly tied to a small ring C to which also is secured a ,
black elastic cord B the end of which is fastened to th e i n

, ,
side of the table or table drawer To set this combination .
of thread ring and el astic the latter i s drawn o ut to its

, ,
1 30 NEW ERA CARD TRIC K S .
TH E H AL V ED C AR D .
OR
this excellent trick in which a destroyed card is
,
magically restored the performer prepares him

,
self by previously cutting a card s a y the Six of

‘
,
Diamonds into two part s one of which he discards

, , ,
concealing the other part (B Fig 82 ) about his person

, . .
After having forced a duplicate of this card (A F i g 83) ,

.
FI G . 82 .
he places the pack on the table u sing this opportunity ,
to secretly obtain possession of the half card B which he ,
places on the selected card the two presenting the appear

,
ance indicated in Fig 83 Holding both cards well to

. .
gether he takes a pair of scissors and cuts A i n two follow

, ,
ing exactly the line of B The upper part of A is given i n

.
charge of some one and the double half card shown from
both sides B i s then substituted for the lower half of A by
.
,
means of the Excelsior Change The upper half of A a n d

.
the part B are then matched and found fitting together a p

, ,
p a r e n t l y proving that they are really portions of the same

card P art B is now destroyed by setting fire to it a n d then
.
,
apparently restored by exhibiting i n its stead the lower half

of the original card A .
Those of my readers who do not mind a little extra ex

pense or trouble can bring the trick to a more sensa
,
N EW ERA C ARD TRI C K S . 1 31
t i on a l close by dropping the palmed half of A on the ser

vante from where it is removed by the assistant who takes
, ,
it behind the scenes and quickl y encloses it in an envelope ,
which he seals and encloses in a second larger envelope ,
sealing this and s o on until the half card i s contained in a

, ,
nest of six or more envelopes This set of envelopes he

.
hands to a District Messenger Boy who i s in waiting and ,
who quickly runs out of th e ent rance of the theatre and e h ,
te ring from the front of the house hands the nest of e n ,
v e l o p e s to the spectator to whom it is addressed The gentle .
FI G . 83
.
m a n,at the conj urer s request O pens one envelope after the
’
,
other a n d inside of the innermost discovers half of the

, ,
card A which exactly fits the other half in his possession

,
.
While the assis t ant i s occupied in getting the envelopes

ready the performer by din t of a little by play fills out the
, ,
-
,
necessary time by burning B and causing i t s ashes to di s a p

pear .
If this additional effect of u sing the Nest of Envelopes

, ,
1 32 NEW ERA CARD TRICK S .
is introduced it is advisable to h a v e t h e gentleman who se

,
lects the Six of Diamonds pl ace a private mark on e ach e n d

,
of the card so that at the finish of the trick there c a n be

, ,
n o linge ring do u bt but that the restored h alf is really part
O f the card o r i i n a l l h n
‘
g y c o s e .
TH E P H OE NI Y. .
HE admirable trick of this name res embles in e ffect

a n d principle the trick j ust described After a card .
has been selected the performer pl aces it aside

,
and proceeds to tear Off a corner of the card ,
which had best be a court card s a y the King of Diam onds ,

.
Then handing the very same corner and the card to anoth er
spectator he requests him to take charge of the corner until
,
it is wanted This card itself i s then placed on a n u n p r e

.
pared china plate and set on fire by a S pectator or the per

former who previou sly begs the spectator to compare the
,
corner with the card which are found to match exactly

,
.
After the card has been consumed by the flames the c on ,
j urer places the ashes in any piece of apparatu s s a y for i h ,
stance the Card Box a n d closing it gives it to a second spe c ,
tator to hold The burnt card is now commanded to become

.
completely restored the box is opened a n d the performer s

,
wishes found to have been obeyed Instead of the ashe s .
placed i n the box i s found the o ri ginal King of Diamonds

,
minus a corner The card i s passed to the spectator who

.
retained the corner a n d they are found to fit exactly .
I n order to be able to perform this capital trick it is ,
necessary to have a d uplicate King of Diamonds from ,
which the upper corner h a s been previou sly torn and de

stroyed a s it is n o t required i n the course of the trick
,
The .
card itself i s secreted i n the pochette or any o th e n e a s i l y

to the introduction of the trick the

P reviou s ,
artist r e
moves from th e pac k the Ace of Diamonds which ,
he places
in the tail poc k et of hi s coat The cards laid on
. the tabl e
consist of three Aces an d the Nine of Diamond ,
which i s -
used a s a substitute for the missing Ace of the same suit

.
.
To conceal the side pips of this card the Ace of C lubs a n d

,
Ace of Spades are made to cover it a s indicated i n Fig 86

,
. .
By a little practice this can be done i n an apparently care

less manner of arranging the cards on the table and finally ,
placing the Ace of Hearts over them .
FI G . 86 .
The trick then proceeds as described the four cards ,
(supposed to be four Aces ) being shu ffled into the pack after ,
which operation the Ace of Diamonds having vanished

,
from the pack is produced from the pe rformer s p of ce t

i
’
.
,
N EW ERA CARD T RI CKS .
T h o u gh t F or e t o l d .
HE performer commences the experiment by h and

ing to a spectator a sealed envelope wi t h th e re ,
quest to take charge of it until it i s wanted He .
then introduces a piquet pack of thirty two cards

-
and after shuffling it divides it into four heaps of eight

, ,
cards each arranging these heaps on a tray over which a

, ,
borrowed handkerchief i s then spread T urning his back to .
the tray the conj urer invites another gentleman to remove

,
from underneath the handkerchief any one of the four heaps ,
an d retain it in his possession .
After his request h a s been complied with he turns ,
around seizes the gentleman s hand and while pretending

,
’
,
to read hi s thoughts proceeds to write on a blackboard the

,
names of the cards contained in the selected heap He .
then asks for the return of the enve l ope which he opens ,
a n d from which he removes a slip of paper also bearing ,
the names of the eight cards that were chosen .
The cards used have been prearranged Every eighth .
card is a t rifle wider than the rest After having given the .
pack a False Shu ffle the performer makes the pass at a

,
wide card a nd di vides them into four heaps on the tray I n

'
doing s o he secretly obtains a glimpse of the bottom card

, ,
and from that c a n easily calculate the names of the cards

contained in each heap After one of these heaps has been.
removed from the tray he c a n easily tell by glancing at the

, ,
tray which packet is missing the h a n d e r chi e f being sunk

, ,
down in the place formerly occupied by the cards Know .
ing the names of them thanks to their prearranged order , ,
he proceeds to write on the blackboard the names of the

cards .
The envelope contains a slip of paper on which are

written the names of the first eight cards of the prepared
pack and also a second smaller envelope which again c on
, ,
tains another slip with the names of the next eight cards
a n d a third still smaller envel ope
, This i s Similarly ar .
1 36 NEW E RA CA RD T RICKS .
ranged c on t a i ng a third slip and a fourth envelope with a

, ,
slip bearing the n ames of the last eight cards Owing to .
this peculiar arrangement the conj urer has it in his power ,
to produce from the envelope or envelopes as the case may ,
be any one of the fou r slips

,
Supposing the first eigh t .
cards to have been chosen he simply opens the fir St envel

.
,
. ope and neglecting the envelope within removes the slip

, ,
:
which he hands to a spectator requesting him to read aloud ,
the list of cards thereon The envelope and i t s contents i n

.
,
this case are carelessly thrown aside

,
.
If however t h e t h i r d s e t of cards has been chosen the

, ,
performer would O p en the first envelope pay n o atten t ion ,
to the slip it contains but would remove the second envel

,
ope .Opening this one and ignoring the slip it contained he ,
would take the third en v elope from which he would remove ,
the slip only placing the last envelope shown aside as if

, ,
it were of n o fu rthe r importance .
T H E P I E R C ED C A R D .
L T H OU G H
the e ffect of this trick upon perusal of ,
the explanation appears to be simple it is never , , ,
t h e l e s s one of the most mysterious of modern or

, ,
rather modernized card tricks ,

.
In the first place the performer is securely blindfolded

, ,
after which a gentleman selects any card from the pack ,
then taking possession of it he replaces his card shu ffling

, , ,
them a s much as he pleases The pack i s then returned to .
the conj urer who carelessly throws it on the table spread

, ,
i ng out the cards promiscuou sly with h i s hands .
A spectator is then asked for the loan of a penknife ,
which is opened and handed to the performer who grasps ,
it dagger like and circling with h i s hand above t h e cards

-
, ,
cards have been selected and are returned to the pack ,
which the conj urer himself holds he makes the pass at a ,
suitable moment thereby bringing the cards to the top a n d

,
after palming them off by means of the B u a t i e r P alm allows ,
the pack to be shuffled U pon i t s return he secretly r e

.
,
places the palmed cards and spreads them on the table ar ,
ranging i t s o that the three cards are not situated s u s p i c

i o u s l y near one another taking excellent care however to
,
remember their exact location He must also bear in mind

.
,
which one of them is the first card which one the second ,
etc The trick in this form r e qu i re s considerable audacity

.
,
and address on the part of the performer who will certainly ,
be amply repaid for his trouble in mastering the trick by ,
the great impress i on I t s performance creates .
TH E C A R D B OX .
NE of the most useful accessories in C ard Conj uring

is the C ard Box Fig 87 which is invalu able for
,
.
,
causing cards to appear vanish or change into ,
o thers . To all appearances it is but a plain ,
FIG . 87
.
box of pol i shed wood consisting of the parts A and B , ,
hinged together either of which will serve as top or bottom

,
of the box The inside i s usu ally blackened ; but there i s

.
another part n o t noticed by the spectators and that is a

, ,
very thin slab C of blackened wood nicely fitting the i h

, , ,
side o f the box and which i s held in place by one of the

,
fingers a s the p e rfo rm e r fr e e l y shows the open box from

,
'
both sides inverting it to prove that it contains nothing

, .
We will su ppose for an illustration that in B lies a card , ,
face downwards being hidden by the S lab C , The box thu s .
prepared may be freely shown apparently empty as de

, , ,
scribed above and then closed by means of lid A

, (This at .
,
least i s the method u su ally adopted although I myself let

, , , ,
A form the bottom of the box and adroitly close prepared

side B on it a s the cover by which process I dispense with, ,
t h e necessity of turning over t h e box ) I n placing the .
closed box upon the table or giving it to some person to ,
hold the box i s secretly turned over s o that B is now u p

, ,
p e r m o s t.The false slab C falls into A cau sing the con ,
c e a l e d card to be revealed when the box is opened By using .
a reverse process the box i s made to serve for the vanish

,
i n g or changing of cards .
T h e fil e ch a n i ca l Ca rd B oa) .
N OTHER excellent contrivance by the aid of which ,
cards are made to v anish appear or change is the , ,
Mechanical Card Box depicted in Fig 88 The ,

. .
superiority of this box o v er that j u st described lies ,
in the fact that the Mechanical Box after being shown emp ,
t y is held and closed by a gentleman who after opening it

, , ,
a minute later discovers in it the card that the performer

,
desired to have appear The spectator is then invite d to

.
inspect the box a nd fails to find any indication of trickery

i n it construction .
FI G . 88 .
A (Fig 88) represents a slab pivoted in the bottom cor

.
,
ners of the box At this place hidden by the woo d w ork

.
, ,
i s inserted a coiled watch spring which is fastened to on e O f ,
the pivots of A tending to force the slab against the back of

,
the box To set the apparatus for the trick the card de
.
,
sired i s placed on the real bottom of the box and by push ,
ing a pin through a minute hole from the back of the box ,
the slab A is pushed inward as indicated in the diagram and

folded down on the bottom of the box where a catch B ,
S prings into place preventing A from flying back to its n or

,
mal position on the back of the box .
The box thu s prepared may be S hown empty with i m 1

, ,
-
p u n i
, ty and i n this condition is handed to a gentleman
with the request for him to lock it and close it himself I n .
doing s o the slot D in the cover engages and slightly moves

latch C which in turn causes catch B to move w ithin the
,
woodwork of t h e box thereby releasing A which by means

, ,
of the spring at one of i t s pivots noiselessly folds up ,
against the back of the box its upper edge being hidden ,
under a slight proj ection of the box proper so that now the ,
form where it will do excellent service in exchanging

a n ce s ,
question slips for du plicates previously concealed in the

box The apparent simplicity in the construction of this
.
piece of apparatus recommends it for work of a similar char

acter .
The Ne w B ra s s Ca rd B o ar
) .
ONJ U R E RS,
who desire something especially neat ,
'
novel and clever i n the way of a C ard Box will do ,
well to purchase the New Brass Card Box illus ,
t r a t e d in Fig 90 This box is made of metal

‘
. .
throughout and is j u st l arge enough to contain a card It is .
FI G . 90 .
scar cely a h inch i n heighth thus making it appear as i f

,
there was n o chance for trickery in the construction Ye t .

,
when a ~ca r d is placed into it and the box closed and given to
spectator to hold he will upon opening it find that the
, , ,
card has either vanished or changed into an entirely di ffer

e n t one according to the arrangements of the performer
,
.
The secret of the trick lies in the fact that there are
.
really two boxes B and C neatly nesting a n d connected b y

, ,
the same hinges to the lid A which i s of such shape as to

,
fit very snugly into part B P reviou s to performing the

.
trick B which is nearly of the same depth as C i s placed

, , ,
i n the latter and the box may in this state be freely shown
, ,
.
After the card h a s been placed in B the box is closed press , ,

-
ing A into B in which it becomes firmly lodged

,
The box .
is then h anded to a spectator who upon opening it takes

, , ,
A and B to be one thereby disclosing C which m ay be either

, ,
empty or contain a card into which the card placed in B is

,
suppo s ed to h ave been tran sformed .
The Va n i s h i n g Of T h o u gh t C a r ds .
N THIS rather neat trick several cards that the spec

, ,
t a t or s have mentally selected from a number of cards ,
spread out before them are cau sed to m ysteriously

,
disappear .
The secret of the trick lies in the preparation of the

cards which are double -faced one side of the pack showing
, ,
twenty six certain cards while the other side shows a Si m

-
,
’
i l a r number of different cards Spreading out the cards b e

.
fore the eyes of th e company the conj urer requests several

,
persons to note and bear in mind any of the cards they s e e ,

.
In order to cau se the cards to vanish he S i m ply closes the ,
the pack and turns it over without being observed then

, ,
spreading the cards again A s an entirely di fferent set o f

.
cards i s thus presented to the spectators they are unable to ,
locate their respective cards among them .

NEW ERA CARD TRI C KS .
X R A YS .
FIRST METH O D .
ROM a pack of unprepared cards a number say , ,
nine are selected a n d placed by their several hold

, ,
e rs,
into opaque envelopes which are then sealed
,
.
The closed envelopes are then collected on a plate

or tray by a volunteer assistant who at the performer s r e
, ,
’
qu est hands him any one of the envelopes which the c on

, ,
j urer places to his forehead and instantly tells the name of

the card contained therein The envelope is then opened
.
by a spectator and i s found to contain the card the per

,
former predicted The contents of the remaining envelopes

.
are next read i n the same apparently miraculou s manner ,
the performer wi th his usu al love of the truth attributing

, ,
the experiment to the u se of the celebrated Roentgen Rays .
FI G . 91 .
envelopes used are pe r fectly white on the outside

T he
and blue on the inside whereby they are rendered opaque
,
.
Eight of them are marked after a plan S hown in Fig 91 the .

,
marking consisting of a small dot on the face of the envel '
ope.
ment the conj urer i s securely blindfolded and as a further

, ,
handicap to his clairv oyant p ow e r s th e nine envelopes are

, ,
covered by a handkerchief before being give n to him Des

,
.
pite these apparently insurmountable di fficulties he predicts , ,
with unfailing accuracy the name of the card that each e h

,
v e l o p e contains .
The di ff erence in the m odus op e ra ndi O f the trick con

sists in the manner of marking the envelopes w hich are ,
pricked with a _ fi n e needle instead of being dotted with the

i nk . This pricking raises a s l i gh p r o tu b e r a nce which is
, ,
made more prom inent and more lasting by being touched

with the tiniest drop of mucilage which when dry and , ,
hard cau ses the mark to be easily detected by the fingers

, .
Otherwise the trick proceeds in exactly the same m a n

,
n e r as described in the last me thod with the addition of the

,
blindfolding of the performer and covering of the envelopes .
As the conj urer does not require his sight for this form of
‘
the trick the blindfolding does not affect him ; while s o far
, ,
as the covering of the envelopes is concerned their marks ,
can be re ad through the texture of the handkerchief the ,
tiny proj ection being easily felt a n d interpreted .
TH E B A L A N C E D C A R D .
N THE course of some trick in which the performer

,
h a s o c casion to u s e a silk hat he demonstrate s that he

,
is a j uggler as well as a magician by taking a select ,
ed card and balancing it i n an upright position on t he

crown O f the hat then going among the company continu
,
ing to balance the card in this position The card is then .
removed and together with the hat passed for inspection .
A s u su al the secret i s a very simp l e one To the u pper .
button o f the conj urer s vest is tied a blonde hu m an hair

’
NEW ERA CARD TRIC KS . 1 47
about sixteen inches in length To the lower e nd of this

.
hair is attached a very small pellet of adhesive wax After .
a card h a s been chosen the performer on his wa y to the

, ,
stage obtains possession of the waxed end of the hair a n d

,
secretly presses it against the middle of the u pper end of the

selected card which he stands upright on the center of t h e
,
crown of hat holding it in such a manner and at such a d i s

,
FI G . 94 .
tance fro m his body that the hair is drawn taut the card
, ,
le aning slightly towards the spectators Fig : 94 As the ,

.
h air is practically invisible to the naked eye especially i n ,
the evening the performer can safely venture among the

,
company allowing them t o witness the mysterious feat at

, ,
close quarters Seizing the card and quickly detaching the

.
,
wax with his fingers allowing the h air to drop he passes

, ,
both card and hat for inspection .
For the sake of clearness the hair A in our illustration ,
i s s hown much heavier th an it i s in reality .

