SOME FAMOUS HOAXES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19418, 28 August 1926, Page 2 (Supplement)

SOME FAMOUS HOAXES.

BARNUM AND HIS FREAKS. _ GRINNING MISSING LINK. "ZIP-THE WHAT IS IT?" MERMAID AND THE GIANT. When the Ringling Brothers bought the Barn urn and Bailey circus several years ago, they incidentally inherited the last P T. Barnum hoax in the' person of <• Zip—The What Is It?" "Zip ' died in New York recently, says the New York American, after 65 years of circus life, 11.0 was tho best-known '"freak" of all the circus "strange people" ant' had been presented to the public years ago by Mr. Barnum as "The Missing Link," with a head like an ice cream cone, a nose like an African ant-eater and hair on his body like a giant gorilla. The crowds stared,and marvelled and "Zip" grinned and muttered jumbled sounds like a monkey. It was not until "Zip" died that Mr. Barnum "s hoax was revealed. "Zip" was an American coloured man with a rather unusual shaped head, but the strange top-knot on his skull was a wig and the gorilla-like hair or. his body was a fake. "Zip—That What Is It ?" was neither more nor less than William Henry Johnson, and instead of coming from the .•'wilds of South Africa," he was born in 1857 in New Jersey, and a brother and sistor were at his bedside and lowed his remains to his grave in Bound Brook, K r cw Jersey. Mr.; Barnum had taken "Zip" at an early age and capitalised his peculiarlyshaped head and had added the curious. ,top-knot. and "gorilla hair," and thus had built him into a first-class "freak". The secret has been kept well until "Zips death, when the disguises were torn off and the undertaker dressed him in evening clothes and laid him in his coffin. vC,"The Fejee Mermaid."' "Zip" l's tho last of a long line of hoaxes, the most famous of which probably was P. T. Barnum's "Fejee Mermaid. "On a great flag the late Mr. Barnum had an artist paint the beautiful figure of a woman, 18ft. long, with magnificent eyes and arms, glowing cheeks, and 'flowiifg hair. On the body from the waist, lino were the scales of a fish, and finally, 4 the tail of a fish was painted. This was the glorious mermaid as Mr. Barnum advertised it to the credulous. •To. make the idea still plainer to the pnKlic, 'I Rnrnum also had a picture of three,; beautiful mermaids playing about in the water and called it "The Mermaid in Her Natural Element." To' explain haw the-showman came' into possession qf;tlVi,d great natural wonder, he also had another, painting made of a sail boat towing the capttfred marvel through the water to captivity. But the public which gazed the 18-foot beautiful mermaid on the and paid the, admission .to go and, see this extraordinary exhibit —beheld a hideous, black, shrivelled creature only 3ft. long. i, Describing the marvellous Fejee Mer-niald»-Mr» M. R. Werner, in hia "Life of Barnum,'- gays: "The face was of a monstrous ugliness, and the whole specimen, which was 3ft. long, was dried up and black. The mis-shapen arms "their hideous long fingers on the hands, were turned np and..the jiight band covered the right side of the face. The mouth was wide open, revealing bestial teeth, and the whole expression of the face gave the vivid impression that the animal had died in an 'extreme; agony which had been carefully preserved,, by its embalmers.' 1 History ol the Deception. ; M was ' what the public Saw in . instead' of Mr. Barnum's 18-foot gorgeOUs woman with the fish's body and tail; as ; ; he depicted it outside the circus. The real history of the "Fejee Marmaid" * probably was revealed in a book which Mr. Barnum came across later , on, Which'' gave an account of a Japanese frshermari'"-who joined the upper half of . a monkey, to the lower half of a fish so skilfully that the joint could foot ba seen. ■The ingenious Japanese told his fellowtownsmen that he had caught the merniaid in his net and that it had expired soon after its capture. The mermaid was xhibited in Japan, and its Japanese owner insisted that it had spoken a few words before ,it died and had made Certain predictions as to famines, epidemics and other-ills. A Dutch trader bought the mermaid; and finally sold it to an Americaptain, who took it to America, and thus it eventually fell ijito Barnum's hands; Even the field of high art has been invaded by the perpetrator of hoaxes. Perhaps .the most remarkable recent ca3e was that of "the bust of Fiora," Raid to t)b,"a; masterpiece cf Leonardo da Vinci. In-,,4910 Dr. Wilhelm Bode, the most noted art expert of Germany, and director of the Ka'ser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, discovered "the bust of Flora" in tho store of Murray Marks, a London art dealer. " Three Hundred Years Old." Dr. Bode examined it and concluded that it Was the true work of da Vinci, one of the foremost masters of the Italian' Renaissance, whose "Mona Lisa" is tho greatest art treasure of the French Government. The bust was made of wax and - delicately coloured. Leonardo had made few if any statues of that material, but that only gave added value to this one. How remarkable that a wax bust should have lasted for 300 years! Investigation showed that there was an obscure painting by Leonardo da Vinci called 1' lora. The bust was evidently : copied''from this painting, and this helped to establish its identity. The hast of "Flbra" wore a strange and enigmatic smile which was. not nnlike that of the "Mona Lisa." It was certainly Fully as enigmatic. This was, perhaps, regarded as (lie most conspicuous proof of its authenticity. , ■The., price asked by fhe denier was £B^oo,-n That was a mnrb htrgei sum in the ; art field than it is to-day Dr did not hesitate for a moment He could,, not bear (hp thought that some English or American art collector micht carry awav Leonardo's masterpiece. Dr. Bode made the bust the central at- • of the jjreat Kaiser Friedrieh M'loeiim, All tho rovaltv and nobility pyrl .fashion of Germany went to view it. 'Dr Bode. Was the favourite art expert of the then -Kaiser Wilhelm. who expressed gr'e.at' pleasure that Berlin possessed a work by ria Vinci rivalling that of Paris. A i a Cruel Kevelation. Then, a common English auctioneer a cruel revelation. He proved that the bust of " Flora " was the work of an obscure English artist named R. C. Lucas, in the early of Queen Victoria. An art patron of tip tiro© ordered the bust to Li'.' be made from fa painting Siid to be by "■'/■' ■■-, 1 - ' j - ■ - ,

