The Savannah morning news., 1903-09-14

a Japanese the tail of a dried fish and
some monkey or pig skin, and little
wool or cotton. and he will turn out a
mermaid which, if found lying on the
beach by one unacquainted with its
history would be taken for the dried
remains of just such a creature. Sew
eral centuries ago, when European
ships first found their way into Iapa-
nese waters, the japanese heard a deal
of mermaids and mermen from the sup
erstitious Portuguese, Dutch, and Ems
lish sailors. so much that finally one
day shrewd workman constructed one
of a piece Of dried fish and part of a
monkeys skin and skeleton, what look
ed for all the world like a dead mer-
maid that had lain on the beach for
several weeks, until the skin and body
were thoroughly mummified. This, of
course, made a great sensation among
the ignorant and supersttious Euro
pean sailors. who purchased the fraud
at a high figure. Finding they could
sell these hunbugs at astounding
prices, other Japanese and Chinese be-
gan making fake mermaids. which.
when they sold them to the sailors,
they alleged came from the far distant
South Seas. near the Fiji Islands. etc.
Europe and America did not hear Of
these mermaids, however, until along
about 1922, when an English sailor took
one to London, where it created an i'm
mense sensation, and even puzzled the
men of science of that day and time.
Finally, 1t remained for Barnum to eX-
plot the matter, which he did some
years after this mermaid reached Lon
don. Speaking of the matter in his
memoirs and life, he says:
"a curiosity, which in an extraor-
binary degree served my ever-present
object of extending the notoriety of
the American Museum (Barnum's
fourth venture in the amusement line
located on Broadway, and about the
largest collection of humbugs and
frauds ever gathered together under
one roof was the so-called 'Feejee
Mermaid 1t has been supposed that
this was manufactured for my order
but such is not the case. / was known
as successful Snowman, and strange
things of every sort were brought to
me from all quarters for sale or ex-
hibition, in 1858, for | found an adver-
tisement of the Boston Museum, came
to New York and showed me what pur-
ported to be mermaid. He had
bought 1t from a sailor whose father,
a sea captain, had purchased it in Cal
cutta, in 1922, from some Japanese sail
ors. may mention here that this
identical preserved specimen was ex-
hibited in London in 1922, as | fully
verified in my visit to that city in 1858,
for l found an advertisement of it in
an old London Times, and friend
gave me copy of the Mirror, pub
llshed by j. Limbard, 1886 Strand, Nov.
- 1872, containing a cut of this same
creature and two pages of letter press
describing it, together with an account
OF other mermaids said to have been
captured in different parts Of the world.
The Mirror stated that this specimen
was the great source of attraction in
the British metropolis, and 300 to 400
people every day paid their shilling to
see it"
This was the curiosity which had
fallen into Mr. Kimballs hands. l re-
quested my naturalists opinion of the
genulneneSs of the animal, and he said
he could not conceive how it could have
been manufactured, for he never saw a
monkey with such peculiar teeth, arms,
hands. etc. and he never saw a fish
with such peculiar fins; but he did not
believe in mermaids Nevertheless, l
concluded to hire his curiosity and to
modify the general incredulity as to
the possibility of the existence of mer-
maids (Which was evidently not a very
hard task in those days., and to awak-
On curiosity to see and examine the
specimen. l invoked the potent power
of printers ink
"Since Japan has been opened to the
outer world. ii has been discovered that
certain artists in that country manu-
facture a great variety of fabulous an
imals, with an ingenuity and mechani-
cal perfection well calculated to de-
ceive No doubt my mermaid was a
specimen of this curious manufacture.
l used it mainly to advertise the regu-
lar business of the museum, and this
effective, indirect advertising is the
only feature can commend in a special
show, OF which / confess, l am not
proud. Newspapers throughout the
country copied the mermaid notices,
for they We're novel, and caught the
attention Of readers. Thus the mer-
maid waited from one end of the land
to the other. I was careful to keep
up the excitement, for l knew that ev-
cry dollar sown in advertising would
return in tens and perhaps hundreds in
a future harvest. and after obtaining
all the notoriety possible by advertising
and exhibiting the mermaid at the mu-
scum, l sent the curiosity throughout
the country. directing my agent to ev-
erywhere advertise it as From Bar
NUNS Great American Museum, New
York The effect was Immediately felt,
money flowed in rapidly, and was read
ily expended in more advertising.
Such. i'm brief, is the history OF one
of the most gigantic fakes ever per-
petrated upon the American public,
the Fiji mermaid" Old Washington
ians have a distinct recollection of
this hoax, and of how the people
If1ocked to see what looked like a
mummified monkey, with fish's tail.
But the humbug did not last. The
fact that the mermaid business was
more profitable than fan tan or the
opium trade spread in China and Ja-
pan until so many Chinks were busy
making mermaids that soon there
came a glut on the market that
caused even the dense and supersti-
tious sailors to suspect fraud. Every
sailor returning from the Far East
brought one of these mummified mer-
maids home with him, and soon the OBJ
jects which in 1922 and 1912 were the
sensation &C the hour and as Barnun
himself states, were puzzle to mer
of science, were us common as conch
shells and cocoanuts along the docks
of London and New York.
Mermaids became very cheap, and
sailors refused to buy more In fact
the sailors, angry over having beer
the first Celestial who, at Hons
Kong, Canton, Shanghai or Nagasad
came aboard ship with "mermaids fol
sale"
The one in the old Hancock Tavern
was brought to this city from China
in 1870, OF perhaps earlier and for q
time belonged to a groceryman Of
the name of B. w. Read, who KEEP
store on Pennsylvania avenue, neal
the corner of Eleventh street, and
who gave it to Mr.. Hancock. 1t i;
perhaps to-day one of the very few OF
these objects still to be found in this