The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-01-19
BY ARTHUR t. VANCE.


! N~ot's AsAAts 1Tolt d. A IN. AaUce.l
/ --NSNS comes from a remote corner of
/ LeAdS that Joseph Mulhattan the most
SluPeHoOuS and ingenious liar of his time
mas recently turned up in that part OF
the country. 1t is now in order for the
newspapers to be on their guard Tor I'M
~ prime Mulhattan perpe1rated and got
L-.o circulation through various import
ant newspapers hosXes that would have
I mace Baron Munchansen feel like an am
/ aleuI' and there is no guarantee that he
Wi go INTO business again. The last
/ previous definite news OF Joe was some
/ I'VE years ago, when 1t was announced that
ne mad retired TO the Wilds Of California
/ TO recuperate from his arduous mental
/ laborS- Soon after it was rumored that
/ ne was dead, and his years of persistent
| silence save credcnce to the rumOr-
! Mulhattan had been d truth com
I meTCtal traveller for years before the pas
( sion for big story telling took possession
/ OF him- one day II occurred 20 him that
1.-the newspapers OF his locality weren't in
/ teresting enough. so he proceeded 60 iiven
/ tnem up with the products of his own i'm
/ aSlnaUiOn- The PitJsburg Leader was the
! medium selected. and he kept the editors
/ busy publishing denials of the little hoax
/ eS he got up about well known people
! Presently these personalities palled upon
J him, and he sought to exercise his genius
/ first crematory in the United States was
/ erected at Little Washington. Penn. Null
/ haitian wrote an article announcing that
( a cremation would take place at a date
! two weeks ahead of the completion of the
/ furnace, and Little Washington soon had
/ an army of reporters to entertain. besides
J special artists from the illustrated pa
Z pers When they found the CrematOry
/ unfinished and discovered that there was
/ no corpse. they sought for Mr.. Mulhattan
! TO supply that important omission nut
/ he was far away.
George Washington Petrihed.
/ It was in 1875 that Mulhattan got up his
/ frst really imposing fake. He discovered
I InaJ the remains Of George Washington
/ were petriiied and that some well known
I citizens who We're very DESTROYS of seeing
/ the Washington monument completed
We're about 20 remove the petrihed body
! 10 the exposition at Philadelphia TO place
/ it on exhibition during the centennial
year. An admission Tee of 30 cents would
! be charged, the money to be used i'm FIN
I lShing the monument This was printed
I and reprinted the wide country over and
! the newspapers teemed with letters, IA
/ y0rable and unfaVOrable. Alexander X
/ mcclure editor OF the Fhilddelphld
Times, WaS particularly vigorous in his
[ denunciatiou of Mulhattan idea, while
the PittSburS Gazette supported II warm
/ For a time thereafter Mr.. Mulhattan' $
/ stories. according TO his own account,
! We're what might be called plain lies.
/ But he went to Kentucky, and after he
( had bTcathed the inspiring air of that To-
/ cdlity for a while, he began To take pride
/ in his work and produced some sparkling
gems of ornamental prcVdriCdtlOn. III 49,
] ne visited the Mammoth cave, and he
I PROMPTLY evolved out of his inner con
! seriousness another great cavern fourteen
miles long, containing a large navigabie
/ river, TO ply upon the waters OF which
/ Steamboat was Delng DUH I-eSIe : wrote
I for "a sketch of the town near which the
1 cave was located and for pictures of the
/ cave With an artist friend, Mulhattau
I filed this order and the articles and pic
I lures were printed in Frank Leslie's IL
7 Illustrated Newspaper. The cave was so
brilliant a success tnat he followed il up
I with other caves. until he had nearly the
I whole state Of Kentucky ringing hollow
( to the fOOtstep.
A Goose-Worked Cotton Patch.
Animal stories were very popular then.
MUlhattaE concentrated his powerful in
tellect upon the domestic goose, and the
result was highly detailed and interest
! ing account CT Texas cotton plantation
kept in order by a flock Of trained geese
The geese carried under their neCkS a
gOurd filed with water so that each goose
could drink out OF its neighboTS gOuTd-
Each goose did the work OF two men in
wedding The story concluded with the
prediction that If the farmers expert
ment is as successful as he thinks il viii
be, it is only d question Of a few years
until the whole cotton crop Of Texas will
be Weeded out by the ordinary goose.
T This was regarded BY many newspapers,
{ particularly in the south, as an important
: agricultural departure.
Mulhattans Texas meteor story attain
I ed the proportion Of an international
{ event This was published in 1893 in the
Fort Worth Gazette, and was the making
of that paper. An Associated Press agent
swallowed the story whole and teIegra phi
ed it all over the country. On the day
after the story was published the Gazette
received ia kilograms in regard to the
Tope-One from the London Times, one
from the Edinburgh Scotsman and one
[ from the Paris GaulOis- The editors or
] these eIIteTpTlSIng papers Ielesfa plleu Tor
/ correspondents to get full particulars and
TO draw on them for the necessary funds
The meteor was said to have fallen AZ
Williams ranch. 1T covered an acre OF
ground: it plunged 200 feet in the ground
and stood eighty feet above 1t, II came
down red hot and steamlng' NUNS ti ne ar an
with sulphuroUs smoke and noXlous gases
and killing all the cattle a IdmllN or
MexiCanS were struck and buried ~ rect
in the earth The newspapers OF the
country contained columns of interviews
with distinguished scientists regarding
the meteor. and thousands OF letters were
sent to the postmaster at Fort Worth
asking for further particulars he wa
so indignant that ne gave our WORD tilal
if Mulhattan ever came TO torL. worm
/ he would shot him on the spot. AFTER
ward however. he Telented and invited
the famous DreVaTiCatOr to dine with MIN
The Gazette had to employ a special corps
of writer's to reply to the letters received
besides getting out thousands OF eNpiana-
tory circulars.
Mulhattan next wrote an extended ac-
count of the discovery OF the lost arr OF
making malleable glass ne story va
told with such sweet simplicity and care
/ full and minute detail thaJ me average
reader felt that ne could go right out and
manufacture mallea bic glass nlnlSell Win
few simple implements Next ar me me
suggestion of a newspaper man at Lex
irgtOn XIV. Mulhattan located the star
of Bethlehem. Among Mu'hattan fTlen9S
at the time was JOnn NJ IAitiilf 81 Hf'iN
ware dealer of RiChfield. Ky
Professor Klein's Achievements
aIulhattan dubbed him professor,
and described him as a successful OBJ
server of sun spots and an astronomer
of rcmarka BILE attachments and hgn
scientific reputation. According to
MuIhattanS story, it was Professor
Klein who had discovered the star The
late Richard A Proctor, the eminent
English astronomer, was In the I nlJe1
States at this time JnIOrtuna teiy Ior
him. he didn't know about Mulhattan. and
/ he burned with zeal TO save the American
public from the paths Of scientific error
! So he devoted several columns of labOred
writing to an exposure of what he
: termed a humbug. He said that there
was no such thing and never had been any
I such thing as a star of Bethlehem and ii
/ there was such star IL could not have
/ been discovered at Klein observatory
which was quite true, as there was no
/ such thing as klein's observatory the Is
I tinabIe hardware dealer having never
I looked through anything bigger than a
D7fr Of Ouera glasses in his life Proc
} TORS denial of the star of Bethlehem 5
! existence stirred up a hornets nest about
! his ears The Dious and orthodox fell
UDon him with truly religious ardor, de
I lending Professor Klein and denOunctng
/ Proctor with a Vigor which soon made
& $40 !