The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-12-11

Uncomfortable tofthe human mind. yVlld
and weird tales OF the forests and thrill
ing. adventures through the mountains,
Z discoveries OF mines containing fabulous
riches, and hundreds OF other ingenious
fakes were the products OF Mulhattan's
magination. +
Lies Melted Him a Fortune.
These stirring tales he depicted with all
the art OF master novelist, and cent
them forth ito editors In Atlantic coast
cities who, unfamiliar with the wild and
woody, West innocently accepted them
for the truth. The public devoured them
eagerly and marveled over such strange
i happenings, while Mulhathn.,gi IN inc Sc
Il clllaon OF his oWn den, road his fabrlca-5
+ t,ons portrayed In print, laughed heartily
AZ and treated the whole affair as a joke.
Y These impro bnbles stories Melted Mulhat-5
tan thousands OF dollars annually.
3a, The sceno OF Mulhnttan's hair raising
and blood 3curdling yarns were IN me \, VI
entity OF Arizona and New Mexico. In
a his imagination he pictured dark cavcr1ls
E and haunted caves, where he had q death
struggle with some hideous nntcdiluvian
monster which. In a, manner that Mul-
haitian would explain. had existed there
& for hundreds OF years.
On some occasions Mulhattan would
mentally take q trip down Into unset
Z tied portion Of old Mexico and discover
a gold mine abandoned by the Span
r iards, before the conquest o 4 Mexico inc
finding Of skeletons OF mammoths and
other extinct animals vas Mulnaitan's
specially. He could give q vivid desnrip-.
ton Of every bone In the body of these
n ancient monsters and tell the date OF
brit, ana the manner OF death. f
Predicted Worlds End.
Usually the bones OF a few hundred
s human beings were scattered about the
animals skeleton as mute evidence Of q
battle to the death. Mulhattans weekly
prediction OF the worlds ending! furnished
4 Sunday story with illustrations, Tor
4 many papers.
Never did Eastern editors discrcdit Null
hattan's tales. He was looked upon as q
daring explorer and a gifted writer. His
writings told OF incidents in every part
s. Of Arizona and New Mexico. He was
believed to be making many .adveIitlir1Es
I. trips In search Of material. All the time,
however, Mulhattan remained in the quiet
exclusion Of his home at Phoenix wander
ing in realms OF 5imagjnauona and enjoying
TO tho utmost his skill in the art OF!
deception.
were original fiction. at course, but how
did the public know? Few questioned
the veracty Of Mulhattan's tales. They
were good reading matter. aud, Of course. /
must be truthful Stories of a similar.
K nature had never appeared. Mulhattan,s
Z down! to this remote part Of the country.
The idea OF travelling through the deso-i
Latte land In search OF color had never
occurred to other writer's,
The Incidents upon which Mulhattan5
founded his stories certainly were prob
able Therefore A1ulhattan must be tell
Ing the truth. So 1t was that hulhnttan,
with cunning deceit. sdeluged Eastern edI-
tors with queries concerning stories. All
OF them were accepted and Mulhattan
reaped q rich harvest.
Wrote About Everything.
For years Alulhattan thrlved in this
Y manner. He wrote about everything fron
q polar bear which Ind been caught
wandering on the desert OF Arizona to
4 the finding OF a. medallion worn by Chris
TOPPER Columbus when he discovered
america. A1ulhattAn's stock OF fakes finally
became exhausted. He therefore shifted
tho scene of his artful vocation. gong
to Kansas. This njudiciotis move re-
suited II an expose of Mulhattan's fake
4 stories. M }53
True, there are many strange people III
Kansas, and remarkable things had hap
pened there, nut the State was not pro.
ductiyo Of such unusual things as tho
Z inventive Mulhattan described Kansas
had been too we'll advertised Editors
had heard OF odd and singular events
that had taken place In Kansas. ana
these had now become commonplace.
Mulhattan removed to Toroku. His
change of residence became Krown by
his numerous queries directed to the
East Offering his stories Then he began.
to write. He forwarded his stories to
the same people who on former occasions
had so eagerly sought them, But after
d q few had appeared In type tho public
became skeptical. Kansas was not SO
far west, and many of the people who
read them We're surrounded by the atmos-
phere into which Mulhattan's Imagination
Z had drlfted,
Branded as Fakir.
The tales were branded as fakes, Null
haitian was branded as a fakir,3 His repu-
tntion went the rounds In the East. The
market which had previously proved 80
lucrative to Mulhattan vanished. Mul-
haitian was flooded will, letters from
the editors whpm llo had deceived. lie
was denounced by the press all over tho
United States, The Prince of Liars
then met his downfall.
Mulhattan began to flourish about
twelve years ago. From that time on
until the expose In Kansas the country
was flooded With stories from his imagi-
: native mind. The clever yarns faxed by
him We're the beginning Of untruthful
tales that have appeared at various times
IN some publications 3illft tho United States,