The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-12-04
THE CARDIFF GIANT HOAX.
How 1t Was Prepared-Facts Which
Led to Its Discovery.

Older readers will perhaps recall the
story of the Cardiff hoax that took place
a number OF years ago. The IDEA OF
creating giant originated according 10
a despatch in the Boston Globe. with a
man named Hull, who cOntded his
plans to a friend The efforts the men
nut forth to accomplish their task were
indeed worthy of a better cause. Mich
acl Foley. who quarried the stone, de-
Scr.bes some of the difficulties.
We succeeded" he says, in detach-
ing from the bed. near Gypsum Creek, a
fragment y feet long, four feet wide
and % inches thick. The next problem
was how to move this immense rock; 1t
was a matter of 40 miles from Gypsum
Creek to the nearest railway station.
Three transfers who UNDERSTOOD the job,
gave up in despair. Finally, with the
aid of an old ditching machine and
subsidy of 1925 to the new teamSters, we
succeeded at the end of 20 days, in load
ing this 1000 pounds of stone on rall-
way fiat car and enjoyed the satisfaction
of seeing it start, consigned to r. Burg
hardt, Chicago, III.
'sBurghardt was in the game. The
block was removed to his barn, and
German sculptor named Sale and an
other named Markham began the work
of chiseling out the giant. To give the
giant water-WOrn appearance, HUI
filled a sponge with water and sand and
for weeks rubbed the gypsum until 1t
took on a fair resemblance of antiquity.
Pores in the giants skin were made by
pounding the image with lead hammer
filled with darning needles. With all
this the statute still looked fresh. 80
Hull washed the surface with a gallon
of ink. and 5tils whole was reTya shed With
sulphuric acid. . -,
This is as far as Foley's story carried
the Cardiff giant. Hull was compelled
To take in new conspiratOrs. He turned
L. -,
ell. who lived in Cardiff, New York, and
the two selected a spot near the barn
where we'll had been started. There
the statue was buried
\ year was allowed to pass, then the
| discovery was made. Acting under
instructions from Hull, Newell began
to dig his well. While excavating, one
mans shovel struck a hard substance.
As he cleared the earth away from a
massive stone foot, another exclaimed !;
Jerusalem. It's a big Injun!"
Then the entire country heard of the
wonder. The first men of scientific repu-
tation to examine the fossil were four
doctors. who pronounced the statue a
petrefactiOn.
1t was not long before they sold the
statue for a sum reported as ranging
from 100000 to $4,000. A Snowman
was placed in charge of the statue. The
Cardiff giant Immediately became the
sensation of the day. Scientific men
came to inspect it. Without exception,
at first they pronounced it genuine. n
wonderful race of men had been discov-
| cred.
The giant had cost Hull and his as
sociates $4,000. They had sold it prob
| ably for $4,000. Thousands were rush
ing in to see the wonderful curio. The
prehistoric man was yielding revenue
| equal to seven per cent interest on. a
$1,000 900 investment. Finally voice
was lifted in protest, the voice of Prof.
| O. c. Marsh of Yale. He argued that,
although gypsum is soluble in 400 parts
of water yet the surface of the giant
was smooth and little dissolved, though
surrounded by wet earth, thus proving
that the burial must have been recent:
! 1t last the COnfcderates began to fall
out One had not received what he be
! lipYcd to be his share; another had
! ''squealed." People who had watched
! the suspicious strangers about the gyp-
sum beds and had seen the huge block
start eastward put two and two to-
gether.
Hull had enriched himself, and Foley
had returned to Fort Dodge and invested
in Iowa real estate. All who had foisted
the scheme on the public were prosper
ing and that was the main thing which
they cared for-the giant might go tc
I