The Genii Forum

Scott Lane

Richard, You, published one of my favorite books, Conjurer’s Monthly Magazine, with Alan Greenberg. I don’t know what year you did this, but it is absolutely beautiful. It consists of two volumes in a slip case on acid free paper (thank you for the quality). I remember frantically saving up to purch...

Scott Lane

According to David Saltman, Carl “Compars” Herrmann was Houdini’s uncle. http://www.houdinifile.com In the current issue of the Society of American Magicians, MUM, there is an article about John William Sargent and Alexander Herrmann possibly being the same person, or in my opinion related. There is...

Scott Lane

Mr Townsend’s Comment: "Writing at the bottom designed to be read when the illustration is held almost parallel to the sight line? Two such? ( viewed from bottom corners )" Answer: You will find a clue in the cartoon everywhere you see a little Imp in the drawing. The imps look like the im...

Scott Lane

Very good comment! That is a valid criticism. Thank you! The way I rationalized it was that the dashes are the sides of the card, which are connected at the bottom. The next card, the fifth card, starts with a dot but it is below the vertical side line of the card. I followed the code from left to r...

Scott Lane

Reading the Morse Code in the Smith Cartoon Starting from the left hand: Each set of Dots and Dashes run from left to right within the card. The First Four Cards says ERDNASE Card 1 = Dot = E Card 2 = Dot Dash Dot = R Card 3 = Dash Dot Dot = D Card 4 = Dash Dot, Dot Dash, Dot Dot Dot, Dot = NASE (Fr...

Scott Lane

I have posted in the past my candidates for the authorship of Expert at the Card Table, James Andrew. I am pleased to announce that the French Lick Hotel has named two new buildings at the hotel after James Andrews and Hiram Wells. Their legacy lives on! This was done from a suggestion from my cousi...

Scott Lane

Before I post more on the Andrews, Dalrymple, MFA, Campbell, Howard and Houdini connections I wanted to post this from Case Western Reserve University. It is an excerpt from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland and describes some early business connections between the Cobb and Andrews families: Cobb and An...

Scott Lane

If anyone is interested, I put a couple of pictures of the Cobb Crypt at swerdnase.net.

Any Questions?

Scott Edward Lane

Scott Lane

Thank you for the followup question! Question: Bill Mullins Just a note -- on your slide entitled "French Lick Springs Hotel", your last bullet refers to "Steele, the mother of Louis Dalrymple". Everything I've ever seen on the subject says that his mother's name was Adelia Seele...

Scott Lane

Thank you for the question! Question: Leonard Hevia Why would the president of a bank need the money, as Erdnase noted in the book? Of course, that might have been a lie on author's part. That's a high profile job, he took a risk publishing that book if he was the author. Answer: This is a fantastic...

Scott Lane

Thank you for the questions! Question: Richard Hatch I'm unclear on how the above points (9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 19) would advance James Andrews candidacy as author of EATCT. If MFA had nothing to do with the book, then they don't seem to help and would fall in the category of unrelated coincidences. Di...

Scott Lane

I have posted the beginning of the James M. Andrew family tree on swerdnase.net. As I was putting it together, I realized I am going to need a little better software package. For example, the family history I for the Galloway family is well over 300 typed written pages. I did want to post the correc...

Scott Lane

I will answer all questions in order: Bill Mullins: Question: Can you elaborate on how he (James Andrew) was related to Dalrymple? Answer: I need to give some context before I can post the family tree and answer your question. M D Smith stated the person he met (Erdnase?) in the Chicago hotel room t...

Scott Lane

Thank you for the questions! Unfortunately before I can comment further, I have to wait the results from the independent fact checkers.

swerdnase.net

Scott Edward Lane

Scott Lane

Quick Facts for James M (W) Andrews: Scott Edward Lane's Candidate for S. W. Erdnase 1. He was a known casino owner, dealer and expert card dealer. 2. His name is the correct backwards spelling. 3. He is the correct age and timeframe. 4. He would have known and done a lot of business with Edwin Hood...

Scott Lane

After going through the PowerPoint presentation swerdnase.net, to verify all the source documents, I am very comfortable saying that I have documents to support everything that is presented. The documents include, but are not limited to public ancestry records, draft registrations, newspaper article...

Scott Lane

Thank you for the question! The article does not specifically state the name of the manuscript. I change the PowerPoint storyboard to say, “the possible refuted first edition of EATCT”. The slide can then be categorized as “conjecture”. I only have about 20% of the PowerPoints published on the websi...

Scott Lane

One more thing about secret codes. When the police searched Milton Franklin Andrews’ room they found a codebook. It is to bad that the book was not saved. The book probably had telegraph codes and / or the code that was used by the French Lick Dealers. For example: The Lumberman’s telegraph code has...

Scott Lane

Just to prepare you before you read “A Horrible State of Affairs”: 1. He is writing in Slang. 2. He is writing a story from “life”, meaning he is creating the story from actual events but making it look like fiction. 3. During this period in history, the Victorian Era, Bucket Shops were in full swin...

