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About Posting: Only Registered users can post new topics and replies in this forum Username: Password: I forgot my password! Message: Click Here to review the topic. [quote] On 2005-02-22 02:49, Bill Hallahan wrote: It's true that Erdnase didn't mention about using a mob in conjunction with Three Card Monte. But George Devol ran a Three Card Monte scam as a loner, although he usually had one or two partners. Also, gamblers are often broke. Erdnase and George Devol alluded to this in their writings. S.W. Erdnase wrote: [quote] Hazard at play carries sensations that once enjoyed are rarely forgotten. The winnings are known as "pretty money," and it is generally spent as freely as water. [/quote] However, I'm not saying Erdnase wasn't a magician. He clearly did perform magic at times. But his his attitude is similar to George Devol and S. James Weldon. To me, he seems to fit the pattern of a cheat better than that of a profesional magician. Glen Bishop wrote: [quote] The street con man is only interested in getting the money. [/quote] S. W. Erdnase wrote: [quote] The average professional who is successful at his own game will, with the sublimest unconcern, stake his money on that of another's, though fully aware the odds are against him. He knows little of the real value of money, and as a rule is generous, careless and improvident. He loves the hazard rather than the stakes. As a matter of fact the principal difference between the professional gambler and the occasional gambler, is that the former is actuated by his love of the game and the latter by cupidity. A professional rarely "squeals" when he gets the worst of it; the man who has other means of livelihood is the hardest loser. [/quote] S. W. Erdnase also wrote: [quote] In offering this book to the public the writer uses no sophistry as an excuse for its existence. The hypocritical cant of reformed (?) gamblers, or whining, mealymouthed pretensions of piety, are not foisted as a justification for imparting the knowledge it contains. [/quote] This seems like the writing of someone who is used to rationalizing dishonesty, particularly since he use the adjective, "mealymouthed." Finally, being a public magician and being a cheating gambler seem incompatible, at least in the same town. It would raise too much suspicion. Erdnase actually counsels against being showy. If I had to bet, I'd guess S. W. Erdnase was a gambler, at least most of the time. But you could be correct. So little is know about him that he could have run a bakery for a living! If he wasn't a gambler, he was a very imaginative writer. [/quote] [HTML is Off] [BBcode is On] Options: Disable BBcode on this Post Disable Smilies on this Post

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