Howard Thurston

Howard Thurston was a stage magician from Columbus, Ohio, United States. His childhood was unhappy, and he ran away to join the circus, where his future partner Harry Kellar also performed. Thurston was deeply impressed after he attended magician Alexander Herrmanns magic show and was determined to equal his work. He eventually became the most famous magician of his time. Thurstons traveling magic show was the biggest one of all it was so large that it needed eight train cars to transport his road show.

Howard Thurston was born July 20, 1869, in Columbus, Ohio. He was the son of William Henry Thurston, a wheelwright and carriage maker who served briefly as a private during the Civil War in the Third Ohio Regiment. He attended Mount Hermon School for Boys in Northfield, Massachusetts, class of 1893. Among his fellow students were Lee de Forest, The Father of American Radio, and musical humorist Charles Ross Taggart, The Old Country Fiddler.

Source: Wikipedia