The Humbugs of the World: An Account of Humbugs, Delusions, Impositions, Quackeries, Deceits and Deceivers Generally, in All AgesBarnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor)
General
The Humbugs of the World: An Account of Humbugs, Delusions, Impositions, Quackeries, Deceits and Deceivers Generally, in All Ages
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor)
Impostors and imposture
statesmen!" thought Jewett, "help us by your counsels in this the day of
our nation's great distress." Next Henry Clay's outline was faintly
shown from the tomb, and here the sitter remarked that he expected him.
After him came Stephen A. Douglas, and the whole affair was so entirely
satisfactory to Jewett, that, after paying fifty dollars for what he had
witnessed, he, the next day, implored the presence of George Washington,
offering fifty dollars more for a "spiritual" sight of the "Father of
our Country." This request smote upon the ear of the photographer like
an invitation to commit sacrilege. His reverence for the memory of
Washington was not to be disturbed by the tempting offer of so many
greenbacks. He could not allow the features of that great man to be used
in connection with an imposture perpetrated upon so deluded a fanatic as
Colorado Jewett. In short, the "conditions" were unfavorable for the
apparition of "General Washington;" and his visitor must remain
satisfied with the council of great men that had been called from the
spirit world to instill wisdom into the noddle of a foolish man on this
terrestrial planet. Having failed to obtain, by the agency of the
operator, a glimpse of Washington, Jewett clasped his hands together,
and sinking upon his knees, said, looking toward Heaven: "O spirit of
the immortal Washington! look down upon the warring elements that
convulse our country, and kindly let thy form appear, to lend its
influence toward re-uniting a nation convulsed with civil war!"
It is needless to say that this prayer was not answered. The spirit
would not come forth; and, although quieted by the explanations and half
promises of the photographer, the peace-messenger departed, convinced
that he had been in the presence of five great statesmen, and saddened
by the reflection that the shade of the immortal Washington had turned
away its face from those who had refused to follow the counsels he gave
while living.
Soon after this, Jewett ordered duplicates of these photographs to the
value of $20 more. I now have on exhibition in my Museum several of the
veritable portraits taken at this time, in which the well-known form and
face of Mr. Jewett are plainly depicted, and on one of which appears the
shade of Henry Clay, on another that of Napoleon the First, and on
others ladies supposed to represent deceased feminines of great
celebrity. It is said that Jewett sent one of the Napoleonic pictures to
the Emperor Louis Napoleon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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