New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-05-07
HOAXING RULERS.
GOVERNMENTS TAKEN IN BY FALSE
EMBASSIES AND BY MYTHICAL
TRAVELLERS TALES SOME
NOTABLE INSTANCES.

the fact remains that i'm his relatively brief reign
he has been made the victim Of two hoaxes Of
the most ridiculous character Thus. according
to the dispatches from Berlin. ii has just been
discovered that the DIR. Esser whom the Kaiser
received with much distinction last Christ
mas under the impression that he great
explorer. decorating him with the second class of
the Order Of the Crown and inviting him to din
ner. by way Of recognition Of his alleged services
to geographical science. is nothing more nor lcss
than impostor. who had never even seen the
places Of which he drew such vivid word pct
ures for the benefit OF the Emperor. the En-
press and of their Court
Still more audacious was the hoax played
upon the Emperor in the second year OF his
reign. party Of negroes arrived In Berlin in
charge OF Herr Eher who gave IL to be under
stood that they chiefs OF one OF the most
important tribes Of East Africa and representa-
tives Of the high and mighty Sultan OF Mandara.
an African potentate whose dominions were at
least equal in Importance to those OF the Sui
tans Of Morocco and Zanzibar On the strength
| Of this they entertained in the most elabo-
rate manner by the Emperor. Not only did he
receive them at his Court with the honors re-
served for full Pledged Ambassadors. but he
made himself responsible for all the expenses In
connection with their stay at Berlin, while at the
military reviews and state functions which took
place during their stay in the Prussian capital
| they occupied places in the front 1t was
only several weeks after they had left Berlin on
| their return to Africa. loaded with gifts and
decorated with Prussian orders. that it suddenly
| became known that the negroes thus honored
| were men of absolutely no rank or Importance In
| their own country and that. far from being
chiefs or dignltaries, they were ordinary
negroes. who had been assigned by the
chief of the wretched African village Of
| Mandara. to which they belonged to act
| as porters for the conveyance Of the bag
| gage Of Herr Ehler to the coast. Ehler
imagined that it would further his interests and
Increase the Importance Of his explorations in
the eyes Of the authorities at Berlin If he took
four of the finest looking Of his black porters
| back with him to Germany. Partly through ig-
| norance of the people on board the steamer. and
| partly owing to the crowded character of the
steerage and intermediate cabins. they received
saloon passages and thus it happened that by
the time they reached Europe an exaggerated
! impression had been formed on board with re-
gard to their rank and Importance On landing
| at Hamburg the local authorities took 1t for
granted that the men must necessarily be dig
| ntaries Of the highest grade and as this i'm
| preston resulted in Herr Ehler being treated
with exceptional consideration and gaining all
|
careful not to dsabuse the Prussian Govern
ment or to reveal the true condition of affairs.
A DANGEROUS JOKE
| There were probably times during the course
OF his stay at Berlin when he must have consid-
cred that the joke had gone too far. and have
| been alarmed as to the possibility of the revela-
ton Of the real state of affairs But he trusted
| to his luck which had never deserted him during
all the perilous adventures which he had en-
countered in the course of his African travels:
and then. too. he remembered that he had been
classmate of the Emperor at Bonn. and the
latter's companion in many a merry student
prank so that he felt pretty certain that he
could RELY upon being treated by his sovereign
with certain degree of leniency in the event OF
exposure.
| have never heard what punishment the
Kaiser meted out to Ehler beyond quietly eras-
| ing his name and those of his negro attendants
from the roster OF the Prussian orders OF knight
hood to which they mad been appointed But on
the whole it probably fortunate that the ex-
plorer and his negroes were on the nigh seas.
and not on a German vessel when the Emperor
discovered how he had been fooled For II there
Is one thing to which this brilliant and go-ahead
sovereign is susceptible it is ~idicuie. and ne
WAS intensely irritated by the fun which was
poked at him in the German and foreign news
papers in connection with the affair.
| PRINCE HENRY'S EXPLORATIONS
There is a deal of justiiable incredulieJ
with regard to the authenticity Of the geographic
cal explorations which Prince Henry Of Orleans
claims to have made and which many insist
were quite as mythical the explorations or
the German Doctor Esser, mentioned at the be-
ginning of this letter having hoaxed the
Kaiser 1t may be remembered that Prince