T H E L I G H T NI NG C H ANG E .
NG two cards the Six of C lubs and the Jack

H OW I ,
of Hearts the performer places the first f ace

, ,
downwards upon th e table a nd invites a spectator

to pl ace his hand on the card to prevent it as he , ,
explains from being conj ured away The conj urer then .
seizes the Jack of Hearts and with a rapid movement of the

h and changes it into the Six of Clubs
,
The gentleman is .
asked to turn over the card upon which h i s hand rests a n d

, ,
finds it to be the Jack of Hearts .
i ''
1
FI G . 95 . FI G . 96 .
The properties n ecessary for the performance of this

novel trick consist of a double faced card one side of which
, ,
is the Six of Clubs and the other side the Jack of Hearts
,
.
Over the court card side of this card he places an ordinary ,
Six of Clubs s o that he can take both cards and holding

,
them in such a way to appear as one card show t h em from ,
both sides Replacing them on the pack he takes the u n

.
,
prepared Six of Clubs and the double card turning the court ,
’
card side of the latter to the company Holding the prepar .
ed card between the index and middle finger of the right “
hand he transfers the unprepared Six of Clubs to this hand

,
also seizing it by the thumb a n d first finger s o that it is in

, ,
front of the prepared card The names of the two cards are
.
called out once more a n d the Jack of Hearts i s apparently

placed on the table bu t instead however the Six of Spades
, ,
is thrown down back uppermost while with the sa m e move ,

50 NEW ERA C ARD T RI C KS .
p l i c i
itself consisting in the main of a metal rim A to which
ty , ,
i s sewn a rather shallow bag of black cloth To this rim i s .
attached a flat strip of metal to which i s ri vetted a spring ,
clip B By means of a S harp point protruding from the rear

.
of A the apparatu s can be quickly attached to the back of a

,
suitable chair by pressing the sharp point into the wood

,
work of th e upper part of the frame In clip B i s inserted .
the p ack of cards w hich the conj urer intends to substitute

,
for the examined one in the course of the trick To do s o he .

,
proceeds in the following manner :

Holding the pac k with the right hand he seizes with ,
the same hand the upper part of the chair in such a way that
, ,
the thumb alone is visible t h e rest of the fingers being hid

,
den by the back of the chair .
The left hand at the same moment seizes the seat of the ,
chair which i s s e t t o one S ide as if it were in the conj urer s

, ,
’
way .During this operation the pack of cards is dropped ,
from the right hand into the bag of the servante the ri g ht ,
hand at the same time r e moving the duplicate pack from

, ,
the clip B the change being unobserved and accomplished

,
with ease .
Some Card Ser v antes are made with two spring clips ,
one at each end of the fr ame A s o that a second change of ,
packs can be made by t h e u s e Of the same apparatu s In .
order to render these changes still more unnoticeable the ,
Servante is attached to the back of a chair which h a s a ,
cane back and behind which there is seemingly no chance of

concealing anything To accomplish this result the wily
.
,
conj urer h a s simply to render t h e caning opaque by tacking ,
over the rear a piece of black velvet behind which he a t ,
taches his Ser v ante in the usu al manner T his very ingen .
iou s way of preparing the back of a chair can be u sed to ,
great a d v a ni a ge in other conj uring tricks It is impossible .
to detect the preparation at a S light distance as a trial on ,
the part of my reader wi ll easily demons trate .

NE W E RA C ARD TRI C K S . 1 51
R A PI D T R A N SI T .
OR
the performance of this clever trick it is n e ce s ,
sary that the performer should place a duplicate of

a certain card s a y the Six of Spades in the pack
, ,
.
After having successfully forced one of these two

cards he invites a spectator to step forward and assist him
,
in the experiment about to follow The ge n tleman is first .
requested to empty the inside pocket of his coat and to place

the selected card into the n ow empty pocket While the .
FIG . 98 .
gentleman i s d oi n g this the conj urer secretly palms the d u

,
plicate Six of S pades and addressing the spectator exclaims :

, ,
“
U pon second thought I think it will be best if we replace
,
”
your card in the pack ' at the same time reaching into the
spectator s pocket and appearing to remove the selected
’
card he really takes out the palmed Six of Spades which

, , ,
after showing he replaces in the pack Commanding it to

,
.
“ ”
vanish he ru ffles the pack and asks the gentleman to feel
,
in his pocket to which the card to all appearances has r e

, ,
.
turned .
TH E C A R D S A ND TH E OR A N G E TR E E .
HE following trick although requiring but little

,
dexterity and being of a rat h er simple nature ,
nevertheless invariably creates a pretty effect e s ,
p e c i a l l y if introduced i n an assembly where ladie s

pred ominate .
1 52 NEW ERA C ARD TRI C KS .
On t h e j ,
table is seen
c on u r e r s a flower pot’
containing ,
a plant to which are attached four oran ges each of which

, ,
is suspende d by a di fferent colored ribbon or to each of whi ch ,
a small ribbon rosette i s pinned .
The performer next introduces an ordinary pack of

cards requesting each O f four lad i es to select a card Each
,
.
one is requested to tear her card into small pieces which ,
are collected on a plate by the performer who requests each ,
lady to retain one of the torn pieces to aid her in remember

i n g her card The remaining pieces a re loaded into the
.
Magic P istol whic h i s discharged at the orange tree The

,
.
oranges are cut off and placed on a plate by th e performer ,
who invites each lady who selected a card to choose one of ,
the oran es T hey are asked to open the fruit and I n it

g .
,
discover their cards fully restored with the exception of the

, ,
retained piece which is found to fit exactly

,
.
My reader has no d oubt surmised by this time that the ,
four selected cards were forced and identical with those con
c e a l e d in the oranges previou s to the trick To properly .
introduce a card into an Orange the button or bloom is care ,
fully removed and a rolled up c ard (in this case minus a cor
n e r ) is inserted Afterwards the bloom i s easily replaced
.
,
by the u s e of melted beeswax The pieces torn from .

,
or out of the cards the performer conceals about hi s per

, ,
s on i n easily accessible places It t h en becomes an easy

.
matter for him to apparently hand to each lady one of the

pieces of her card as if taking it from the plate bu t in r e
, ,
ality giving her a palmed substitute The conj urer mu st .
bear in mind the order in which the cards are forced as well ,
as the disposition of their respective corners so as to be ,
able to force the corresponding orange at the finish of the

trick .
54 NEW ERA CARD TRIC KS .
in the lower end of loop B upon which the ring i s seen to ,
sudde nl y appear The box is then opened and found empty

. .
Tearing the card from the two ribbons by which it is s u s

-
pended the performer takes it to the person who loaned

,
him the ring requesting him to identify h i s property and

, ,
to remove it himself from the loop proving that there is n o ,
trickery about card ring or ribbon ,

.
In the first place the apparatus into which the ring is

,
placed is ingeniously constructed in such a manner that when

,
the p e rfOrm er with his left hand places the ring into the
box the right hand a moment later removes it from the
, , ,
other end of the box which can be secretly opened and ,
closed wi thout showing a trace of preparation Having

,
.
once regained possession of the ring which the spectators ,
fanc y safe enough in the box on the inver ted tumbler the ,
conj urer suspends the card by the ribbon and by means of a

small pellet of adhesive wax secretly attaches the palmed ,
ring to the rear side of the card encircling the hole A as

shown by the dotted lines in Fig 99 In passing the ribbon . .
through the hole A it is passed through the ring as well

, .
After having formed the loop E the performer secretly slips ,
over the ring a loop t ied in the end of a fine black silk
, ,
thread This thread previou sl y arranged leads to the

.
, ,
floor and passes t hrough a staple directly underneath the ,
su spended card and from there to the assistant s t a

, ,
t i on e d behind the wings or a screen as the case may be a n d , ,
who at the proper moment gives a quick pull to this

, ,
thread By this operation the loop in the end of the thread

.
,
slips between the ring and card and severs the wax causing ,
the ring to slide by its own weight to the lowest part of the
loop .
If the conj urer has n o assistant he can pull the thread ,
himself by tying the end to the wand which should lie on

, ,
the table When commanding the ring to appear on the

.
loop he seizes the wand and making a sudden gesture

, ,
with it accomplishes the very same result as if an assistant

, ,
were employed .
A simpler but inferior method of dislodging the ring

, , ,
i s to hit the suspended card a sharp rap with the wand ; the
ring is thereby loosened and drops to the lower end of the .
loop.
The C o nj u rer
’
s P r e d i ct i on .
H REE
spectators are each requested to think of a
card after which the performer successively
,
seizes each person s hand and asks him to think ’
intently of his card looking him i n the eye as if , ,
fathoming his t houghts Stating th at he has i n t his .
way successfully divined the respective na m es of the three

cards he proceeds to write their names on three slips of
,
paper which he rolls u p and places in a glass

,
The three .
spectators are then asked to remove their cards from the

pack which being counted i s naturally found to contain
,
forty nine cards which with three removed makes a correct

, ,
total of fifty two The persons then place their cards in a

.
small shallow box held by the performer while the remain

,
de r of the pack is placed on a second inverted glass The ,

.
selected cards now disappear from the box which is shown ,
to be entirely empty a n d reappear in the pack ,

The slips .
of paper in the first glass are opened and are found to c on

tain the correct names of the mentally chosen cards .
For the performance of this trick the conj urer requires ,
a n assistant stationed behind the scenes and who holds i n

,
readiness a number of slips of paper on which is written

.
,
of Hearts of Clubs etc

, Furthermore the per .
former needs a card box a pack of fifty two cards arranged , ,
in a certain kno w n order a nd a duplicate pack consisting of

, ,
only forty nine cards This pack i s placed on the servante :

.
1 56 NEW ERA CAR D TRICK S .
a nd under the performer s vest or i n his pochette are c on

ce a l e d three indi fferent cards After the three persons h ave .
each thought of a card the conj urer makes a pretense of

,
thought reading as described a n d then feigns to write the

names of the cards on the slips of paper which he rolls up ,
a n d places i n the gl ass The spectators then remove their

.
cards from the complete prearranged pack which the per , ,
former immediately exchanges for the pack of forty nine

cards on the servante While the cards i n the latter are b e
.
i n g counted the assistant under the pretext of bringin g i n

,
the Card Box enters a n d while placing the box on the table
, ,
O btains possession of the cards on the servante a n d secretly
carries them behind the scenes Rapidly running over the .
cards he notes the missing ones and fills i n their values as

,
for instance King Four Ni n e on the slips of paper lying

, , , ,
i n readiness These he rolls up and brings out concealed i n

.
'
the hand holding the second glass

,
During the time the .
pack has been counted and three chosen cards placed i n the
Card Box Requesting the gentleman who has counted the
.
pack to hand it to him the conj urer secretly adds t h e three

, ,
vested cards and places them on the second glass which is

,
handed to him by the assistant who manages unobserve d , , ,
to give him the rolled up slips of paper The cards are .
n o w told to disappear from the box a n d to return to the
pack which is then counted proving the order to have

,
been obeyed .
All that n o w remains for the performer to do is to ex ,
change the three palmed slips received from the assistant

for the ones in the glass This he c a n easily do i n the act of
.
handing them to a spectator or by taking the slips out of ,
the glass with the right hand a n d pretending to transfer

them to the left really palming them a n d at the same mo
,
ment showing the papers concealed i n the left hand .

selected card i s being inspected the performer obtains pos,
session of the box and secretly places it with the aperture ,
down w ards on the back of the card holding it in place

, ,
with one of the fingers The fingers of the disengaged

.
hand then seize the one corner of the handkerchief which ,
should protr u de a t r i fl e from the opening of the box a n d

'
gradu ally pull it from its hiding place with a mystifying

e ff ec t Th e box is then disp osed of under cov er of the pro
.
d u ce d handkerchief and the card passed out for exam

,
i n a ti o n .
. Ma r ve l o u s C oi n ci d e n ce .
HE excellent trick that I am about to describe de

, ,
pends upon the Mexican Turn Over . (See

Sleights and the u se of two prepared packs of
cards ) The cards i n pack No 1 have marked
.
.
backs while pack NO 2 consists of ordinary cards whose

,
.
backs ar e made up entirely with Tens of Diamonds Besides .
these the conj urer has lying on the top of this pac k two
,
Tens of Diamonds both having the same back as the cards

,
i n pack No 1 By the aid of these two cards the performer

. .
,
is enabled to S how the pack No 2 from the back and then .

NEW ERA CARD T RIC KS . 1 59
s pread it face uppermost to show that the cards are ordinary

ones .
Apparently selecting a card at random from pack No .
2 but really taking one of the Tens from the top of the
,
pack the conj urer places it face downwards on the table

, ,
and states that this card i s identical with the on e that a spec
tator will draw from the pack No 1 which is then handed .
,
to a gentleman with the request to select a card and place

,
it also face downwards on the table A s soon a s he does

, ,
.
s o the conj urer by glancing at the marked back becomes a o

,
q u a i n t e d with the name of the Card which we will suppose ,
to be the Q ueen of S pades Running his eye over the cards

.
FI G . 1 02 .
in pack NO 2 he quickly finds the Queen of S pades a n d

.
,
takes it out with th e Ten spot side turned towards the com
,
pany With this card he turns over the Ten of Spades

.
,
previously placed on the table exchanging it however for ,
the prepared card I n h i s hand by means of the Mexican Turn

Over whereby the side representing the Queen of Spades i n
,
brought uppermost With the unprepared Ten of S pades

.
n o w in the performer s hand the Q ueen of Spade s placed on

’
,
the table by the spectato r is tu rned over proving the per ,
former s statement that both were alike

’
.
Although con siderable practice ought to be devoted to

the acquirement of the feat the effect on the company will ,
a mply repay the conj urer for the time spe nt i n learning the
t rick .
1 60 NEW ERA CARD TRICKS .
G ra nd Ca rd Ma n e u v r e .
FT ER removing from a pack of cards all the court ,
cards the conj urer places t h e four Jacks on the

“
top and the four Kings at the bottom of the pack

,
.
The four Queens are covered by a plate which is ,
inverted over them from under which they vanish taking

, ,
the place on top occupied by the four Jacks The artist .
after introducing a second plate which he also inverts com , ,
mands another transposition to take place U pon lifting the .
second plate the Kings and Jacks are discovered under it

,
W hile the Q ueens are found to have returned to their o r
i gi n a l place under t h e first plate The pack is freely exhib .
i t e d and S hown to contain no court cards w hatever .
For the performance of this clever combination trick the

following properties are re quired :
F i rs t A soup pla t e of white china constructed with a
.
,
false bottom of cardboard the lower S ide of which backed ,
with newspaper w hile over the other side white glazed

'
, ,
paper in imitation of chinaware h a s been glued In exhibit ,

.
i n g both sides of the plate the conj urer holds the false bot
,
tom i n position .
F I G . 1 03 .
Second A pre pared double newspaper containing a n

.
,
invisible trap door Fig 1 0 3 which by means of a S i mple

,
.
,
mechanism may be turned from the left side over towards

the right a n d vi ce vers a .
1 62 N EW ERA C ARD TRICK S .
to exchange the pack of cards for those in the clip of the

Card Servante on the back of the chair
, .
TH E NE W G E NE RA L C AR D .
OR the performance of this clever trick a pack of ,
n on indexed cards is required

-
the three cards on ,
top consisting of the Six Seven a n d Eight of ,
Diamonds .
After having given the cards a False Shu ffle the con ,
j urer forces the thre e top cards upon di ff erent persons seat
ed at some slight distance from each other allowing each ,
person to retain his card Finally another card s a y the

.
,
King of Clubs is chosen (n ot forced ) and returned to the

pack the conj urer slippin g the little finger i n the pl a ce
,
where the card is i n s e r t e d r e a d y to make the pass at a mo

,
'
ment s notice G oing to t he spectator who h a s dra w n the

’
.
0 0 0 0
FIG . 1 04 FI G . 1 05 . FI G . 1 06 .
Six of Diamonds he requests him to replace the latter any

,
where i n the pack making th e pass in opening the latter and

,
allowing the card to b e placed below the King of Clubs I n .
a similar manner the Eight of Diamonds is made to occupy

,
a position next below the Six while the remaining card the , ,
Seven of Diamonds is placed directly above the King Keep

,
.
NEW ERA C ARD T RI C KS . 1 63
ing t h e finger on the Seven of Diamonds the conj urer at a , ,
suitable moment makes the pass s o that this card now b e

, ,
comes the uppermost one Seizing this ca rd and covering

.
the odd middle spot with the thumb of the right hand he ,
turns to specta tor A who to ok the Six of Diamonds a n d

, ,
“ ”
s ays : Is this your card s i r ' The person assents where
‘
, ,
upon the conj urer turns to spectator B who drew the Eight ,
of Diamo n ds and shows him the same card ma k ing it a p

, ,
FI G . 1 07 .
pear as an Eight by covering an imaginary spot with the

thumb P lacing the same card fa ce downwards on the extend
.
, ,
ed hand of spectator C who took the Seven of Diamonds the

, ,
performer asks him to blow on the card stating that it will ,
c hange i nto the one he h a s chosen Taking this card and .

