Show historic ho axes by ELMO SCOTT WATSON 0 western newspaper union the cardiff giant I 1 TN N THE late six sixties tiesa a chicago to 1 bacco dealer named G george eorge hull heard a clergyman express the lie belief that men 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 ahard a hard job to simulate pores in the skin b but ut 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 othere Y there ere etwas it was burled tor for a year to age it properly next newell hired somi some of his neighbors to dig a well tor for him and behold the well diggers idis als covered the giant four doctors called from town examined it a and nd agreed that it was the petrified re mains of a prehistoric man A syracuse antiquarian declared it was a statue probably made by early jesuit missionaries at least years years ago and offered Newell 10 for it A professor of natural science at rochester university examined it and wrote that although not dating dati ng backo the stone age it Is nevertheless deserving the attention of 11 within a short time the cardiff I 1 glant giant was oneff one of the wonders ov of the modern modem world newell began charging people 50 c cents en ts each to see see it and business was hogood so good that a group of syracuse business men bought a three quarters interest in it for but such good fortune last always A yale professor examined it care carefully full v found tool marks on it and other evidence that it had not been buried long when it seemed that the hoax was about to be exposed the giant glan was shipped to new york but P T barnum who had failed in his efforts to buy it for his museum suspecting that the afie giant was a hoax had one of his own made and ana 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 for forgotten kotten man the drake estate F FOR OR more than half balf a century the drake estate legend has been used to defraud Americ americans ansof of millions of dollars 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 govern government mentis 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 iTom persons of that name an opportunity port unity to contribute to a fund which will be uselin used in establishing the lost heirs title once thaties that Is established they promise that everyone who has contributed to the fund will be re 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 avery 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 government s against anyone investing in such a scheme thousands of gullible gull ble per tons sons 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 taken in byrt by it flight over the atlantic EARLY three quarters of a cen 1 I tury before charles A lindbergh thrilled the whole world by flying across the atlantic that feat was ace accomplish edIn 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 rich ard aard adams lockes moon hoax in the new york sun had monopolized public attention so poe foe 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 ear earlier his yam also published in the new york sun I 1 captured the imagination of the public and there was a great demand tor for copies of that paper Even when poe explained that his tale was imaginary many people ansis insisted ed upon believing it was true later poe said if the Vl victoria etorla did not absolutely accomplish the voyage recorded it will be dif difficult to assign a reason why she should not have accomplished 10 it in view of developments in aviation which were to come within the next 75 years poe was not such a bad prophet tl |