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T(*•t*0Iir-iiffn-‘c-nrlIs.orHE CHAMPION NEWSPAPER LIAR OF THE UNITED States has just been locked up in an Arizona madhouse. His name Is “.Too*’ Mulhattan. and until the Shanghai liar took the title a way from him he was the greatest newspaper liar in the world. Collected in hook form, his fakes would make an interesting rival to the tales of BaronMunchausen. Mulhattan is a member of a church and is not a newspaperman. He never made a cent by bis lies and in ordinarybusiness affairs he spoke the truth, hut he bad n ranniafor giving misinformation to the newspaper and indulged himself in the mania to the injury f|f his other business.He starred when he was a lad in Pennsylvania. He lived in a little town back in the woods from Pittsburgh. One tiny he sept to the Pittsburgh papers tm entirely imaginary account of the bold up of a stage coach* He followed it within a week by further accounts of other hold ups* The Pittsburgh newspaper men began pouring into the town, after riding some fifty miles over the mountain? in buck board?, only to find the stories false.When he pot through laughing Mulhattan started on* a new tnck and bccaa lt;ending storirs. which described Jacksonville ns a modern Sodom. lie was almost run out of town by his indignant neighbors, but ^ be had caused the reporters another uncomfortable trip and he rested satisfied. As he grew older lib; fakes increased in ingenuity. He pent one dispatch from Albany, de-___scribing the adventures of a little girl who was carriedup in the air by a bunch of toy balloon*. A famous hnnter ?aw her go sailing over his head and with his rifle punctured enough of the balloons to land her safely on the ground. The story was given with all the details of names, place and incidents and fooled not a few editor?.Perhaps his most famous fake was sprung at the time when the raid? of the .Tamo? gang and the Younger brothers were keeping the country startled by their doings. He sent a dispatch from one of the Western States describing the discovery of a cave where the booty of the two gangs had been hidden. It was very circumstantial and went the rnundn of the press.Then he discovered another mammoth cave in Kentucky, which he do* scribed at great length. His nest try was an earthquake a: McCook, Neb., which opened up a fissure in an arid dr^rt from which water Hm*ed jtq the greai delight of the inhabitants. The water* be said, would rcclahft tho'arid ground and make a thriving funning community of what was once a desolate'vastf* - - • *He was next heard from in Mexico* where he discovered the hidden cityof the Pueblos. lie described it with all possible exactness, named the stylo of architecture that prevailed* Ho endowed St with treasures beyond price, which he declared were thoso sought by the old Spanish adventurer* without success. Tins story traveled all over the world and not a few foreign scientist? came to this country to make a pilgrimage to the spot.Recently Mulhattan published bis confessions, which he prefaced asfollows: ... - ‘When Action tIpcs picking to the eye*Mon will bellovc because they love the He.— Probably My Own*I cannot remember the first lie I ever tohL Since the recent injury to'myi... /otUnr- n izfvMt onv In Xfsw mv mnnnrr ha? been, fieri-itsboIICShead bv failing from a street car in Now Oricans my memory has been son-nuriv affected. Although my life ha? been nt least ns merry as that of to* average member of my profession, it has been by no means an easy one. Caro and years have left their marks, and I feci that for me the sands are almost run. Therefore I am sure the public, to whose amusement I have so Ion* been an humble contributor, will indulge the modest pride I feci ia the imperfect collection of the children of my brain.
Newspaper Details
Syracuse Sunday Herald
Syracuse, New York, US
Sun, Dec 16, 1900
Page 30
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 01 Jun 2025
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