The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-11-20
THE FAMOUS MOON HOAX.

| =. p
4 query has been made as to whether the
famous fabrication BY The New York Her
add in falsely depicting the escape from,
the menagerie In Central Park OF number
OF wild animals at a time when thousands
Of little children were on their way to
schoo,. was not the first instance OF q stu
pcndous newspaper joke, BY 10 meansi
The New York Sun, Ia It's early lifc, achiev-
| ed Its greatest notorie;y aud got a vigorous
| push on the road TO success through the
famous Moon HOAX" published In 1885.
| That famous joke and the subsequent mug
azino fiction OF Tho Man Without a Coun-
try are overwhelmingly related by an old
time newspaper autocrat. Frederick Ilud-
son. What he says regarding them Is
worth repeating. sN
The Moon Hoax" purported to be an
account Of some wonderful discoveries made
by Sir John +. w. Hirschol off the Cape OF
Good Hope and taken from Supplement
OF the Edfnburgh Philosophical Journal
1t was q great success. Everybody was
moon struck. Indeed. II seemed as IL the
man In the moon was seen at last and full :
| y described According to this account,
ferscheis telescope developed everything
ia the moon. 1t was apparently oac OF the
| mos. remarkable discoveries made since
the cieaton OF the world, and the placing
OF the lesser light who ruled the night In
the ornament OF the heavens" Ors pa
per. the New York Daily Advertiser, read
| with emotions OF pleasure and astonish-
ment an article from the last Edinburgh
Stteittifc Journal containing an account Of
the recent discoveries Of Sir John Henchel
at tho Cape OF Good Hope" Others claimed
to have received the news MS early as the
1 1tNats al t.Ix
II Immediately Savants In science ard tho
learned pundits OF newspapers In religion
ana politics were all deceived. Who de-
ceivei themr Who wrote the account ?
Frederick Hudson can tell the tale.
| ~
There was bright. intelligent young
Englishrnan." ne says. Connected With
tho newspaper press who boro the name
OF Richard Adams Locke. He was pleas
| ant and genial. modest and unpretcntious,
| He had been, a reporter on the Courier
and Inquirer. He had become the editor
| OF the Sun and was afterwards editor Of
The New Era with Joseph Price Que
day he made these wondsrful Discoveries
| In the Moon, and wrote the details
] Appending the name OF tho Edinburgh
Philosophical journal as authority he
published the account as a piece OF In
| terSisting news. That morning he awak
| esed famous. Nothing in fiction exceeded
the interest these pretended discoveries
created in the public mind for a few days
when tina New York Herald pickd the
| bubble. This extraordinary production. y
continues Hudson. 'in It's effect on the
| public car, afterwards equalied by tho
| Man Without Country written by the
| Rev. Edward Everett Hale aud published
| In the Atlantic Monthly With this differ
| etnce-one was intended as a hoax, while
the other. prepared in the midst OF the
| rebellion. was intended to show the utter
despair OF a human b;dng w1thout a coun-
| trybut the two accounts were written
with so much skill and were SO full OF ini-
| aginary truths. with incidents 50 graph
cally described that in both instances ihe
world read and believed. When the moon
lis explored the truth of Locke's descrip-
| tion OF it's inhabitants and topography Will
be fully tested. Hale's description has al
ready passed the ordeal OF scrutiny. There
| are cases as sad In reality as Philip No
| lan's was I'm imagination.
when Samuel Swartwuut, the bluff old
collector OF the port of New York In the
exciting days of Jackson's and Van Buren, s
administrations. suddenly left for Europe
In the Great Western lin 1888 as o stupen-
dous defaultcr to the government. ne be-
came I, man without country. He had
assisted everybody, bousht land In Texas,
speculatei, and was Il general friend oil
mankind. But he slipped and was an exile.
He wandered on the face OF Europe ana
with the pride of position crushed within
him. there was none so Ioor ns 10 do nun
reverence. One day citizen of New YORK,
friend of the collector in his paimy days.
then travelling !n Europe, met SwarLwout
ON q steamer on the Rhine. Mourniuiiy
and thouphtfully he was sitting alone his
giant figure bowed down with sadness,
-. ri
eeraleman, as OF old. held out his hand.
Swartwout looked up and IN moment WAS
in tears. Said he: You don't know what
IT. is 10 be an exile. Not 10 he able 10 re-
turn home, sir. is terrible. NO one. III I'M
agination can realize the feeling. After n
brief conversation Swartwout added; III
| were at honn. could In time arrange my
affairs with the government. Cn the re-
turn of the gentleman TO New York ne
talked the matter over With Swartwoui
old friends and 1t was finally arranged that
he should return. Texas became State.
her lands increased in value, and the result
was that rot cent was lost by the STU
pendous defaulter who for SO many months
suffered the mental pnnps OF The man With
out country.
Several months after the appearance OF
the article In the Atlantic Monthly. and
when uae fate OF Philip Nolan had excited
the COMMUNICATION OF every one a parcel
was received at the office OF uae New YORK
Herald from Mazatlan, Mexico ON open
ing 1t Mr.. Bennett found letter from
General Dom Domingo Guicuiria, once OF
the famous Cuban Junta and afterward
with william Walker the gray eyed man
OF destiny in Nicaragua, and who IN ms
renewed efforts TO obtain the independence
of Cuba, In 1870, was capturei by the span
iards and after a mock trial. garrcted In
Havana This note stated that nae writer
had read the sketch OF the Man Without
Country with unalloyed interest. Shortly
after, in looking over the archives OF Ma
zatIan, his eye fell upon a list OF thirty
fillbusters. names OF men WAC had In 1906
alta ched themselves TO Burrs well known
expedition, and that upon the arrest OF
Burr and the defeat of his schemes they
had drfted into Mexico where they had
fallen into the hands OF the authorities.
To Guicuiria's astonishment the name o,
Philip Nolan headed the list. He had the
document copied AMI forwarded to MI. Ben
net OF the Herald as a curiosity II was
afterwards sent to the editor OF tho At
lantic Monthly"
n IL moi unlikely that the alleged discoy-