Saturday, January 26, 2013

Ben Franklin, The Prankster...!

Many things have been written and said about ol' Ben, but here is a bit of trivia you may not know! Ben loved a good hoax!

It's said that Ben always had a good hoax in the works. Being as how his main talent was in writing and printing, he could often pull off things that others couldn't.

Native Indians Sending Scalps to the British




Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) is a renowned 18th century philosopher, man of science, and statesman . . . but he was also a prolific hoaxer. From witch trials, and prophesies, to tales of flying kites in thunderstorms, Franklin always had a hoax on the go and in the midst of the American Revolutionary War, Franklin pulled one of his best pranks.

In 1782, a mysterious newspaper called The Supplement to the Boston Independent Chronicle printed a letter revealing that Indian warriors were being paid by the British to send thousands of American scalps, including those of women and children, to the British royal family and members of parliament as trophies of war. Within days the contents of the letter had reached European shores, where people were obviously horrified.

However, it was all an elaborate trick set up by Franklin. He’d printed the paper himself and handed it out to friends, one of whom had leaked it to a contemporary on the other side of the pond. In truth, the article did its job. Franklin had always intended to turn European opinion against the British in the hope of helping the war effort and he did just that.

You have to respect a man that can pull off a prank of that magnitude, ya know? When you can change the attitude of many folks in a country, you have done something pretty cool!

Coffee on the patio this morning. The temps are supposed to be in the 80's today!

5 comments:

Phyllis (N/W Jersey) said...

That Ben was a real wascal!
Hard to remember when we last had 80 degrees - it's 6 here. Brrrr

Momlady said...

His brilliance was astounding. Apparently he was quite the stateman. Freezing rain yesterday and just above freezing today. Forecast calls for high in the 50's. Hope that's right. I need to get to the drug store.

Gorges Smythe said...

Quite the ladies man from what I've heard, too.

Dizzy-Dick said...

Did I read that correctly, that he didn't fly a kite in a lightning storm?

HermitJim said...

Hey Phyllis...
You want me to bottle up some of this sunshine and send to you? Sounds like you could use it!

This is one reason to live in the south!

Thanks for coming over today!


Hey Momlady...
I hate that freezing rain! Hope it warms up enough for you to get out and about!

Thanks for dropping by today!


Hey Gorges...
Seems like he impressed the ladies in France and in England! I don't know just what his secret was, but from what I've read he was very active with the ladies!

Thanks for coming by this morning!


Hey Dizzy...
I saw a piece on the History channel the other day that said he didn't actually fly the kite, but had a helper do it. Guess we will never know for sure!

I sure appreciate you coming over today!