by Jim Murphy
“Sunday was a crusher . . . ” Syracuse Daily Standard, October 25, 1869.
“were compelled . . . ” Syracuse Daily Courier, October 25, 1869.
“The proprietors of the . . . ” Syracuse Daily Courier, November 2, 1869.
“It is the opinion of Mr. Owen . . . ” Rochester Democrat, October 20, 1869.
“Will anyone say . . . ” Syracuse Daily Standard, November 1, 1869.
“Is it not strange . . . ” White, Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White, Vol. 2, p. 472.
“It is positively absurd . . . ” Syracuse Daily Standard, October 21, 1869.
“May not a wandering sculptor . . . ” Syracuse Daily Journal, November 2, 1869.
“The Giant . . . is a statue . . . ” Syracuse Daily Journal, October 26, 1869.
“The statue, being colossal . . . ” Syracuse Daily Standard, October 21, 1869.
“Altogether, it is the most remarkable . . . ” Syracuse Daily Journal, October 26, 1869.
“The Syracuse people . . . ” New York Commercial Advertiser, October 21, 1869.
VI: Embarrassing Accusations
Rumors that the statue might be a fraud began almost immediately as stated in Syracuse Daily Journal, October 19, 1869. Also see Rankin, The Giantmaker, pp. 183–187.
Information about George Hull was found in Anonymous, The Cardiff Giant Humbug; Rankin, The Giantmaker; and Tribble, A Colossal Hoax.
Discussions about how often hoaxes were perpetrated in western New York State were found in The Knickerbocker 46, no. 5 (November 1855), p. 532; Syracuse Daily Standard, October 18, 1869; New York Herald, October 21 and 25, 1869.
The Thomas B. Ellis letter that spoke about Jules Geraud and his statue appeared in New York Herald, October 25, 1869.
“Why, all this show and parade . . . ” Syracuse Daily Standard, November 2, 1869.
“Those eyes looked right at us . . . ” Tribble, A Colossal Hoax, p. 33.
“The grossest, foulest . . . ” Ezra Champion Seaman, The American System of Government (New York: Charles Scribner & Co., 1870), p. 53.
“Western New York . . . ” New York Herald, October 25, 1869.
“A STUPENDOUS HOAX . . . ” New York Herald, October 25, 1869.
“It has the marks of the ages . . . ” Anonymous, The American Goliah, p. 30.
“His good character . . . ” Syracuse Daily Journal, October 28, 1869.
“Lacking greatly in the upper story . . . ” Syracuse Daily Standard, October 30, 1869.
“As I have looked upon this wonderful object . . . ” Syracuse Daily Courier, October 20, 1869.
“Joy in believing . . . ” White, Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White, Vol. 2, p. 466.
VII: The Ugly Truth
Details about the creation of the Cardiff Giant, its transportation, and its burial were found in Rankin, The Giantmaker; The History of Sauk County, Wisconsin (Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1880), pp. 549–550; Anonymous, The Cardiff Giant Humbug, pp. 16–17, 19, 20–21, 23, 32; “The History of the Cardiff Giant Hoax,” New Englander and Yale Review 34, no. 133 (October 1875), p. 764; Syracuse Daily Journal, January 29, 1870.
Details about the Feejee Mermaid were located in Barnum, The Life of P. T. Barnum, Written by Himself, pp. xvii–xviii and 214–245; and Bondeson, The Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays on Natural and Unnatural History, pp. 36–63.
The primitive state of archaeology, geology, paleontology, and other sciences in the United States was found in Tribble, A Colossal Hoax, pp. xi, 19–20, 24–25, 105–106, and 193.
“We live in the midst . . . ” The Reverend Benjamin Martin’s remarks were made in “Science and the Scriptures,” a discourse before the New-York Alpha of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, delivered at Union College, Schenectady, July 27, 1852.
“Americans . . . were easy targets . . . ” Kasson, John F., Civilizing the Machine: Technology and Republican Values in America, 1776–1900, p. xii–xiv.
“Geologists say it was at one time a lake . . . ” “He made the Giant,” The Reading Eagle, Sunday, February 10, 1889, p. 2.
VIII: A Giant Move
The removal of the Cardiff Giant from Newell’s farm and his installation in Syracuse are detailed in Syracuse Daily Journal and Syracuse Daily Courier, November 6, 1869; and Syracuse Daily Standard, November 6 and 8, 1869. Also see Rankin, The Giantmaker, pp. 235–236.
The poem “Take Him Up Gently” comes from Syracuse Daily Courier, November 6, 1869.
