| Show Historic ic Hoaxes By 81 ELMO ELl SCOTT scon WATSON C O western Newspaper aper Union Wolf I 1 Wolf I IFOR FOR it OR several everal years year lust just at ae regul regu regu- regularly l lady as winter whiter came around press association dispatches carried the news about hunters huntera up In Canada Canada Canada Can Can- ada having to fight for their lives against packs pack of ferocious timber wolves In fact a winter without such uch a wolf story was wac like a winter without Christmas and Santa Claus And strangely enough all of these stories storie came from the town of Al Al- goma And then when the whole nation had become thoroughly wolf con clous and Cand Algoma conscious J. J W. W Curran editor of the Sault Ste. Ste Marie Dally Star confessed that It was all aU a hoax He lie had at- at to interest outside newspapers newspapers pers pera In it the resources of the Algoma wilderness and had flAiled failed So he turned to wolves to help him The non-existent non ferocious beasts turned the trick Tourists Tourist were attracted to the area in Increasing numbers Even the discovery there of low grade iron ore deposits as the result of the Uie provincial governments government's offering offering offer offer- ing a bounty for developing iron ore beds bed is la credited to the wolf campaign But Dut after awhile Mr Curran became became became be be- came tired of hearing his hi paper called the Wolf Gazette He lie had accomplished his purpose and Inan in inan inan an editorial he exposed the hoax lIe He said An Any man who says he was et b by a wolf is I. a liar Then he offered a reward for anyone anyone any any- one who could claim that an Algoma man had been attacked by a wolf That reward is still standing for no noone noone noone one has yet tried to collect the There are wolves in that region but it seems that they're not as fierce as the Wolf Gazette once claimed they were The Volume 1879 Rev W. W D. D Mahan a Cumberland Cum Cum- Cumberland IN berland Presbyterian minister of Boonville Mo bro published a book called The Volume It purported to be an official report of the trial and death of Jesus Christ made directly to the Emperor Tiberius Tiberius Ti Ti- berlus by Pontius Pilate governor of Judea which Mahan asserted he had obtained from the Vatican in Rome Its It authenticity was Immediately attacked but Mahan defended his work so 0 vigorously that many people people peo pea pie were convinced that It was ine inc Later he expanded the book with the addition of other documents docu ments giving many new facts facu about the life of Christ These he asserted he had obtained In hi the Vatican and in Constantinople Since that time the Volume Volume Volume Vol Vol- ume has been reprinted in many different editions In many different cities it has been translated into foreign languages and thousands of copies cople of ot it have been sold all over the world Despite the fact that Dr Edgar J J. J Goodspeed of the University University Uni Uni- of Chicago an eminent authority authority au au- au on early Christian literature has proved that the book is alake from beginning to end many people still believe it authentic And strangely enough an original printIng printing print print- ing tog of this fake is now considered a rarity and a valuable piece of Americana and several copies have been sold for as much as 50 each A Bath for Miss MilS Liberty TO THE city editor of every New NewYork NewYork NewYork York newspaper several years ago came an announcement from the American Patriotic League that the Statue of Liberty was going to be given a bath It had been decided decided de de- de that the film of dust and smoke moke from passing steamers must be removed from Bartholdi's famous famous fa fa- statue but in order to avoid possible injury to the metal the announcement announcement an an- said a new solution would be used The story printed in all aU the paP pa- pa P pets per II was picked up b by the press associations and carried all over the country Immediately the columnIst columnists columnists col col- and newspaper paragraph paragraph- ers era began making wisecracks about Miss Liberty's bath and It became one of the leading topics of the day But when an Inquiry about the proposed proposed pro pro- proposed posed bath was waa made at the War department which then had jurisdiction juris diction over Island officials officials of of- there said the they knew nothing about the matter Then one New NewYork NewYork NewYork York editor became suspicious He dug up the original announcement and looked at the address addre of the American Patriotic League By Dr a strange coincidence it was the same address addle as that of an advertising advertising advertising ad ad- agency handling publicity for a soap company compall that was read ready to put a new soap product on the market |