,
a droitly changing it for the King of Clubs now on top of

t h e pack ,
the co nj urer reques t s the fourth spectator to
n ame hi s card .This done he places the supposed Seven of
,
D iamonds on the extended hand of s pectato r D and causes

it to be transformed into the King of Clubs by requesting ,
t h e g e ntlem a n to breathe u po n it .
T he Sm a ll Ca r d F ra m e .
FI RS T MET H OD .
NE of the best a nd most mystifying appliances to be

used in connection with card tricks is the small ,
Card Frame or Sand Frame which although n o t , ,
of recent origin i s described h ere for the re as on

,
that some of my readers may n ot be acqu ainted w th the de i .
tail of its construction .
Th e Sa n d Frame (Fig 1 0 8) consists of a frame proper

.
i n w hich the gla s s is fastened permanently and a removable ,
back occupying the space behind the glass The frame .

,
with the back in position is first shown to be unprepared

,
a nd after being covered with a borrowed handkerchief is

, ,
given to a lady to hold A card is t h en selected placed in a

.
,
FI G . 1 08
.
piece ofapparatus a s for instance the C ard Box and com

, , , ,
m a n d e d to vanish from there a n d appear under the glass of
the frame The handkerchief i s remo v ed a n d the change is

.
seen to have occurred The back of the frame is then taken

.
out a n d the card removed The frame a n d cards are then

.
inspected a n d there being n othing but t he transparent

,
glass a n d the frame its elf the cons t ruction of which shows
,
n o tricke ry preparation seems impossible

,
.
The secret is a very ingeniou s one The glass i n t h e .
frame really consists of two sheets sep a rated by a small ,
space for reasons which will beco m e apparent immediately

,
.
a ti v e l
little known and w ill therefore be of interest to most
y ,
of my readers The plan u sed is entirely di fferent from the

.
one employed in the first method All parts of the apparat .
us that is frame glass and back (which i s kept in place by

, ,
means of a pi v ot te d cross piece ) being taken apart at the e nd

of the trick and passed for inspection .
The card is previously concealed between the glass and

back same as in the older form di ffering therefrom that i n
, ,
stead of being hidden by sand a removable curtain or a ,
piece of cloth is used the cloth of course being of the same

, , ,
color a s the back of the frame The upper end of this small
.
curtain is stiffened slightly by h aving glued thereto a

narrow strip of card board which protrudes a trifle at the
back coming out between the frame and back In removing
,
.
the handkerchief with which the f rame has

,
covered ,
FI G . 1 09 .
the conj urer seizes the prot ruding end of t he cur tain a t the
same time and carri es it away wi t h the handkerchief (F i g ; ,
1 0 9) causing the concealed card to be c ome e x p o s e n d as M

h e re is no trickery about the apparat us it may be taken

n ow
i p a r t and passed for examination : While this i s being done ,
h e conj urer has ample time to remove and dispose of the

3u r t a i n concealed in the borrowed handkerchief .
My friend Mr W E Robinson who never touches a

. . .
,
tric k without improving it in some way combines the cur ,
tain and sand idea making it answer for the successive a p
p e a r a n c e of two cards The method . by which this result i s
accomplished is so clever and ingeniou s that my readers c a n
no t fail to admire it The firs t card is made to appear i n

.
F rame containing the sand by means of the curtain j ust de

, ,
s cribed . The apparatu s is then taken apart and ever y thing i s

sho w n to be free from preparation To the outside of the back .
however is attached by means of adhesive wax t h e second ,
card that the conj urer desires to have appear While .
causing the appearance of the first card and taking the frame
is taken n o t to exhibit the card attached to the
w n w a r d s on the table wh en the a p
i s taken apart In replacing the pieces the conj urer
.
,
s the frame face downwards on the table and then

, ,
the back prepared side foremost In the act of

,
.
up the frame he turns it over keeping the back to

, ,
company cau sing the sand to run between the

,
l e glass He can thu s once more sh ow the frame to be

.
r e n t l y empty Then covering it with the handkerchief

.
,
r cover of which the frame is inverted the sand runs

, ,
into the s ecret space thereby disclosing the second ,
G r en a d e C l w i r v o y a n ce J I ys t ci i f
cu s c .
/
L T H OU G H the three versions of the trick that I

am about to describe resemble somewhat i n ,
“ ”
e ffect The Marvelou s C oincidence the methods
employed are entirely different For this reason .
elected a different title .

1 68 N EW ERA C ARD TRICKS .
“
As in Marvelous Coincidence a spectator selects a card
from a pack a nd places it on the table whereupon the per ,
former lays another card beside it U pon t u r m ng over both .
cards they are found to be identical

, .
FIRS T METH O D .
In this version of the trick the conj urer hands the ,
spectator a pack of cards with m a r k e d b a ck s while he him ,
self has a pack which is prearran ged in a certain order

.
, ,
which he has memorized The spectator is requested to

.
select a card a n d place it face downwards on the table As .
soon as this is done the performer who is near reads the ,
card by glancing at i t s m arked back and j udging as near a s

possible the position of the same card in his pack makes ,
the pass thereby bringing the desir ed card at or ne ar the

,
top of the pack By secretly glancing at the bottom card of

.
the pack— thanks to the formula h e can tell the name of the
'
top card which if the first j udgment has been correct is the
, ,
duplicate of the selected card If not the error can easily .

,
be corrected by another pass b ringing the duplicate to the

,
top All this is but the work of a moment the performer

.
,
seems simply to take from the pack any card that come s i n
to his hand (in reali t y the top one ) and place it on the table
,
.
Both cards are then turned over by the spectator a n d ar e

found to be of the s ame suit and value .
SECOND METH O D .
Instead of the spectator placing the first card on the

table a s in the last method the performer commences the
, ,
experiment by laying down a card The spectator then .
does the same b ut with marked ca r d s w h i ch enable the

, ,
.
conj urer to tell at a glance the card selected .
U nder the pretext of proving that his pack is u n p r e

pared the performer spreads i t out thereby noting the p o
, ,
s i t i o n of the card the duplicate of which the spectator

,
placed on the table In closing the pack he introduces the

.
,
litt l e finger j ust above the desired card and brings it to the
top of the pack by means of the pass U sing this card the .
,
1 70 NE W ERA CARD TRI C K S .
hand he really turns over with it the card he first selected

,
a n d shows it to be the Jack of Spades in conformity wit h ,
his prediction .
TH E B R I DGE OF C ARD S .
HE trick of this tit l e i s a rather singul ar one a s in , ,
performing it all l aws of gravity are apparently

,
s e t aside the cards being spread out in the air in

, ,
the form of a bridge , presenting exactly the a p

p e a r a n ce conveyed by Fig 1 1 1 .which is an,
exact r e p r od u c
tion of a photograp h of the op e ration Around the right .
FI G . 1 1 1 .
forearm of the performer i s tied a thin silk cord under , ,
which is passed a bl ac k silk elastic cord which i s prevented ,
from slipping through under the silk cord by a small button ,
or b ead fastened to its end

,
The elastic cord is then led up
.
the inside of the right sleeve over the back of the vest a n d
,
down to one of the rear suspender buttons t o which i t i s ,
securely attached Besides this preparation the pe rformer

.
,
wears on the middle finger of his right hand a loosely fit

, ,
ting ring which is c ut open to admit the elastic c ord

,
.
Ju st before introducing the feat the conj urer seizes the ,
be ad fas tened to the el astic cord and pulling outw a rd , slips , ,
the elastic th r o u g the opening of the ring the bead pre ,
venting i t from flying back into the sleeve

Taking the pack of cards in the left hand palm u p ,
ward the performer places the latter hand on the inside of

,
the open right With the backs of the first and second fi n
.
ger of the left hand the bead resting against the ring on
, ,
the right hand i s seized ; whereupon the left hand is moved

,
away from the right taking the elastic along with it At

,
.
the same time the flzum b of the left hand springs the cards
, ,
allowi ng them to escape one at a time cau sing them to ar , ,
range themselves along the elastic a s shown i n the illus ,
t r a t i on .
The conj urer can now pass among the company carry ,
ing the cards in this fashion and even permitting a s p e c t a

tor to select out of the bridge any card that he chooses .
Finally he closes u p the pack and p asses it for inspection

,
at the same moment with the thumb of the right hand dis
,
engaging the bead from the ring The elastic instantly r e .
cedes w ithin the sleeve and the performer i s at liberty to

allow an examination of both hands as well as the cards ,
.
In order that the opening in the ring may not be noticed

he secretly turns it s o that it is concealed between the s e c
,
ond and third fingers .
TH E C A R D S A ND MI R R OR .
N THIS trick three cards are selected and are shu ffled
,
into the pack which the performer throws against a

,
mirror All the cards fall to the floor with the ex

, ,
c ep t i on of the three selected one which remain attach ,
ed to the glass .
P revious to the performance the conj urer takes du pli ,
cates of the cards that he intends to force and after placing

one of them s a y the Queen of Diamonds on top of the other
,
c ard which we will s uppose to be the Five of S pades

, ,
72 NEW ERA CARD TRIC KS .
passes a fine thread through the lower left hand corner of

both cards Above and below the cards a knot is made i n
.
the thread which thus practically forms a rivet The Five

, .
of Spades i s now pushed over towards the right and the r e

maining card t h e Three of Clubs is placed on the Queen of
, ,
Diamonds and i s secured by means of a second thread rivet

to the lower right corner To each of the upper corners of the .
6 0
FI G . 1 1 2 . FI G . 1 13. FI G . 1 14
.
Queen of Diamonds a fine thread or hair i s then attached

,
and connected with the Five of Spades a n d Three of C lubs

s o arranged as to hold the two end card s in a slanting posi
tion su spended from the middle card the Queen of Diamonds

, .
To the back of the Queen a pellet of adhesive wax is then ,
attached whereupon t h e three cards thus prepared are

,
vested .
Three similar cards are now forced and are shu ffl ed i n
to the pack by the spectators While they are occupied .
with this the conj urer secretly obtains possession of the

,
prepared card s palming them and upon receiving the pack

, ,
unobservedly adds to it the t hree duplicates He then .
thro w s the pack waxed side of the preparer card foremost

, ,
squarely against the mirror to which the Queen of Diamonds ,
thereby becomes attached and the two cards fastened to its

lower corners immediately arranging themselves upon either
side of it falling askant being held by th e hair attached to
, ,
their upper corners .

the one suspended on the stage This envelope (E Fig 1 1 5 )

.
, .
he places black side uppermost on a shallow metal tray

, , ,
over the flat part of which has been glued black satin the ,
remaining part of the tray being j apanned black .
FI G . 1 1 5 .
While the conj urer is entertaining the company the a s ,
s i s t a n t quietly brings in the tray and places it on a chair or
table . The performer then pic k ing up the tray t a k e s t h e

, ,
suspended envelope and lays it black side downwards di

, ,
r e ctl y on the invisible envelope E and picks up both envel

,
-
,
opes together s o as to cause them to appear as one

,
In r e .
placing them on the tray he carelessly turns them over

, ,
whereby the second envelope containing the slip becomes

, ,
the upper one . This envelope the conj urer opens and from
it extracts the written slip a s described The original sus .
pended envelope the black side of which is now uppermost

, ,
remains unobserved on the tray which a moment late r is ,
carried off the stage by the assistant .
The D i v i n a t i on Of T h ou gh t .
TRI C K resembling in principle the preceding ,
alth ough dependant upon a di fferent principle is ,
t h e following : Introductor y to the trick the per

former announces that he will write on a slip of
paper the names of three cards that will be selec ted during .
ah e experiment as well as their numerical loca tion in the

,
DE LOK This slip he encloses i n an envelope and gives it i n

.
3harge of a spectator and later o n it is opened to prove the

,
s tatement .
For this the follo w ing preparation i s necessary In the .
first place the conj urer requires two similar envelopes on e ,
) f which is unprepared the other having an extra front

on t a i n i n g a tightly folded slip of paper so that when held , ,
to the light it apparently contains a slip of paper although

, ,
th e flap may be opened an d the envelope shown perfectly

e mpty .It is concealed on the servante of the table while ,
th e unprepared envelope together with a pencil a n d a blank,
s lip of paper are placed on the table

,
.
T he a s sistant behind the scenes has a small very thin

, , ,
m etal case which is enamelled white and which i s j ust large

,
e nough to easily admit a folded slip of paper On each of .
this case a small qu antity of adhesive wax .
with which l ater on to attach it to the prepared

Furthermore the assistant h a s in his possession
,
paper on which the following sentences are writ

,
with the space for the numbers of the cards left blank :
“
The first gentleman will select the card which is ,
'
he Two of Diamonds .
i '
in ,
FIG . 1 16 . FIG . 1 1 7 . FIG . 1 18 .
The second gentleman will decide u pon

‘
hich will be the Four of Clubs .

’
“
The lady however will choose the
, card the King , ,
Sp a d e s x
The pack of cards u sed during the experiment is pre

pared by t a k i ng a dozen or more of the cards the top three ,
being the Two of Diamonds the Four of Clubs a n d the King ,
of Spades a n d laying them face do w n wards on the face side

of the remainder of the pack
‘
I n introducing the experiment the performer explains ,
that by the aid of a wonderful faculty of di v ination w ith

,
which he is gifted he will predict what will take place later

, ,
a n d then goes through the pretense of writing something o n
the slip of paper lying on the table This he encloses i n .
the unprepared envelope immediately exchanging it for the ,
prepared envelope which is lying on the servante a n d gives

, ,
it to a lady to hold .
He then invites a gentleman to tell him the number of

a card counting from the top of the pack that he will
, ,
choose : and for this purpose holds the pack with the three
, ,
cards to be forced at the bottom ,

The gentleman being r e .
,
quested n ot to name too high a number says we will s u p , ,
“
pose The twelfth card
,
Whereupon the performer pro.
,
c e e d s to count off eleven cards from the the top adroitly ,
turning the pack over at this moment and exhibiting the

card which is now on top (the Two of Diamonds ) and places ,
“
this counting Twelve on the table
,
At the same time
,
.
,
“ ”
the assistant behind the scenes writes Twelfth i n the ,
bl ank space left for that purpose .
Turning the pack into i t s original position the conj urer , ,
i n a similar manner forces the Four of Clubs and King of

,
Spades by requesting another gentleman and also a l ady to

,
call out a number a n d counting turns over the pack j u st

, ,
before arriving at the number called as before The assis ,

.
tant who hears the numbers chosen fills in the blank s p a

, ,
c e s and folding the slip of paper quickly inserts it in the

, ,
fi at metal case which he secretly places on the servante of

,
the table while bringing in some properties for another

,
trick The performer obtains p o s s e s i on of the metal box

.
a n d palming it secretly attaches it by means of the wax to

, , ,
th e back of the envelope which has n o w been retu rned to ,

1 78 NEW ERA C ARD TRICKS .
volved referring those of my readers who wish to go to the

,
trouble of m astering the art to some standard work on the ,
subj ect .
Mnem onics i s a system in which certain k e y words , ,
perfectly memorized by the performer a re linked to other ,
words or i deas that are to be memorized s o that in order to ,
recollect the given word the performer simply h a s to think ,
of the k ey word that he has previo u sly connected with it in '
the form of a short sentence .
I t is first necessary to learn the following table :

1 = t or d 6 ch s h i j (soft ) .
, ,
2 =n 7 k g g n g 0 (hard )
.
, , , ,
=m 8f v .
,
.
4=r 9p b .
,
.
1 0 s c j (soft) , ,
By the aid of this easily mastered rule a table of key ,
word s is constructed The vowels a n d silent consonants in

.
key word signify nothing vocalized consonants onl y being ,
“ ”
used Thus . Tea t h e first word contains consonant T ,
which according to the rule denotes 1 The consonant N ,

.
i n the word 7m represents No 2 etc . .
E ach person is strongly advised to construct a table of

key words of h i s own which he will be able to memorize ,
much easier than a given table nevertheless I have o ffered ,
a table for the u se of persons who do not wish to go to this

trouble .
TAB L E .
1 tea , 9 bee ,
17 deck 25 nail ,
2 he n, 10 dice ,
1 8 dove ,
2 6 niche ,
3 m a y, 1 1 toad ,
1 9 tu b e ,
2 7 neck ,
1
~
rye 1 2 ti n , ,
2 0 noose ,
2 8 navy ,
5 owl 1 3 dime ,
2 1 hand ,
2 9 nib ,
6 show 1 4 door , ,
2 2 nun ,
30 mace ,
7 key 1 5 tile , ,
2 3 name ,
31 mat ,
8 fay 1 6 dish , ,
2 4 owner ,
32 moon etc ,
.
By studying the table a few moments it w i l hb b e per

‘
,
NEW ERA C ARD T RI C KS . 1 79
that numbers suggest corresponding names and the

ce i v e d ,
names corresponding numbers .
Now for the thirty t w o cards the follo w ing words are ,
to be perfectly memorized .
S p a d es H e a rt s Club s Di a mond s
.
.
1 .Ac e ,
Tar Tomato Dark ,
Duck , , ,
2 .King Negro
,
Napkin Nun N ude , , , ,
3 .Queen Mole ,
Meat Mud MOO1 1
, , , ,
4 .Jack Rat
,
Rose Rubber ,
Ruby , , ,
5 .Ten , L icorice L emon L ock L obster , , , ,
6 .Nine S hoe
,
Cheese Steamer Cherry , , , ,
7 .Eight Coat, G oose C ap C ob

, , , ,
8 .Seven Fly ,
Fire Funeral ,
Fox , ,
.
Itwill be noticed that all black cards that is the

, , ,
Spades and C lubs are represented by black or dark articles

, ,
while the red cards the Hearts and Diamonds are indicated
,
by red or light obj ects The words in connection with the

.
numbers and names will h ave to be thoroughly mastered so ,
that to the performer any word will instantly and correctly

s uggest its card and vice versa .
As an example we will suppose that the first five cards

to be committed to memory are : The King of Hearts (N ap ,
kin) the Eight of Spades (C oal ) the Queen of Diamonds , ,
(Moon ) the Jack of C lubs (Rubber ) the Ace of S pades (T ar ) ,

.
T hese the p e rformer links to his first fi ve key word s i n

‘
about the following manner : I spilt some Tea (1 ) on my

Nap k in (K H ) The hen w a s discovered among the C oal
. .
( )
8 S In
. May ()
3 the Moon (Q D ) rises late I ha v e some . . .
Rye (4) in a Rubber (J C ) bag The Owl (5 ) was caught by

. . .
means of Tar (A S ) In this fashion the remaining cards

. .
are to be memorized the odd connection fo rmed be t ween the

,
key words and the card words become for the time firmly i m
pressed upon the mind s o that the performer with the nec ,
e ssary practice can readily execute t h e feats described .
than the one

xtra trouble
A fter the performer has looked over the c a rds he ar ,
ranges them upon the table backs uppermost in four rows , ,
of eight cards each A spectator is then requested to alter

’
the positi ons of these cards as dictated by the performer

.
,
who then turns away from the cards and tells the gentleman
to take for instance the f o urth card in the first row and
, ,
to place it the last in the second row The card that c c .
c u pi e s this place is to be taken up and given the second
place in the fo u r t h r ow etc t h e artist continuing to di ctate

'
.
, ,
in this manner until the order of the cards ha s been e u

ti r e l y changed The cards are now turned f a c e up and it is
.
seen that each row contains all the cards of one suit a r r a n g
ed i n the regular order fr om Seven to Ace . .
T H E A C R OB A T I C C AR DS .
FT ER having borrowed a silk hat the conj urer ,
places it crown downwards upon the table Fou r .
cards are then chosen by di fferent persons and

s hu ffled into the pack by a spectator who returns ,
the pack to the performer The latt er places the cards in .

