Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-11-04
THE GREAT BALLOON HOAX.
How Edgar Allen Poe Fooled the
World In 1874.

The recent attempt of Walter Well
man to cross the Atlantic ocean In
dirigible balloon, and the admission
last week Of Edgar Allen Poe to the
Hall of Fame, recall one Of the great
est fakes in history. Poe came to New
York from Philadelphia in 1874. His
wife was Ill and he was without en-
ployment. He had just 81 and he was
determined to make some money. He
wrote the great balloon hoax and sold
it to the New York Sun. That paper
published the story as fact on April
13, 1874, and the whole world was
amazed. The story related that a
Monck Mason had invented steer
ing balloon in which he had crossed
the Atlantic ocean in three days
Mason carried seven passengers
among them Robert Holland, Harri-
son Ainsworth, well-known author;
Sir George Cayley and others
Scientists In America and Europe nas-
tened to congratulate the aeronaut,
but before the hoax was exposed Poe
himself confessed the fake. The story
occupied four columns of detailed in
formation. and shows the brill'an
imagination of the unfortunate ne
Here are some extracts from the
story, showing the wealth of detail
that fooled the public:
The great problem is at length
solved The air, as well as the earth
and the ocean, has been Subdued by
science and will become a common
and convenient highway for mankind
The Atlantic has been actually crossed
in a balloon! and this, too, without
ificul,y-without any great APP
parent danger-with thorough con-
troll of the machine-and in the in
conceivably brief period of seventy
five hours from shore to shore! BY
the energy Of an agent at Charleston
S. c.. we are enabled to be the first
to furnish the public with detailed
account of this most extraordinary
voyage. the 9Th, instant at IL a. m,
and . p. m. on Tuesday, the 9Th in
stant by Sir Everard Bringhurst. Mr.
Osborne, nephew of Lord Bentinck $;
Mr. Monck Mason and Mr.. Robert
Holland. the well-knOwn aerOnaut;
Mr.. Harrison Ainsworth, author OF
Jack Sheppard" &c, and Mr.. Hen
son. the protector of the late unSuc-
cessful flying machine-with two
seamen from WOolwich-in all
eight persons. The particulars fur
nished below may be relied on as
authentic and accurate in every re-
spect. as with slight exception they
are copied verbatim from the joint
diaries of Mr.. Monck Mason and Mr.
Harrison AinSwOrth, to whose polite
ness our agent is indebted for much
verbal information respecting the bal
loon itself. its construction and other
matters of interest. The only altera-
ton i'm the Ms. received has been
made for the purpose of throwing the
hurried account of our agent. MT
Forsyth. into a connected and intelll-
bio form.
1T was at this juncture that Mr..
Munck Mason (whose voyage fr0h!
Dover to Wellburg in the balloon
Nassau OccasiOned so much excitement
in 1880 conceived the idea of en-
ploying the principle of the Archime-
dean screw for the purpose of propul-
sion through the air-rightly attribut-
ing the failure of Mr.. HenSOn's scheme
and of Sir George Cayley's to the in
of surface in the independ-
ent vaneS He made the first public
at Willis'S room. but af-
terward removed his model To the
Adelaide Gallery.
Like Sir George Cayley's balloon,
his own was an ellipSOid. It's length
was 13 feet 6 inches. height feet s
inches 1t contained about 800 cubic
feet of gas. which if pure hydrogen
would support u pounds upon its
first imitation before the gas has time
to deteriOrate or escape. The weight of
the whole machine and apparatus was
II pOunds--leaving about four pounds
to spare. Beneath the center of the
balloon was frame of light wood
about nine feet long and rugged on to
the balloon itself with 4 network in
the customary manner. From this
framework was suspended Il wicker
basket or car.
THE screw consists of an axis of
hollow brass tube Is inches in length.
which upon Il semi-spiral in
clned at Is degrees pass series of
steel wire radii two feet long and thus
Il foot on either side. These
radii are connected at the outer eX-
tremities by two bands of tlattened
wire. the whole in this manner form
ing the framework of the screw.
which is completed by a covering of
oiled silk cut into cores and frightened