Arizona republican., 1901-03-22


 was at Brownwood, Tex. says Mulhat- ton. when that story was born. At the local hardware store I entertained the proprietor and loafers with the story of the meteor which had fallen at Will Hams ranch. As they listened in open- mouthed amazement I told of the great
 mass which had dropped upon and cov-
 cred an acre of ground, plunged 200 feet in the earth and stood eighty feet above it. It struck family of Mexicans and buried them beneath its weight and by it's fumes and sulphUrous gas killed all
 the cattle for miles around. A corres-
 pondent of the Ft. Worth Gazette was there and he wired the full particulars
 to his paper. The matter was sent from the Gazette to the Associated Press and within twenty-four hours 137 telegrams were received from pa-
 pers in all parts of America and Eu- rope, asking for further particulars.
 q sent out just one story, which was so wildly improbable that it failed to catch hold of an incredulous editor.
 While in northern Wyoming in 1880 I told of an immen nse cave in the south
 ern part of the territory which led for miles under ground to a great subterra- mean opening which corresponded to like localities on the earth above. There was a strange tribe of Indians nearly white in color and Egyptian
 like in manners. The outlet and source
 of light and air was '.l a long and deep
 canyon, and for years and perhaps
 hundreds of years. these people had
 been held there by the Sioux, whose
 traditions told of the coming of the
 tribe ages before, and who believed them emmisaries from the happy hunt ing ground. By chance I learned or their existence and from a drunken Sioux I gathered my information. The story reached Omaha and Bee corres- pondent was sent to investigate. He was captured by the Indians and held for some time. long enough to find that my story had not all the ear marks of truth. and after week re- turned home. The story was never printed but excited much interest in Wyoming at the time.
 My strange fish, creature half fish and half snake, monster the size of whale, which lived in northern Wis consin lake and which crawled forth at night and preyed on sheep flocks, calves and colts, until the farmers were in state of nervous prostration, did not become widely circulated. An in credulous country publisher spoiled it.
 About the time l discovered the star of Bethlehem and the invisible moon, among other astronomical observations I had my friend, Prof Birdwhistle of the Lawrenceburg academy of science, find indisputable evidence of the exis- tence of intimate relations between planets which were close to Mars. The Martians and inhabitants visited back and forth by aerial routes, and at one time Birdwhtstle witnessed what ap- peared to be hard fight between the Martians and an immense horde of in- vaders, wherein the warriors of Mars finally repelled the intruders by the use of instruments of warfare which slaughtered in great numbers. l be- iieve that Wells and other writers of Martian life gained their cues from my heavenly revelations.
 My story of the importation of mon- keys to use in the hemp fields of the south. and which stirred up the labor societies through fear of competition of free labor of the monkey with union men was only exceeded by one tale. A western sheep raiser, A. M. Green, of near Flagstaff, Arizona, brought dozen kangaroos from Australia and had taught them to herd his flocks. The remarkable agility of the kangaroo enabled it to do the work of three or four herders and Green had sent for ship load of them to be used in the sheep country. and taught to herd cat tie as well. The thousands of cowboys and sheep herders in the west were up in arms at the suggestion of the scheme to drive them out of business The re- markable prediiction of the public to accept the widest tales it could get was illustrated when a New York World man, in the face of the knowl- edge that kangaroos will not live in captivity. wrote at length upon the in justice to the time honored profession of the herders, by introducing animal opposition to them.
 The story of the lake of hair dye said to have been found in Texas, and which was credited to Mulhatton, is one of the most famous stories of which he denies the authorship. That was a good fake" said he, "and I might have claimed the honor of it's origin had I not been offered s5,0O0 by New York druggist to secure him a lease upon the lake. He was so insistent that final ly, to avoid his advances, made affida- vit that l knew nothing of it."
 Mulhatton has returned to his home at Florence, where he recently made a rich strike. and will hereafter devote his attention to the working of his property.