Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-11-10
From the Philadelphia Pennsylvania.
Barnum,s Confessions of his Impostures

What humiiating position it is for a man
to be placed before the public as branded
falsifer, and convicted by his own confession.
L. /. Barnum has now thrown off the mask Of
hypocrisy, behind which he has schemed,
planned, plotted, and lied. We purpose to keep
the fact of his misdeeds before the public in
their true light, and call upon the moral and
rejecting portion of our brethren of the press
TO assist us in the task. Society is corrupt
enough already, and the introduction of false
hood and imposition into our business transac-
tions,.as pursued by Barnum so successfully,
would tend to total generalization Of our
country. If the public laugh at these frauds,
and sustain the originator in his further at
tempts to deceive them at the expense oftruth
and the cause of morals, will not the example
be followed by others, and the youth of the
present age study the act of lying as science,
that they may get rich like the great Barnum
The man who can thus define humbug, and by
false reasoning in philosophy endeavor TO
justify his acts, is unworthy of belief, conf
dence, or.respect. At late speech delivered
by =. T. Barnum, at the agricultural fair of
Stamford, be used the following words:
Humbug is generally defined deceit or impo-
stion.' A burglar who breaks into your house,
forger who cheats you Of your properly, or
rascal, is not a humbug. A humbug is an i'm.
humbug is management-tact-to take an old
truth and put il in attractive form. But no
humbug is great without truth at the bottom"
Are we to understand by this, that truth is
made the basis Of pyramid of lies2 Let us
see what he says next TO sustain this false pro-
position:
"The Wooly Horse was a reality; he wa.
really born with a woolly coat / bought him in
Cincinnati for $500 and sent him 10 Connecticut (;
L. L.. II n A
with him, and feared that he would die on my
hands. Just at this time in lS49, Colonel FIRE.
mont and his party were reported TO have been
lost among the Rocky Mountains; the public were
greatly excited, but shortly news came that he
was safe. Now came the chance for the Woolly
Horse.
:" II was duly announced that, after three dave
chase upon the borders Of the River ella, an ami
NAL had been captured by the qusrtermaster Of
Colonel Fremont's party, who parlook in a singu-
lar degree OF the nature OF the buffalo, antelope,
and camel. This story was so far true that was
myself the quartermasier who captured him, and
] charged quarter for the sight. The picture
outside the exhibition depicted the animal as
jumping over a ledge Of rocks. Now, il the ami
NAL bad really leaped, shown in the picture he
must have passed over space Of FIVE miles. To
have believed that he could have survived such a
leap would have been the grossesi humbug."
Is not this a humiliating confession; and
this is what he calls "tyltth at the bottom" The
poor wretch who gets possession Of loaf Of
bread under false pretenses goes to prison, but
the great Barnum, although arrested by Col.
Benton, and prosecuted for obtaining money
under false pretences, escapes and laughs in
defiance at those he has cheated and hum
buggedl The rest Of the speech in relation 10
the wooly horse is disgusting, and we cannot
conceive how the community can view these
confessions in any other light than as the reve.
4. r.
Of the confessions already made by Barnum in
advance Of his book, there are others Of more
serious character which 90 TO show his utter
recklessness and disregard Of all religious oh.
servances, and even respect for the holiness
and sanctity Of the Christian Church. Will
he confess how he found preacher in Connec-
ticut poor and in want, how he engaged him,
not TO fulfill his holy mission on earth, under
the auspices Of his wealthy patrons. No-but
placed him as a door keeper, or an attendant
in his Museum in Philadelphia, and finally the
poor clergyman became poorer actor in that
moral establishment. Will he confess all this
There are those who would view this act in the
light Of character. 1t is an act Of charity 10
take advantage Of the poverty Of man, and
relieve his wants by corrupting his morals2
We have in former article alluded to his
other several humbugs let him now speak of
another, for out Of bis own mouth we shall con.
vict him:
Before I went 10 England with Tom Thumb
] had a skeleton prepared from various bones
il was TO have been buried year or so in
Ohio, and then dug up by accident, so that the
public might learn that there were giants Of old.
The price ! was 10 pay the person who proposed
20 put the skeleton together was 10 have been
S225. But finding Tom Thumb more successful
than thought, sent word not TO proceed with
the skeleton My manager, who never thought
as highly Of the scheme as il deserved, sold the
skeleton for $50 or SIS.
Seven years afterwards, | received from the |
south an account Of gigantic skeleton that had
been found Accompanying il were the certiG. |