.
the borrowed hat and after ha vi ng asked for the names of

,
the selected ones commands them to separate from the rest

,
of the pack which command is instantly obeyed by t h e four

,
cards which j ump out of the hat flying high into the air
, ,
.
They are then picked u p and identified by their owners .
For this trick a n apparatus is required consisting of a ,
flat metal box which is j u st large enough to admi t of fou r

,
,
cards duplicates of the ones to be forced du ring the e x p e r i

,
ment To the middle of the upper edges of the box is fas

. ,
~
tened an elastic indicated i n position for service by the

, , ,
white dotted line E in the dra w ing ,

This elastic passes in
,
.
a downward direction from o n e edge underneath tha g a rds

,
.
,
NEW ; ERA CARD TR I C KS “
SI NG U L A R T R A N S P O SI T I O N
FIRST METH OD .
S P E C TAT O R i s requested to select t w o cards at

random to insert them in the middle of the pack
, ,
and finally to place it on the table This being .
done the performer states hi s in t entions of pass

,
ing the two selected cards from the center to the bottom of
the pack by simpl y gi vi ng i t a severe blow with the hand
,
.
No sooner said than done for upon turning over the pack
, ,
the two cards are discovered on the bottom as prom ised .
The secret of this very deceptive feat is simplicity its

self a slig ht previou s p reparation being necessary The
,
.
conj urer h a s picked out the Seve n of C lubs and Eight of
FI G . 76 . FI G . 77 .
Spades and placed them on the bottom of the pack while

, ,
he takes the Eight of C lubs and Seven of Spades and placed ,
them in the center forcing th em from there on a s pe ctator

, ,
whom he allows to get but a brief look at the cards The .
Eight of Clubs and Seven of S pades are then returned to .
th e pack , which i s gi v en a severe blow as described The .
tw o bottom cards t h e Se v e n of Cl ubs and E i gh t of Spades

,
ar e then exhibited as the chosen ones Tra n sparent as t his

.
ruse may seem it i s rarely detected and then onl y thro ugh
,
th e negl ect of the performer i n his misdirection P roba tu m .
e
s t
.
SEC OND METH OD .
This is an elaboration of the trick j u st described The .
pack is prepared b y p r e V
1 o u s l y placing on the top the Six
of Diamonds and the Seven of Hearts while the Six of ,
Hearts a nd Seven of Diamonds are contained in the middle

of the pack with the finger above them read y to ma k e the
,
do uble handed p ass Thu s prepared the performer advances

.
FI G . 80 . FI G . 81 .
to a spectator and requesting him to draw two cards m akes ,
the pass and forces the Seven of Diamonds and Six of Hearts
from the center of the pack The spectator is told n ot to look
.
1 84 NE W ERA CARD TRICKS .
at the face of these two cards but t o place them on h i s l ap ,
or on the table The pack i s then h a nd e d t o him and he is

.
invited to select any other card at random from the middle

of the pack and to mark it on the face side While this i s
, .
being done the conj urer takes the pack and making the
,
:
pass thereby bringing the two cards on top which as will

, ,
be remembered are the Six of Diamonds and Seven of

Hearts to the center still k e e p l ng the two heaps divided by
, ,
the little finger The spectator is then asked to return the

.
marked card to the pack which the performer opens at the ,
very place when the Six of Diamonds and S even of Hearts

,
are situ ated He next requests the spectator to take th e

.
two first cards that he drew and to replace the m any w her e
in the pack As the spectator is picking up the designate d
.
cards (the Six of Hearts a n d Seven of Diamonds ) th e con

,
j urer quickly makes the pass and brings all three cards i e . .
the marked ones the Seven of Hearts and the Six of Dia
,
monds to the top of the pack The spectator does as he is .
h i d d e n by inserting the two remaining cards in the pack at

any place he chooses T h e performer then states that he .
will cause the three chosen cards to assemble at the top of

the pack at the same moment slightly r u ffli n g t h e latter
,
.
T h ree cards are then deliberately removed from the top a n d

to all appearances seem the chosen ones ,
.
A s I have already stated in the description of the first

version of the trick t h e difference between the Six of He arts
,
a n d Seven of Diamonds a n d the Seven of Hearts and the Six
of Diamonds is not at all apt to be noticed especially if the

, ,
performer ke eps the a ttention of the spectator engaged by

the j udiciou s use of patter .
1 86 NEW E RA CARD TRICKS .
'
i ng on the table and to o pen it the conj urer accompanying ,
his request with a ge s tur e of the right hand which at the ,
same ti m e enabl e s him to exchange the Jack of Clubs i n

‘
his right h and f o r the Ace of Diamonds on the top of _the

”
, .
top of the pack This latte r card which everyone supposes

.
,
to be the Jack of Clubs is inserted face downwards i n the

,
chosen envelope which is selected by the spectator h imself

, ,
“
who is afterwards told to writ e the name the card Jack ,
of Clubs on the outside of t he envelope which is then

”
, ,
given to some one to hold .
As will be remembered the Jack of Clubs is still o n ,
the top of the pack Running the cards b e f or e th e eyes of

.
'
the spectator the performer invites him to point o u t t h e

,
first card chosen that i s the Ace of Diamonds ; himself of

, , ,
course professing ignorance a s to its value Af ter this

,
.
card has been found a n d remov ed the performer exhibits it ,
a n d deftly exchanges it for the Jack of Clubs on top of t h e

pack which is n o w enclosed in the re m aining envelope
, ,
which i s marked a s containing the Ace of Diamonds a n d

g i ven to another spectator to hold The performer now d e s .
c r i b e s what has apparently taken place and th en commands
the two cards to change places The envelopes are opened .
by the person holding them and the performer s command is ’
found to have been obeyed .
A H YP N O T I C E X P E R I J I E N T V .
N THE pat ter preceding the pretty tri ck, that I am

about to explain the conj urer states that i n accord
,
ance wi t h the popular fad of hypnotism he will next i n ,
t r o d u ce an interesting experiment based upon the laws

of that science He explains that n o t only animated obj ects
.
c a n be subj ected to the mesmeric influences but i nimate

na ,
NEW ERA C ARD TRIC K S . 1 87
obj ects a s well.For his subj ect he sta tes he will select
, ,
some of the cards with which he has been performing fi r s t ,
exhibiting them to prove that they are i n no wise prepared .
He then proceeds by means of repeated passes to charge

, ,
them with the mesmeric fluid and taking two of them gent
, ,
l y rubs them against each other cau sing one card to adhere
,
to the other which is held in the hand

, Seizing another .
card a n d rubbing it against the second su spend e d c ard he ,
'
F I G . 122 .
cau ses it to adhere to this in a similar manner (Fig a nd .
so continuing until he has quite a chain of them clinging , .
together in a mysterious way They a r e then removed on e

.
.
at a time and once more shown to be unprepared .
My reader knowing the s l i g h t r e g a rd t h e conj urer has

,
.
“
for the truth when he tells hi s of cours e sur
m i s e d long ago that hypnotism has absolutely nothing to do
,
with the experiment The apparently wonderful result is

.
obtained by very simple means t h e performer using special

,
l y prepared cards for the trick I n each corner of t h e

.
black line which surrounds the court cards a tiny hole is

, ,
made with a v ery fine needle Through this hole a human

.
hair i s drawn and its end fastened on the back of the card
by means of a small piece of another S plit card which is ,
neatly glued on The other end of the hair is then passed

.
through the second similar hole in the same end of the card
a n d i s secured in the same manner by an invisible patch on
the back of the card E ach card of all the court cards
.
,
th at are to be used i s prepared in this manner By an i n

,
.
s p e c t i on of Fig 1 2 3 in which the hair i s

.
,
represented by a
fine whi t e line in the blac k border line of the pic t ure of the
card the arrangement will be easily comprehended
, .
FIG . 123
.
The remaining cards which may either be spot cards or

,
court cards also are first split in the upper right and lower
,
left corners after which a very small hook (A F i g 1 2 4) is

, , .
inserted at these corners which are t h en glued shut The

, .
cards if properl y prepared can be safely sho w n around with

,
out anybody noticing the slight prepara tion Ho ing a .
ld
NEW ERA CARD TRICKS .
TH E M YS T E R I O US H AT .
FTER having borrowed a hat a n d placed it on the

table the performer requests a spectator to select
,
t w o cards at random from the pack This having .
been done he receives the cards face downwards

,
a n d immediately changes them for the two topmost cards of
the pack by means of the Bottom Change These cards are .
l aid on the extended hand of another spectator who is told ,
to place his other hand over the cards s o as to hold them s e ,
curely Addressing the first person the performer remarks ,
that he has selected two cards which are held by the second ,
'
spectator and the na m e of these cards are a t present known

to n o on e but him s elf T his remark gives the conj urer suf
.
fi c e n t time t o note the two cards on the bot tom which as ,
will be remembered are the ones really chosen These are

.
.
brought to the top of the pack by means of the pass He x

.
next call s attention to the em p ty h a t lying on the table by ,
pointing at it ex ecuting the gesture with the right hand

, ,
which i n passing over the pack held in the left h and quickly ,
palms the two cards on top The hat i s next seized with the
.
hand in which the cards are palmed the thumb being on the ,
outside and the fingers on the inside of the hat into which ,
the palmed cards are dropped a n d which i s then pl aced

crown downwards at some little distance from its former
,
position .
The pack is now offered to the second gentleman who is

still holding the two cards that t h e spectators believe to be
,
the selected ones w ith the request to repl ace them in the
, ,
pack a n d to s h u fii e it After t he card s have be en ret urned

’
to the conj urer he pl a ces the m against his f orehead and

,
proceeds slowly to na m e the chosen ca rds a n e a s y task for

'
him since he has prev i ou sly seen them when at the botto m
, ,
of the pack The two cards chosen at the beginning of the

“
trick are then ordered to leave the pack and pass into the
hat where they are sub s equ ently discovered to t he astonish
,
ment of every on e nobody being able to imagine how they

, ,
NEW ERA CARD T RIC KS . 1 91
came there a s the conj urer h a s not bee n near the

,
ha t, after
the chose n cards were returned to the pack .
M YS T I
’
C D I VI NA T I O N .
HE conj urer introduces an ordinary pack of cards ,
and after shu ffling it thoroughly invites a spec

, ,
tator to cut it a s often a s he pleases Then turn .

,
ing his back to the gentleman he requests him to ,
divide the pack i nto as man y heaps a s he desires the heaps ,
to be l a id in s u ccessi v e order on the table On e of them i s .
then to be chosen and co v ered with a handkerchief by the

gentleman This pac ke t of cards enveloped in the bor
. .
lowed handkerchief is placed in the spectator s pocke t by ’

‘
the performer who then proceeds to call out or write o n a

,
bl ackboard the names of a number of cards

,
The gentle .
m an is reque s ted to remove the cards from his pocket and

'
finds that their names are in conformity with the predic

tions of the performer .
The secre t of this novel trick is as u sual a very simple , ,
on e. The pack u se d is prearranged after the formula of

“
Ei ght Kings threa t ened to S ave and is given a False ,
Shu ffle by the conj urer who then allows the pack to be cu t
,
a s ofte n a s desired kno w ing that simple cutting Will not d i s

,
tu rb the ord er of the cards which are next divided into a ,
n um ber o f heaps one of which i s covered by a borrowed

,
handkerchief preferably of white sil k

, .
In the act of placing the packet in the gentleman s ’
p o cket, the conj urer slightly stretches that part of the hand
kerchief which su rrounds the cards and is thu s enabled to ,
read the top card throu gh the fabric U pon becoming a c .
q u a i n t e d with the name of this card he can easily tell by , ,
means of h i s form ul a the nam es of the cards following it

,
.
In order to be able to t ell the number of cards contained

in the hand k erchief he simply looks at the top card of th e
,
heap which occupied the place next to the chosen one This .
card serves as a cue to the name of the card a t the bottom

of those in the h andkerchief .
PR E DE S T I NA T I ON .
S EA L ED envelope containing a slip of paper i s

, ,
exhibi ted a n d given in charge of a spectator whom ,
we will call A The con j urer then introduces two

.
piquet packs of thirt y -tw o cards each giving one ,
pack to a specta t or B and t h e other one to a third gentle

,
man C B i s then requ ested to thin k of any one of the

.
cards as well as i t s number counted from the face side , .
of th e pack This number s a y fif t een i s then called

.
, ,
out and A is told t o open the envelope in his posses

,
sion In it he finds a slip bearing the number twenty fi v e

.
- .
C is t hen requested to count off from th e bac k of h i s pack ,
beginning with the number of C s card in this case fifteen ’

, ,
and ending with the number twen t y -fi v e on the slip C ,

.
would t herefore proceed to count in taking ofi the cards as , ,

“
follows ; Six teen se v ent een eighteen nineteen twent y
, , , , ,
tw ent y one t went y two twent y three twenty four twenty

-
,
- -
,
-
, ,
”
fiv e .The t w enty -fifth card in h i s pac k will be the one s e
l e ct e d by B .
In order to perform t his interes ting experiment th e ,
conj urer previou s to the performance mu st arrange the

, ,
t w o pac k s in the following order

94 NE W ERA CARD TRICKS .
T h e F l yi n g a n d O be d i e n t C a r d .
'
HIS FEAT which i s not a trick in itself ought to

, ,
be introduced in the preliminary springing and

throwing of cards generally executed by p r of e s
s i on a l conj urers before exhibiting a series of
,
card tricks .
After the conj urer h a s tossed a number of cards among

the spectators to a distance limited only by the size of the
place and his dexterity he throws one card to a distance of
,
thirty or forty feet when it is seen to suddenly turn around

,
and return to his hand As it impossible to perform this by

.
dexterity alone trickery is resorted to Through the cen

, .
FIG . 125 .
ter of a card a black S ilk thread A Fig 1 2 5 is passed , .

,
after which another card is glued to the lower S ide of the

first one serving to hold the thread in place and at the
, ,
same time increasing the weigh t of the card The other .
end of the thread i s fastened in the flies of the stage the ,
card attached to it being place d a t the bottom of the pack ,
which is laid on the table The performer p i ck s np th e

.
g fi
NEW ERA CARD TRI C K S 1 95
'
ards and after throwi ng out a s many cards as he desires ,
finally takes t h e prepared card and throws it in the same

m anner as he did the other ones The card will travel a s
.
fa r as the length of the thread permits and the moment the

l atter i s drawn taut it will turn around and return to its
,
s tarting place the performer catching it a s it comes back

, .
The conj urer i s cautioned not to commit the pardonable

“
e rror of giving the card the usual return twist in act of
throwing it but to t oss out the card m a horizontal d i r e c
,
tion
.
TH E NE W MUL T I P L I C A TI O N OF C AR D S .
H O SE OF my readers who are acqu ainted with

conj uring literature are no doubt familiar with
,
the trick of passing several cards from the pocket

of one spectator into that of another B y the .
that I am about to describe a much better e ffect ca n

,
obtained than by the older one but at the same time a,
r e a t e r amount of dexterity and address is required .
FI G . 1 26 . FI G . 127
.
A piquet pack of thirty two cards i s u sed in the prefer

e to a full pack as by the u s e of the latter considerable
,
up in counting the cards U h .

known to the audience the performer has four extra cards

,
say the Ace of Diamonds Eight of Clubs Nine of Hearts , ,
and Seven of Spades which he secretly adds to the pack

,
after it has been counted a n d returned Below these cards .

