The Hunt For Erdnase by Chris Wasshuber

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:

1. The Mystery
2. My Interest in Erdnase
3. The Prosecutor Takes on Gallaway
   • Opportunity
   • Motive
   • Means
4. Physical Appearance
   • Height
   • Thumb
   • Handedness
   • Age
   • Voice
   • Complexion
   • Appearance
   • Soft Hands
   • Origin
   • Wife
   • Summary
5. Linguistic Analysis
   • Dr. John Olsson's Report: The Linguistic Magic of Erdnase
     • Introduction
     • 'There is no evidence'
     • Anagrammatic attributions
     • The knaves
     • The magic of language
     • The magic of the individual
     • Language change over time
     • Change and individualism
     • Focus of the investigation
     • Why vocabulary is important in authorship studies
     • Vocabulary sources
     • Aspects of vocabulary: very long words
     • Aspects of vocabulary: words relating to cognition
     • Aspects of vocabulary: relative rarity of the lexicon
     • Period and manner of composition
     • Author consistency
     • Conjunctions
     • Conjunctions and punctuation: a series of author choices
     • Decline of the semi colon
     • The comma in relation to conjunctions
     • Punctuation in relation to 'or' and 'nor'
     • Style comparisons
     • Comparing Expert and Roterberg
     • Comparing Expert and Hilliar
     • Comparing Expert and Wilson
     • Comparing Expert and Sanders
     • Summary of tests
     • Comparing Expert and Gallaway
     • Conclusion
   • My Comments To Olsson's Report
   • Cinnamon Word Analysis
6. Copyfitting Book
7. Traits, Habits and Interests
   • Instructor
   • Performer
   • Reading
   • Religious Questions
   • Business Knowledge
   • Gambling & Magic
   • Pretty Money
   • Math
   • Print
   • Detail-Oriented
   • Learning from Failure
8. Erdnase Spoke German
9. Cover, Title Page, and Bookplate
10. Career & Circus
11. Estimating Books
12. My Thoughts on the Smith Recollections
13. Dalrymple Deception
14. The Name S. W. Erdnase
15. Eugene Edwards
16. The Copyright Registration Form
17. Alexander August Gallaway
18. Places
19. Timeline
20. Further Research
21. Envoi
22. Appendix 1: Copyright Registration Form
23. Appendix 2: Estimating for Printers
24. Appendix 3: Marshall Gardner Letters
25. Appendix 4: Western Carbon Paper and Supply Company
26. Appendix 5: McKinney & Gallaway Co
27. Appendix 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