GIGANTIC HOAX

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 273, 17 October 1927, Page 7

GIGANTIC HOAX

ALLEGED CHANNEL SWIM." LADY DOCTOR’S CONFESSION. REASON FOR DECEPTION. (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) Received October 17, 9.5 a.m. LONDON, Oct. 16.

The News of tho World announces that Dr Dorothy Logan did not swim the Channel at all; she merely spent nine hours in a fishing smack wrapped up in blankets in order to prove the necessity for an official international commisison to check the claims of Channel swimmers. Sho has handed back tho £IOOO cheque which she received from the News of tho World as a prize for beating Miss Ederle’s record. Dr Dorothy Logan, who had previously sworn an affidavit that she had swum across tho Channel, walked into the office of Sir EhnsJey Carr, editor of the News of tho World, and said: “I called to ask if you still believe I. really swam tho Channel' because I did nothing of the kind. I want you to tell tho world, but f liopo the public will forgive the deception, which was aimed at showing that the new summer craze has unparalleled opportunities for hoodwinking. It will be noticed that my statements were confined to the beginning and the end of the swim; there is no reference to tho mid-Channel.’-’

Dr Dorothy Logan continued: “1 reached Gris Nez in the darkness. Members of the crew agreed not to reveal anything for one month. I walked into the sea at 7.40. It was apparent to everyone that I could not swim the Channel that night so I was taken out at 9.30 and I retired to the cabin. The pilot wanted me to resume at daylight, but I waited till eight o’clock in order to be seen landing so in full view of the South Foreland lighthouse I resumed three miles from the shore, landing at Folkestone.'' As proof that the hoax was deliberate the News of the AVorld inspected a letter signed by Dr Dorothy Logan and deposited in the safe of the Imperial Hotel at Hythe before starting, stating: “I doclaro that if the conditions are favourable I hope to swim the Channel straightforwardly and unassistedly. If they are unfavourable, I. will cross somehow to prove the necessity for independent umpires. I undertake if there is a ‘fake’ to publish the fuil facts within a month.”—A. and N.Z. cable.

A few days ago it was announced that Dr Dorothy Logan had swum the Channel in 11 hours 20 minutes, a record for a, woman, beating Miss Gertrude Ederlo’s time by three hours, 19 minutes. From the first news of tho alleged fcaL however, doubt has boon expressed as to its correctness.