The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-08-11
HISTORIC HOAXES.
SOME MUNICIPALITIES EAGERLY
SWALLOWED RY THE
PUHsLHE,
TEae Great Chester Cat EHOax-HHEstOry OF
aRae Bottle-Trick SwlntlHe--A MarveE=
GUS EHnuse-A human Phoenix,
[Pittshurg Dispatch.l

GUS RHNWSe-~A AaMRm@N RHPhAAs
EPittsburg Dspatch.l
The fool-hunter has, from time immemoriaI,
been ono OF the most successful OF sportsmen
tails To bring it down. Chance has thrown In
the way Of Che Dispatch the record OF some OF
his most amusing. yet least known, triumphs,
and we place them before our readers Without
further comment
THE GREAT CAT HOAX.
In August, 1916, just before Napoleon /
started on his exile to st. Helena, d quantity
OF handbills we're distributed through the city
Of Chester, England, at the direction OF
very respectable looking, Quakerly looking
n great number Of genteel families had en-
barked at Plymouth to proceed to st. Helena
with the troops appointed to, guard the ex-
Emperor. Now, st. Helena, the bills stated,
was cursed with a plague of rats, aud the
British Ministry had pledged itself to clear
the island of those noxious animals for the
benefit of the resident citizens. Accordingly,
all good Britons were called upon TO furnish
their qllartum OF grown cats or thriving kit
tens for the carrying out OF this purpose.
The government was willing to pay the
piper, and in addition 70 free transportation
IN q vessel 70 be specially chartered for the
grown tom-cat" 1G shillings; for each "adult
female puss" 10 shiiings; and half that sum
for every vigorous kitten that could "swill
milk. The result can be Imagined. Within
Chester. The city was pandemonium, and
one street, In which the cat merchants had
been directed by bill to assemble, was the
scene Of positive and bloody riots. Meantime
some mfschievous boys let the cats out Of
their bags, and d colossal hunt had to be Or
ganized among the hoaxed spectators In one
day 900 OF the obnoxious felines had been
thrown into the River Dee, and Chester for
months was afflicted with sWarms OF stray
cats as a result Of the freak.
THE GREAT BOTTLE TRICK sw1NDnE.
This most glaring yet successful of old-time
foaxes was perpetrated LII 1749 The Duke Of
Montague wagered that let o man advertise
the most impossible thing in the world he
playhouse to see it and pay handsomely for
the privilege Surely" said Lord Chester
field, ''if & man should say he would jump
into a quart bottle. nobody would believe
that" A wager was made on this basis and
the following advertisement inserted in the
TAT the New Theatre, in the Haymarket on
Monday next the twelfth instant, is to be seen
VI person who performs the several most sur
prising things following, viz: i, He takes q
common walking cane from any OF the spec
tators, and thereon plays the music Of every
Instrument now IN use, and likewise sings to
surprising perfection. 9. He presents you
with common wine-bottle, which any If The
spectators may first examine; the bottle is
placed on d table in the middle of the stage,
and he without any equivocatiom goes into
In it; during his stay in the bottle. any per-
son may handle 1t, and see plainly that it does
not exceed o common tavern-bottle. Those
on the stage, or in the boxes, may come in
masked habits (if agreeable to them); and the
performer, L desired, will inform them who
they are Stage, rs 3D.
At the designated time the theatre was
Grammed from pit to dome. When the ap-
pointed hour passed and the conjurer did not
appear horrible uproar rose, One person
i'll the audience proposed, II the lookers-on
would pay half price, to crawl into a pint
bottle. Finally some one threw O lighted
candle on the stage. Within ten minutes
more the theatre was. Quilted, the benches
converted into q large bonfire in front of the
building, and the drop-curtain hoisted on g.
pole, presumably as q banner, to the triumph
were blamed for this hoax notably Foote, Che
actor, who was one of the lessees of the
theatre, but the real author was the Duke of
Montague.
A MOUSE AS GULL BAIT.
stin more incredible is the fact that the
swindler whose baited hook appears below, |
can, as he did, have found gudgeons enough |
10 profit from. Nevertheless, he ran season
OF nearly three weeks before people got mad |
and demolished his establishment, u state
ment of whose attractions follows:
40 be seer, at Mr.. Leaders,, the Old Horse
shoe, IN Wood street. Chedpside, from Nine |
to Tpelue and from -Four to Seven o'clock,
lately brought from France:
4 full grown mouse alive, confined In a
small two-ounee phial, the neck Of which is
not q quarter of an inch In diameter. This
amusing creature has lived in the phal three
years and a half without drink or any sus-
tenance but bread only IT cleans out it's
little habitation, and hath many other pretty
actions, as surprising as agreeable; but par
Mcularly creates wonderful diversion with
hy,. and is allowed to be an extraordinary
curiosity, never before seen in England; at
me expense OF sd each person.
NOTE Gentlemen or Ladies' who don't
shnse to come, 1t shall be carried to them, by
sending line to Mr.. Leader.
SOME FRENCH HoAxEs.
Busy as the French were with their nation
al aIoubles, they found tine during the dark
est days Of the Revolution to go booby-hunt-
Ing. Ia March, 1892 an Entertainment" was
advertised In the Place de Greve A certain
Prof. Busy declared his intention TO walk
from one side of the square to the other in
naid-air. naked, ana without artificial aid. All
Paris turned out and spent an nnsheltered (
Afternoon in terrific rairl-storn, to be disap-
pointed Next year another sWindler hired a i
court yard Ia the Rue au Temple, and got five
francs 9 head from 700 people WHO wanted {
ii noe him burned alive tn . charcoal furnace. Il