| Show ORIGIN OP OF A RUMOR mr william E curtis burtte in a letter to the chicago record tells a capital story illustrating the way fake stories storie a are circulating he traces to an elevator boy the first report that word had come from admiral dewey here to is the story atory the credulity of human kind was also strikingly illustrated at the capitol today when it was announced by gen hawley in the senate committee on military affairs and by col steele in the house committee that admiral deweys deleys report had been received in cipher and was at that moment being translated at the navy department part of it had already reached the residents dents hands the story said and he had excused himself from an interview with a constituent of representative smith of illinois 1111 nois in order that he might give the matter his attention there were some skeptics in the house and they taunted col steele until he went over to the senate to see mr fairbanks from whom he had obtained the inform information aaion mr fairbanks said that he did not get it from the president direct but through mr Hanna who knew all about it mr hanna being found explained that he had not seen the president this morning although he had heard the report and believed it to be true for his authority was no less a person than vice president hobart by that time everybody in the capitol had the information there was no doubt about it it was bulletined bulle tined to wall street and to every commercial exchange throughout the country and special telegrams with explanatory comments were sent to every evening newspaper but when the searchers after truth got an opportunity to call the vice president out of the chair they discovered that he had not seen the president this morning and had only repeated to mr hanna what he had learned from the elevator boy at last the fountain head was reached the elevator boy being put through a course of quest questioning ionin explained that he had not heard anything on the subject from the white house or from any other source but remembered having remarked to the vice president as the latter went up in his private car that he supposed by this time dispatches had been received from admiral dewey and that the clerks in the navy department were probably translating them hie doebet fabula how easy it is to be misled by good men |
