DELIBERATE HOAX

Taranaki Daily News, 18 October 1927, Page 9

DELIBERATE HOAX

DR. LOGAN'S SWIM A FAKE CHANNEL CROSSED IN BOAT WAS WRAPPED IN BLANKET —l PROOF OF NEED FOR CHECK By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, Oct. 16. The News of *the 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 commission to check the claims of Channel swimmers. She handed back the cheque for £lOOO she had received from the News of the World as a prize for beating Miss Ederle’s record. Dr. Logan, who had previously sworn an affidavit to the crossing, walked into the office of Sir Elmsley Carr, editor of the News of the World, and said: "I called to ask if you still believe I really swam the Channel, because I did nothing of the kind. I want you to tell the world, but I hope the public will forgive the deception, which was aimed at showing that the liew summer craze has unparalleled opportunities for hoodwinking. It will be noticed that my statements were confined to the beginning and end of the swim. There is no reference to mid-Channel.”

Dr. Logan continued; “I reached (Iris Nez in darkness and the 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 I could not swim the Channel that night, so I was taken out at 9.30 and I returned to the cabin. The pilot wanted me to resume at daylight, but 1 waited till eight o’clock, in order to be Been landing so, in full view of the South Foreland lighthouse, I resumed three miles from shore, landing at Folkestone.”

Ae a proof that the hoax was deliberate the News of the World inspected a letter signed by Dr. Logan and deposited in th safe of the Imperial Hotel, Hythe, before starting. The letter read: “I declare that, if the conditions are favourable, I hope to swim the Channel straightforwardly and without assistance. If they are unfavourable I will cross somehow, in order to prove the necessity for independent •umpires. I undertake, if there is a fake, to publish the full facts within a month.”

Dr. Logan explains that she used the fictitious name of McLellan primarily because she did not wish to involve the medical profession in the hoax. She admitted that the letter deposited in the safe could have been recovered by her, but her intention was so honest she did not think of directing the letter to be opened at a certain date. The ere knew everything. She only fisked them to keep silent for a month, after which they could say what they Jiked. She produced the log kept by Commander Adam, a retired nac 1 officer, in Which he recorded when and where she left and re-entered the water. The episode perturbs other Channel swimmers. Miss G.eitze is prepared to sign an affidavit, but doubts if it is now of any pse. ~ D?. says the best way to restore the prestige of British women swimmers would be to re-swim the Channel. She is willing if her expenses ar paid and official observers supplied, preferably an international board. Tcmme’s father pointed out that wellknown sportsmen supervised Tensme’s Swim. Dr. Logan's trainer, Carey, a bus driver, of Hythe, shoulders the responsibility of originating the hoax to Which he persuaded Dr. Logan to agree.

CREATION OF HOSTILE FEELING. ‘•HOW PERFECTLY SCANDALOUS.” Received Oct. 17, 8.35 pin. London, Oct. 16. A painful situation has been created by Dr. Logan’s hoax, which is hardly paralleled. Press and public comment does not conceal hostility against a woman whose standing was responsible for the unquestioned acceptance of her story. She was honoured by the British Medical Association, which tendered her a dinner at which Lord Birkenhead led the congratulations. The most outspoken view of the hoax is that expressed by Dr. Cox, secretary to the Jjledical Association, who says: “How perfectly - -andalous! It is disgraceful! I do not know what the association can do. It cannot ask the return of congratulations that were forwarded her. The incident cannot affect Dr. Logan’s medical status, but I cannot imagine that her word could ever be believed in the future. Her retention of her present position rests with the heads bf the hospitals with which she is associated.” Officials of the Swimming Association hay they did not believe the story in the first place.