,
that i s on the former top of the pack are lying duplicates ,
of these four cards .
The conj urer goes to a lady and asks her to kindly take
from the top of the pack a s m a l l heap of cards but to be ,
careful not to let him s e e how many s h e is taking While .
i n t r u c t i n g her in this manner he secretly places the little

,
finger of the r i g h t ih a n d under the first four cards at the

u
,
1
9 Q
6 6
FI G . 1 28 . FI G . 1 29 .
same time holding the pack in such a way that the lady i s
obliged to take off the cards lengthwise At the moment .
that s h e is about to seize them the conj urer slightly raises

,
the little fii ng e r thereby forcing the four cards into her

,
hands P roviding her with a sheet of blank paper and a

.
pencil he requests her to make a memorandum of the names

,
of the cards that S he has taken The duplicates of t h e .
cards j ust chosen are now on the top of the pack As it is .
necessary to palm them off a moment later the conj urer ,
would have an excellent opportunity to execu te this sleight ,
while walking back to the table but as it is much more ,
e ffective to h old the pack by the finger tips and showing

the hands to be otherwise empty the palming may safely be ,
postponed until the last momen t After requesting t w o .
gentlemen to step forward a nd assist h i m in the experiment ,
the performer stations on e gentleman at each side of the

, .
table on which are lying two empty envelopes

-
,
. Intro
first on e both of which are now opened and their contents

,
carefull y counted On e gentleman will have four cards more

.
than before and the other four less The lady is then r e
.
quested to read aloud the names of the four cards w hich ,
will be found among those possessed by the first spectator ,
thu s proving conclusively tha t the four cards really per

formed a n invisible j ourney from the pocket of on e gentle
m a n into that of the other
Ca rd a n d E gg B a l a n ce .
N THIS trick or rather j uggling feat performed by

,
magical means a card is balanced on i t s corner on the

,
magic wand An egg is then tak en and balanced b e

'
side the card (Fig Finally as a crow n ing finish

.
to this seemingly wonderful feat the conj urer places th e egg

,
on the upper corner of the card and balances both in this
peculiar manner .
(Fig .
FI G 1 30 . .
The properties necessar y for the performance of this

trick consist of a wooden or enameled m e t a l w a n d (Fig 1 32 )
,
'
,
.
near on e end of vh i ch i s drilled a fine hole B while near its

y ,
NEW ERA CARD TRICKS . 1 99
other end a fine needle point A is firmly inserted .
The card u sed is a double one between which is glued

,
a
FI G . 1 31 .
FI G . 1 32 .
s teel w ire C C ,(Fig .1 32 ) the ends o f which protrude a trifle

either corner of the card The e gg which has a s mall
‘
a t .
hole D D drilled in either end i s a w ooden imitation The

, ,
.
preparation of these articles having been described the mys ,
t e r y i s practically explained In order to balance the card

.
on th e wand one of its protruding points C C is inserted i n

,
the hole B of the latter The balancing of the egg is easily

.
accomplished by fitting hole D over the needle point A The .
balancing of the card on the u pper end of the egg or vice

versa is a matter equ ally as easy In fact the feat would .
fall comparatively fia t were it not for the acting of the

,
performer who by the aid of gestures and pretended futile

,
attempts gives it the appearance of a very di fficult feat of

,
equilibrium .
TH E F O UN TA I N OF CAR DS .
NE OF the prettiest finishes to a card trick i s the fol

lowing one : Af t er a card h a s been selected and
shu ffled into the pack the latter is placed on top of ,
a tumbler standing on the seat of an ordinary chair

,
.
The performer then states that he will cause the selected

card to leave the pac k and to fly into his hand At the word ,
of command the cards on the tumbler suddenly fly upward

,
in beautiful fountain like manner till finally the chosen card ,
appears and j umps into th e hand of the conj urer who i m ,
mediately passes it for inspection .
The card that is selected , is as usual a forced one and , ,
after it has been returned to the pack the la t ter i s placed ,
on the table for a mom ent while the performer exhibits the
,
t umbler tapping it with his w and to prove that it is u n pr e

, ,
pared . This however i s but a pretext serving to substitute

, , ,
for the ordinary cards a prepared pack lying in readiness

,
upon the table This exchange crude as it may seem is

.
, ,
nevertheless an excellent one a s the conj urer sim pl lays ,

y “
of the card which the conj urer retains

, In the meantime .
,
the remaining cards on the tumber are still continuing their

peculiar movements .
If desired the performer can dispense with the appear

,
ance of the chosen card and simply use the trick as a n e f

f e c ti v e finish to an exhibition of flourishes For this pur .
pose he holds the prepared pack of seventy to eighty cards

,
upright in h i s hand the little finger being stationed at the

,
bottom of the cards the thumb at one side and the remain
,
ing fingers at the other The a s s i s s a n t upon receiving his

.
,
cue pulls t h e thread not too rapidly causing the alternate

, , ,
cards in the performer s hand to fly into t h e air with pretty

’
e ffect .
T he Ne w R i s i n g C a r d s F r om The H a n d .
HO SE of my readers who are familiar with stand

ard card tricks no doubt are a qu a i n t e d with the
,
regular method of cau sing cards to rise out of the

pack while the latte r is held in the right hand
,
.
The thumb i s stationed at one side of the pack the third ,
a n d fourth fingers at its other side the first a n d second ,
fingers hidden behind the pack and gradu ally push up the
rear card which is a selected one brought to this pl ace by
, ,
means of the pass .
An improvement over this method has been invented by ,
the aid of which the performer is enabled to hold the pack

in such manner s o that the thumb a n d every on e of the fi n
,
fi e r s are in sight at all times The improvement lies i n the .
u s e of an extra finger which i s held between the first a n d

,
second fingers thereby taking the place of the first finger

, ,
which i s hidden on the rear side of the cards and which as ,
in the older method pu shes up the last card ,

.
NEW ERA C ARD TRI C KS . 2 03
In Figs 1 33 and
. 1 34, the operation is shown as seen
from b ot h s i d e s
.
FIG . 1 33 .
FI G . 1 34
.
2 04 NEW ERA C ARD TRI C K S
“
S E C OND METH OD .
ROM an examined pack of card , several are selected

and replaced in the pack which the performer holds
,
in hi s right hand The chosen cards at the p er

.
,
’
forme r s command now rise one at a time out of
'
, , ,
the pack which 1 s then S hown once more

,
.
The trick l n this case depends upon the substit ution for
the examined pack of a prepared one all the cards of
, ,
which excepting the first and last have a hole (A Fig 1 35 )

, , ,
.
cut out of their center The selected cards which the c on

.
,
j urer allows the spectators to retain until the change of
FIG . 1 35 .
packs h a s been effected are then I nserted at an y place i n th e

,
pack that the spe ctators may desire The performer then .
transfers the rear card of the pack to the front and next
seizes the cards by holding the thumb at one side the first ,
finger at the back and the remaining fingers at the othe r

side of the pack To cause the cards to rise he simply i h
.
,
serts the index finger in hole A and pushes u p the fi rgt car d
2 06 NEW ERA C ARD TRICKS .
the left wing while the other end passes through a screw eye
,
attached behind the right wing and is allowed to hang down

,
FI G . 1 36 .
FI G . 1 37 .
three or four feet.To this end of t he thread is attached

small bag which contains a few S hot the whole arrange ,
ment simply serving as a weight to pull u p the c arQEM C a r e

must be taken to have the bag j u st a trifle heavier than on e

card.
While stating what i s about to take place and indicating

“
the process by a gesture the performer elevates the left

,
hand and with it brings down the thread to the position A 2 ,
a n d slips it under the hooks of the rear card (A B Fig 1 36 )

, ,
holding the pack rather firmly s o that the card will not ,
make a premature appe arance At the proper time he .

,
slightly relaxes h i s hold on the cards and the rear one i s

slowly carried by the thread up to the left hand elevated
, , ,
to receive it which in bringing down the card fetches the

, ,
thread as well The latter is S lipped under the hooks of the

.
next selected card which is n o w on the bottom of the pack

,
.
Thus all the chosen cards are success i vely made to ri se in

the same manner as t h e first one .
TH E E X C E L SI O R R I SI NG C AR D S .
N T H IS trick we become acqu ainted with a superior

,
form of the Rising Card Trick w hich has t he great ,
advantage over the O t her method in that no specially

prepared cards are requir ed After the pack has .
been given to the spectators with the request to select any

cards they desire and after these cards have been returned
,
to the pack it is given a vigorous shu ffle and pl aced into a

,
handsome metal case open at the top front and back as

, , ,
shown i n Fig 1 38 This case is then placed on a small side

. .
table or stand which is not draped in a n y way a n d the top

,
of which i s comparatively thin giving the whole a n appear ,
ance which precludes all idea of preparation .
At the word of command the first on e Of the chosen ,
cards rises out of the pack It is seized by the conj urer who
.
,
p asses it a n d also the card case and remaining cards for i h ,

s p e c trequesting the spectators to shu ffle the cards once

i on ,
more before replacing them in the case which i s then

, ,
pl aced on the table and the next card made to rise This .
process is repeated until all the c hosen cards have made

their appearance the performer freely S howing case and
,
cards which are shuffl ed each time before a card rises .
The trick in this instance lies in the table the leg of

, , ,
which contains a piston s e t in motion by a thread in the ,
hand s of an assistant The piston rising causes a curved

.
, ,
clock spring to pu sh upward through a small hole in the

table t op its points (B B Fig 1 38) engaging the top card
, ,
.
,
FI G . 1 38.
which is one of the chosen ones forcing it up and ou t As ,

.
this happens on the rear side of the pack the process i s ,
neither seen nor suspected by the company As the per .
former removes the risen card the assistant relaxes h i s hold ,
on the thread attached to the piston which recedes within ,
the table leg a n d carries with it the clock spring fastened to

its upper end I n this manner all the chosen cards are s u c
.
~
ce s s i v e l y made to rise .
The method of di s cov e r m g what cards ha v e been chosen ,
is rather unique The pack that is handed to the S pectators

.
with the request to chose from it a ny cards they like is an M

210 NE W ERA C ARD TRICK S .
the table The substitu ted pack is prepared in the following

.
manner : In the upper edge of the first card a slit is made

into which is engaged the end of a fine black thread which ,
i s prevented from being pulled out by a knot in the e n d of ,
it This thread passes over the back of th i s card and upon

.
it is then placed a duplicate of the last card that the con ,
j urer intends to force The thread is led upward on the

.
back of the last card and passing over the top of an i n d i f

, ,
f e r e n t card and down i t s back a duplicate of the next card i s

,
then laid on t h e thread which passes u p a n d over another

,
indifferent card This process i s continued until all selected

.
cards are s o arranged in the pack that a pull on the thread

,
will cau se them to rise in succession while the indifferent ,
cards over which the thread passes are left undisturbed ,

.
When the prepared p a ck h a s been inserted in the tumbler it

‘
is an easy matter for the assistant in the possession of the ,
end of the thread to cau se the cards to rise at the perfor

,
mer s command After the last card has risen the conj urer
’
. .
with the right hand takes the pack out of the glass seizing ,
the latter with the left hand and advances to w ards the com
,
pany to S how that the cards and tumbler are unpre pared .
The assistant re tains his hold on the thread thereby pulling ,
it out of the slit in the first card and thu s removes all traces
,
of the m odus op era ndi .
If the performer desires to dispense w ith the assistant ,
he must have fastened to the end of the thread a bent black

pin which is secretly hooked into the trou ser s
,
Retiring t o ,
a distance su fficient for the thread to become taut he com ,
mands the first card to rise at the same time retreating a

,
trifle thereby cau sing the card to be forced out by the thread
,
.
Showing this card and placing it on the table he again ,
moves bac k wards and causes the next card to rise continu ,
ing in this manner until all the cards have appeared Final .
l y he secretly detache s the hook from his trousers and in r e

moving the cards from the glass pulls the thread out of the
,
slit in the front card .

A C O JII E D Y O F ER R O R S .
FIRS T METH O D .
HIS IS i s the same trick that h as j u st been d e s c r i b

ed with the addition that every card that rises
, ,
undergoes same transformation duri n g the opera

tion The first card that ascends usu ally a Jack
.
,
comes out with i ts back towards the company a n d u pon b e ,
ing reprimanded for this offense visibly turns around and ,
then continues rising with its face towards the spectators .
The second card to the performer s obviou s consternation ’

,
is a blank one which however changes into the selected

,
card The third card h a s a corner missing which at t h e

.
,
conj urer s command instantly appears on it

’
.
The cards u sed for the experiment are mechanical ones , ,
a detailed description of which will be found under the pro

per heading T he first card is the T urning C ard the second
.
,
one a card constructed o n the sam e principle excepting that

, ,
the back of the flap on the u pper half of the card i s white ,
causing the card to appear blank as it rises The last card

,
.
is the Improved Torn C orner C a rd consisting of an ordin ,
ary card over the corner of which has been placed a pocket
, ,
made of bl ack silk .
S EC O ND M ETH OD .
In this improved form of the last trick every card after ,
having performed its particular evolution is immediately ,
passed for examination Besides an additional e ffect is i n

.
,
t r od u ce d the picture of one of the cards loosens itself from

, ,
the card proper and makes a bow to the company ;

The cards employed are constructed on the s ame princi
pl e as employed in the first version of the trick with this
, ,
addition that the mechanical part is separable from the card

proper In this respect they are identical w ith the Non p a
.
reil Changing C ard the card proper being passed for i n s p e c

,
tion while the trick part is kept concealed in the perfor

,
’
mer s hand Fig 1 39 illustrates the construction of the card
. .
with the loosening picture O ver the upper half of the card
.
a closely fitting pocket is S lipped to the lower edge of , ,
which i s hinged by means of a strip of mu slin the pic ture

, ,
A which thu s appears to loosen itself from the margin of the

card when half way out Seizing this card and transferring
, .
it to t h e left hand the conj urer draws o ff the pocket keeping

, ,
it palmed i n the right The card is then given to a s p e ct a

.
tor with the request to examine it .
FIG . 1 39 .
The Turning C ard Fig 1 40 has a similar poc k et C to

.
which the flap D is glued By means of an el astic hinge i n

.
the middle of the card which has previou sly been folded
,
longitudinally through i t s center the flap D instantly r e ,

.
sumes its normal position being released a s soon as the u p

,
per half of the cards protrudes above the pack The pocket .
C is retained in the right hand of the performer while with ,
the left the unprepared card is given out and made to bear
,
all the examination The third one which t ransforms itself

.
from a blank card into a court card is constructed s imilar to ,

214 NEW ERA CARD TRI C K S .
Eight of Diamonds but here another error occurs for i n

, ,
stead of the Eight the Seven of Diamonds ascends Not a t

,
.
,
all disconcerted by these mistakes the performer ex plains ,
that the spirits hav e evidently confused matters and orders

the missing pip of the card to appear which command i s i m ,
mediately obeyed .
A s my readers have no doubt correctly surmised the ,
cards employed are mechanical and are set in operation by

,
t h e cards themselves in leaving the pack The first card is .
a version of the Moving P i p C ard a fine silk thread being

,
substituted for the u su al three hairs which would be too del ,
i ca t e for this form of the trick This card i s not backed as

.
u su al i t s rear side behind which the mechanism is con ceal

,
FIG . 1 41 .
ed being left open Reference to Fig 1 41 will ma k e the

, , .
,
construction of the card apparent The thread to which the

.
block F i s faste ned passes through loop E thence u p w ard s

, ,
and through hole C to the face of the card It is led .
through the moving pip A and thence through

, D
NEW ERA C ARD T RI C K S . 215
ih the stationary pip B back to the block E to which it i s

,
again attached the thread thus practically forming an e nd

,
less belt .
Fig 1 42 gives a front view of the card behind which

.
,
is placed an indi ff erent card to the upper corner of which a

,
block has been glued the obj ect of which is that when the
,
mechanical card has risen about an inch and a half the ,
block F will strike the proj ection on the card behind it a n d ,
will cause pip A to travel to B a s the card ascends ,

.
The construction of the next card i s more di ffi cult to

explain although readily apparent u pon inspection of the
,
card itself In the front of the card at the place which the
.
,
eighth pip should occupy a hole (A 1 Fig 1 43) is cut

,
On the ,
. .
FIG . 1 42 .
b ack of this card is then glued another car d with a re c t a n g u ,

~
lar hole (BBBB Fig 1 44) cut o u t of it U nder this card works
, . .
a slide indicated by the smaller rectangle of dotted lines i n

,
BBBB On the front s ide of the u pper end of the slide a t A 2

.
, ,
red paper is glued while the lower end of the slide is co v

,
216 NEW E RA C ARD TRI C K S .
FI G . 1 43
.
FI G . 1 44
.
cards out of t h e pack in the goblet .
As already mentioned the trick is simply a clever modi

,
fi c a ti on of the Tumbler a n d Rising Car ds explained else

,
where the pack placed i n the goblet being prepared with

, , ,
a thread .
The first three fingers of the hand are connected thereto

by a cloth hinge s o that when the assistant pulls the thread
,
and the first card rises the latter will force the hinged fin
,
gers upwards thus creating the appearance of the hand

,
picking out the card The same process is repeated with

.
the remaining card s .

