Description

The hunt to find the true identity of S. W. Erdnase, the author of The Expert at the Card Table, published in 1902 in Chicago, has been raging for more than a century. The book is as revered by gamblers and magicians as the Bible is by Christians.

One of the first and most active Erdnase hunters was well-known science writer, puzzle expert, and magician Martin Gardner, who erroneously thought he identified cardshark and murderer Milton Franklin Andrews as being Erdnase. After Andrews many other candidates were proposed, but none had a case strong enough to withstand scrutiny. None wrote like Erdnase, nor had sufficient opportunity, nor even a good motive, to write the book. Their cases were largely based on wild theories built on little evidence, and held together by flawed assumptions.

DI Dr. Chris Wasshuber, a trained scientist, engineer and hobby magician with an interest in puzzles and hard problems, took on the challenge of trying to find Erdnase. Rather than continue to massage the same old evidence, he decided to look for new documents that would aid in the search. In a breakthrough discovery, he found the James McKinney and Jamieson-Higgins bankruptcy files from 1903. James McKinney & Co. was the printer for the self-published The Expert at the Card Table.

In this ebook Dr. Wasshuber tells the story of how the bankruptcy records were found, and how they allowed him to zero in on Edward Gallaway. Over the course of two years, Dr. Wasshuber inspected and searched in countless newspapers, archives, and genealogical records to piece together the remarkable life story of Edward Gallaway, a learned printer and entrepreneur, who was fluent in German, who had an insatiable appetite for reading and knowledge, and who most surprisingly also had a three year circus career. Every new piece of evidence found about Gallaway further confirmed that he was S. W. Erdnase.

Dr. Wasshuber hired renowned forensic linguist Dr. John Olsson to conduct a detailed study of the writings of Erdnase, Gallaway, Roterberg, Hilliar, Sanders, and Wilson, which resulted in Gallaway most likely being the elusive Erdnase due to their very similar linguistic profiles. Dr. Olsson’s entire report is included in this ebook.

The ebook includes all the primary evidence on which Dr. Wasshuber bases his conclusions, except the bankruptcy records, which are available separately. A century old mystery has been solved. Erdnase has been found. Read the fascinating story and learn everything we know about a man who made quite a name for himself in the print industry, but whose alter ego would become revered by gamblers and magicians the world over.

Contents:

The MysteryMy Interest in ErdnaseThe Prosecutor Takes on GallawayOpportunityMotiveMeansPhysical AppearanceHeightThumbHandednessAgeVoiceComplexionAppearanceSoft HandsOriginWifeSummaryLinguistic AnalysisDr. John Olsson’s Report: The Linguistic Magic of ErdnaseIntroduction’There is no evidence’Anagrammatic attributionsThe knavesThe magic of languageThe magic of the individualLanguage change over timeChange and individualismFocus of the investigationWhy vocabulary is important in authorship studiesVocabulary sourcesAspects of vocabulary: very long wordsAspects of vocabulary: words relating to cognitionAspects of vocabulary: relative rarity of the lexiconPeriod and manner of compositionAuthor consistencyConjunctionsConjunctions and punctuation: a series of author choicesDecline of the semi colonThe comma in relation to conjunctionsPunctuation in relation to ‘or’ and ‘nor’Style comparisonsComparing Expert and RoterbergComparing Expert and HilliarComparing Expert and WilsonComparing Expert and SandersSummary of testsComparing Expert and GallawayConclusionMy Comments To Olsson’s ReportCinnamon Word AnalysisCopyfitting BookTraits, Habits and InterestsInstructorPerformerReadingReligious QuestionsBusiness KnowledgeGambling & MagicPretty MoneyMathPrintDetail-OrientedLearning from FailureErdnase Spoke GermanCover, Title Page, and BookplateCareer & CircusEstimating BooksMy Thoughts on the Smith RecollectionsDalrymple DeceptionThe Name S. W. ErdnaseEugene EdwardsThe Copyright Registration FormAlexander August GallawayPlacesTimelineFurther ResearchEnvoiAppendix 1: Copyright Registration FormAppendix 2: Estimating for PrintersAppendix 3: Marshall Gardner LettersAppendix 4: Western Carbon Paper and Supply CompanyAppendix 5: McKinney & Gallaway CoAppendix 6: Interesting News Reports

The hunt started in January 2015. First edition 2016; 152 pages.
word count: 87671 which is equivalent to 350 standard pages of text