Show I 1 HISTORIC I 1 y elmo scott by watson HOAXES a western newspaper union A president hoaxed IT often that hoaxers dare trifle with the dignity of a president of the united states but it happened at least once in history in 1901 president theodore roosevelt was scheduled to visit charleston S C and speak at the exposition there several formal receptions were planned for the distinguished guest by the citizens of charleston who were looking forward to the visit of a president of 0 the united states for the first time since before the war between the states and then a woman gave them the shock then a woman gave them the shock of their lives she was a social climber a lion hunter who was determined to add T R to her collection of celebrities just to pay off the society women of charleston who had snubbed her so when roosevelt came ashore at the south battery after an excursion around the harbor she managed to reach his side Q and asked it if he would stop at her house for a cup of tea the president thanked her but explained that the committee had requested him to accept no personal invitations thereupon she played her ace she wanted him to come to please an old negro who had been the faithful servant of her family since slavery days he would die happy it if only such a thing could come to him as handing a cup of tea to his president she said so roosevelt accepted her invitation tor for the sake of pleasing the old slave the women of charleston were enraged when they learned how the climber had triumphed over them but the men were less enraged than amused at the womans comans cleverness it seems that she had come from the west and her family had never owned a slave the faithful old servant had been hired tor for this special occasional men in the moon T THE HE first and probably the greatest of all american newspaper hoaxes appeared in the new york sun in august 1835 it was the invention of richard adams locke and told how sir john herschel the eminent british astronomer had invented a telescope to find out it the moon was e ed that it was by a kind of man bat as well as by many other curious forms of animal and vegetable life all of which were described in gret great detail of course the story caused a sensation A party of scientists called at the sun office to see the original accounts which were supposed to have been taken from the edinburgh J journal of science a publication that existed only in lockes imagination also it also tooled fooled the other newspapers and when one of them the journal of commerce asked permission to reprint it locke confessed the hoax he then explained that it was written as an elaborate satire upon the monstrous fabrications of the political press of the country and the various genera and species of its party editors especially a notorious foreigner who is the supervising editor of one tf ot our largest morning newspapers that was james gordon bennett founder of the new york herald who had enraged the conservative papers of the day by his sensational methods which were making his paper such a success with the common people A notable lawsuit JUST JUST as some hopeful Amer American icam ij J will continue to search lor for captain kidds buried treasure so will other credulous ones believe that john jacob actors fortune was based upon a chest ot of gold and jewels which the famous pirate hid in a cave on an island off the coast ot of maine that frederick law olmstead sr who became the owner of the island brought suit against the astor family for and that the suit was finally settled out of court for some ot of them will tell you that actually seen the court papers in that famous lawsuit with the names of 0 joseph H choate as attorney tor for olmstead Ohn stead and elihu root as attorney for the defendants they probably have for there are plenty of copies floating around the only trouble with th the le story iba isy N that it so the whole yarn was wasa the concoction of that famous hoaxer franklin harvey head of chicago who first printed it in 1899 for the amusement of his friends but thousands have heard it told as a true story some of them believe that its a piece of litigation still pending and many newspapers have printed it at one time or another as a great behind the scenes story its one of those manufactured legends that just wont be killed and stay dead I 1 |