Show HISTORIC m m I 1 S T OR I 1 C by elmo scott watson m oo 00 AXES 0 western newspaper union the cardiff giant TN N THE late sixties a chicago to bacco dealer named george hull heard a clergyman express the belief that men ot of gigantic stature once lived on earth it gave him an idea out of a 12 foot block of stone he carved the figure of a man it was a hard job to simulate pores in the skin but he managed to do it and after giving the stone man a bath in sulphuric acid and ink he shipped it to the farm of his relative william C newell near cardiff N Y there it was buried tor for a year to age it properly next newell hired some of his neighbors to dig a well for him and behold the well diggers discovered the giant four doctors called from town examined it and agreed that it was the petrified remains of a prehistoric man A syracuse antiquarian declared it was a statue probably made by early jesuit missionaries at least years ago and offered newell tor for it A professor of natural science at rochester university examined it and wrote that although not dating back to the stone age it is nevertheless deserving the attention of archeologists archaeologists within a short time the cardiff card giant was one of the wonders of the modern world newell began charging people 50 cents each to see it and business was so good that a group of syracuse business men bought a three quarters interest in it tor for but such good fortune last always A yale professor examined it carefully found tool marks on it and other evidence that it had not been been buried long when it seemed that the hoax was about to be exposed the giant was shipped to new york but P T barnum who had failed in his el ef forts to buy it for his museum suspecting s that the giant was a hoax had one ot of his own made and began exhibiting it this led to public suspicion that discovery was also a fake and the yale professor confirmed that belief so the cardiff giant soon became just another forgotten man the drake estate OR more than half a century the forake FOR drake estate legend has been used to defraud americans of millions of dollars but so long as the get rich quick desire persists it will probably continue to harvest its crop of gold for swindlers lers the story they tell Is that sir francis drake naval hero and freebooter of queen elizabeths day left an estate which held in trust by the british government is now estimated at 10 billion to 25 billion dollars they claim that they have discovered a lost heir to this fortune and offer persons bearing the name drake or descended from persons of that name an opportunity port unity to contribute to a fund which will be used in establishing the lost heirs title once that is established they promise that everyone who has contributed to the fund will be repaid a the tact fact is that drake was never married so he did not leave any heirs moreover when he died aboard his ship in 1595 his estate was a very small one and that was settled long long ago yet despite these well known facts and despite repeated warnings by both the british and the american governments against anyone investing in such a scheme thousands of gullible persons have been victimized in the past and its only a question of time until the hoary old legend will be revived and other suckers will be b taken in by it 0 0 flight over the atlantic NEARLY naury EARLY three quarters of a century before charles A lind linro bergh thrilled the whole world by flying across the atlantic that feat was accomplished in the imagination of an american newspaper man his name was edgar allen alien poe later famous as a poet and in 1835 he had printed the first installment of a fanciful tale about a trip to the moon however richard adams lockes moon hoax in the new york sun had monopolized public attention so poe tore up the second installment of his story but in 1844 when he wrote an account of the crossing of the atlantic by a group of men in three days in a balloon or flying machine called the victoria he found that the public was just as gullible as it had been nine years earlier his yarn also published in the new nev york sun captured the imagination of the public and there was a great demand for copies of that paper even when poe explained that his tale was imaginary many people insisted upon believing it was true later poe said it if the victoria did not absolutely accomplish the voyage recorded it will be difficult to assign a reason why she should not havi have accomplished it in view of developments in aviation which were to come within the next 75 years poe was not such a bad prophet |