The names of the supposed voyagers were well chosen by Poe to give verisimilitude to the hoax. Monck Mason and Robert Holland, or Hollond, were of the small party which actually sailed from Vauxhall Gardens, London, on the afternoon of November 7, 1836, in the balloon Nassau and landed at Weilburg, in Germany, five hundred miles away, eighteen hours later. Harrison Ainsworth, the novelist, was then one of the shining stars of English literary life. The others named by Poe were familiar figures of the period. Poe adopted the plan, used so successfully by Locke in the moon hoax, of having real people do the thing that they would like to do; but there the resemblance of the two hoaxes ends, except for the technical bits that Poe was able to inject into his narrative. The moon hoax lasted for weeks; the balloon hoax for a day. Even the _Sun_ did not attempt to bolster it, for it said the second day afterward: BALLOON--The mails from the South last Saturday night not having brought confirmation of the balloon from England, the particulars of which from our correspondent we detailed in our extra, we are inclined to believe that the intelligence is erroneous. The description of the balloon and the voyage was written with a minuteness and scientific ability calculated to obtain credit everywhere, and was read with great pleasure and satisfaction. We by no means think such a project impossible. About a week later, when the _Sun_ was still being pounded by its contemporaries, a few of which had been gulled into rewriting the story, another editorial article on the hoax appeared: BALLOON EXPRESS--We have been somewhat amused with the comments of the press upon the balloon express. The more intelligent editors saw its object at once. On the other hand, many of our esteemed contemporaries--those who are too ignorant to appreciate the pleasant satire--have ascribed to us the worst and basest motives. We expected as much. The “pleasant satire” of which the _Sun_ spoke was evidently meant to hold up to view the craze of the day for speed in the transmission of news and men. Yet the _Sun_ itself, as the leader of penny journalism, had been to a great extent the cause of this craze. It had taught the people to read the news and to hanker for more. There was another story which Poe and the _Sun_ shared--one that will outlive even the balloon hoax. Almost buried on the third page of the _Sun_ of July 28, 1841, was this advertisement in agate type: Left her home on Sunday morning, July 25, a young lady; had on a white dress, black shawl, blue scarf, Leghorn hat, light-colored shoes, and parasol light-colored; it is supposed some accident has befallen her. Whoever will give information respecting her at 126 Nassau shall be rewarded for their trouble. The next day the _Sun_ said in its news columns: