August 8 Wednesday – In New York at the Players Club, Sam wrote a letter to daughter Susy in Etretat, France. This morning he’d gone to see a palmreader, a young man, 26-years-old, named Cheiro (1866-1936), one of the most colorful and famous occult figures of his day. He was a clairvoyant who used palmistry, astrology, and Chaldean numerology, to predict world events, some of which were frighteningly accurate. His real name was William John Warner; he also used the name Count Louis Hamon (or Count Leigh de Hamong), and claimed noble ancestry, which may have been false. He was Irish, as is the blarney stone. The name Cheiro comes from the word cheiromancy, meaning palmistry. Cheiro read the palms of many celebrities.

He examined my hand, took a print of it for his book, then told me some things about my character — a few of them I will try to remember for you. He said he would do some of my history, next time, if I liked, but that the history of a known man counted for little — anybody could build it.

Sam listed nine things the palm-reader said about his character, Sam mostly in agreement. He enclosed a print of a girl’s hand and a baby’s hand, 24 hours after birth. Sam noted that every line in the baby’s hand was already there. He expressed no skepticism about palm-reading [MTP]. See also Sam’s to Livy Aug. 9 for more about Cheiro.

Note: Cheiro kept a visitor’s book for his customers to write their observations in. Sam wrote in Cheiro’s visitor’s book:

Cheiro has exposed my character to me with humiliating accuracy. I ought not to confess this accuracy, still I am moved to do so. – Mark Twain [http://www.free-numerology.org/cheiro.php].

Sam was again spending his evenings, at the urgings of H.H. Rogers, at the Oriental Hotel in Manhattan Beach with members of the Rogers family. He wrote of this evening on Aug. 9 to Livy:

Yesterday evening [Aug. 8] Mrs. Duff [Cara Rogers Duff] had another of those attacks & had to leave the table. Her sister [May Rogers] sat up all night with her & was considerably alarmed. She keeps her bed to-day [MTP: Aug. 9 to Livy].