Leonardo da Vinci, but of very doubtful authenticity. Mr. Lucas made it from old wax candle ends. Whon it was finished the art patron did not care for it because it was too undrapod for the teste of Queen Victoria's young days. He left it with the artist. Tho latter grew weary of having the masterpiece knocking about his studio and threw it in a cornor of the garden. There it acquired a fine " patine " and air of antiquity. These marks-of age were potent in alluring the astute Dr. Bode. After a few years it was sold by Mr. Lucas for £3 and was not heard of again until Dr. Bode bought it for the handsome feum of £B2OO. The Germans examined the bust critically and found that it had been stuffed with a selection of early Victorian bedquilt to give it solidity. Many other facts confirmed the accuracy of the auctioneer's statement. Dr. Bode, however, always insisted that it was a genuine work by Leonards da Vinci, but that Mr. Lucas had had it in his studio for repair. The Famous " Cardiff Giant." Perhaps the greatest industry ever shown in preparing a hoax was displayed in the case of the once famous " Cardiff Giant." Mr. George Hull, a tobacconist, of Binghamton, Now York, and the Rev. John Turk, of Ackley, Ohio, became involved in an argument over the cxisten e cf giants it prehistoric times.. Mr. Turk maintained strongly that they existed. lie pointed i.j the statement in the Bible thi.'. ' there were giants in those days." Mr.

Hull determined to make his adversary and others a laughing stock by inducing them to declare a block of stone to bo a gigantic human fossil. Mr. Hull spent two years in preparing bis hoax. Rle obtained a slab of Btone 13ft'. loncj, 4ft. in width and 22in. thick From this a giant form of crude but rather strange and terrifying outlines was carved. It was constructed in such a way as to raise a doubt whether it was a fossilised humiu being or a gigantic prehistoric sculpture. Mr. Hull pierced it with what looked like wormholes, rubbed it down with sand till some of the features were almost obliterated, bathed it in sulphuric acid, and gave it a course of treatment that produced the appearance of great age. The giant was then shipped to Cardiff, New York, and buried on the farm of a relative cf Mr. Hull named Newoll. It was discovered there in October, 1869, ! >y men who were digging a well. Serious scientists in America generally accepted it as a relic of prehistoric times. It was publicly exhibited in all of the principal cities of the United States and was accepted as gehuine by the leading men t f science, including the distinguished President White, of Cornell University. One clergyman even ventured the opinion thai if might be the identical pillar of salt n to which Lot's unhappy wife was changed .It was several years before the imposture was finally detected and it became known that the giant was carved fron gypsum.