Omaha daily bee., 1910-02-20
CROWNED KING OF TAKERS
CagliOstrO Duped the Whole world
in His Day and WOund Up
in Jail. r.


"A liar of the first magnitude. Thor
oughpaced in all the provinces of lying!
What one may call the king of Iiarsg'' 'H
Thus wrote grim old Thomas Carlyle.
And the victim on whom he showered such
abuse was Count A%lessendro di Cagliostro,
master of 1000 brilliant fakes. Even the
mans high-sounding name was a fake. He
was really Giuseppe Balsama, a sicilian
PEASANTS son, and in no way entitled to
call himself count"
Cagliostro, as a mere child. was expelled
from the local charity school for some
abominable bit of mischief. Next he went
into a Palermo monastry, where he found
work in the monks apothecary shop. There
he showed a positive genius for medicine.
and soon knew more about chemistry and
the use of drugs than did any one else in
the whole brotherhood. Incidentally he
learned, too, a few great truths that always
proved valuable to doctors and showmen
alike. He found out that many people
trust physicians as they trust no one else.
Also, that a large percentage Of the public
are readily fooled by any nonsense that is
clever enough to attract them. On these
two human failings the lad built his fu-
ture career of gigantic swindling.
So, when a feat of audaclous blasphemy
on his part led the monks to kick him out,
Cagliostro was quite ready to start Upon
his career. To provide himself with ready
money for a tour Of Italy he tricked a rich
Sicllian into buying from him, at a large
price, the secret of a treasure cave that did
not exist. Driven out of Sicily, he wan
dered through Europe and the orient, per-
facting himself in the best art of all the
takers he met on the way and swindling
every supplemented traveller he met. Then,
with a gloriously beautiful young girl
whom he had married in Rome, he
launched forth as the discoverer OF a mirac-
ulous liquor, which he called Wine of
Egypt" and which he claimed, would pro-
long life and restore youth. Pointing to his
lovely young wife, he related that she had
recently been a withered old crone of so,
and had been made a girl again by one
draugbt of Wine of Egypt"
He himself, he said, had already lived for
1900 years by constant thinking this wine.
He told, as an eyewitness, about events
that had happened many centuries before,
and described the scriptural marriage feast
at Cana in Galllee, at which, he said, he
had been an honored guest. He also de-
clared he had been present at the crucifix-
ion, and he used to burst into reminiscent
tears at the sight of a crucifix.
People listened greedlly to Cagliostro's
absurd lies. Through the sale of his
Wine Of Egypt he grew fabulously rich
Hestraveled from place 10 place in a gllded
chariot with a retinue of servants Princes
and other notables We'd with one another
to do him honor. He speedily became one
of the foremost men of Europe. Not con.
tent with claiming TO have discovered the
secret Of perpetual life. Cagiiostro pro.
cseded to found a sort of masonic order
with himself as the high priest. Thou.
sands Of people in all stations of III,
Joined the cult, and the mans wealth ant
fame still further increased. He next oh.
tanned favor and more money by estab
fishing Masonic lodges for women.
Nor were these the greatest OF Caglios
tro's impostures. He claimed to be o.
semi-divine birth. said he had the power o
rendering himself invisible. and added tn,
information that he could not only maxi
diamonds and other precious stones, bu
could transform all metals into gold. TIL,
wonder was less that he should make sucl
assertions than that nearly all Europ,
should believe him By clever splritualisti