The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-08-22

the talk of New York. But more was 10 follow
for the next days account introduced the Suns
readers TO new regions Of the moon-the Vaga-
bond mountains, the Lake of Death craters Of
extinct volcanoes and luxurious forests divided
by open plains in which waved an ocean Of
verdure, and which were probably prairies like
those of North America" OF animals there were
classified mine species of mamalia and five of
Oviparia." But the Suns readers were waiting
eagerly TO know if there was human life on the
distant planet, and on August % that curiosity
was satisfied. The astronomers were looking
upon the cliffs and crags of a new part of the
satellite: But whilst gazing upon them we were
thrilled with establishment to perceive four sue
cessive focks of birds descend with a slow even
motion from the cliffs on the western side and
alight upon the plain About half of the first
party had passed from our canvas but of all
the others we had a perfectly distinct and de-
Iberate view. They averaged four feet in
height were covered, except the face, with
short and glossy copper-colored hair, and had
wings composed of thin membrane, without
hair, lying snugly upon their backs, from the
top of the shoulders to the calves of the legs.
The face, which was of a yellowish flesh
color, was slight Improvement upon that Of
the orang-utan, being more open and intelligent
in its expression and having much greater
panse of forehead. The mouth, however, was
very prominent, though somewhat relieved by a
thick beard upon the lower jaw, and by lips
far more human than those of any species of the
Simia genus These creatures evidently
engaged in conversation; their gesticulation,
more particularly the varied action of the hands
and arms, appeared imprisoned and emphatic.
We hence inferred that they were rational be-
ings, and, although not so high an order as 9TH
ers which we discovered the next month the
shores of the Bay of Ranbows, that they were
capable Of producing works of art and con-
uivance We scientifically denominated them
the vespertilio-homo, or man-bat; and they are
doubtless innocent and happy creatures"
The Suns circulation sky-rocketed to 1900,
to 10000, TO 1S,O0o-on up TO Is, $780, the largest
of any daily in the world" Its press had to
run 10 hours day to turn out enough papers
TO meet the demand. People waited in the
streets until o'clock in the afternoon to get
their copy Of the Sun and read about the newest
wonders therein unfolded. And there was more
TO comet
The next installment comprising IL 900 words
was printed on the three succeeding days In it
was revealed the discovery of the great Temple
of the Moon built of polished sapphire with a
roof of some yellow metal supported by columns
40 feet high and six feet in diameter. In the
valley of the temple a new set of man-bats was
discovered Then one night, when the astron-
omers finished work they neglectfully left the
telescope facing the eastern horizon The rising
sun burned hole Is feet in circumference
through the rejecting chamber, and ruined part
OF the observatory. When the damage was re-
paired the moon was invisible, and the narrative
came TO an end
Although the story had ended, echoes of il
were being heard far outside the Suns circula-
ton territory-New York city. A deputation
from Yale college came hurriedly by steamboat
TO see the wonderful supplement. Some ladies
in Springfield. Mass. began collecting fund to
send missionaries TO the benighted bat-men on
the moon. Over in Paris the Sun articles were
translated into French and issued as illustrated
pamphlets The same thing was being done in
London, Glasgow-and even in Edinburgh the
home of the fictitious Supplement TO the Edin-
burgh Journal of Science"i Down in South
Africa Sir John Herschel was busy with his
telescope exploration of the heavens blissfuIIy
unaware of the discoveries" credited to him.
When he finally read the story he was overcome
and said that he could never hope 10 live I'D TO
the fame that had been heaped upon him
And then came revelation that the whole thing
was a gigantic hoaxi reporter on the New
York Journal of Commerce named Finn met a
reporter the Sun named Richard Adams
Locke Finn told Locke that his editor had in
structed him to get extra copies of the Sun con-
tanning the moon story because the Journal Of
Commerce was going TO reprint it the next day.
Don't print il right away" said Locke .You
Know, wrote that story myself
Instead of being grateful for being saved from
printing the fake, the Journal Of Commerce i'm
mediately denounced the story as hoax Other
newspapers took up the cry. one of the most
virulent in denunciation being James Gordon