Dresden enterprise and Sharon tribune. (Dresden, Tenn.) 1907-1997, 1921-10-21
De ROUGEMONT
MASTER OF HOAX
fade Mistake Of Presenting HE
Fiction as Truth.
TOLD OF AAAzING ADVENTURES


'Sy o. Tie ThiFSy.Ysar Wandering
80 Convincing That De RouCsmons
Wac Invited by a Britlsh Scientific
Society to Relate He Experiences
Before That Body-soms Other
"kiddsrs" Who FooIed the Public,
A rev years ago there died In q
'ohd0n poOrhOuse man who might
1e called in gentle parlance a past
master at Kidding the world along.
Each generation considers itself wiser
IMAM the last, but the hoax goes on
forever, says Herbert w. Forster In
the New York Times. A hoax may be
anything from mean trick to a gOr-
geouS SWindle, and it is not only those,
one Of whom is born every minute,
, that get fooled. For Louis DE Rouge
mont known to the ,poorhouse authorl-
Ties as Louis Redmond, put his lmag-
nation to different use from that
OF Dickens, and paid the consequences.
Dickens Is an immortal novelist, but
DE Kougemont, who might otherwise
nave died a wealthy, perhaps an i'm
mortal, writer, made the one mistake
OF presenting his particular fiction az
truth, and the world judges harshly
OF those who trifs with its credulity.
1t was in 1898 that the Wide World
Magazine announced with pride the
serial publication Of "The Amazing Ad-
ventures Of Louis de Rougemonf," az
told by himself. He had arrived in
London on board a ship straight from
New Zealand, and he talked with con-
viction. His story makes as good read
Ing today in the old files Of that mag
azine, with its photographs of the au-
, thor and it's vivid illustrations of his es-
caEadeS, as it did in the days when it
thrilled many an English tireside
When the eat is once out it takes no
sage to tell its color.
Thus spun De Rougemont the yarn
Of his 30 years of Wanderings. He
picked the East Indies for the start
OF his pearling expedition, and in the
very first chapter the thrillers begin,
From the deck of his ship, he sees an
enormous octopus suck down ma
tive diver, who Is rescued after a
subaqueOuS battle of ten or fifteen
minutes, and then brought back to life.
A little question OF a quarter Of an
hour without breath for the diver
arOuSeS no suspicion. When left alone
one day on board, tornado blows him
out to sea, and, OF course, he Is cast
away on sandy island, where he and
his dog get along in true Crusoe style.
A family Of strange black people 10
washed up ON his private beach, and
with them he goes to the island Of
their tribe, where he is wOrShiped as
a prophecy-fulfllling god and becomes
q regular Emperor Jones.
He Fools Them All.
BY exchanging his official wife, he
acquires the devoted Yamba, who be-
comes his publicity agent and chef.
Many a black man plots his downfall,
but with willy tricks from his superior
civilization and the aid Of his dusky
spouse, he fools them all. He filings
himself into battles accOutered In true
barbarian fashion, in full regalia of
feathers and cannibal cosmetics.
Propped on his trusty stills, he rOuts
whole enemy tribe by his gigantic
stature and Stays many terrifying
beast With his good spear. He intro
duces two girls from home near the
end of his narrative, like him luckless
,aStawayS. With all due modesty he
kills the brutal chieftain who holds
them in captivity and releases them
like the princesseS from Bluebeard's
castle.
Whether Yamba becomes jealous, he
does not state. But he lets the good
old sea take care Of the girls. 1t would
have been embarrassing to account for
them on his return, and the sea can
cover a multitude Of sins without get
ting overcrOwded And then there Is
the ever-ayailable "Sail A SAIL" a
long homeward voyage, and so it Is,
dear reader, that these 30 years among
eannibals came to be told to you"
How could anyone have believed it?
Why. De R0ugemont was invited to tell
this sort of thing to British scientific
society! At last few cold, hard
words appeared In the Daily ChrOni-
Gle, and De ROugemOnt's golden bub-
bic burst. His cannlbals had been
Swiss bankers. His tropical islands
the streets of London De Rouge
mOntS 30 sensational years had been |
SDent in the routine Of a London
banking house. His breathless audi
ence scurried quickly to the smallest,
darkest places 1t could find, but the
more spOrtsmanlike admitted it was a
mighty good story after all.
Life in the Moon.
Il was in 1885 that the New York
Sun suddenly announced the building
If IN enormous telescope at the Cape
Of Good Hope by the famous astronO-
ner Sir John Herschel, which enabled
him to see life on the moon in minute
ietaiI. Astronomical facts were thrown
In to work up plausibi;'ty The re-
,orts reveled in descriptions Of the
seas and shores of the earth's satellite,
Hills of amethysts and mountains
,rinrnd with Yerdant gold Herds Of |