• De Lawrence Four Ace Combination
• The Travelling Ace
• Card in the Egg
• The Telephone Card Trick
• Practical Card Mind Reading

D E   L A W R E N C E   F O U R   A C E   C O M B I N A T I O N

I have devised a little stand, simple of operation and construction, and the use of prepared cards, so that the effect can be made clean-cut-no false moves with envelope, and to anyone that likes good clean tricks, the use of this stand will certainly appeal to them. (See illustration.)

As material 1/2" x 1/4" pine or similar material will do.

At the top at center is fastened a leg, by means of a hinge, of sufficient length to allow the stand to set at a slight angle which will keep both the cards and envelopes from falling off the ledge; this ledge can be made from 1/4" moulding.

After the frame is assembled, take a piece of velvet or velveteen; cut your cloth so that it can be stretched tightly over frame and tacked onto back part of frame, cutting away an inch or so where hinge fastens on back. Measure for your pocket, which should be about 4-1/2" long and about 1-1/2" above the upper ledge; after making the slit, sew to avoid fraying and use whalebone or light cardboard to stiffen so that when envelope is placed on stand the concealed cards will easily enter this pocket. On back of velvet at mouth of stand sew a pocket to receive the cards. This is not absolutely necessary, but in this case the stand can again be shown from both sides.

Nail or tack velvet on frame, affixing ledges over velvet. There are a number of variations of the four ace experiments, and those suitable for stage use, requiring an ordinary stand, have the drawback of either placing the envelope out of sight for a moment behind the stand, or distributing the cards around on your table and dropping the off cards from behind the envelope onto your table.

Effect: This is similar to the method given by Stanley Collins, with the drawbacks removed. It can be performed in either of the two following methods: First -The four aces are placed on the stand face up, three cards of indifferent suit placed over them face down; each pile shown to contain only three cards and the ace; one pile selected and inserted in envelope, which is immediately placed on ledge of stand. The off cards commanded to leave envelope, the aces to leave the stand and enter envelope; but the three cards are found in each pile on the stand, while in envelope the four aces are located. In a way, this has the drawback of three cards entirely disappearing; so -second- apparently three cards are placed over each ace; one pile selected and placed in envelope, and at conclusion the four aces appear in envelope while four indifferent cards are found on the stand.

As you can see by the illustrations, the velvet covering of the stand is provided with a pocket above the top ledge. When the ace is placed inside envelope and the three off cards held behind same, the envelope can immediately be placed on the ledge; the three off cards being dropped through the slit and into pocket in the act of setting down the envelope.

Before proceeding further it is necessary to have three of your aces prepared, that is, backed with velvet or velveteen, of the same quality, etc., as that of the stand; thus, if turned back up and placed on ledge they are invisible a few feet distant.

Now, take an ordinary envelope, loading it with three duplicate aces, the same suit as the three fake cards. Take the three fake cards, the aces backed with velvet, place on table or on back of pack, together with the unprepared ace. Exhibit the four aces, placing them face up on the stand, deal off three cards and place over first ace, likewise over second (this should be the unprepared ace), also on NO. 3 and NO. 4. Pick up first pile, showing that it contains really one ace' and three cards, placing back on the stand, but after exhibition and when returning to stand, the ace, under cover of the other three cards should be reversed, so that it goes back on the stand under the three cards, but with the velvet out; the second pile is replaced as shown; but the third and fourth have the ace reversed as in the first operation.

Allow one pile to be selected, forcing No. 2 heap through the old right and left principle, or pick up and leave it gag. Pick up this pile, again showing that it contains the ace and three off cards, placing into an envelope laying on your table really placing the ace inside the envelope with the three duplicates, the off cards, being held against the back of it and dropped into the pocket of stand. Of course the four aces will be found in envelope, and in picking up the cards from stand, the velvet backed aces are simply left in place; the other three cards in each pile exhibited and dropped onto floor, if desired.

To have the four off cards left, the operation is exactly the same, except when placing three cards over piles 1, 3 and 4, four cards are in reality placed thereon.

