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FOOLING TflE PDBLJG SOMEXMffenloiiR Hoaxes and Practical Jokes are A man I ok lisvfcllr to the I'erpelrajon*.About a year ago there died in Kelvin, Art% a traveling salesman, Joseph Mulhattan, who conceived a hoax that fooled many newspaper editors, aroused the negroes of the North and South and amused the nation. Mul-hattan originated the story that monkeys were to supplant the negro cotton pickers.Mulhattan told the stogy so often that his earnestness made some newspaper men who printed the story think that 51 was possible. He figured it out on paper as a paying in-vesttneni- The monkeys, of course would receive no wages, so that on the face of it much would be saved in the cost of picking the crop. Then, too. the monkeys would increase rap' idly. For a time the story that monkeys would supplant negroes in picking cotton was believed, particularly as the experiment “was ?*ing tried on i Louisiana plan lari on. The address f the plantation, however, was so racue no one was able to locate it.Bam urn loved to fool the people. A iral showman obtained a whit« vie-3ha.n1. Bam am by telegraph tried to blain it and offered a huge sum. The wner of the real white elphant used Harr,urn's telegram as a newspaper ad-^iTtisement and poster, whith made J,arnum the more eager to get the ani-uai. Fading in getting the white ele-•hani. he cabled all over the world to let one. Then he resorted to subterfuge. He bleached an ordinarv elephant, and did it so well that he not only fooled the people who came to see it. but also a learned bodv of scientists, who gave him a testimonial to the effect that it was a genuine albino elephant Another Barn tun hoax was the giant of Cardiff; which was really a hoax of a boax. Barnum failed in getting the real giant of Cardiff, but that did not deter him from showing the original Cardiff giant George Hull of Binghamton, N. V„ and Her. Mr, Turk of Ackley. Ohio, got into a dispute about giants. Prob-. ably 31 came about through a discus--Sion of a giant that Hull had in front: of his tobacco shop. H mav bave: come through an interpretation of the : text: And there, were giants in those day.” No on** is alive who recollects the original dispute. so that one story is as good as another as to how Hi* hoax began.Hull spent two years m the study of fossil remains and archaeology. Finally he got a slab of stotre 32 feet long, 4 feet broad, 22 inches thmk and had it carved according to specifications.Mr. Hull very cveri? had th* giant carved so that there might b* a question or a difference of opinion as to whether it wa* a fossil or a prehistoric sculp) urc. The tvant was rubbed. cntbV-d, bathed, washed and pricked ■Kith pore®, an acid was used that would take off the look of Chicago and mod ernit t Finally u was shipped, buried on a farm of^a relative of Hull and discovered ' i-. men digcmr a well The digging of th» well was plaurib)'i- V vas plausible dant. There was no objection andenoufcm Detegslioas lt;aoCi£ iam ill j when the show opened a negro/Prelover the country, including both learned men and curiosity seekers. So great was the procession that it became quite profitable, and finallv attracted BaraunFs attention. He had failed to get the Cardiff giant, but it did not take him two years to have a replica of it in his museum.Newspapers have not been above toaxing the public.One newspaper in New Tork believed the old menagerie cages In1 Central Park were not sufficiently strong. It conceived a taJe of the lions, tigers, leopards and other animals breaking out and killing and injuring people, and printed pages about it.No story of hoaxes is complete unless New York's well-known Joker is mentioned. He U Brian G. Hughes and be has perpetrated more than a dozen jokes that have made the metropolis chuckle To perpetrate these hoaxes has cost him much money: but in all of his tricks no one ever has suffered particularly.Probably his best known exploit, because it was so successful, was Ure career of his tom cat. Nicodemus. a tenement bouse cat he purchased for 30 cents, and which he advertised as th* 32,000 cat, not for sale” In its class, Nicodemus carried off first pnre at the show in Madi«on Squaregarden.Wb*»n Huebes decided to enter his cat, which he termed his Dublin bnndl* cat, Ni cod emus. which he valued at $2/KKt,*' h** inquired if there would be any object ion, because of its value, to having it cared foT during ib« show by Sts regular aiten aant. There vas no object ion, andably Sam Smith, who had taken part in a number of his hoaxes, appeared in a gorgeous livery. During the time tnat there was a crowd in front of Nicodemus Smith looked out carefully for the smallest comfort of the animal.A well-known florist *-ent flowers eyerv day; a celebrat'd caterer furnished the meals—at Kisi tbe boxes and baskets so indicated Spectators spent many minutes reading the long pedigree of Nicndemu- When the judge looked orer the flowers, the manicure set. «!i« impressive negro and the pedigree. Nicodemus blinked at a blue ribbon altachod to his wicked cage. And llvm somebodv whispered it to th** newspapers, and Hughes and New York chuckled. Th** flowers came from a much cheaper place than the bnv induared: the food was the scraps from th* lunches of his emtilojes.During the holiday linw. to to]] an-oth«»r of Mr Hush4**' hoaires, at on** of Broadway’s most crowded corners, be had dnien down Frith avenue re wh'-re the a-remi mt*reacted Broadway a w'dbappoinu-d brougham A) a leading jewelrv *,iore tb* drirer stoppedA band*-onrelj drf-*-d woman entered the jewelry home and reap //fared a lift I* later She lt;aTT3*-d a box. A n* rro in smart In'-ry followed immediately behimi her. Th* negro was Sam Smith SuddenH a man rushing madly along the -idewaik knocked the 1,-ov from b* r hands and tipped a tray Sam Smiih carried The £irJ_ sfreaniefj and pumped into the ■vehicle, the negro teap'-d for a teat with the driver and the horses were lashed imo a mad gallop.The inference was that she was the woman member of a gang of thieves, the negro was a stall and the man rushing down the street spoiled the game. But wliether they were thieves or nob it had no effect upon the scruples of the crowd, Bvsiandcrs dashed here and there picking up the gems and the police liad to turfn in a riot call.When the sergeant in charge forced his way into the jewelry shop he walt; informed that ihe young woman had purchased nothing, and the store lt;te : 1 eel ires were sure she had not appro- ■ priated anything. The negro had re- jComing out of the shop, the sergeant saw Hughes, nbnchalanllv smoking a cigar. He caught the hoax in a moment and gave orders to his men to clear the street. The jewels picked up by the crowd were paste and glass, mounted on brass. Tbenews-papers the next morning told bow Hughes liad pul another one over.*mained a1 the doorway.FlowlmFirst Trooper Imperial Yeamanrv discussing a ne.w officer)—Swears a bit. dont . sometimes?Second Trooper—■•g’s a masterpiece. ’e is; just opens ’is mouth and lets it saw wot it likes.—PunchCDDDODO DDDDO □nnoCDOODiDDDnA Lesson of the European WarOn re more, among counties? times, has the great g food vaJue of chocolate and coooa been demon- ° strated, bothsemngras a part of the rations of the n troops in ACTIVE SERVICE. -c, s. iwv os.Baker’s Sweet Chocolateha* always had this fuaranfawThe ingredients of this Chocolate are guaranteed R to be pure cocoas of superior blend and sugar,” pThe genuine has this trade-marl: an ^tic package, and u made only by qWalter Baker Co. Ltd. Xj’nrvct KK. VW. L.UI.g E#ubH*hcd 17S0 DORCHESTER, MASS. §e«003033OCOD3DDJ3D^O^303ai^0CCDC^0ODODDJuD3aCSaaaaD3
Newspaper Details
Lincoln Daily News
Lincoln, Nebraska, US
Sat, May 08, 1915
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 06 Jun 2025
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