The Grave of W. D. LeRoy

William D. Le Roy was born in LaSalle Illinois August 5th, 1862. In his youth, he studied music and

the violin. By the age of 19 he was living in San Francisco and was giving classes on the violin. This appears to be where he picked up the magic bug and began to learn the trade. But, whether he met someone or discovered it from a book is not known.

In 1885, he made his first professional appearance as a magician at the Fountain Theatre in San Francisco according to the Feb 1909 issue of The Sphinx. He also appeared on the cover that month. 

In 1887, he relocated to Boston and by 1893 opened the Boston School of Magic on 103 Court Street. According to the website Auspostalhistory.com, Le Roy altered the way his name was spelled in 1906 from Le Roy to Leroy. I would guess because it was easier to remember or to distinguish himself from Servais Le Roy.

He is credited with having the largest and most up to date magic catalog of it's time. Besides selling magic he was a big advocate of magic fraternities and was instrumental in signing up many people to the Society of American Magicians.

Le Roy passed away on June 10th, 1919. He is buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Gloucester Mass.

The grave of Magic Dealer Otto Maurer

Otto Maurer was a magician and magic dealer who ran his own magic shop in the basement of 321 Bowery in NY for 28 years. His shop was a popular hang out for professionals and amatuer magicians. Houdini and Thurston both learned the then underground move (no pun intended) called the Back Palm from Maurer. To read more about Otto Maurer, please visit TheMagicDetective.com
Otto Maurer died of cancer at the age of 53 on May 15th, 1900.

He is buried in The Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery in Queens. The actual location is Public Lot 3, Map 5, Row 25, Grave 25.

The Grave of Henry Ridgely Evans

Born in Baltimore Maryland on November 7th, 1861, Henry Ridgely Evans can trace his family heritage all the way back to the early colonial days of America. In 1878, he became interested in magic while attending a performance of Robert Heller in Washington D.C.

H. Ridgely Evans never became a performing magician, but instead focused on magic history. He wrote a number of wonderful books on magic including 'The Old and the New Magic', 'Magic and It's Professors', and 'The History of Conjuring and Magic' just to name a few. He also wrote for Stanyon's MAGIC.

He died at the age of 87 in Baltimore Maryland. (died March 29th, 1949)Mr. Evans is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in the Georgetown area of Washington D.C. His grave is in the Stewart Section, Plot #610 East. It is very difficult to find. It's near the back of the cemetery and the hills are treacherous, especially on a rainy day like it was when I was there.  The tombstone to the right is also from his family.

If you'd like to read more about Henry Ridgely Evans check out my other articles here
http://www.themagicdetective.com/2017/04/the-great-henry-ridgely-evans.html