Facts & Fiction

Today there are numerous theories about the person behind the pseudonym “Erdnase”. Among the most famous names are:

1. Milton Franklin Andrews – a criminal card cheat and suspected serial killer who committed suicide in San Francisco in 1905.​

2. Charles Edward Andrews – a trickster and crook from the northwest of the United States who was accused of fraud in several cases. He was known as the “Gambling King of North-Indiana”.

3. Edwin Sumner Andrews – a con artist who worked as a travelling agent for the Chicago & North Western Railway around 1900. He hustled money from passengers by cheating at card games during train rides.​

Over the years many other speculations have been made by interested magicians. The author most likely would not have been able to acquire the tremendous amount of knowledge necessary for his work without help from others. He also wrote in the plural form whenever he was referring to personal experiences. Potential helpers may have included magicians such as James Harto, August Roterberg, Harry Stuart Thompson and L’Homme Masqué.

The only person who ever verifiably encountered Erdnase was the book’s illustrator Marshall Dennison Smith. The two men met in a cheap and sparsely furnished bachelor apartment in Chicago at the intersection of State Street and Congress Parkway in the winter of 1901. Within a day, more than 20 sketches were made which later found their way into the book. 46 years after this encounter Smith was traced down by the journalist Martin Gardner who questioned him about Erdnase. Smith described him as polite and gentlemanly; he was a surpassing handsome man, not tall (5’6”) but of slight build with sharp facial features, who spent an exceptional amount of time taking care of his hands.

After the book was printed by McKinney & Co. in 1902 it firstly spread in Chicago and the surrounding areas, but no further. The Comstock laws of 1873 prohibited the trade and circulation of obscene literature and articles of immoral use by mail. Hence, “The Expert at the Card Table”, just like many other books, was put on a black list of illegal works. Before the turn of the century, politician and former post inspector Anthony Comstock had initiated numerous book burnings and arrests of authors. To avoid imprisonment Erdnase had to remain anonymous. Copyright was registered under a false name. First publishing the book exclusively in Chicago was due to the lax policy of the city’s mayor at the time. When it came to crimes like illegal gambling or fraud Carter Harrison, Jr. did not take such drastic measures as it was common elsewhere in the country. In addition to that, many politicians in the city were open to bribes. Some aldermen even owned saloons or small casinos themselves.