Information about the Industrial Revolution and its effect on rural communities was found in Garraty, The Young Reader’s Companion to American History, pp. 144, 375–376, 432–433, and 654–655, as well as from Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, and Frank M. Turner, The Western Heritage (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, Prentice Hall, 2004), pp. 453, 744–746, 750–752, and 756–759.
Crowd estimates were found in Syracuse Daily Journal, November 9, 14, and 15, 1869; and Syracuse Daily Standard, November 12 and 13, 1869.
The contract for sale of part interest in the giant to John Rankin was found in John C. Rankin papers, 1857–1963, 1869–1902, Broome County Historical Society, Broome County Public Library, Binghamton, NY.
“For the present . . . ” Syracuse Daily Journal, November 4, 1869.
“The future having failed them . . . ” Kasson, Civilizing the Machine, pp. xii–xiv.
“[The Giant] had the potential . . . ” Kasson, Civilizing the Machine, pp. 133.
IX: Enter Barnum
Information about P. T. Barnum, how he arranged to acquire his own statue, and how he displayed it in New York was located in the following sources: Barnum, Funny Stories Told by Phineas T. Barnum, pp. 332–333; Rankin, The Giantmaker, pp. 279, 283–285, 293–297; A Giant Hoax, pp. 146–147; Daily Evening Bulletin, December 17, 1869; Syracuse Daily Courier, December 8, 1869; Syracuse Daily Journal, December 4, 1869; New York Sun, December 7 and 22, 1869; New York Commercial Advertiser, December 7 and 11, 1869; New York Evening Post, December 7, 1869; and New York Tribune, December 6 and 11, 1869.
More can be found on how the owners of the original Cardiff Giant reacted to Barnum’s imitation, and the subsequent lawsuit in Rankin, The Giantmaker, p. 319; Albany Evening Journal, December 7, 1869; New York Sun, December 22, 1869; New York Tribune, December 13 and 14, 1869; and Syracuse Daily Courier, December 17, 1869.
Information about the giant face-off and how Barnum triumphed was found in New York Commercial Advertiser, December 18, 1869; New York Sun, December 22, 1869; Syracuse Daily Standard, December 29, 1869; and Syracuse Daily Journal, December 18, 20, and 21, 1869; January 4, 6, 12, 21, and 29, 1870; and February 5, 1870.
“His stone majesty” Tribble, A Colossal Hoax, p. 165.
“imitation of the original” Tribble, pp. 167–168.
“[Carl Franz Otto] was led to make this attempt . . . ” Syracuse Daily Journal, November 13, 1869.
“A MOST IMPRESSIVE . . . ” New York Daily Tribune, December 6, 1869.
“We forbear to distinguish . . . ” New York Herald, December 7, 1869.
“Truth is mighty and must prevail . . . ” New York Commercial Advertiser, December 11, 1869.
“A plaster cast . . . ” New York Daily Tribune, December 13, 1869.
“It is rather rich . . . ” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 14, 1869.
“Two men of gypsum . . . ” New York Commercial Advertiser, December 18, 1869.
“Barnum has thus . . . ” New York Sun, December 22, 1869.
X: Giant Problems All Around
Fillmore Smith’s letter appeared in Syracuse Daily Courier, October 29, 1869.
John Boynton’s responses to Smith’s letter appeared in Syracuse Daily Courier and Syracuse Daily Journal, November 17, 1869.
O. C. Marsh’s recollections about his investigation of the Cardiff Giant first appeared in Buffalo Courier, November 29, 1869; and reprinted in Syracuse Daily Courier, November 30, 1869; and in New York Herald and New York Sun, December 1, 1869.
Ezra Walrath had been an e
ditor at the Syracuse Daily Courier, but was in the real estate and loan business when the Cardiff Giant was discovered. He also kept the financial records for Hull’s various businesses, so he knew Hull very well. According to Rankin, The Giantmaker, pp. 152, 190, 221–222, and 250–251, he joined an anti–Cardiff Giant group composed of the men who had been rejected in their bid to buy the giant, and later accepted Hull’s offer to write a book about the hoax.
Information about the rush of the owners to sell their shares of the Cardiff Giant was found in Tribble, A Colossal Hoax, pp. 196–198.
Details about Carl Otto’s other imitation giants were located in Syracuse Daily Journal, December 18, 20, and 21, 1869; January 4, 6, 12, 21, and 24, 1870; and February 5, 1870.
Information about business law was obtained from informal discussions with Lawrence Solan, and Don Forchelli Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School.
Details about the various Cardiff Giant imitations were located in Tribble, A Colossal Hoax, pp. 221–222.
“Now let me ask . . . ” Syracuse Daily Standard, October 30, 1869.
