The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-24
AN ADMITTED SHAM.
Sir George Newnes Now Convinced De
ROugemont Is "a FabricatOr.

LONDON special.
Ever since the story of the marvellous adj
ventures of Louis De Rougemont in the
wildS of north Australia-surpassing in rec
ord-breaking flights of the imagination even
made public, there has been fervid desire
on the part OF a somewhat cynical public TO
learn whether he was telling, the truth or
not. The English people. with their usual
earnestness, took their pens in hand and
wrote letters to their favorite papers about
De Rougemont, and Sir George Newnes had
TO hire extra men to count the money re-
sulting from the sale of his Wide World
Magazine, which was chosen by De Rouge
mont the vehicle in which TO exploit his
story. 1t was said that Sir George Newnes
was about to equip an expedition to some
three black pearls of priceless value which
the adventurer had found in his travels and
was unable TO carry away because he had
no pockets in his clothes. About this time
two months ago-the London Chronicle
threw the first doubt on De Rougemonts
yeracity by, finding his wife. This woman
lives at Sydney, N. s. W. In letter writ
ten to London she said that she had iden-
titled her husband by his photographs that
his real name was Henri Louis Grin. that
he had assumed the name of De Rougemont
after partner of that name, who had been
associated with him in the pearl fishing
business, had disappeared, and that his tale
of thirty years of life among savages was
a fabrication. In the summer of this year
he appeared in London. represented himself
as the modern Robinson CruSoe and un-
folded his tale.
In the january number of the Wide World
Magazine appears the following announce
ment:
1.-The Wide World is a magazine started
with the avowed intention of publishing true
stories of actual experiences and avoiding
fiction. The Adventures of Louis de Rouge
mont were commenced under the belief that
they were the true account of the life of
the author. 1t now turns out that 1t was
not possible for him to have been thirty
years among the savages, as stated. His
story was told in these offices over a period
of several months, during which time he
never contradicted himself once. But after
what has transpired we wish 1t to be dis
tinctly understood that we do not publish
it as a true narrative, but only it is
given to us by the author, leaving it to the
public to believe as much or as little as they
please
1T is admitted that portions of the story
are founded OH his experiences. In any
case, the story is SO crowded with vivid.
graphic and consistent details that 1t marks
its author, II not a speaker of the truth.
at least as a master of fiction who has had
no equal in our language since Defoe; so
that, even If the story is an invention, it
is one which cannot fail to excite the deep
est interest, and we are sure that our read
erS would be keenly disappointed If they
were not allowed the opportunity of hear
ing the extraordinary developments and
termination of the narrative. We may con-
clude in the witty lines of the world:
Truth is stranger than hetion.
But De Rougemont is stranger than
BOTH -