NEW ERA CARD TRICK S . 219
Tre par e d and

‘
M
ec hn
a i cal Cards .
N account of the number of cards which belong u n

der this class I h ave decided to de v ote a special
,
chapter to their description Mechanically arranged

.
and other w ise prepared cards are frequently used

,
with excellent e ffect by the professional conj urer They .
will also prove of gre at s e r v i v e to the a m ateur as some as ,
t on i s hi n g trick s ma y be performed by their aid without r e ,
quiring much dexterity on the part of the performer A .
few words of caution however may n o t be out of place

, ,
.
In the first place all mechanical cards u sed by the conj urer
,
should have the same backs as those of t he ordinary card s

“
employed in his experiments Secondly the performer

.
,
should avoid the successive u se of several mechanical cards ,
arranging hi s program in s uch a way that several feats with

“
ordinary cards precede the one in which the prepared card

i s u sed
. L astly the magician mu st learn to m ake a n adroit
,
substitu tion of the ordinary card for the prepared on e by ,
means of one of the several changes d escribed i n the first,
chapter of t h is book .
TH E C H A NG I N G C AR D .
N THIS on e of the oldest forms of mechanical cards ,
the Queen of Hearts i s made to change into the Queen

of Clubs and vi ce vers a Th e card used consists of the
.
following parts :
1 s t — A Queen of Hearts from which have been cut the
.
sections A A Fig 1 46 , , . .
2d ~
— A specially prepared skeleton card s h own i n Fig
.
,
.
1 47 one corner represen ting Hearts the o t her Clubs

, The , ,
.
margin of this card mu st be raised by gluing thereon the

the margins cut from two or three other cards .
FI G . 1 46 .
A specially p r e p a rd half card illu strated in Fig

3d . ,
.
1 48 designed to slide u p and down within the marginal

,
.
frame of the skeleton card On the center of the back of

‘
this piece is glued a small block with which to move it u p

a n d down to effect the change .
222 NEW ERA C ARD
TRI C K S .
the half card i s placed the prepared Queen (Fig

, .
These pa rts being thu s assembled are all glued firmly to

, ,
gether with the exception that the small card Fig 1 48

, ,
.
,
mu st be free to move u p and down on the inside by m a n i p u ,
lation of the small block on the rear and thereby ch ange ,
the spots that appear on the corners of the Queen .
FI G . 1 49.
The u su al method of utilizing this card in the course of

som e trick i s to force the Queen of Clubs and h ave it shuf
,
fled into the pack The performer the n pretends to pick ou t

.
the selected card but exhibits the Queen of Hearts instead ;

,
whereupon he is informed that the Queen of Cubs h a s been

,
chosen n ot the Queen of Hearts

,
Stating that it is a n easy
.
matter to correct the mistake he moves the S lide and shows

,
that the wrong card has changed into the desired on e .

NEW ERA C ARD TRI C KS . 223
TH E U NI Q UE C H A NG I NG C AR D .
E P E ND ING on the same principle as the preceding ,
is the U nique C hanging C ard which i s no doubt ,
one of the best of all mechanical cards as a Q ueen ,
of Hearts in an indetectable manner changes

, ,
into the Jack of Spades Both cards are s o different i n a p

.
r a nce that even the most ast ute of s p ectators will be

p e a ,
puzzled by this visible change .
FI G . 1 50 .
P arts A A Fig 1 5 0 are neatly cut from a Jack of

, .
,
Spades . Another Jack of Spades a n d Queen of Hearts are ,
cut in halves on e of each B C Fig 1 5 1 being then pasted

, , ,
.
,
on an indi fferent card Around the edge of this card a card

.
,
board frame of the width of the margin is then glued i n ,
which the slide Fig 1 5 2 consis t ing of parts O f e ach card

.
, ,
can easily move up and down midwa y between the top a n d ,
bottom as S hown in Eig 1 5 3 The frame on this last card is

. .
evenly covered with glue and the prepared Jack of Spades ,
Fig 1 5 0 is neatly placed over it In the rear card B C Fig

.
,
.
,
.
1 5 1 a slot F has been cut to correspond w ith a plug glued on

,
FIG . 1 51 .
FIG . 1 52 .
the back of slide D E Fig 1 5 2

,
. B y moving the latter u p
,
;
ward a Queen of Hearts is represented and by moving it

,
downwards the Jack of Spades is shown .

half of the back of this card is glued a court card of half the
size of the first U nder the pretense of rubbing or stroking
.
this card the performer folds the u pper half over the lower
,
o n e and exhibits the card in its reduced form The com .
p l e t e vanishing of the diminished card depends upon an a p

parent transfer of the card from the right into the left hand ,
the card being really retained in the right The closed left .
hand is slowly opened with a rubbing movement and shown

to be empty P l a cm g the right hand in which the folded
.
,
card is concealed to his S leeve the conj urer pretends to

, ,
take the card from there afterwards restoring it to its full

, ,
size by allowing the card to expand at the same time breath ,
ing u pon it .
The L a te s t D i m i n i s h i n g C a m .
HE TRI C K that I am about to explain is a v ast 1 m ,
provement over the one j ust described for the ,
very reason that the card is made to diminis h

,
four times finally vanishing altogether Another

,
.
advantage is that only one hand is used during the trick .
The construction of the card i s as follows : The large

court card i s first cut into four pieces of equal size which ,
are then glued on a piece of sheet rubber of the size of

the card itself Fig 1 5 4 When the glu e h a s dried three
,
. .
,
smaller cards are glued on the b ack of the card a s shown in

Fig 1 5 5
. . Another card of the same size as the two small
cards in Fig 1 5 5 is then treated in exactly the same way
.
, ,
being first cut in four and mounted on sheet rubber Fig 1 5 6 ,

.
and then having three smal le r cards gl ued on its back Fig ,
.
1 57 .The small card i s con c e a l e d i n the left hand while th e ,
l arge ca rd is held in the right Waving the l a t te r p a n d

l
.
, A
'
NEW ERA CARD T RICK S . NO '
FI G . 1 54 .
FI G . 1 55 .
down once or twice the conj urer under cover of this motion
, ,
quickly folds the half of the large card over the other h alf
a n d exhibits the second or half sized card Again the h and .
is moved up and down the folded card is doubled once more

,
a n d seems thu s to have been reduced to one —fourth the size
O f t h e large card The critical moment of the trick i s n o w

.
at hand for the small card concealed in the left hand is next
,
to be substituted for the folded one The best plan by .
_
w hich to do this is to place the left ha n d over the right
,
u nder the pretext of squeezing the card the palmed card b e ,
FI G . 1 56 . FI G . 1 57 .
ing left on top of the other The top card that is the one
.
,
n ot doubled is then visibly placed in the left hand the fold

, ,
‘
ed card remaining concealed i n the right which is disposed ,
O f immediately .
By the process already described the reduction i n size

,
continues ; next to on e eighth a n d at last to a sixteenth of

,
-
,
of the size of the origin a l card

. Finally the folded card is
.
made to disappear by apparently t r a n s fe rrl n g it from on e

hand to the other .
2 30 NEW E RA CARD TRI C KS .
the side representing the Seven O f Diamonds is to the rear ;

B when folded down shows as the Jack of Hearts ; C is
, ,
the small Jack and D the back of the card Thus the Seven .
,
of Diamonds is first shown and the upper flap turned d own

“
under cover of the hand the Jack of Hearts thu s b e ,
coming revealed This is folded down and the small card is

.
shown from both S ides The u su al process is then repeated

.
,
of pretending to place the card from the r i ght into the left
hand but really retaining it in the latter w ith which the artist
, ,
reaches for the wand lying on the table at the same time ,
dropping the folded card on the servante With the wand .

,
the closed left hand is t h en touched slowly opened and seen ,
to be empty .
The C h a n gi n g a n d En l a r gi n g Ca rd .
HIS e ffective feat the climax of which u suall y ,
creates considerable merriment is exhibited to i ts ,
best advantage i n connection with the following

sleight of hand trick .
After two cards s a y the Eight of Spades and the Queen

,
of C lubs hav e been forced u pon the spectators and shuffled

,
into the pack the conj urer takes a n y card— say the Six of
,
Hearts — and by rubbing it proceeds to change it into t h e

, ,
the first one of the selected cards ; namely the Eight of ,
Spades This he transforms by the same process into the

.
, ,
remaining chosen card the Queen of Clubs P r etending to

, .
hear that some one in the back rows is not able to s e e these
changes he o ffers to make the card larger P assi ng his
, .
hand over the Queen of C lubs it is seen to become three ,
times its former size ; which unexpected transforma ti on as I ,

have already said generally provokes a laugh on the part

,
of the spectators .
In Figs 1 5 9 and 1 6 0 the construction of the trick card

.
,
is illustrated On the back of the large Queen of Clubs

.
(Fig. which is printed on white muslin three ordinary ,
cards (Fig 1 5 9) are glued elastic hinges being previou sly

.
,
FI G . 1 59
.
inserted s o that the large card can be folded up a n d will re

,
su me its former shape when released ,

.
The folded card is concealed u h d e r the vest of the per

former who then proceeds to force the Eight of Spades a n d
,
Queen of Clubs T h ese cards are replaced in the pack a n d

.
thoroughly shu ffled On his return to the table he secretly

.
,
obtains possession of the vested card a n d adds it to the pack .

The Six of Hearts which he takes from the pack a moment

,
later is one phase of the prepared card which by turning

, ,
around is easily changed into the Eight of Spades the

, ,
first of the chosen cards U nder pretense of rubbing the

.
FI G . 1 60 .
l atter the performer allows the card to partly expand u n

,
der cover of the hand a n d after folding the Six of Hearts

, ,
under the Queen of Cl ubs shows the latter

, Holding the .
folded card by the ends he states h i s intention of making

,
it larger suddenly allowing it to expand with the aforesaid

,
result .
2 34 NEW ERA C ARD TRICK S .
are then neatly glued together a n d allowed to dry thor

oughly .
The elastic hinges formed by the insertion of the sheet

,
rubber strips give the card the tendency to a s s u m e t h e

,
position S hown in our drawing To prepare the card for .
the trick the two Jacks of Diamonds (flaps A A ) are first

, ,
folded over on the back of the card ; the side B is then

shown to be the Ace of Hearts U nder cover of the other .
hand the card i s secretly turned around and seen to have

,
changed into the Jack of D i a m n d s the fl aps being held ,
down by one of the fingers to prevent them from flying up .
Again pretending to rub the card the performer release s ,
the flaps which instantly assume the position shown in th e

,
illu stration and which are then one at a time folded over
, , ,
on the back of the card which is now shown to have become

,
the Three of Diamonds The card is again turned around

.
under cover of the hand and the last change the Queen of , ,
S pades i s exhibited .
Before and after the trick the folded card is placed und er ,
the pack on the table the fl aps be 1 ng thereby prevented

,
from prematurely expanding .
TH E C A R D A ND R O SE .
C ARD ,
preferably the Queen of Hearts is exhib ,
i t e d a n d covered an instant with the other hand , ,
during which process it changes into a beautiful

rose which if desired may be changed back
, , ,
into the card .
The card (Fig 1 6 3) of course is a prepared one which

. ,
by means of el astic hinges is arranged in such a manner ,
that its upper and lower parts A a n d C can be folded on B , , ,
instantly resuming their former position the moment the

pressure is released .
NEW ERA C ARD T RICK S . 2 35
FI G . 1 63
.
F I G . 1 64 .
2 36 NE W E RA CA RD TRIC KS .
On the back of B are glued a handsome artificial rose

and a few leaves which i n all occupy about the same S pace
,
as the card itself (Fig .
In performing the trick the card is held by t h e tip of

,
the thumb and first finger of the left hand I n placing the . .
right hand over the la t ter part C is folded on B a n d

‘
then A on C . The folded card is n ow turned around the ,
hand i s removed and the rose is exhibited If it is desired .
to change t h e lat t er back into t h e card the process j ust d e s ,
c r i b e d i s simply reversed
.
T H E F L OR A L C AR D .
THIS form of the Rose C ard Trick the card which ,
i s transformed into the flower is shown from both ,
S ides before and after the trick The construction of .
the card is ver y simple the flower u sed being on e of

,
FIG . 1 65 .
folding kind which when opened fully as shown i n Fig 1 6 5

‘
,
.
presents the appearance of a large floral ball The card .
u sed is a double one (Fig 1 66 ) only the lower ha l v es AC D )

,
. .
,
2 38 NEW ERA C ARD T RI C K S .
Th e P e n e tr a t i ve
f
Ca rd .
N THIS illusive trick a card is gradu ally pushed

,
through the crown of a silk hat The card which .

,
mu st be a court card i s prepared for the trick by

,
drawing w ith the edge of a sharp penknife three

, ,
lines across i t s face as shown in Fig 1 6 7 The card thu s . .
scored may be folded on these lines and opened again with

,
out any traces of the scoring being visible On the back of .
this card is then glued a piece of the same silk material ,
u sed in the manufacturing of silk hats or if that is n ot ob
FIG . 1 67
ta i n a bl
a good qu ality of black satin may be substituted
e, .
When this has dried the proj ecting edges of the cloth are
,
neatly trimmed after which the entire edge of the card i s

,
blackened s o that the card when placed face downwards on

,
the crown of a S ilk hat cannot be seen ,

.
The performer introduces the trick by borrowi ng a silk

“
hat secretly placing the prepared card on the crown as he

,
returns to the table where he deposits the hat He then

,
.
forces a duplicate of the prepared card and seizing the

hat with his right hand places the left hand which holds
, ,
the selected card on its inside quickly slipping the card

, ,
under the leather band of the hat At the same time the
.
right hand turns up part A of the card in illu strated in Fig

,
.
FIG . 1 68 .
1 68
. G ivingthe hat a slight downward motion and at the
same time sliding the card a little more towards the center
of the crown the second part B of the card i s raised ; the
,
same process being then repeated with the last parts C and D ,
when the entire card has thu s become visible and i s care
lessly thrown face u pwards on the table .
If properly performed the illu sion of the card being

,
gradu ally pulled through the crown of the hat will be found ,
to be perfect .
TH E T O R N C O R NER C AR D .
FTE R A card say the King of Hearts has been

, ,
drawn the conj urer tears off one of its corners

,
and states that he will restore the card to its for

mer condition by u s e of magical means Holding .
the cards by the fing e r tips of the left hand he takes the ,
FIG . 1 69 .
FIG . 1 70 .
the corner is missing especially when the conj urer holds

,
the card i n such a way that his black dress coat is directly
,
behind it In order to appear to restore the card all that is

.
,
necessary is to remove the pocket which is easily a ccom

,
p l i s h e d by pulling the fine thread B attached to it The

,
.
FI G . 1 71 .
best manner of introd ucing the trick is to force a duplicate

of the prepared card and then substitute one for the other ,
at the same time holding a corner torn from another card

, ,
over the black pocket A pretense is made of teari ng off a

.
corner the loose p 1 ece being exhibited ins t ead the pocket
, ,
over the corner of the card completing the deception Th e .
trick is then finished in the manner already described .

TH E F L A P C A R D
HE card of this na me is perhaps on e of the best

known of mechanical cards and is still extensive l y
u sed in connection with many card tricks A court .
card s a y the Jack of Hearts is first exhibited

, ,
from both sides Requesting a lady to bre athe on it or do

.
,
i n g s o himself the conj urer cau ses the card to visibly change
,
into an entirely d i fi e r e n t card (in our case the Three of ,
Hearts ) both sides of which are then also shown

,
.
The trick of course lies in the card whic h is constru cted

, ,
on the following plan :
F IG . 1 72 .
A cross the w idth of

the back of the Three of Hearts ,
a slight incision is made w hich allows the card to be folded

,
i n half
. T wo strips of fl a t white elastic are then glued to
,
the lower end of the back of this card a nd after being ,
s tretched a trifle their ends a r e glued to the upper end of

,
the card The lower end of this folding card is then glued
.
t o the Jack of Heart s after which half of ano ther Jack o f

, ,
Spades is glued to the back of the Three of Hearts The .
finished card appears as shown in Fig 1 72 which for the .

, ,
sake of clearness represents the Jack of Hearts in the act

,
of folding upwards and exposing the Three of Hearts I n .
its normal condition the false fl ap O f the court card lies

,
folded against the court card proper .
To s e t the card for the trick the fl ap i s folded down , ,
being prevented from flying back by one of the fingers of

the hand holding the card which is S hown to be the Jack of ,
Hearts I n the act of breathing upon it t h e performer r e

.
leases the elastic fl a p which immediately flies back in to i t s

,
former position disclosing the Three of Hearts

,
.
T wo flap cards one which produces a change of a Three

,
of Hearts into a Jack of Hearts and the other one of which

the reverse change that is Jack of Hearts into the Three of
,
Hearts are someti mes u sed to produce the following effect

,
.
The flaps of bo t h cards one of which is held in each hand

, ,
are turned down thu s showing t h e Three in on e hand and

,
the Jack in the other A quic k motion i s made with both

.
hands and the Jack is seen in the hand that held the Three
,
a moment ago and vi ce vers a .
Th e Nonp a r e i l C h a n gi n g C a rd .
FEAT U RE w hich makes the card of this name ,
the peer of all mechanical cards is that after the ,
changes it can be thoroughly examined without

,
any preparation being discovered The Non p a .
reil C ard (Fig 1 73) i s practically a flap card changing from

.
the Three of Spades in to the Queen of Diamonds the only ,
difference being that the latter i s removable from the me

,
c h a n i c a l par t of the card simply being contained in a pocket

,
attached to the rear side of the folding Three of Spad e“s On “ N

.
The Ne w Non p a r e i l Ca rd .
N THIS improved form of the t rick the card has i n ,
stead of one flap two ; one on either side as shown m

,
Fig 1 74 B represents the loose card C the pock et

. .
, ,
and A and D the flaps .
In performing the trick side A is first exhibited U n

,
.
der cover of the other hand which i s momentarily placed

,
over it the card is turned around and side D is shown This

,
.
FIG . 1 74
.
flap is then turned down under the prete xt of r u bbing th e

,
card revealing the upper half of card B the lower half of

, ,
which is apparentl y completed by a half of a similar card ,
pasted on the back of D the thumb being held over the

,
j unction of the pocket C and card B The card i s now trans .