“The Doctor frankly confessed . . . ” Syracuse Daily Standard, November 23, 1869.
“Dr. Boynton [is] not a high authority . . . ” This quote was originally published in the Worcester Spy and reprinted in Syracuse Daily Courier, November 24, 1869.
“I believe the Cardiff Giant is made of that great block of gypsum . . . ” The Cardiff Giant Humbug, p. 30.
“A certain person . . . ” Syracuse Daily Courier, December 1, 1869.
XI: A Giant Farewell
Information about the Cardiff Giant’s trip to Boston and its examination by Ralph Waldo Emerson and other notable individuals was located in Rankin, The Giantmaker, pp. 326–329; Boston Morning Journal, January 25 and 26, 1870; Boston Daily Evening Transcript, January 27, 1870; and Boston Post, January 26 and February 7, 1870.
Gott’s purchase of the giant and its subsequent wanderings were found in Lowell Daily Citizen and News, May 23 and 31, and June 3, 1870; Syracuse Daily Journal, July 20, 1870, December 5, 1870, June 3, 1871, and July 19, 1871; Utica Press, September 20, 1924; New York Daily Tribune, September 21, 1871; Syracuse Herald, August 5, 1913; and in a clipping entitled “Cardiff Giant Now Stored in a Barn,” New-York Historical Society, 1913.
“A big thing . . . ” Boston Post, January 24, 1870.
“With a microscope . . . ” Rankin, The Giantmaker, pp. 326–329.
“Our readers are familiar . . . ” Boston Morning Journal, January 25, 1870.
“We now have ample proof . . . ” Syracuse Daily Journal, January 24, 1870.
“The behavior of Hull . . . ” New York Daily Tribune, reprinted in The Christian Union, March 27, 1870.
“vulgar fraud . . . ” Albany Evening Journal, December 15, 1869.
“And who is not tired . . . ” Syracuse Daily Journal, February 8, 1870.
XII: A Final Resting Place
What happened to the various people involved in creating and exhibiting the Cardiff Giant is nicely summarized in Tribble, A Colossal Hoax, pp. 189–191, 192, and 196–198.
Stephen Thorne’s financial troubles were discussed in Utica Press, September 20, 1924.
Westcott’s death is noted in Syracuse Daily Journal, July 7, 1873.
Information about the writing of The Giantmaker was found in Tribble, A Colossal Hoax, pp. 191–192 and 228–229.
Details about Hull’s Colorado Giant hoax were found in Conant, History of the Geological Wonder of the World, pp. 2–8; Tribble, A Colossal Hoax, pp. 204, 205–206 and 207–208; New York Daily Tribune, October 5, 1877, and January 24, 1878; New-York Semi-Weekly Tribune, March 8, 1878; Daily Rocky Mountain News, December 16, 1877, and January 27, 1878; New York Herald, December 8, 1877; and New York Times, December 16, 1877, and January 27, 1878.
A discussion of the Gilded Era and its excesses can be found in Garraty, The Young Reader’s Companion to American History, pp. 711–712.
More can be learned about the positive changes following the Gilded Age in Tribble, A Colossal Hoax, pp. 233–235.
The sale of the giant to Gardner Cowles Jr. is recounted in Gardner Cowles, Mike Looks Back (New York: Gardner Cowles, 1985), pp. 56–57.
“It is appropriate that this American belly laugh . . . ” You can learn more about the Farmers’ Museum at http://www.farmersmuseum.org.
You can see the original Cardiff Giant’s only existing rival at http://marvin3m.com.
Details about the National Geographic Society and the 1999 fraud can be found in Christopher Sloan, “Feathers for T. rex?” National Geographic 196, no. 5 (November 1999), 98–107; Simons, Lewis M., “A Fossil Trail,” National Geographic 198, no. 4 (October 2000), pp. 128–132. Storrs Olson’s letter about the hoax can be found at http://dml.cmnh.org/1999Nov/msg00263.html.
“We have always felt confident . . . ” Syracuse Daily Journal, October 2, 1877.
“I made many mistakes . . . ” Galveston Daily News, January 2, 1878.
“The world must confess . . . ” New York Daily Tribune, September 21, 1871.
“As I contemplated . . . ” Cleveland Daily Herald, reprinted in the Syracuse Daily Journal, August 12, 1881.
“The Cardiff Giant brought out the worst in these folks . . . ” White, Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White, p. 476.
“pointed the way to reform . . . ” Tribble, A Colossal Hoax, pp. 234–235.
“peculiarly American superstition . . . ” White, Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White, p. 476.
