T. J. Crawford

T. J. Crawford
Cover of Sphinx (Nov. 1914)
Born	Thomas J. Crawford August 21, 1871 Columbia, Tennessee
Died	October 3, 1952 (age 81) Nashville, Tennessee

Thomas J. Crawford (1871-1952) was one of the founders of the Cercle Magique of Nashville, Tennessee, a President of the IBM (1938-1939), an editor of The Linking Ring in the late 1930s, and a specialist in coin magic.

Biography

Crawford was a printer-postal clerk by profession, considered himself an amateur, but performed often for the public. He worked for the Methodist Publishing House in Nashville, Tennessee, where one of his magic paperback titles was published.

He is the originator of a number of popular moves in manipulative magic, and one of his original coin vanishes is described in the "Art of Magic," by T. Nelson Downs.

Crawford edited the Amateur Column in the Sphinx for sixteen years, starting in 1904. He also contributed the column "OLD TRICKS IN NEW CLOTHES" for the Thayer's Magical Bulletin. He also did the column "Have A Card" in the Linking Ring (from 1929 to 1948.)

He died in Nashville at the age of 81.

References

• Who's Who in Magic, Sphinx, July, 1931
• Cover Genii 1938 February
• Obit Genii 1952 November