:
ferred to the left hand th e loose card being pulled ou t of C

,
during this O peration While it is being exhibited the right

.
,
hand in which the folded card was retained disposes of th e

, ,
,
latter at the first opportunity which offers itself .

TH E B O T T L E C AR D
N THE back of a card s a y the Five of Spades two

, ,
insertions are made a s indicated by the dotted lines

,
in Fig 1 75
. . The card may then be folded into the
shape S hown in Fig 1 76 Two strips of flat elas
. .
tic are then glued across the back of this card which pre ,
r a ti on is entirely hidden by pasting over the el astic bands

p a
the back of another card previou sly cut into three similar
,
pieces .
FI G . 1 75 .
A card thus constructed may be folded as shown in Fig

,
.
1 76 but as soon a s it is released will spring out fl at

, ,
.
P rior to the trick the conj urer inserts one end of the
,
folded card into a small clip attached to the rear edge of the
table the clip preventing the card from prematurely ex
,
panding The performer then borrows a handkerchief

, ,
which he carelessly spre ad s on the table He next i n t r od u .
ces a narrow necked bottle of transparent glass which a f

, , ,
ter being shown e m pty is covered with the borrowed hand

,
kerchief In picking up the latter the conj urer remove s

.
,
the card from the clip and adroitly inserts it stil l folded in , ,
the neck of th e bottle while arranging the handkerchief

,
over the latter In placing the bottle with a slight thump

.
, ,
on the table the card falls on the inside a n d instantly ex

,
pands .
FIG . 1 76 .
A similar card is now forced on a specta t or and a fte r ,
being placed i n a card box or other suitable apparatu s dis ,
appears from the latter and upon removal of the h a n d k e r

,
chief i s found in the bottle which mu s t be broken in order

, ,
to extract the card If properly made the card can n o w be

.
,
shown from both sides without any preparation being n o

ticed If some one expresses a desire to examine it the
. ,
performer immedi ately exchanges it for a duplicate u h ,
prepared card which mu st be l yl n g I n readiness on the top

,
of the pack for su ch an emergency .

be operated from a n edge of the card By moving the pro .
t r u d i n g end of the lever the end A on which red paper has

, ,
been glued c a n be made to cover the hole B in t h e pip at

, , ,
will . On the frame is next glued an indi fferent card out of

,
the center of which a round hole has also been cut which ,
corresponds to that made in the front card The card thu s .

,
arranged may n o w be safely shown from bo t h sides as the

,
,
hole in the rear card is covered by the lever simultaneously

with that of the front card .
FI G . 1 78
.
The conj urer gives this card to a friend who at the r e , ,
port of the pistol which of course contains only a blank

,
charge moves the lever causing the opening in both cards

, ,
to become visible .
By employing a n entirely different plan the card ma y ,
be inspected immediately after the shot has been fired For .
this purpose the conj urer has previously punched a round

,
hole i n the Ace a nd b y m e a n s of soap covered the aperture

'
, ,
with a loose pip cut out of another card At the re port of

,
.
.
NEW E RA CARD T RICKS . 2 51
pistol the friend who holds the card S imply removes the
, ,
attached pip a n d allows it to drop on t h e floor The s pe c t a .
tors are now at liberty to inspect the card .
M O VI NG PI P C AR D .
HE Moving P i p or Hair C ard is no doubt the most

inge n iou sly constructed and at the same ti me on e
of the most u seful of mechanical cards On e .
feature that will particularly commend it to my

readers is that dur i ng the transformation of the card the
‘
, ,
FI G . 1 79
.
l atter is held in full view not being covered in a n y way

,
.
T he mechanism which consists of hairs cannot possibly be

, ,
noticed at a distance of even a few feet .

FIG . 1 80 .
FIG . 1 81 .
from a Seven into a Six The prepa r ed card is backed with

.
a n ordinary on e s o that both of its S ides may be freely

,
shown .
In Fig 1 81 and 1 82 i s shown the exterior appearance of

.
two cards with two and four pips respectively which move
, ,
S imultaneou sly As the mechanical arrangement u sed i n

.
their construction i s practically the same as that in the card

j ust described I omit a detailed explanation of the interior
,
arrangement S u ffice it to say that in th e card with t he two

.
moving pips A and C the latter are pulled up over the s t a

,
t i on a r y pips B D completely covering them I n the qu ad .
ruple pip card A C E G are the moving pips A a n d C b e

, ,
i n g pulled u pward to cover the stationary pips B and D ,
while E and G are pulled downwards covering F a n d H .
A My s t e r i ou s T r a n s f or m a t i on
CARD s a y the Nine of Hearts is exhibited and

, ,
shown to be but one card which the conj urer ,
places face downwards on th e extended hand of ,
a spectator Commanding it to change into an e h

.
t i r e l y di fferent one the performer requests the gentleman

,
hO l d i n g it to look at it and it i s now seen to have become

transformed into the Ace of Dia m onds which may be t he n ,
be thoroughly examined .
For this interesting experiment the conj urer must pro ,
vide himself with a Nine of Hearts all the pips of which ,
have been neatly cut out with a S harp penknife The sten .
cil thus obtained is laid evenly on an Ace of Diamonds a

, ,
small weight being then placed on either end of the double

card to prevent them from shifting The performer next
,
. .
takes a qu antity of dry vermillion or of chrome red pro ,
curable at any paint store and places it in the cente r of s e v ,

NEW ERA C ARD TRICK S . 2 55
eral thicknesses of fine mu slin or linen gathering up the ,
corners Of the l atter and tying a string around the bag thu s
obtained .Holding it above the double card he hits the bag ,
repeated taps with a knife cau sing a fine shower of the dry
,
red to fall on the two cards The tapping process is continu

.
ed until the stenciled pips are well covered over after which ,
the two weights and upper cards are carefully removed a n d

placed aside The lower card which now represents the
.
,
FIG . 1 83 .
Nine of H earts i s then gently laid on the top of the pack ,
from where the performer takes it at the commencement of

the trick After holding it up high so th at every on e can
.
,
get a good view of the card the conj urer lowers the hand
,
and to prove that he has but the one card hits i t s back a ,
sharp tap with the wan d .
The stenciled points thereby become dislodged and fall

off the card having now resumed its f or m e r a p p p e a r a n c e
, ,
t h e Ace of Diamonds which is then given to a gentleman

, .
to hold or what is still better is placed face downwards on

, , ,
the table By moving it about a little all remai ning par

.
,
t i c l e s of the dry color are thereby wiped off s o that upon ,
examination of the card nothing unusu al can be discovered

,
.
Enamelled cards are naturally better adapted for the .
experiment than the ordinary cards as from the former , ,
a n y remaining traces of the paint can be r e adil y removed
by sliding the card across the top of the table .
In order to make the trick complete the pack i s exam,
i n e d after the pretended Nine of Hearts has been given

t o some one to hold and is t h en place d on the table the top
, ,
of which is c overed wi th black or any plain colored mater

ial. On this lies face downwards the real Nine of Hearts
, , ,
t h e back of which is painted the same color as that of th e

table top . The pack is laid on top of the card a nd a ft e r , .
the change of the Nine of Hearts into the Ace of Diamonds

has taken place the cards are picked up and with them the
,
hidden Nine of Hearts which seems to have returned to its

,
original place .
TH E NE W I NK C A R D .
L T H OU G H the card of this name cannot possibl y

be used i n the c ours e of any card trick a des ,
c r i p t i o n of it is nevertheless given for the reason ,
that the card i s purely mechanical .
The I nk C ard is u sed only in the well known trick in ,
which the cont ents of a glass or glass vase seemingly filled ,
with i n k are changed into clear water The ink in this

, .
,
case is only a sham the gl ass really containing water whic h

, , ,
is given the appe arance of ink by a piece of black silk with ,
w hich the inside of the glass is lined The silk is carried

.
away with a handkerchief previou sly placed over the glass ;

,
or i n the latest form of the trick the glass is not covered

, ,
back of another card thu s hiding both sides of B the

, ,
blackened part of the card proper The card thu s prepared .

,
is casu ally shown fro m both sides being held by the mid ,
dle finger a n d thumb which are pl aced over the edge of the
,
pocket C ,
.The first finger is now placed on the top edge
FI G . 1 85 .
of the card which i n this position is dipped into the pre

, , ,
tended ink At the same time pressure is exercised by the

.
,
first finger the pocket C slides up covering A and disclosing

, ,
B the lower half blackened as if having been colored by the

, ,
ink .After both s i des of the card have been shown the ,
pocket C is secretly slipped off palme d and the card given

;
, ,
for inspection .
T H E E N VEL O PE C A R D .
HE CARD of this name is quite a depart u re from ,
other existing mechanical cards After a card .
h a s been selected and returned to the pack the ,
latter i s g i v e n i n cu stod y of a spectator An e n

. .
v e l o p e containing a note is then brought to the performer

, ,
who after reading it passes his hand o v er the envelope a n d

,
cau ses i t to change into the chosen card whic h h e s h o w s , é u

from both sides U pon inspection of the pack the card is

.
,
found to be missing .
A s my reader i s possibly aware of the fact that the ,
selected card i s a forced one palmed O ff after its return to

,
the pack I S hall proceed at once to the description of the

,
FI G . 1 86 .
construction of the Envelope C ard which is illustrated i n

,
Fig 1 86 and 1 87 The envelope used i s a rather small one

. .
,
being of the same size as a playing card As indicated in the .
drawing it may be folded face to face or back to back a

, ,
cloth strip serving as a hinge On the rear side of the

.
FI G . 1 87
opened e nvelope i s pasted a card and its back
, If properly .
m ade the envelope

, which contains a small sheet of paper
, ,
cannot be tol d from the genuine article .
The trick envelope i s in readiness behind the scenes

and i s brought in at the proper moment by the assistant .
The performer opens its flap extracts the note and after
,
pretending to read it replaces the note in the envelope

, .
Q uickly turning it on its hinge he S hows it transformed i n

,
to the selected ca rd both sides of which are exhibited

,
.
The trick is a very neat one e s p e ci a l y suitable for par

,
lor work and may be e ffectively combined with other ex

p e r i m e n,t s thereby forming a acceptable departure from the
u su al run of card tricks
TH E V
AN I SH I NG PI PS .
NINE of Diamonds in this trick i s transformed i n

to the Five of the s ame s uit ; this is changed into
a Three and the Three into the Ace of Diamonds
,
.
Not satisfied with this orderly disappearance of

the pips the perform er gives the card a final rub and this
,
time cau ses the last pip to vanish the card both sides of , ,
which are n ow shown having now become perfectly bl ank

,
.
FI G . 1 88 .
Figures 1 88 a nd 1 89 will enable my reader to readily under ,
stand the construction of t h is card which I n its present i m ,
pro ved state forms quite a clever trick especially in the

, ,
hand s of a skilled performer possessed of any r e a l pl e xt e r

,
b ‘
’
2 62 NE W E RA CARD TRI C K S .
TH E TU R NI N G C AR D .
HE CARD of this title i s u sed exclu sively in the '
Rising C ard Trick in which one of the selected

,
cards usu aly a Jack ascends with its back to

,
the company The performer pretends to be vex

.
e d at this and sharply orders the card to turn around and
rise face foremost which co m mand i s instantly obeyed

.
, .
I n Fig 1 90 which represents the card in the act of turning

.
,
around the principle upon which its construction i s based

, ,
is conveyed more concisely a nd clearly than can be done
FIG . 1 90 .
with words The upper part of the card re v ol v es and is

.
folded a g a m s t the face of the card itself which in this con ,

.
dition is inserted in the duplicate pack prepa r ed for the

, ,
Rising Cards While the card is rising back foremost to all

.
a ppearance the instant the mechanical upper part protrudes

,
beyond the edge of the pack it turns around very quickly

, ,
owing to a n inserted strip of rubber and folds i t s e l f on the b x

bac k of the card which is S hown from both S ides after its
,
removal from the pack .
T h e R e u n i te d Ca rd .
F
TER A card s a y the Queen of Hearts has been
, ,
selected it is cut with scissors into four pieces of

,
equ al size by the person who took the card .
Taking these pieces from the spectator the c on ,
j urer throws them into the air in which the pieces reunite
,
into a complete card which the performer exhibits a n d if

, ,
desired passes for inspection

, .
FIG . 1 91 .
The construction of this card i s as follows : A Quee n of

H earts i s cut into four equ al parts which are glued on a
,
piece of sheet rubber of the same size as the card Fig 1 91

, ,
. .
Another card is then cut into four pieces which are glued , ,
back uppermost on the rear side of the rubber Fig 1 92 If

, ,
. .
neatly made a card thu s prepared cannot be told from an

, ,
ordinary one even at slight distance This card may be .
folded in four instantly expanding to its full Size when r e

,
l eased The folded trick card i s c on c e a l e d about the per

.
.
’
former s body in such a way that possession of ,
may be
FI G . 1 92 .
readily obtained A d uplicate Queen of Hearts is n ow

.
forced on some one who is requested to cut the card into

,
four pieces While this is being done the performer gets

.
,
possession of the folded trick card which he keeps conceal ,
ed i n his hand After receiving the pieces from the s p e c t a

.
tor he substitutes for them the folded card the packets resem
, ,
bling on e another Throwing the trick card into the air the
.
,
p ieces seem a pparently to j oin coming down a complete ,
card which the performer casu ally shows I f some on e

,
.
evinces a desire to examine the restored card t h e latter is , “

FI G . 1 93 .
FI G . 1 94
.
NEW ERA C ARD TRI C KS . 2 67
the latter under some pretext on the table l aying it direct

, , ,
l y on top of the prepared card P icking up pack and pre.
pared card together a fe w seconds later he throws it flatly

, ,
against t h e mirror to which the star and the rear card a d

,
here while the re m ainder of the pack together with the

, ,
bits of glass which s lip out of the pocket fall to the floor ,
.
The card i s next r e m oved the star which i s left attached to

,
the m irror giving it a perfect resemblance of having been

,
broken . With t h e handkerchief in which the fragments of ,
glass are wrappe d the performer remo v es the star a n d any

,
remaining particl es of the wax thus res t oring the glass to ,
i t s former unbroken state .
TH E C OI N C AR D .
N TH I S trick a borrowed coin is made to vanish a n d

,
mysteriously reappear on the upper edge of a selected

card which i s given for I nspection after the coin has
,
bee n removed .
The principle u sed in the construction of this card is

identic al with that of the New I nk C ard previously ex ,
plaine d ; a removable pocket (C Fig 1 95 ) being slipped ove r ,

.
an ordinary card B , .
After the conj urer has secretly gained possession of th e

borrowed and marked coin and left a mar k ed duplicate in a
’
spec tator s charge he retires for a moment under some pre
, .
,
te xt and secretly inserts the palmed borrowed coin into

, ,
the pocket C Before doing so however he attaches to

,
.
, ,
t he coin by means of a pellet of wax the hair loop (A A )

, , ,
which passes through a small hole in the upper end of the

card a s shown in the drawing
, .
P alming this card he returns to the stage forces a s i m

, ,
i l a r card Secretly substi t u ting for it the prepared card

,
.
Taking the coin from the spectator with the right hand a n d
holding the card i n the left the first finger of the latter i h
,
s e r t e d i n the hair loop proj ecting on the back of the car d

,
he pretends to throw the coin at the card really palmi n g it , .
At the same time the first finger of the left hand pulls the
,
loop the coin being thereby drawn out of i t s hiding place

,
a n d pulled against the small hole in the upper e n d of the

card After disposing of the palmed coin the performer de
.
taches the borrowed coin from the ha ir loop which is pulled ,
out of the hole a n d allowed to drop on the floor I n trans .
FIG . 1 95 .
fer ri ng the prepared card to t h e other hand he slips o ff the

:
pocket C and retains it palmed in the first hand with the ,
other hand passing the card for inspection :

In order to do away w ith the necessity of fetching a n d
preparing the Coin C ard during the progress of the trick ,
th e card mu st contain a duplicate coin before the trick .
The borrowed coin in this case i s taken in the right hand

, , ,
which palms it while pretending to throw it at the card

,
.
With the first finger of the oth er hand the coin i s p u1 19d out
, .
pointed end of these cards a hole is made in which is i n , ,
s e r t e d a brass wire which is rivetted at each end thus s e

, ,
curely holding the cards together but allowing them to be ,
spread out in fan shape To this e n d of the pack is then

.
attached a strong black thread which passes up through ,
the right sleeve of the performer s coat thence over the ’