This misdeal can be accomplished in the following manner: Hold deck lengthwise in left hand, thumb on one edge, first, second and third fingers grasping the other edge at finger tips, the cards being removed with the right hand as follows: Thumb on face of card, the four fingers going behind the pack and resting on backs of cards; the thumb draws off the first card downwards and it is grasped between the first and second fingers, which holds the card horizontally; in taking off the second card, thumb again goes to face of card, first finger rests on back of cards near bottom, the thumb drawing off card and first finger grasping it with thumb on opposite side, it being then slipped down with the thumb and grasped between first and second fingers with the other card; for the third card the same move is gone through, the cards between the fingers being partly concealed by the pack, but in taking off this third card, the first finger presses against the back card, so that the face and back card are removed together, and you have instead of three, four cards in the hand. In this method you cannot count the cards singly (unless miscounting), but, in some ways, the effect is much greater, as four cards are found on the stand, the aces having disappeared, and reappear in the envelope. Try them both and see which you like the best.

T H E   T R A V E L L I N G   A C E

This effect requires that the audience be some little distance away and is hardly suitable for parlor work, unless you are working in a double parlor. A neat velvet stand is shown from both sides, placed on your table four large cards, one being the ace of hearts, or of any suit desired.

These four cards are placed on the ledge at bottom of stand, the ace again picked up and shown, at the same time informing y our audience that you will cause the ace to invisibly travel to any location called for, the stand having above each card the numbers "1", "2", "3", "4". No matter what number is called for, without any false move, the card at this number is exhibited and found to be the ace. Can be repeated several times and the four cards once more shown, only one ace being amongst the four.

If for stage or entertainment use, the cards should be about 5 x7 inches, made of aluminum or tin; cardboard will answer, but is not as satisfactory.

Seven sheets of this size are necessary. The faces of all seven are enameled or painted white, and the ace painted on four of them- the other three being different and distinctive cards. One of the aces and the three indifferent cards sl1ould have their backs painted to resemble a playing card- the familiar flesh- colored plaid back being the easiest to reproduce; the three remail1ing aces should be neatly backed with velvet, resembling that used on your stolid, and in addition, when having them made, see to it that the bottom of all three have a very small projection, serving as a ledge on which the other cards can be set and making the lifting of the two cards together much easier and avoid their slipping while being exhibited.

An easel stand, or a square stand with bracing backs to hold the cards at a slight angle, so as to prevent their falling from face of stand, is necessary. The preceding illustrations will give you an idea of the stand, ledge and the fake cards.

The stand is set on the table, or it can be provided with a special base, or made as one article of apparatus.

The ledge on the bottom of the stand should slant very slightly upwards so that the cards placed thereon will rest more firmly against the face of the stand.

Take the three aces backed with velvet, place on the stand under any desired numbers, and you are ready for business. Before starting, it is well to place. a small, easily distinguished mark on the back of the unprepared ace, so that you will at all times know this card and avoid any mix-up.

Exhibit your stand by turning around, etc. Show the four cards, back and front, place them together, take your position alongside of stand, exhibit first card once more and place on stand, but evenly over one of the fake cards, doing likewise with balance of cards, placing the regular ace last, calling attention to its position, and of course this is not placed on a fake.

No matter what number is given you, by lifting the two cards together, turning them around so audience can see, an ace appears at this selected number. At conclusion the regular cards are removed from stand and once more exhibited.

C A R D   I N   T H E   E G G

This is by no means a new experiment in card work, yet it is very effective when properly presented, and especially so when accompanied by a good line of patter.

A chosen card is torn into a number of pieces; these pieces are placed in a small pill box, which in turn is wrapped in a spectator's handkerchief, he holding these pieces.

A plate of eggs is shown, one is freely selected, placed on a saucer, the torn pieces commanded to leave the spectator's hands and enter the egg. On breaking open the egg with his wand, the performer extracts therefrom the selected card, completely restored except for one small corner.

Upon spectator opening his handkerchief, removing the little box and investigating its contents, he discovers only a corner of the card which is found to exactly fit the missing corner of the card removed from the egg.

