El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-24
PRINCE OF ALL LIARS
Report of Joe Mulhatton's Death One of His
Hoaxes. - He Is Said to Be Resting in Tex
as, Getting Ready To Spring A New
Lot of Jokes.

Vi Win uiotAA
guished scientists regarding the me-
teor and thousands of letters were
sent to the postmaster of Fort Worth
asking for further particulars. He was
so indignant that he gave it out that
if Mulhatton ever came to Fort Worth
he would shoot him on the spot. After
ward. however, he relented and invited
the famous prevaricator to dine with
him. The Gazette had to employ spe-
cial corps of writer's to reply to the
letters received, besides getting out
thousands of explanatory circulars
Mulhatoon next wrote an extended
account of the discovery of the lost
art of making maileable glass. The
story was told with such sweet SIM
plicity and careful and minute detail
that the average reader felt that he
could go right out and manufacture
ma1leable glass himself with few SIM
pie implements. Next, at the susges-
ton of a newspaper man at Lexington.
KY. Mulhatton located the Star of
Bethlehem. Among Mulhatton's init
mate friends at the time was John NJ.
Klein, hardware dealer of Rishheld,
KY Mulhatton dubbed him ''profes-
sor" and described him as successful
observer of sun spots and an astron-
omer of remarkable attachments and
high scientific reputation. According
to Mulhatton's story it was Professor
Klein who had discovered the star.
Trouble For Professor Proctor
The late Richard A. Proctor, the
eminent English astronomer. was in
the United States at this time. Unfor-
tunately for him he didn't know about
Mulhatton. and he burned with zeal to
save the American public from the
paths of scientific error. So he devot-
ed several columns of labored writing
to an exposure of what he termed hum
bug He said that there was no such
thing as a Star of Bethlehem, and if
there was such a star it could not have
been discovered at Klein's observatory,
which was quite true, as there was no
such thing as Klein's observatory, the
estimable hardware dealer having new
er looked through anything bigger
than a pair of opera glasses in his life.
Proctor's denial of the Star of Bethle-
hens existence stirred up hornets
nest about his ears. The pious and or
thodox fell upon him with truly reli
gious ardor, defending Professor Klein
and denouncing Proctor with vigor
which soon made the English astron
omer very sorry that he spoke.
During the summer of 1883 Mulhat-
ION. with the aid of a mythical Pro-
lessor j. n. B. Birdwhistle of the
equally mythical Lawrenceburg aca-
lemy of science, discovered an invisi-
bic moon, the bulk OF which was about
two and a half times greater than that
Of the visible moon, while its distance
from the earth was only about 10000
miles.
Its influence on our tides wrote
ION our atmosphere. our
crops, and the great storms must be
very great. and will in a measure ac-
count for the cyclones, tornadoes, and
hot and cold waves that sweep over
the earth. 1t makes Its orbit in path
between the earth and the
sun, in such a position, caused by the
suns powerful attraction, as to be in
visible except the upper edge, as it
skirts our horizon during
The months of July and August"
Then the romancer went on TO say
hat Professor Birdwhistle had tele-
yraphed the discovery to Professor
Swift, of the Rochester observatory
and had received a reply from the lat
Ter. stating that he had brought in
,truments to bear upon the western
horizon at the indicated point and that
ne too, hod gazed upon the invisible
noon. corroborating Professor Bird
in every particular. The in
Visible moon careered visibly through
he newspapers for many days.
Find the Ten Commandments.
Mr.. Mulhatton now turned his at
ention to things terrestrial, and
to public notice an ancient
pyramid near Lawrenceburg, Ky. He
Il
mounds there Astounding. and was full
# golden urns and other wonderful
elics of an extinct race. Latter or he
,ot up another mound sensation, in
which he told how a golden calf had
'een discovered, and tables of stones
With inscriptions on them. 1t was
bought that these were copies of the
riginal Ten Commandments. He al
o wrote of a great oil we'll discovered
n out-of-the-way places and the oil
1en of Pennsylvania became half
raZy with excitement. Prospectors
1ere sent out to the new oil fields
nth instruction to lease land and put
p derricks without an instants delay.
The famous story of the monkeys
Did on ]. B. Parkes of Kingston. Ky.
'as an improvement on the cotton
ending geese. 1t was said that Mr..
arkes had secured seven immense
lonkeys from his brother-in-law in
outh Africa and had trained them to
reak hemp. The monkeys required lit
e care in their keeping. received no
ay and did their work SO well that
lie farmer discharged all his laborers,
lade arrangements to import a thous-
nd more monkeys and looked forward
18th joy and confidence to the time
hen. owing to the low cost OF his
Dor, he should obtain practical
onopoly of the business of growing
emp and become one of the richest
en- in the south.