The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-08-21
THE KISSING BUG.

or,einated in the Brain OF Washlns-
ton Reporter to Liven Hot open
ami So Unexpectedly Successful was
the story That it Grew and spread
over the Country.
Tho kissing bug is a myth. There IS
no such creature in existence as the
much-advertised melanolestes plclpes'
The whole thing is hoax, starred ny
some bright young newspaper men IN
washington when there was a scarcity
Of real news, and swallowed by the.
gullible public as many a hoax mas.
been before and will be hereafter Inc
washington boys started the yarn as a
hot-weather fake to relieve the tediuml
of a summer with no congress III SEES
sion. and the enterprise of Journalism
did the rest. Pictures of the mystic.
rious bug have been published, and tel
agr.nhic DISPATCHES have told of it's
serious, and occasionally fatal, ravases'
And now the truth is out, and the pup
lie will have to laugh away its discom-
ft,re at having been fooled again.
A Washington correspondent or the
Pittsburg Dispatch tells the origin Oh
the kissing bug, but probably the eX-
,,os,1re of the hoax will travel neither
as far nor as fast as the hoax itself, and
oanv people will continue to live in
mortal terror Of the winged osculator.f
1t was in the early part Of June that
the wonderful creature was first heard
of At that time many complaints
were made to the police department of
washington by colored women, that a
big, colored man had stopped them on
lonely streets at night and kissed them.
Tn Instances the compliments said
that the ruffian had bitten them on the
mouth or cheek. The police tried hard
TO catch the colored man, but were I'M
successful, The policemen were wor-
ried, for complaints continued and the
Newspaper men and others began to
make fun Of the police department. |
At length as a teaser for the officers, |
the theory was offered that the kissing |
Of the dusky damsels was not done by |
a human being at all but by a bug.
This notion being duly discussed in
NtNN-Nt~N-
vent the kissing bug, a new entomology
cal terror, and have little fun with 1t
during the hot spell.
OF course, it was necessary to invent
a scientific name for the bug, and q
gentleman who knew something of
Greek invented the name melanoestes
picipes. THE vicious work Of the bug
was first tried on the country through
some of the journals most susceptible
to fakes, and it took immensely 1t
made a hit as warm-wea ther story,
and was received in many quarters
with serious belief. A few days later
the news was that it had been found to
be the meanolestes. This clinched the
story and it was believed almost every
where, except by really scientific men,
who know that there was no such in
:ect No one could have been more as
tonished than the newspaper men of
Washington who started the yarn when
they saw reports of the appearance o.
the kissing bug in the more northern
cities sending it's victim to the hospitals
almost daily. Here was a singular fea-
-ure of che affair It was OF course,
most singular to the gentlemen who
suew that there was no such thing as
he kissing bug It began to appear like
else than simply hot
Weather joke. Pictures of the crea ture
we're published in several of the East
I'm papers These pictures represent
genuine bug, which is as harmless as a |
lragon-fiy, but as dangerous looking,
md they gave many people the hot |
remors only to look al them.
II was an Unexpectedly successful :
to frighten persons in the
lot weather and cause sleepless nights.
The name melauolestes which the
newspaper men created, is from two
ireek words, meaning black bandit" q
t is not word used in entomology, O
nut it was a good word for the occa-