“There is now no more excuse . . . ” This quote was found in Theodore Roosevelt, The Works of Theodore Roosevelt: Presidential Addresses and State Papers (New York: P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), pp. 1344–1345.
Other Famous Hoaxes
Johann Beringer: Jahn, Melvin. “Beringer, Johann Bartholomaeus Adam,” Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970), Vol. 2, pp. 15–16. Stephani, Dain, “Histories: Johann Beringer and the Fraudulent Fossils,” New Scientist, no. 25 (December 2009).
Charles Dawson: Russell, Miles. Piltdown Man: The Secret Life of Charles Dawson (London: Tempus, 2004).
Shinichi Fujimura: Feder, Kenneth. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology (New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities, 2008).
David Wyrick: Marder, William. Indians in the Americas: The Untold Story (San Diego, CA: The Book Tree, 2005), p. 48.
The following bibliography contains books, pamphlets, and articles about the Cardiff Giant.
Anonymous. The American Goliah: A Wonderful Geological Discovery. Syracuse, NY: Redington & Howe, 1869. An online version is available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6869.
Anonymous. The Cardiff Giant Humbug: The Complete and Thorough Exposition of the Greatest Deception of the Age. Fort Dodge, IA: North West Book and Job Printing Establishment, 1870.
Anonymous. The Onondaga Giant, or the Great Archaeological Discovery. Syracuse, NY: Nottingham & Tucker, 1869.
Barnum, P. T. Funny Stories Told by Phineas T. Barnum. New York: Routledge & Sons, 1890.
Bondeson, Jan. The Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays in Natural and Unnatural History. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999.
Boning, Richard A. The Cardiff Giant. Baldwin, NY: Dexter & Westbrook, 1972.
Carmer, Carl. Listen for a Lonesome Drum: A York State Chronicle. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1936.
Conant, William A. History of the Geological Wonder of the World: A Petrified Pre-Historic Human Being. New York: Wynkoop & Hallenbeck, 1877.
Drummond, A. M., and Robert E. Gard. The Cardiff Giant: A Chapter in the History of Human Folly, 1869–1870. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1949.
Dunn, James T. The True, Moral and Diverting Tale of the Cardiff Giant or the American Goliath. Cooperstown, NY: Farmers’ Museum, 1954.
Franco, Barbara. The Cardiff Giant: A Hundred Year Old Hoax. Cooperstown, NY: New York State Historical Association, 1969.
&n
bsp; Kimball, Gwen. The Cardiff Giant. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1966.
McKinney, W. A. “The History of the Cardiff Giant Hoax.” New Englander and Yale Review 34, no. 133 (October 1875): 759–769.
Rankin, John. The Giantmaker or The Mist of Mystery, A True Story. 137, item 72, John C. Rankin papers, 1857–1963, 1869–1902, Broome County Historical Society, Broome County Public Library, Binghamton, NY.
Sears, Stephen W. “The Giant in the Earth.” American Heritage 26, no. 5 (August 1975): 94–99.
Stockwell, G. A. “The Cardiff Giant and Other Frauds.” Popular Science Monthly 74, no. 13 (June 1878): 197–203.
Summers, James L. The Cardiff Giants. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1964.
Tribble, Scott. A Colossal Hoax: The Giant From Cardiff That Fooled America. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2009.
Vance, Arthur T. The Real David Harum: The Wise Ways and Droll Sayings of One “Dave” Hannum, of Homer, N.Y., the Original of the Hero of Mr. Westcott’s Popular Book — How He Made and Lost a Fortune — His Many Deeds of Charity — Amusing Anecdotes about Him. New York: Baker and Taylor, 1900.
White, Andrew Dickson. Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White. New York: Century Co., 1905.
What follows are books, articles, and websites used to gather historical and cultural information for my book.
Anderson, Ann. Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones: The American Medicine Show. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2000.
Barnum, P. T. The Life of P. T. Barnum, Written by Himself. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2000.
Blinderman, C. The Piltdown Inquest. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1986.
Bruce, Robert V. The Launching of Modern American Science, 1846–1876. New York: Knopf, 1987.
Callow, Alexander B., Jr. The Tweed Ring. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.
Cashman, Sean Dennis. America in the Gilded Age: From the Death of Lincoln to the Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: New York University Press, 1984.
Dennett, Andrea Stulman. Weird and Wonderful: The Dime Museum in America. New York: New York University Press, 1997.
Farquhar, Michael. A Treasure of Deception: Liars, Misleaders, Hoodwinkers, and the Extraordinary True Stories of History’s Greatest Hoaxes, Fakes, and Frauds. New York: Penguin Books, 2005.