![He Saw [Through] the Card](images/ink14.png)
THE TIMES — JULY 16, 1886
A United States Senator, who, years ago, used to flirt with chance, but who has since become a staid and conservative citizen, said to a Washington Critic reporter one day last week:
“Here is a card story that you won’t believe, but it happened just the same. Just after the war I was in Washington on a visit, and one night I went around to a gambling house with several acquaintances.
I happened to know the man who ran the place, and stopped in the ante-room for a few minutes to talk to him while the rest of the party passed into the card-room. In a short time I followed.
There was a faro layout there and a crowd gathered about it, and as I came up the cards had just been put in the box for a fresh deal.
The instant I looked at the box I saw under the first card, which you know does not count, the jack of clubs. It was as plain to my eyes as though the top card were made of glass. Before the dealer began I asked him what odds he would give me if I called the second card. He looked up a little queerly, and the people about the table laughed derisively.
‘That is a curious way of betting,’ he said, ‘but I’ll lay you ten to one that you can’t.’ I put down $10 and called the, jack, and when he removed the top card the jack of clubs was there sure enough just as I had seen it.
I would have called the suit, but I was afraid he would not bet. The cards had been put in the box before I came, up to the table, and the only one visible was the top card, but it is literally true that I saw the card under it. You don’t believe it? I did not suppose you would.
Nevertheless, this is absolutely a fact. Of course, I did not attempt to account for it, and it has never happened since.”
From— The Times. (Owosso, Mich.), 16 July 1886. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
