The lonely grave of Bert Bismark sits atop the desolate “boot hill” cemetery outside the Iowa State Penitentiary at Anamosa.

Monmouth girl fell under spell of ‘Hindoo palmist’

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Near the turn of the 20th century, the occult science of palmistry experienced a renaissance in the Western world through the efforts of a celebrated Irish astrologer named William John Warner. As a teenager, he had traveled to India, where he was taken under the wing of a Brahman guru who allowed him to read an ancient book on the study of hands.