Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-02-07
Mistellaneuus Reaains.
NEWSPAPER HoAxES.
How Old Time Newspaper Men Laid
Traps For Rivals.

Traps For Rivals.
Once upon n time there was absolute
peace i'm the newspaper world of
America. That was when there was
only one paper in Boston and not
another on the continent When the
second journal was started in Boston
an editorial war was Immediately pre-
cipitated. As long as personal jour
nalism prevailed the rivalry among
newspapers took the form of editorial
abuse of the enemy, but when the
modern newspaper came into being
the battle-ground was removed from
the editorial page to the news columns
and the circulation statement. The
deliberate newspaper hoax was born
of the bitter fight between newspapers
of one class and another in the old
days. The intentional fake" as
wholly untrue or grossly exaggerated
news item is called in newspaper
slang, was born Of the desire of the
reporters to keep up with the demand
for news and at the same time escape
the tiresome leg work" necessary to
find it,
Richard A. Locke wrote the first
great newspaper hoax for the New
York Sun. 1t appeared on Jan. 10,
1885. The article purported to be TAX
en- from the supplement to the Edin-
burgh Philosophical Journal. 1t de-
scribed a wonderful telescope which
had been invented by the eminent as
tronomer Sir John HerSchel and set
forth that Sir John had taken his tele-
scope to the Cape Of Good Hope and
there leveled II on the moon. The in
habitants of the moon were plainly to
be seen, being halfway between man
and an ourang- -outang and having
wings like a bat. The article was re-
plete, with technical phrases and had
the stamp of scientific style.
Next day the staid Sixpenny Press
swallowed the bait, hook and all. One
editor declared that he also had re-
ceived dispatches telling of Sir Johns
great discoveries in the moon, which
would be given to the public as soon
as possible. The editor of the Albany
Advertiser declared he read with un-
speakable emotions of pleasure and
establishment" of the Herschel discov-
cries in an Edinburgh scientific jour
nal. The hoax deceived many men of
science and was quite generally ac-
cepted by the multitude until 1t was
exposed by the pestiferous James Cor
don Bennett Of the Herald.
Nine years later Edgar Allan Poe
was employed on the staff Of the New
York Sun, and he was responsible for
the second great hoax in that paper.
1t appeared: Astounding News by
Express via Norfolk The Atlantic
Crossed In Three Days! Signal Tri-
umph Of Mr.. Monck Mason's Flying
Machinen' The article told of the ad-
venture OF Mr.. Mason and seven 9TH
ers who set out from England in the
steering balloon Victoria and safely
passed over to Virginia in seventy-five
hours. This story was also generally
believed by the public, but the other
newspapers had begun to fear the in
they did not bite.
The deliberate setting of trap to
catch another paper stealing news is
a legacy from the sedate Sixpenny
Press and was used before Mr.. Ben
nett corrupted and reformed" the
journalism Of the states. The ship
Ajax was due from Europe. The Cou-
rier printed a postscript announcing
the arrival of the ship and giving a
summary of the news of Europe which
she had brought over. A few copies
of this paper were left on doorsteps
in the neighborhood Of the rival Jour-
nal office Then the regular edition Of
the Courier was printed without the
Ajax news. The Journal found the
papers, suspected nothing and printed
in large display the supposed trans-At-
lantic news received by the Ajax. Of
course the Ajax had not come in, and
the news was faxed. Many similar
incidents are told of tricks worked by
newspapers Of today to trap a pirate
sheet.
When Horace Greeley's New York
Tribune was young and good copy
was hard to get its distinguished edi-
tor sought to cater to the literary
tastes of his readers by publishing
serially Mr.. Dickens novel "Barnaby
Rudee." This was all we'll enough, eX-
cept that Robert Bonner had been put
to great expense to get "Barnaby
n-lr ODD
then the leading weekly story paper
of the country The Ledger, like all
weekly magazines, was dated three or
four days ahead, a copy dated Satur-
day being on sale the preceding We'd
nesday. Mr.. Greely's paper published
the weekly installments of the novel
on Thursdays, Mr.. Bonner loudly OBJ
iected. Mr.. Greeley's paper calmly re-
piled that Mr.. Bonner's charges were
absurd, for was not the story publish
cd in the Tribune of date two days
earlier than that of the Ledger? In
stead of the Tribune being guilty OF
theft. the Ledger was plainly the Of
fender. whereupon Mr.. Bonner wrote
q fake chapter of "Barnaby Rudge,
in which he turned characters upside
down and knocked the plot galley
west. The Tribune faithfully printed
it, Then the Ledger exposed the steal
and the Tribune was caught with the
goods"
Hoaxes of latter day journalism. as
distinguished from the ordinary news
fake of commerce, have been got up
merely for fun. The most prolific
source of "whoppers" for twenty years
was Joe Mulhatton. commercial
traveller in the middle west until
few years ago. Mulhatton gloried in
the reputation of being the biggest
liar in the world, and he would go TO
anv extent to save that reputation
One of his best known hoaXes was the
working monkey story.
He declared that Mr.. James Gu'h-