Walter Irving Scott (July 1, 1895 – May 12, 1995) was an American musician, cardsharp and amateur magician. His glowing reputation among magicians and card men revolves around his time as a card cheat and a single demonstration of sleight-of-hand to some of the era's best magicians in New York in 1930. He lived out his last years in Rhode Island as a music teacher.[1] Scott spent his formative years perfecting several difficult sleights of card manipulation in order to work as a cardsharp in card games throughout America. He participated in several different types of swindles and hustles. Eventually turning to a music career he was asked to perform one more demonstration. This single event created a legend within the magic community that continues to this day.[2][3][4][5][6][unreliable source?]
Born in Providence, Rhode Island on July 1, 1895, he was the son of an English engineer, Edward Augustus Scott, and his Scottish wife Jessie Barnes Smith. In 1899 Jessie left her husband, after enough of his self-indulgent ways, with her four children, Jesse, Edward, the 4-year-old Walter and his sister Florence.
The young Scott showed no natural qualities and drifted around with no particular purpose in mind. Then one day he found himself baffled by a neighbors card trick. He began studying card sleights and magic and entered some talent contests when he was 12. As the years passed his interest at manipulating cards for the stage turned into manipulating them for the card table. While he never directly talked about how he learned his trade Scott occasionally stressed the importance of personal tuition and mentioned the name Walter Holman, whom he met aged 16 or 17, from Boston. Holman was according to Scott "The best second and bottom dealer", and taught him the second and bottom deals.
In December 1919, he joined the Providence branch of the National Conjurers Association, stating on his application he was an amateur magician and 'card manipulator'. It was here he met Edward Gilland McGuire, a fellow magician. McGuire had served in World War I but having been injured returned to Providence and took up an interest in magic. McGuire realised that Scott's skills owed more to the gaming room than the magic store. He began to see Scott's skills as a personal asset to allow him entry into a more privilege world of magicians.
Scott gave up working with cards in 1924 to focus on his love of music. He played the steel guitar. He had been playing since 1912 and with the increased popularity of Hawaiian bands found more opportunities to play professionally.[7] Teaching himself, with some help from Hawaiian entertainers playing American theaters, he began touring with a band and appearing in Hawaiian shows and a stock theatre company. He enjoyed writing music and wrote his own and that of other band members.
During these years Eddie McGuire had been in correspondence with T. Nelson Downs.[8] He talked at length about the greatest cheat he, or anyone else, had ever come across. This cardsharp was a mysterious player named 'Scott'. These letters raise some questions, such as why in 1922 McGuire was still talking to Downs about 'second dealing' specifics having already met Scott who he had alluded to being an excellent second dealer. Around the time Scott was touring with his band McGuire also wrote Downs telling him that Scott performed his music just for the fun of it. In 1929 he talked of watching Scott hustling other players at a game in Block Island. It is suggested that McGuire was creating the Phantom legend from the very beginning, from getting information on the second deal and feeding it to Scott to maintaining the idea of a 'high class bootlegger' and professional cardsharp.