The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-06
A FAMOUS STORY TELLER.
THE HEIR TO THE ACCOMPLISH
MENTs OF ANANIAs AND Mum
CHAUSEN.


eIcr, He Tried to Liven Up the
Newspapers with Interesting Ma
tcrial of His own inventIon-The
Fortified Body of George Washing
ton One of His Achievements-Dis-
cOvery of the Invisible MOOn-The
PrOctor-KIein Controversy over
the RediscOVery of the star of
Bethlehem.
Copyright 1901 by A T. Vance.
New York, Jan. 4.-News comes from
a remote corner of Texas that Joseph
Mulhattan. the most stupendous and in
genious liar Of his time, has recently
turned up in that part of the country. 1t
is now in order for the newspapers TO be
on their guard, for in his prime Mulhat-
tan perpctrated and got into circulation
through various important newspapers
noaxes that would have made Baron Mum
chausen feel like an amateur: and there
is no guarantee that he won't so into the
business again. The last previous definite
news OF Joe was some five years ago,
when it was announced that he had re-
! tired to the wilds Of California to recu-
I l''A"N1 tCA4l il9 diuuOuS Iltuldl IdDOIS.
Soon after it was rumored that he was
dead, and his years Of persistent silence
gave credence to the rumor.
Mulhattan had been truthful CONNER
I clal traveller for years before the passion
| for big story telling took possession of
/ him. One day it occurred to him that
! the newspapers of his locality weren t
! interesting enough, so ne proceeded to
! liven them up with the products of his
] n ina, tori
was the medium selected, and he kept
1 the editors busy publishing denials of the
! little hoaXes he got up about well-kno wn
! people Presently these personal Titles
| palled upon him, and he sought to exer-
| else his genius in a larger field About
/ this time the first crematoTy in the United
| states was erected at Little WASHINGTON,
| Pennsylvania. Mulhattan wrote an article
! announcing that cremation would take
! place at date two weeks ahead of the
! completion of the furnace. and Little
! Washington soon had an army of re-
| porters to entertain, besides special ar
! lists from the illustrated papers. When
! they found the crematory unfinished and
/ discovered that there was no corpse they
/ sought for Mr.. Mulhattan to supply that
/ important omission, but he was far away.
George Washington Petrihed, so
Cents View.
1t was in 1875 that Mulhattan got I'D his
/ first really imposing fake. He discovered
/ that the remains of George Washington
were petrifled, and that some well known
! citizens who We're very DESTROYS of seeing
/ the Washington monument completed
! were about to remove the petrifed body
/ to the exposition at Philadelphia, to place
/ it OH exhibition during the centennial
/ year. An admission fee of fifty cents
! would be charged, the money to be used
! in finishing the monument. This was
| printed and reprinted the wide country
/ over; and the newspapers teemed with
! letters, favorable and denuncia tory. Alex
! ander K. Mcclure, editor of the Phila-
deiphia Times, was particularly vigorous
! in the denunciation of Mulhattan's idea,
while the Pittsburg Gazette supported il
! warmly
For time thereafter Mr.. Mulhattan's
stories, according to his own account, were
what might be called plain lies" But
| ne went to Kentucky, and after he had
breathed the inspiring air of that locality
! for a while, he began to take pride in h 8
| work, ard produced some sparkling gems
| of ornamental prevarication. In 1877 he
visited the Mammoth Cave, and promptly
evolved cut of his inner consciousness an
! other great cavern fourteen miles long,
! containing a large naVigdble river, to ply
! upon the waters of which a steamboat
was being built Lesles wrote for y
sketch of the town near which the cave
was located, and fer pictures of the cave.
With an artist friend Mulhattan filled this
order, and the articles and pictures were
printed in Frank Leslie's illustrated
Newspaper. The cave was so brilliant
a success that he fol owed it up with 9TH
er caves, until he had nearly the whole
state Of Kentucky ringing hollow TO the
footstep.
4 GOOse-Worked Cotton Patch and
Prize Meteor.
Animal stories were very popular then
Mulhattan concentrated his powerful in
tellect upon the domestic goose. and The
result was a highly detailed and interest
ing account of a Texas cotton plantation
kept in order by flock of trained geese
The geese carried water so that each
goose could drink out of its neighbours
eourd. Each goose did the work of two
men in wedding. The story concluded
with the prediction that, IF the farmers
experiment is as successful as he thinks
it will be, it is only a question of
few years until the whole cotton crop of
Texas will be weeded out by the ordinary
goose" This was regarded by many
newspapers. particularly in the South, as
an important agricultural departure.
Mulhattans Texas meteor story attained
the proportion or an international event.
This was published in 1888 in the Fort
Worth Gazette, and was the making of
that paper. An Associated Press agent
swallowed the story whole and telegraphed
it all over the country. On the day after
the story was published the Gazette re-
ceived ia kilograms in regard to the mat
ter. Three OF them came from Europe
one from the London Times, one from the
Edinburgh Scotsman. and one from the
Paris Gaulois. The editors of these enter
prising papers telegraphed for correspond
ents to get full particulars, and to draw
on them for the necessary funds. The
meteor was said to have fallen at Will
liams' ranch. 1T covered an acre of
ground; it plunged 200 feet IN the ground
and stood so feet above it; 1t came down
red-hot and steaming. filing the air with
suphurous smoke and noXious gases ana
killing all the cattle. A family of Next
cans were struck and buried 200 feet in
the earth" The newspapers of the coun-
try contained columns of interviews with
distinguished scientists regarding the me-
teor and thousands of letters were sent
to the postmaster at Fort Worth. asking
for further particulars. He was so in
dignant that he gave out word that If
Mulhattan ever came to Fort Worth he
would shoot him on the spot. Afterward
however he reented and invited the fam
Gus pervaricator to dine with him. Tho
Gazette had to employ a special corps of
writer's to reply 10 the letters received,
besides getting out thousands of explana-
torV circulars.