A card is forced upon some person, either using a forcing deck, or one of the many methods employed to have a person take the card desired. This card is torn up into a number of small pieces by the selector and as performer reaches into his pocket to secure the small pill box, he removes two boxes, one of which is empty, and the other containing the corner of the card previously prepared, is palmed out, so that spectator sees but one box, which is h ended to him to place therein the pieces of the card. (Notching the top and bottom edges of the box with the corner in will save a mix-up, provided they come in contact with each other in the pocket.

After your obliging assistant has placed the pieces in ti1e box, replacing the lid, ask him to take out his handkerchief, at the same time taking the box away from him; ask him to hold handkerchief near the center and to wrap the box securely in same, placing it under the handkerchief yourself, and as soon as hand is out of sight the boxes are switched, the little box with the corner being left under the handkerchief in your assistant's grasp, while the box with the torn card is palmed and carried away.

To produce the effect as described above it is necessary to make use of a card wand the card with the corner removed being placed in the wand and then forced into the egg in the act of breaking its shell.

If you do not possess a card wand, then only one egg should be shown, and this egg should previously be very carefully cracked, removing a small portion of the shell, the card wet, rolled up as compactly as possible, doubled over and then forced into the egg, the cracked piece being replaced and glued clown, using a piece of tissue paper, or take a small piece of tissue paper and glue over the aperture in the egg. It can be exhibited, and only at close range will show that it has been tampered with.

Of course, when the card is removed, the corner held by spectator will fit this card.

T H E   T E L E P H O N E   C A R D   T R I C K

This is a dandy effect to present at some social gathering. Perhaps after performing a few feats with cards you state that you have a friend who can, even at long distances, transmit the names of cards selected, making the remark, that if it is desired, you will try out the experiment

Have a card selected from the pack, requesting that it be immediately placed out of sight, so that by no possible chance can you or any of those present obtain a glimpse of it.

Give this party a telephone number and name of your friend, he or she to ask this party what card has been selected. The answer is immediately given, say in this manner: "You would like to know what card you are holding? will you kindly look at it, just concentrate your mind intently upon the card. That is fine. You are thinking of a black card; this card has six pips; it is. the six, the six of clubs."

Later on, if desired, the experiment can be repeated with the same result.

It is needless to say that the party who is called by phone is a confederate.

The card was freely selected, but from the reliable prearranged pack. In case you were performing with such a pack, it is a fitting climax; if not using a prearranged pack, it is necessary to switch to one before commencing this experiment. Of course, it was unnecessary for you to see the card selected in this instance, as the fact could be ascertained from bottom card of pack.

To transmit the name of this card to your confederate it is necessary to make use of a code, the name asked for being the cue as to what card party holds.

An easy and reliable code is that of using the consonants for numerals, building around these consonants a word to symbolize the number, as is used in memory tests. First learn the consonants given below and their numerical value, then the words built up from these consonants:

1 equals (L)   2 equals (N)   3 equals (M)   4 equals (R)   5 equals (V- F)   6 equals (B)   7 equals (T)   8 equals (Sch- Tch)   9 equals (K) 10 equals (LS) 11 equals (LL) 12 equals (LN) 13 equals (LM)	"L" "N" "M" "R" "V" "B" "T" "Sch" "K" "LS" "LL" "LN" "LM"	Mr. Lee Mr. Owen Mr. May Mr. Ayre Mr. Vivian Mr. Abbey Mr. Ott Mr. Ash Mr. Kay Mr. Luce Mr. Lowell Mr. Lyon Mr. Lamb

The above code transmits the numerical value of the card, and the suit is likewise transmitted through the manner of asking for the party called. For instance: Mr. for SPADES- Mr. Abbey, meaning the six of spades. For HEARTS- Bill- Thus:
Bill Lace (ten of hearts). CLUBS- William, and for DIAMONDS- Mr. William, or substitute another Christian name instead of William.

If you make use of a memory effect, and use a different routine of consonants to illustrate the numerals, you can rearrange your names to suit your own routine.