,
back of his vest down to on e of the rear su spender buttons ,
to which it is fastened .
During the performance the prepared pack lies snugly ,
concealed in the right coat sleeve s o that the performer can ,
obtain it at the desired mom ent and substitute it for the bona
fide pack . The prepared cards are then spread out as shown
i n Fig 1 96 the missing lower part of the top card being
.
,
covered by the fingers With the left hand the conj urer
.
,
then seizes the slack part of the thread while the right at , ,
the same time closes up the cards a n d preten ds to toss them

,
into the air A quick sh a rp pull is given to the th read by

.
,
the left hand cau sing the cards to be pulled with great rapid
'
ity into the right sleeve .
TH E DI MI NI SH I NG C AR D S .
HE T RI C K of this title is a favorite with conj urers

the world over The performer takes a pack of .
cards presumably the ones that he has used in

,
the preceding experiments and pretending to , ,
squeeze it cau ses the cards to become half their former

,
size After displ aying these Cards he once more covers

.
,
them with h i s h a nd and this time red uces them to about one
fourth their original size These cards small as they are.
, ,
are made t o diminish again and again until finally they hav e , ,
become the veriest miniature cards being less t h a n ha l f an , b

NEW ERA C ARD T RI C K S . 2 71
inch long and proportionately wide Holding this tiny pack.
at the tips of the fingers the conj urer gives it a final rub
,
causing the cards to vanish altogether .
FIRS T MET H O D .
L T H OU G H the trick depends to a certain extent ,
upon the cards which are p repared for t h e pur

,
pose i t n e v e r th e l e s s requires considerable dex

,
v
t e r i t y acquired by constant practice i n order to

, ,
perform it with any degree of nicety .
Fig 1 97 shows the arrangement of the first and largest

.
pack consisting of several ordinary cards (which however

‘
, , ,
are discarded at the first stage of the trick ) a nd a prepared

card the Jack of Hearts which i s hinged in the center To
, ,
.
-
FIG . 1 97.
the back of the upper and lower halves A and B are rivet , ,
ted a number of cards of half size U nder the pretense of .
rubbing or squeezing the pack the large card which is s u p

, ,
posed to be the first one of a number of similar cards is

'
folded at the hinge the pack being thu s transformed into a

,
smaller on e which can be spread out fan like as shown i n

,
-
,
Fig 1 98 On the upper part of the back s of the cards j u st

. .
.
mentioned are pasted still smaller cards (Fig

,
the .
FI G . 1 98 .
FIG . 1 99
.
lower part of the card beings left blank or preferably black , ,
ened When the performer wishes to transform the half

.
”
sized cards into smaller ones he simply turns the cards,
arou nd while pretending to rub them ; concealing the lower

blackened half behind the fingers of the hand that holds .
the cards .
similar manner .
A is a King of Hearts of half S ize glued to the back of , ,
the lower half of a large card B denoting the other half ,
of the latter The trick then proceeds in nearly the same

.
manner as described in the first method On the folding .
court card are placed several loose ca rds which are either ,
carelessly discarded at th e opening of the trick or which ,
may be thrown among the spectators apparently with the ,
intention of a l l ow i n g them to inspect the cards but in r e ,
ality furnishing the conj urer a suitable pretext for dispos

ing of them The pack i s then covered with the other hand
.
,
under cover of which A i s folded over on B the cards of, ,
half size thereby becoming disclosed The pack is spread .
out and after being shown closed again and the pretense of
, ,
squeezing it repeated What the conj urer really does u h

,
.
,
der cover of this movement is to slip the pack D out of the ,
elastic holding it palming the cards j ust shown in the same

,
'
hand which holds D the b a ck of the hand being turned to

,
wards the company The other hand spreads out pack D

.
,
thus conveying to the spectators the impression that only

the pack D is contained in the hands Transferring this .
pack to the other hand the performer with the hand that , ,
is palming t h e other cards picks up the wand from the ta ,
ble at the same time dropping the palmed cards on the s e r

,
vante . The process of slipping the next si ze of cards from

under the elastic holding it is now repeated the cards last ,
shown being palmed and dropped on the servante under the ,
pretext of laying do w n the wand When the smallest pack .
is final ly reached it is first shown from both sides a n d made

,
to disappear by means of the Tourniquet .
THIRD METH O D .
This form of construction of the Diminishing P ack a l ,
though identical in its principal points wi t h the plan j ust

descri bed i s preferred by many a s in this we dispense w ith
, ,
rubber bands which in the course of time are apt to be

, , , ,
come weak .
E ach separate pack in this case i s glued ,

of ,
NEW ERA CARD TRI C KS . 2 75
metal of proper size s o planned that one end can be turned

,
over forming a clip as shown in Fig 2 0 1

, ,
Thu s B and C . .
FIG . 2 01 .
indicate the metal back and cl ip glued to the re ar side ,
of the half sized cards a metal ri v et extending through

,
both cards and metal D and E represent the clips for the
.
next sizes of cards ; while F indicates the smallest pack ,
which i s held under clip E and which consists of separate

cards connected at one corner by a thread which fulfills the
, ,
pu rpose of a rivet .
The manner of performing the trick i s similar to that

described in the preceding method .
As a good pl an of combining the Diminishing P ack with

another card trick will naturally prove acceptable to most
of my readers I take pleasure in making them acqu ainted
,
with an excellent outline of a logical pretext for the succes

sive reduction of the size of the cards .
All of my p rofessional readers are probably acquainted

with that excelle n t trick described by Robert -Houdin i n ,
which a number of cards apparently travel one at a time , ,
u p the perf ormer s sleeve passing into his vest

’
,
.
After having performed this trick the conj urer makes a ,
pretended explanation by telling the spectators th at he

causes the cards to dematerialize s o that they when i n thi s
, ,
state easily pass up the sleeve and when in the vest are
, ,
materialized agai n resumin g their former shape He ex

, .
plains that the process o f dematerialization simply consists

of a gradual but rapid reducti on of the size of the cards ,
a n d promises to perform this process s o slowly that every ,
o n e present c a n see a n d thoroughly comprehend the nature
O f the experiment .
W h ile he is telling his patter in abou t this manner he ,
has held the twelve cards that have j u st passed up his ,
S lee ve i n his left hand taking care that for instance the
, , , ,
Queen _ o f Clubs which is among them

, i s turned face to ,
wards the audience While talking he secretly obtains p os

.
,
session o f the diminishing pack the front card of which is ,
also a Queen of Clubs a n d unobserved places it back of the

,
unprepared cards in his hand In explaining the process of .
the cards pass i ng up the sleeve he places his right hand ,
carelessly ove r the loose cards palming them and thru sting ,
his hand into his ve st in the act Of indicating what i s to ,
take place leaves the p almed cards A s the large card of

,
.
the prepared pack is similar to the first on e of the loos e

cards the execution of this sleight will create no su spicion
, ,
as the cards are to all app earances left s ta te quo The pre .
pared pack i s now successively reduced i n size the smallest ,
pack being as u su al palmed with the right hand With the

, ,
.
left the conj urer then reaches into his vest and produces
,
from there t h e apparently m aterialized cards which to i n

, , ,
crease the e ffect may be marked by the spectators previou s

,
to the trick .
F OU RTH METH O D .
This method is entirely different from the preceding

ones the performer apparently experimenting with full
,
packs which he exhibits from both sides at each stage of

,
:
reduction in the size of the cards .
The secret of the trick may be told in a few words the ,
different pack s being nested each pack forming a sort of a ,
box for the size next smaller Besides these dummy packs .
,
a few loose cards of corresponding sizes a re 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 32 2 ;

The variou s pack s having been assembled in the m a n

n e r shown a loose card is placed on the back of A
, thu s ,
hiding all trace of preparation After the pack thu s pre

.
pared h a s been S hown the rear card is removed and either

,
placed aside or in front of the pack which is then covered,
with the d i s e ng a g e d h a n d under pretense of squeezing it

,
.
The dummy pack A a n d its free cards are palmed off a n d ,
pack B exhibited instead At th e same time the palmed

.
,
pack is dropped on the servante of the table After break .
ing the hair surrounding pack B the conj urer spreads the
,
latter a n d shows it from both sides carefully masking the

,
t h e opening in the rear of the dummy pack by placing a

loose card over it This card is transferred to t h e front of
.
the pack which in turn i s palmed off and dropped on the

,
servante After pack C has been treated in a similar man

.
ne r ,
the performer has l eft only packs D and E ; E being
hidden behind D After D has been spread out and shown
.
,
it i s palmed off under pretense of r ubbing it and E dis ,
closed which after being freely exhibited i s made to dis

, , ,
appear by means of the pass .

P age 1 3, L ine 5 — Fig instead of Fig
'
. 7
1 3, 22 8
31 , 2 2 — Bua tie r B e a u ti e r .
35 .
-
Second Method commences at L ine
56 .
—Corrected table :
27 14 1 43 30 1 7 8 46 33 24 1 1
2 40 31 18 5 47 34 21 12 50 37
28 19 6 44 35 22 9 51 38 25 42
7 45 32 23 10 48 39 26 13 4 20
58 .
— Fig . 28 instead of Fig
70 . 33 29.
1 1 1 ,
L ine l m
O b e di e n t i nstead of Ob e di a n t .
L I ST O F C O NT E NT S .
S L EI G H T S .
The Double H an de d P a ss
The He mann Pa ss
rr
The Ch a lie P a ss
r r .
The Fo ce r
Ch an ges
The T o p Ch an ge
The Bo tt o m Ch an ge
The New Top Ch an ge
The Mexic an Tu n O ve r r
The Excelsio Ch an ge r
The Colo Change r
F i st Me t h o d
r .
S ec on d Me t h o d
Thi d Me t ho d
r
F ou rt h Me t hod
The C a d P a l m
r
The R egul a P a l mr
T h e B t i e Pal m
ua r
The Ba ck H an d P a l m
N ew Though t C a d S leigh t s
r
Fi s t Me t h o d
r .
S eco n d Me t h o d
Thi d Me t h o d
r
The N w Gli m pse

e
F i st Me t ho d
r .
S econ d Me t h o d
Thi d Me t ho d
r
T h e B i dge
r
The P e a a n ge d P a ck
r rr
T h e Glide
T h e Revo lu t i on .
2 82 NEW ERA CARD T RICK S .
Th e Ca d A p pea i n g on t h Bo t t l e
r r e .
F i t M e t h od
rs .
S econd Me t h od .
The Ca d on t h Ta b l e Edge
r e
T h e M y s t e i es of t h Z odiac
r e
T h e C a ds Co i ns and G l ass
r ,
F i s t Me t h od
r .
S econd M e t h od
T h i rd Me t ho d
T h e Ha l ved Ca d r .
T h e P h oe nix .
T h e L os t Ace .
T h ou gh t F o e t o l d r
T he P i e rced Ca d r
T h e Ca d Box r
T h e M echanical Ca d B x r o
T h e B ss Ca d Box
ra r
The Ne w Brass Ca d Box

The V
r
anishin g o f T h ou gh t Ca ds r
X R a ys .
F i s t M e t hod
r
S eco n d Me t hod
The Bala n ced Ca d r
T h e L igh t nin g C ha n g e
T h e Ca d S e van t e
r r
R apid T an si t r
The Ca ds a n d t h e O ra n ge T ee
r r
Ca d R ing a n d R i b b o n
r ,
The C o nj u e s P red i ct io n
r r
’
Ha n d k e ch i e f an d C a d
r r
M a velous Coi n ci d e n ce
r
The New Ge n e al Ca d r r .
T h e S mall Ca d F ame r r
F i s t Me t hod
r .
S eco n d M e t h o d .
G a n de Cl a i v o y a nce My t
r r s e ri e u s e
F i s t Me t h od
r
S eco n d Me t hod
T h i d Me t hod
r
The B idge o f Ca d s
r r
T h e C a ds n d Mi o
r a rr r
The S pi i t E n vel o pe
r
The Divi n a t i on of Thou gh t

Mnemo n i cs A p plied t o Ca d s r 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
T h e Ac oba t ic Ca ds
r r
S i n g ula T ansposi t ion

r r
Fi st M e t h o d
r .
S econd Me t h od
V ice V
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
e sa r
A H y p no t ic Expe imen t r
The My s t e io us H t r a
My s t ic Divina t ion
P edes t inat i on
r
The F l y i n g and O bedien t Ca d r
T h e Ne w Mul t ip l ica t i o n of Ca ds r
Ca d and Egg Balan ce

r
The F oun t ain o f Ca ds r
The N w R isi n g C ds f o m t h Hand

e ar r e
S eco n d Me t hod .
The C a ds R ising T h ou g h t h Ai
r r e r
T h e Excelsi o R isi n g Ca ds r r
The R isin g Ca d s and Tumb l e r r
A Co m ed y of E o s rr r 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
F i s t Me t hod
r .
S ec on d Me t h od
Th i d Me t h d
r o
T h e Hand of Cag l ios t o r . 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
P REP ARED A ND MEC H ANI C AL C ARD S .
T h e C h ang i ng Ca d r .
The U n i que C h anging Ca d r
T h e Dimi n is h ing Ca d r
Th e L at es t Diminishin g Ca d r
T h e C h ang i n g a n d Di m inishi n g C a d r
T h e C h angi n g a n d E n la gi n g Ca d r r
N ew Q ua d uple Chan g in g Ca d
r r
T h Ca d an d R o se
e r
T h e Fl o al C a d r r
T he Pene t a t ive Ca d r r
T h e To n C o n e Ca rd
r r r
T h e I m p oved T o n Co ne Ca d
r r r r r
The F lap Ca d r
T h e N on p a ei l Ch a n g i n g Ca d
r r .
I m p o ved Nonpa eil Chang i ng Ca d

r r r
The Bo t t le Ca d r
T h e Conj u e a s Ma k s m an
r r r
M ovin g Pi p Ca d r
A M y s t e i o us T ansfo m a t ion
r r r
The N ew I nk Ca d r
T h e Envelope Ca d r
The V anishi ng P i ps
The Tu rn i n g Ca d r
The Reuni t e d Ca d r
T h e C rd n d B o k e n M i o
a a r rr r
T h e Coin Ca d r
Ec l i p sed Pac k of Ca ds r
T h e Di m inishi n g C a rds
F i rst Me t h od
S ec on d Me t h od
Thi d Me t h od
r
F ou t h M e t ho d
r 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
T h e J o h ns t o n P ri nt i n g C o m p a ny,
I 3 No r t h C l a r k S t r ee t ,
C H I C AG O .

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P REF AC E .

NC OU RA G ED by the ﬂattering reception given to

j uring world of this country a nd England a des ,

c r i p t i on of the very l atest c a r d t r i c k s many of

attention is called to the many n e w sleights which n o doubt ,

will receive a hearty welcome from those of my readers who

In the present work I have been greatly assisted by the

well known experts Messrs W E Robinson J W Elliott

a n d Adrian P late whom I

my indebtedness to P rof C onradi of Dresd en G ermany

who kindly permit ted me to make several extracts from his

Hoping this book will prove of beneﬁt to both the ama

N O RD E R to become a successful conj urer with cards ,

it i s absolutely necessary that the learner should ﬁrst

It is impossible to devote too much time to the acquirement

to the degree of dexterity that can be reached by practice

After the necessary degree of proﬁciency i n the sleights

perform mu st be carefully laid out and clothed a s it were

j e c t of which is to cau se the trick itself to assume i n the ,

minds of the spectators a plau sible appearance

The performer s manner should be su ave but not over

polite a mistake made by most beginners

that he is a being gifted with an inexplicable power .

HE T W O pr i ncip a l sleights u s e d in c a rd tric k s are

saf ely be Cal led the s i ne q ua 71 0 1 2 of ca rd con j uring

by t he little ﬁn ger w hich i s h el d betw een the m, ,

to change place s ; that i s t he u ppe r part of t he

vers e .U su all y a selec te d card i s pl a c e d on the low e r ha l f

w hereu p on the pass i s mad e in t h e t w i n k l i ng of a n eye t h e

co nj urer s obj ect to bring th e s e l e c te d card fro m t h e mid d le

to the top of th e p a c k be i ng t he r eby a tta ined

For this p u rpo s e the pa c k i s held in t h e l e f t hand be

ing di v ided into t w o ne a rl y e q ual parts by t h e l i ttle ﬁ nge r ,

which i s inser ted b e t w e e n them F i g 2 (Mo s t Amer

conj urers inclu di ng m yse lf pre fer the i n se rtion of the t hi rd

H E TW Oprincipal sleights u sed in card tricks are

safely be called the Si ne qua 72 0 72 of ca r d conj uring

As the Force is practically the P ass with an

HE P U RP OSE of the sleight i s to cause the upper

by the little ﬁnger which i s held between them

to change places ; that i s the u pper part of the

pack is made to t ake the place of the lower one and vi ce

whereupon the pass i s made in the twinkling of an eye the

to the top of th e pack being thereby attained

For this purpose the pack is held in the left hand b e

which is inserted between them Fig 2 (Most American

conj urers including m yself prefer the insertion of the third

ﬁnger instead of the fourth one as it allows the ﬁngers to

grip the pack e t more ﬁrmly ) The pack i s now covered by

cards a n d the thumb at the bottom U nder cover of the .

between t h e third and fourth ﬁngers i s drawn away till it ,

j ust clears the lower half .

Simultaneously with this move m ent the right han d lifts ,

u p the lower half the root of the thumb acting as a support

Thus both packe ts are j u st made to pass each other without

A close inspection of Fig 3 will serve to illu strate this

transposition still better The shaded part (No 2 ) in the

drawing represent s the lower packet while the lighter on e

(No 1 ) indicates the upper one The original position of