Some persons, more inclined to joking than the better part of our citizens, played
rather a novel hoax upon them on thursday evening last. A bill was posted in the
streets and distributed among the people, stating that one "Don Juan Domingo Stulty"
would prove to the world that "some things can be done as well as others." and that
he intended at 4 o'clock in the afternoon to fly (italics) from the Phoenix to the
Baltimore Shot Tower. Consequently three or four thousand credulous sort of folks
assembled on the bridges over Jones' Falls, and in the vicinity of the Phoenix Shot
Tower, each curious to see the man fly, or to break his neck; either was a novel
spectacle, therefore, no one cared which. Learned dissertations were given by some
wiseacres on the art of flying - in these refined times there is no knowing what can
be done - Sam Patch-Robertson with his balloon - velocipedes - steam engines and Rail
Roads, were all named as proofs of the rapid march of science. Some old women shook
their heads, and had the boldness to doubt when they saw the immense height and great
distance of the two towers. - At Length the clock struck four - every eye turned
towards the spot from whence the second Icarus was to take his flight. Fathers might
be seen runnning with a score of children to obtain some convenient place for the
little ones, so that they might see all - old women, young women, men, boys and all
were crowded, en masse (italics), looking anxiously from tower to tower - but, alas!
no Don Juan Domingo Stulty appeared - and in the course of an hour, the people began
really (italics) to think it was a hoax and so went home and attended to their
business - Minverva - (A Hoax - Adams Sentinel, Gettysburg, Aug. 24 1830)
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