If asked to repeat the experiment, it would look suspicious if you were unable to do so, and as it would of course be necessary to again ask for the same party, the following procedure becomes necessary. That of forcing some particular card, which you had previously agreed upon with your confederate, or, you can make a list, writing down the cards as they appear in the Si Stebbins arrangement, starting, say, with the ace of spades, then the four of diamonds, etc., each keeping a little list of the cards which have heretofore been called for; thus you will know upon looking at your list what the next card should be and this card should in some manner be forced upon one of your audience.

If you are not an adept at the regular force, bring this card to be used to top of pack, false shuffle, then run top card off into right hand, running balance of cards on top of this card, so that when a card is pointed to, in separating the pack at this point, the first card will really come to the bottom of packet; this packet in right hand can be taken, the bottom card removed and placed on the table, the party who is to do the telephoning picking it up, so that none of the others present can see what the card really is.

P R A C T I C A L   C A R D   M I N D   R E A D I N G

Many methods have been described for this effect, the use of marked cards, which are read by the assistant, and so on, and so forth, but most of these methods, when placed into actual operation, are found to be impracticable. The most simple and sure fire method is obtained through the assistance of a prearranged deck, using either marked cards, or just the ordinary cards, the employment of a "Card Locator" (as sold with DeLand's Dollar Deck), and a simple code.

On the supposition that the marked prearranged deck is used: Performer in audience has a number of cards selected, either distributing same, or having a bunch apparently taken at random. Assistant, preferably a female, standing or sitting with back to audience, names all these selected cards and stops at the last one.

Again: Assistant, either being blindfolded, or seated with back to audience only, tells the location of any card called for by the audience, the performer having previously shuffled (?) the pack and allowed it to be cut, handing the pack to some individual, together with a rubber band to preclude the possibility of the cards being shifted or moved from their present position (also for your benefit). When the name of a card is called, the assistant immediately tells its position, the performer writing own the name of the card and its location on a slate, or on an easel provided with paper and crayon.

The pack is then taken and either counted by yourself or party in audience, starting with the smallest number and then through the pack, the called for cards being found at the location given.

Marked cards of course obviate the necessity of looking at the bottom card, but this is a very small matter and will seldom if ever be noticed, and even so, conveys no knowledge of your actions to the observer.

As described for the selection of cards: Performer glances at bottom card, or becomes aware of same from top marked card, transmitting the name of this card by code to assistant when asking her to name the cards, which she does. The same procedure is again enacted in the second version, except that the lady has on her lap, or on the table, the "Card locator" and when receiving the name of the bottom card of pack, sets the indicator at this card and is thus enabled to instantly tell the location of any card called for.

An easy code is as follows, using the arrangement of consonants as described under the telephone trick: Supposing the lady's name is May Smith-

To Communicate SPADES: Miss Smith, Tell me, etc.
To Communicate CLUBS: Madam, Tell me, etc.
To Communicate HEARTS: Tell me, etc.
To Communicate DIAMONDS: May, or Miss May, Tell me, etc.

Ace Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Jack Queen King

1 (L)   2 (N)   3 (M)   4 (R)   5 (V-F)   6 (B)   7 (T)   8 (TCH)   9 (K) 10 (LS) 11 (LL) 12 (LN) 13 (LM)

"Will" you tell me what cards this gentleman has? "Name" these cards, etc. "May" I ask what cards, etc. "Are" you able to tell, etc. "If" you can, tell me the cards, etc. "Be" careful, what cards, etc. "What" cards, etc. "Which" cards were selected, etc. "Can" you tell me, etc. "Let us" know what cards, etc. "Will" you "Please," etc. "Please name" these cards, etc. "May" I ask "Please" what cards.

On account of the similarity of the consonant equivalent for the Jack. Queen and King, the code word for "one," "two," or "three" is used, affixing to or preceding your question with the word "Please."

When once these consonants have been memorized, with their numeral equivalent, the first word of the question transmits to performer the numerical value of the card, the word "please" being omitted from all questions, except to convey 11, 12 or 13.

Supposing party selecting cards has seven cards, or that you have passed out seven cards. As each card is named by assistant, exhibit same, saying, "Correct," until the fifth card has been so exhibited, then change to "that is correct," telegraphing the fact to your assistant that there still remains two more cards to be described, and she when naming the last card can remark, 'And the last card is......."