Scott Lane

Hi, Thank you for the question! You will find the article at the following link: https://books.google.com/books?id=QWY2AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=blue+pencil+club+magazine&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXlIWm5cTYAhXh6oMKHY4pC64Q6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=blue%20pencil%20club%20magazin...

Scott Lane

Thank you for the suggestion! I will put something together to make it more readable and detail the source information. I should be able to post something early next week.

Scott Lane

QUESTION: You make lots of statements about the syndicate of men who you think wrote the book. Is there any hard evidence to your conclusions that Andrews was the main writer and that Oliver Limerick was the stylistic polisher? Also, any evidence that Hilliar stole the manuscript? And, why the big u...

Scott Lane

Thank you for the questions. I don’t pretend to have all the answers. It is difficult to research Erdnase in a bubble because it is very tempting to connect dots to reach conclusions that you want to be true. I feel like it is a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone and conjecture is needed to ...

Scott Lane

The true mystery in the world is the visible, not the invisible.

Oscar Wilde

http://www.swerdnase.net

Any Questions?

Scott Lane

It looks like something is happening on the Erdnase front. Check out this website:

http://www.onepaganlaw.org

It looks like he is walking from Texas to a place called swerdnase park.

If you go to Google Earth it is listed.

Scott Lane

One of the best magic books this year is:

Inspirations
Performing Magic with Excellence

By Lawrence Hass, Ph.D.

Scott Edward Lane

Scott Lane

Sworn Lip(s) Your wrote the following: “And finally, there is Cobbs book ‘Sandy Pike”. Not only do you see Erdnase writing that famous ‘low numbered check’ to Smith on the first page, but Cobb actually mentions a book as a Christmas gift entitled “How to win at Poker”.” I thought I had all the Cobb ...

Scott Lane

I do believe that Smith had a larger role in the Erdnase mystery than most researchers realize. There are many family ties that have not yet been published. For example, Mckinney was related to Andrews. Andrews was related to Seeley. The check that Smith received was probably drawn from a bank that ...

Scott Lane

I am glad you are sharing some of your research concerning Charles E Andrews. When he was in jail talking to the reporter he stated: "I shall have good legal counsel, but I do not think I will need it. I have nothing to fear and believe I could go into court representing myself and convince the...

Scott Lane

It is interesting that Campbell owned a place across the street in 1932.

Scott Edward Lane

Scott Lane

M. D. Smith stated that the hotel room he met Erdnase in was cold and that he left his overcoat on when he lined the illustrations. I am trying to determine if the person who met M. D. Smith wore an overcoat to the meeting. Did he ware one and just take it off when he got there? The illustrations do...

Scott Lane

Carlo wrote: “Scott, to help the James Andrews case move forward, could you tell us what your own speculation/deduction is about the drawings (based on the above information)? and perhaps how this is in any way connected to James Andrews.” Mr. England wrote on this thread on 8/23/2014 the following:...

Scott Lane

To move the James Andrews case foreword we need to look at M. D. Smith’s testimony and start to look at the mystery/anomalies concerning the illustrations in the EATCT. I know the M. D. Smith information has been presented before, but I would like to recap: The book was illustrated by M. D. Smith. H...

Scott Lane

To move the James Andrews case foreword we need to look at M. D. Smith’s testimony and start to look at the mystery/anomalies concerning the illustrations in the EATCT.

Scott Edward Lane

Scott Lane

I will continue to develop the case for James Andrews. Below is some information on James S. Harte. James S. Harte Information: 1870-1933 His first performance as at the Bristol Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1886. Worcester, MA is not far from the home of MFA. James S. Harte worked for Edwar...

Scott Lane

I am sorry to jump around in trying to present the James Andrews case but it may be best to turn our attention to a magician named James Harte. Does anyone know on this thread when Harte came to the US and the circumstances surrounding his alleged connection to Erdnase?

Scott Edward Lane

Scott Lane

William J. Hilliar

He worked for the Great Edward Ballard a casino/hotel owner in French Lick/West Baden Springs, IN.

About nine days after the great Edward Ballard was murdered William J. Hilliar was dead with a gunshot wound to the temple.

Scott Edward Lane

Scott Lane

Information on William J Hilliar: 1876-1936, Born in England Came to the United States in 1901. Performed in Detroit, Michigan. Edited the first issue of The Sphinx, which came out in March 1902. He was a prolific magic writer, ghostwriter and alleged plagiarist. He reputedly ghost-wrote T. Nelson D...

Scott Lane

I hate to leave the Hood analysis this early but we can circle back around. I implore anyone on this thread who wants to follow the James Andrews story to thoroughly read the two documents that Carlo posted and the one document I posted from Loyola University. DO NOT just skim them or you will be le...

Scott Lane

Mr. Hatch wrote: “You know, the Great World's Fair of '93 made Chicago a mecca for everyone who had any angle for making easy money and I believe that brought the author of this book to Chicago. I never knew the gentleman personally and believe that he has long since passed on...” When it says “I be...

Search found 63 matches