Charles Jordan

Charles Thorton Jordan (1 October 1888 - 24 April 1944) was an American magician. Charles Jordan was born in Berkeley, California to Charles Renalt Jordan, a wholesale supply manager and chicken farmer, and Mary Louise (Thornton) Jordan; he had a younger sister, Margaret Louise (1891-1959). When he was 10 years old, he saw Harry Kellar perform, which inspired him to develop his own card tricks. He moved to Penngrove, and self-published Thirty Card Mysteries in 1919. In it, he described "The Jordan Count", and "The Gray Code", two methods of false counting. In 1920, he self-published the five-part Ten New Prepared Card Tricks series, with contributions from Thomas Nelson Downs. According to the United States Census Bureau, Jordan was...