Believe It or Not

On Christmas Day, 1893, in Santa Rosa, Calif., was born a man who has been called a liar more often than any living U. S. inhabitant. His name is Robert L. ("Rip") Ripley. His peculiar ability is to say things that sound like lies, and then prove them to be absolutely true. His medium is a cartoon entitled "Believe It or Not," which appears daily in the New York Evening Post and 100 other newspapers. His greatest hornswoggling of the "lie"-hurlers was a drawing of Charles Augustus Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis bearing the caption: "Lindbergh was the 67th man to make a non-stop flight over the Atlantic Ocean." Three thousand indignant letter-writers demanded that Mr. Ripley apologize. He calmly informed them that Alcock and Brown made a nonstop flight between Newfoundland and Ireland in 1919, that 31 men were aboard the English dirigible Rj4 on its trans-Atlantic flight in 1919, that 33 men were aboard the German Z^-j (Los Angeles) on its trip from Germany to Lakewood, N. ]., in 1922.

Other famed statements of Mr. Ripley are:

"A Bhutan woman gave birth to a boy at the age of 82."

''It cost $7,296 to discover America."

"Joseph Mayott of California lost 6 inches in height in 6 years."

"Thorn McAn has been robbed 252 times."

"The blind worm is not a worm, nor is it blind."

"Panama hats are not made in Panama."

"August the Strong, King of Saxony and Poland, was the father of 354 children."

"Charles M. Allen of Meriden, Conn., found 126 pearls in one oyster."

"Bill Harrigan of Kansas City was too fat to be placed in jail. He was freed because no cell could be found to fit him."

"Hissing is the only sound in nature which makes no echo."

Last week, Mr. Ripley's "Believe It or Not" contained an item which caused amazement to many a student of human anatomy. The item: "Marechal de Bas-sompierre poured 13 [pint] bottles of wine into a vase and drank it in one breath--as a toast to the 13 cantons of Switzerland." Mr. Ripley had proof for this statement in French histories, which told how Marechal de Bassompierre, famed convivial, was sent by King Louis of France in 1625 to recruit Swiss guards and gain a pledge of allegiance from the Swiss cantons. Two Manhattan physicians, last week, said that the medieval historians had exaggerated, for it is impossible for the human system to hold 13 pints of any liquid at any given moment, and also impossible to drink more than 5 pints in one breath.

Mr. Ripley began drawing "Believe It or Not" eight years ago in the old New York Globe. Today, he employs a linguist, two readers, a secretary; receives an average of 1,000 letters a week. He has traveled in 53 countries in search of material. Simon & Schuster will soon publish "Believe It or Not" in book form.