The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-01-05
COOKS POLE" FAKE RECALLS
OTHER GREAT HOAXESOF WORLD
Famous Cardiff Giant One Of the Most Noted-Edgar Allen
Poe's Great Steering Balloon Hoax Hoax About
Alleged Discovery Of inhabitants Of Moon.

Copenhagen sticks, DIR. Frederick A
Cook il easily leader OF all the histori-
cal takers who have attempted TO fool
the world and have failed. The list Of
these persons is long one. How many
excellent takers have tried to fool the
world and have succeeded, and still
wear their honors unblushingly, Is am
other and an Understandable question.
OF the great world hoaxers that have
been found out, however, DIR. Cooks
was perhaps the soonest ended, al
though in financial way the Brooklyn
doctor, according to all accounts, has
cleaned up between $4,000 and 100000
before retiring into obscurity.
Many who read this will recall the
famous Cardiff giant and the sensa-
ton he created in 1869. In October of
that year there was dug up near the
village of Cardiff, Onondaga county, N.
Y, a rude statue of a man ten and
half feet high. It deceived many men
Of science as "a petrified giant" and
was exhibited throughout the country
for several years with great financial
success till it was confessed as fraud.
The "Car1iff giant" was cut In Chicago
from a block of gypsum sent from
Fort Dodge, Iowa.
OF recent gigantic frauds in the line
of geographical and anthropological
science that Of the Frenchman, de
Rougemont deserves a prominent
place.
M. de Rougemont about ten years
ago startled and interested the whole
world with the publication of a story
that he had discovered wonderful
island in the southern Pacific ocean,
where the inhabitants had developed a
civilization so advanced as to cause
the blush Of shame to rise to the cheek
of the very best thing that had as yet
been done in the civilization line by
the most advanced countries of Eu-
rope"
How he came TO find the island is
totally beside the question. The main
fact in the case is that everybody be-
lieved him-at first. How could any
body doubt the word of French
sayant?" Here was man coming back
fresh from a trip of discovery in the
SOUTH seas with the act''al goods on
his person!
InG pest IGdLuAG VI (S
work was that he was only too Wiling
to appear before the geographical So
cieties of Europe and tell them any
thing they wanted to know. He was
sharply quizzed at the meeting or the
geographical section of the British AS
| ISOLATION for the Advancement OF Sci
ence and came out of the ordeal as
fresh as a daisy. He made smali
| fortune for himself by contributing 10
| wideawake magazines and writing a
hook or two. A few wise ones, how
ever. had begun to suspect that DE
Rougemont was something of a liar
himself" and the impression grew un
TN the notorious island, and De Rouge
! mont with it. remerged into the depFFns
/ of the Pacific ocean, from when the
/ imaginative and thrifty Frenchman
| had raised it.
one az the greatest of all historical
liars was the noted If not notorious
Baron Hieronymus Kari Friedrlcn VOL
| Munchausen. who fiourished In tne
eighteenth century and whose 1oyIu
4 lies have been preserved In the Wen
known and admirable volume, written
/ after the baron's death, under the tue
/ Raron Munchausen's Narrative of His
4 Marvellous Travels and Campaigns II
Russia. AS a satire this work Is al
/ eood as Gulliver. The real Munchauser
| bovvevar was honored in his day FOL
/ many of the discoveries ne said ne mac
i made on his travels, and was giYer
medals after the manner of COOK a.
Il Conenhagen. But these honors were al
II Haa+inp as those that were given U
Il Cook promise to be, IL the report ina
i comes from abroad be true. NUN
chausen's medals we're pulled ava!
from him before they were worn GU
Il and Cooks may be before they hav'
chance to get warm.
Almost as renowned as any hoax II
/ history is the famous Moon Hoax
which was published In the New forl
sun in 1885. 1t purported TO ne an az
count by one Richard Adams Locke y
the astounding discoveries mace py d
John Herschel, the noted English as
tronomer. of certain facts and goings
on in the moon. Herschel was then II
Africa and could not deny the story
and for many months Europe an
america had a good time congratulate
ing themselves on their new knowledg
about the earth's satellite. This,
/, must be remembered, was in a da,
, when little was known about the ply
steal condition of the moon, and on
mans story was as good as his neigh
boris.
II Herschel was said to have taken wit
) him to Africa a wonderful telescope 2
: his own invention, the existence Q
I which he had kept secret, and which
shipped secretly from England as mer
: lchandise. The things he had discovere
+ on the moon were interesting. Blu
/ and red vegetation, wonderfully fertll
valleys, strange animals, "man-pat
and other things found a place In TN
VI tale. which was entirely credited unit
/ sir John was told about 1t. When
= heard it for the first time he threw bac
. his head and laughed. That settled tn
) hoax. but he later wished that he ha
e never heard of IL at all, for whereeve
, he went during the remainder Of nj
4 life he heard of scarcely anything els'
! Al ancient and highly original geo
9 graphical hoax was that of the ofte
quoted sir John Vaudeville, who, It
believed. was the creation Of one Jea
Burgogne. q French hero inventor, VIII
created sir John for his own profit an
amusement. Mandeville's travels ar
among the delights OF the world. Il
discovered" a number of animals tina
would have supplied seventeen distinc