Diabolical Influence

Of all the bare-face swindles to cross my path, I consider this original effect of Mr. Solomon's worthy of the highest award. I only fear the reader will think it all too simple, and not give due consideration to the effect upon the witnesses. I believe it to be the acme of drawing room conceptions.

Effect

The performer has a deck of cards, a gummed sticker, a pencil and a piece of paper. He starts by taking a card from the deck, for instance, the Two of Diamonds 2, on the face of which he makes a notation and covers the writing with the sticker. Asking someone for his initials, they are written on the sticker, and the card is placed face down on the table. Fanning the deck, a spectator selects and pockets a card. Placing the deck on the table, the performer leaves the room from where he directs the proceedings.

Someone is asked to call out a number from 5 to 50. What ever the number may be, he is asked to count down in the deck to that position and remember the card. The performer then tells him to shuffle the deck again, and to write the name of the card looked at on the piece of paper.

Another person is now asked to name any card that comes to his mind, and this is also written on the paper under the name of the first card. Lastly, a fourth person is requested to name any three numbers from 1 to 100 and, after doing so, he is asked to write them on the paper directly below the names of the two cards.

The performer now suggests that the deck be squared following a good shuffle, and be placed face down on the table. On top of the deck is to be placed the sticker card, also face down. The tabulated paper is to be turned over with the writing side down.

Reentering the room, the performer picks up the deck and, after asking if his requests have been followed, turns the top sticker card face up on the table and, on either side of it are dealt the next two cards face down. The first spectator, who counted down to a number, names his card, and the performer turns up the first of the two face down cards and it's the correct card!

The second person, who mentally selected a card now names it, and the performer turns up the other face down card, and that, too, is correct! Next the performer looks at the person who has a card in his pocket and names it correctly! Lastly, the person who wrote the three numbers is asked to add them and announce the total. The initialed sticker is torn off of the Two of Diamonds 2, and the performer is found to have correctly predicted the sum!