Thomas Worthington

Thomas Worthington
Sphinx, May 1916
Born	February 13, 1882 Baltimore, Maryland
Died	January 2, 1953 (age 70)

Thomas Chew Worthington III (1882 - 1953) was one of the founders of the Demons Club and Society of Osiris Magicians. By profession, he a salesman for distributors of X-ray and photographic equipment.

Biography

His first season as a performer was in 1911, where he worked mostly at churches, clubs, and the like.

Worthington became interested in magic when his grandfather introduced him to his friend Alexander Herrmann. He later became friends with Thurston and was known by Houdini and of the magicians of his day.

Worthington had one of the largest, and most valuable collection of rare magical apparatus at his home in Baltimore. He was a fighter against the exposers of magic, and the magic organization that fails to penalize members who did.

He wrote a column for The Sphinx and was also the editor of Society of Osiris Magicians' magazine Tablets of Osiris.

He gave his collection to the Ringling Brothers' Museum in Sarasota, Florida just prior to his death. Other collections including antiques, stamps, autographs, photographs, and natural history specimens, he left to Loyola College at his death. The magic collection eventually was obtained by magic collector Ken Klosterman and David Price of the Egyptian Hall Museum (later obtained by Mike Caveney and George Daily).

Awards and Honors

• Cover Sphinx, April 1916.
• Cover of Genii 1937 September, Vol 2, No. 1.

Books

• Recollections of Howard Thurston Conjuror, Illusionist and Author (1938)

References

• Tricks That Mystify by Will Goldston (1934)
• WORTHINGTON PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION
• The Society of Osiris by Mark Walker, Genii 2000 February
• http://themagicofbaltimore.blogspot.com/2013/08/thomas-worthington-iii-baltimores.html