The morning news., 1899-01-17
RARE GEMS OF A NEWSPAPER LIAR
Many of His Inventions Never were
Printed-Lied About His Death.
From the Chicago Tribune.

From the Chicago Tribune.
In a telegraph room of now deceased
Cincinnati newspapers was a scrap Dook
containing a rare collection of choice and
variegated assortment of stories which
ambitious and imaginative. country CORE
spondents had from time TO time attempt
ed to foist upon the public. Inc pook
was kept up and carefully edited through
the existence of the paper. While the
wild weird tales told in its pages never
saw the presses, the stories the book con-
tanned formed a wealth of fiction, Whlch
would have made Baron Munchausen green
with envy
When the paper was merged into an
other the book disappeared and its where-
abouts has been sort of mystery eve,
since. Every one in the othce accuseu
every one else of stealing it. A few Gays
aeo II turned up in Chicago in the col
lection of a newspaper man:
Tbe choicest collection of tales IN the
whole book was evolved from the "hole
cloth nv a character who was known III
the office as The Winchester LIAR. ms
unnublished stories cover pages OIL tne
unioue relic He lived in village up III
the river hills hundred or so miles from
Cincinnati in Adams county. The town
- ahonf 5NO inhabitants, but he evolv-
cd hundreds of columns OF matter. rom
tba nnnuhlished gems left he must have
baen the most unique, versatile ana pro-
Ifc liar of the century. Opportunity ana
a little advertising was all that ne heeueu
10 make him a genius OF hctlon.
A few of his gems, sto:en bodily from
the nurloined scrap book, shows his power
of IMAGINATION. He never permitted an
ordinary row, riot or caper, hSht or elec-
tion. church fair or camp meeting ar
reet suicide or murder to occur IN an or
49,, +1av as will be seen from his dis
patches. ...,,o 1,ou
one stolv he sent down was unique. For
some weeks the correspondent up in Brown
countv-hirnself a lively liar-had been
sending in awful stories about mammoth
enalxe which had been seen in the southern
mart of Brown county. Adams county, IN
uhicn winchester Is located, ad1olns
Brown. so the Liar took up the chalienge
and started to outdo that Brown county
man on his own story. Those two corre-
snondents had a duel for two weeks, and
that snake grew to incredible size.
A rivalry sprang up between the two
counties and everybody who saw the local
snake increased its size through partisan
feeling. The situation began to be impossl-
HE and climax was certain. We all
watched to see the thing develop. Finally
one day the Brown county man captured
his snake and challenged the winchester
man to capture the Adams county reptile
ana measure up. According to the Brown
county story crowd of hunters had sue
ceeded in creeping up on the sleeping rep
tile and throwing a log chain around its
taiI The snake slipped half way into its
hole hut a fence rail attached to the chain
prevented its escape. A crowd was or
ganized to drag the snake out.
The next day the Liar captured the
Adams county snake in the same manner.
The excitement in the two counties was
intense. The next day, however, the Brown
county man remained silent, and the Liar
snrung his coup. He reported "a large
nartv of prominent citizens, whose verac-
itv is beyond dispute" had, after an awful
struggle. succeeded in dragging the snake
from ITS hole Horses were used. When
the snake was finally hauled out fence
rail was found attached TO the tail. The
two snakes were the same.
one of the star performances of the Liar
was a dispatch in which he made mis-
take. The tale ran:
"Winchester, O.. March 9-SpeclaD -
Dooney Harris, the second son of Hon.
T. S. Harris, prominent agriculturist,
residing four miles south of here, had a
narrow escape from death this afternoon
only his presence of mind and quick action
saved him from an awful fate. Young
Harris, who is an enthusiastic bicyclis',
started about noon to ride over to Will
liamsburg. While passing rapidly down
the West Union pike through bit of
swampy land he punctured his tire and
stopped TO repair the injury. He dis
mounted and seated himself by the road
side TO work Ag 10 soc hsa "A
the whirr of a rattlesnake, but before he