Palm Print Prophet - Cheiro the Great

Scotland yard detectives were about to leave a grisly London murder scene when a flamboyant young man appeared on the door step asking if he could be of service. The battered body of an old man lay before the fireplace, with the heavy brass murder weapon beside him. Since the corpse was being removed the investigators decided there was no harm in humouring the stranger and allowed him into the room where he asked if he might examine the bloody handprints marking the walls.

Head in hand, the visitor studied the prints then confidently announced that the murderer was a well-to-do young man; a close relative to the deceased, and , oh yes, he carried a small gold watch in his left front trouser pocket.

Reporters on hand hovered about, watching to see if the Scotland Yard boys would toss him out for impertinence. As he left the scene,  the impeccably attired palm reader handed them his lavish business cards: Cheiro the Great. His prediction was in the papers on Monday; and again on Tuesday when the killer was caught. Son of the murdered man; who carried a gold watch in his left trouser pocket. Cheiro quickly became the rage of London, banking large fees for counselling his wealthy, well known clients.

In 1893, Cheiro traveled to New York and set up offices on Park Avenue. The New York World immediately challenged him to a test of his powers. Cheiro readily agreed. He was new in town and could use the publicity.

The well-promoted event took ten minutes. Thirteen palm-prints were laid face up on a table, waiting to be read. Cheiro quickly and correctly summed up twelve of the prints. A manual labourer who went on to a career in politics, an operetta composer, a talented actress and on and on. The thirteenth print was one that Cheiro repeatedly picked up and put down without comment. Tension filled the air when it was the only paper left. He placed it face down on the table, refusing to identify it as it carried the mark of a murderer. Right again.

 “About astrology and palmistry: they are good because they make people vivid and full of possibilities. ... Everybody has a birthday and almost everybody has a palm.”
 - Kurt Vonnegut (American novelist 1922 - 2007)