Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

A still more effective form of this trick, in which the chosen card is caught upon the point of a sword, will be found among the card tricks performed by the aid of special apparatus. The following is a good long-card trick, but demands considerable proficiency in sleight-of-hand. You “force” the long card, allowing it to be returned to any part of the pack, and the whole to be well shuffled. You then say, “You must be by this time pretty certain that, even if I knew your card in the first instance, I must have quite lost sight of it now. If you do not feel quite certain, please shuffle the cards once more.” Every one being fully satisfied that the card is completely lost in the pack, you continue, “Let me assure you that I do not know, any more than yourselves, whereabouts in the pack your card is at this moment. You can all see that I have no duplicate card concealed in my hands. I will now take the top card, whatever it may be, or, if you prefer it, any one may draw a card from any part of the pack, and I will at once change it to the card originally chosen.” The audience will probably prefer to draw a card, which, when they have done, you continue, “I presume the card you have just drawn is not the one originally chosen. Will the gentleman who drew the first card look at it and see if it is his card?” The reply is pretty certain to be in the negative.