MARK TWAIN'S HOAX.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1052, 4 June 1912, Page 4

MARK TWAIN'S HOAX.

Mark* Twain uovur was regarded ad citipivmlly tunny m bis own town. U was um UH lie went West and bocame ut>i>oclaim yuli a now toigoltcn paper in a nirgottcu mining ccntro mat uni’ real lumioroin, "strike” was made. And it mini L look at Inst as if this would pan oiii lor nuicn. Mho paper was known as the Unoii Knteipnse, and Samuel Clejuents wan in receipt, ol the prugicosiva »uisir.v ol OS dollars per week, lie earned inn., or at least u good part ol it, says Arthur JUigelow Panic, in Harpers, through a senes of "unholy hoaxes” wlncu no conceived and edited with rare skill. the lirst. and one of the best ol these, was that ot '‘Mho i'etnlied Man.” ill’ L'etriheu .Man hoax was diivcteti a. a man named Sowall, a coroner ami justice oi the peace at Humboldt, wno uad been pompously indilterent ui tile matter of supplying news. The story, tom with great cireLunstanco and apparent care an to detail, related the Imuuii; of a petrified historic man partially embeaded in a rock, m a cave m tiio desert, more than one hundred nines from Humboldt; also how bewali Had made the perilous livc-uaj journey, ui the aiKau waste io hold an inquest over a man mat had been aead three hundred years, and now, "with, that delicacy so euaraeturioiie el him, bewail had forbidden uie miners Horn, blasting lam from liin poniuou. lire account lurtlicr staled tnal lue hands ol lue ueeeascu were arranged m a peculiar fashion, and a description ot me arrangement was so skilluliy woven in with other matters, that at mst, or even second reading ono might not see mat the position indicated was me ancient one winch begins with the mumb at the nose, and m many ages lias been used impolitely to express nuieuje apu tne word "solu.” lint the dcserij)uou was a shade "too” ingenious. me author expected that the exchanges woum sec the joke, and perhaps assist m the inn no would have with bewail. He did no. contcuipiaie a joke on tho papers menioclves. As a matter ol tact, no one sa .r me sell, and most ot the papers printed ins story ol tho petnhed man a genuine discovery. This was a sur|i,w and a momentary disappointment; mm he realised mat no had bunded better mail ne kuew. no gathered up a bundle 01 mo exchanges and sent mem to bewail; aiso no sent maiiiea copies to scieuuuc. men in \anuus parts ol the L/mteit ucates. me papers hau taken it Sellousiy; perhaps me scientists would bo as easny misled, many oi them were, ana .«wail's days became unUappy because o. ictiors received asamg ior rurther mlormatiou. .vs literature the eheet did nut p. gonuraliy it was greany regarded, and its autlior, theugli as yet umiaaneu, acquired prestige.