......

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FRANK COWAN, 'S OTHEF i ,I

E Lucetta had mixed ancestry and traced at least Fortunately for Cowan, he landed on his honored though often-overlooked part of her family to the Huguenots of feet. Pennsylvania's Republican legislators States Senate Thetradition, American traces literary its hoax, roots a time- to Germany and the Netherlands. Young Frank elected his father to the United Pennsylvania. Benjamin Franklin Cowan received his education at Mount in 1861, and young Frank promptly joined As chair of the devised fake media stories for the Pleasant College, an early incarnation of him in Washington. Cowan Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard's Mount Pleasant Institute. Reflecting on his Committee on Patents, Edgar clerk to that body. Over Almanack to dupe friends, satirize emerging studies as a youth, Cowan cited the Eddas installed his son as was exposed American culture, and achieve political ends. among the first writings to "interest and the next few years, as well as Literary humbug, whose later practitioners excite [his] imagination." The Eddas, a body to the inner workings of Congress He also spent time in would include Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, of Old Icelandic poetry and prose composed to the Supreme Court. relieving and others, would reach its pinnacle in the between the 10th and 13th centuries, the Oval Office of land patents. An 19th century, after which modern describes the origin of the Norse from the bureaucracy rededicated communication methods and journalistic mythological world as well as chronicles the inspired Cowan subsequently oversight comomeu to make mass growth. In an impressive two-year stretch deception markedly more difficult. The Keystone State's hoax tradition between 1864 and 1866, he gained to the Westmoreland did not begin and end with Franklin, admittance and published two however. In 1867, Greensburg native County bar Curious Facts in the Frank Cowan diverted the nation's scientific tracts: of Insects (1865) and The attention from an impending History Physique of the Senate at the Constitutional crisis with news of an of the War (1865). He even found "extraordinary discovery." According ti Close publish a five-act play, 1866's The Cowan, archaeologists had found proof of .me to ree-Fold Love! Viking presence along the Potomac Rive The fortunes of the Cowan family placing them in the United States a full fi

centuries betore te voyages or _nnstopner a,,,, eU glllll n g l O . -l ) -7~i U*Ua his bid for re-election. Columbus. The idea that Vikings had exploits of heroes such as Sigurd. Cowan was year, lost succeeded sojourned within the modern United States inexorably drawn to the evocative tales of Since had the Radical had profound implications for prehistory. An adventure and exploration, and, as a youth, Lincoln in the Oval Office, of Congress, led by expansive Viking role in the ancient past wondered if he himself had descended from Republicans had necessarily diminished the legacy of the Viking forbears. It was a distinct possibility. Pennsylvania's own Thaddeus Stevens, in a war with the new American Indian-a palatable scenario for After all, Vikings had occupied portions of his been embroiled Republicans advocated many white Americans of Cowan's day. father's Scotland and Ireland for centuries President. While these the The hoax eventually was revealed, but not beginning in 795 C.E.' a hard line in the Reconstruction of Southern Democrat who before Cowan had fooled scientists, From this steady diet of marauding tales, South, Johnson, a joined Lincoln's war ticket, did not newspaper editors, and the public alike in the Cowan very early developed an irreverent and had in treating the former Confederate defining moment of a long and distinguished at times contemptuous sense of humor. He believe the public career.1 likewise cultivated a propensity for mischief, states as conquered provinces. Over Frank Cowan was born in Greensburg, or "piracy," as he later would put it. Sunday course of 1866, Johnson vetoed several key in Pennsylvania, on December 11, 1844. He was school classes kept him on the relative bills, provoking whispers of impeachment the second of three children, between older straight and narrow for a time, but eventually the halls of Congress. Edgar Cowan, who had the Civil War, sister Elizabeth and younger brother James. he learned that not everyone appreciated deviated from his party during President and His father Edgar, a Westmoreland County his brand of comedy. In fact, shortly after sided with the embattled colleagues. lawyer, came from Scotch-Irish stock, his his matriculation at Jefferson College further earned the enmity of his recourse but ancestors having arrived in Chester County in Canonsburg, the faculty expelled him Eventually, Cowan had little during the early 18th century His mother for a prank.' to join the weaker Democratic Party. After

WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA NISTORY I FALL 2007 49 Cowan's failed re-election bid, Johnson tradition of Poe and others. Ever the nominated him as minister plenipotentiary to prankster, Cowan consented and immediately Austria. In March 1867, however, the Senate sought inspiration in his long-standing "THE HOAX rejected the appointment out of apparent obsession with the Vikings. Soon, he had the political spite. Next, it was to be Frank basic outline of his story: an archaeologist EVENTUALLY Cowan's turn. After the Senate's special claiming to have found evidence of session in April, Johnson again attempted to Norsemen in America-centuries before the WAS reward the Cowan family for its support, this voyages of Columbus.' time by appointing 22-year-old Frank as In many respects, Cowan's conceit was REVEALED, his own personal secretary to manage well positioned to succeed. American science land patents.' at the time barely resembled the modern RTTT NfT profession we know today. The various nes, for the most part, lacked BEFORE rds and advanced methodology, while so-called "experts" enjoyed the enefit of university training. In fact, in COWAN HAD these days before professional certification, amateur enthusiasts FOOLED and outright quacks swelled the ranks of the community and SCIENTISTS, frequently became leading voices on public matters of science. The NEWSPAPER raw and unsettled state of American science in the first half of EDITORS, the 19th century emboldened oaxers, who repeatedly vexed scientists AND THE their manufactured curiosities as well fictional reportage.7 PTTRT.T. AT.T f all the disciplines, American A dashing Frank Cowan six years after the Viking archaeology resembled least its modern hoax. WestmorelandCounty Historical Society counterpart. Despite strides toward physical IN THE documentation and classification in E.G. With Congress adjourned, Frank Cowan Squier and E.H. Davis' Ancient Monuments of DEFINING did not expect to learn his fate until the end the Mississippi Valley (1848), American of July, or possibly even November if the archaeology remained largely an outlet for MOMENT OF Senate recessed again without taking up his armchair speculation. Much of this nomination. An interesting diversion, conjecture dealt with the identity of the so- A LONG AND however, soon presented itself. At the called "Moundbuilders," the race responsible beginning of July, Thomas Birch Florence, for the earthworks of the American South DISTINGUISHED who previously had represented and Midwest. Few antiquarians were willing Pennsylvania's First Congressional District, to concede the truth: that American Indians PUBLIC re-branded his struggling Georgetown had been responsible for their construction. newspaper The Daily ConstitutionalUnion as They considered the mounds to be beyond CAREER." the Evening Union. Florence wanted to make the artistic and architectural capability of the an according splash, and so he encouraged so-called "savage" race. Instead, early Cowan to devise a literary hoax in the grand archaeologists ascribed the construction of

50 WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY I FALL 2007 II II II lllL i, . the mounds to seafaring Vikings, Irishmen, I ~'L. 1 1 y.Jr~AkjA,~,j Phoenicians, even to a mythical indigenous white civilization. European antiquarians likewise were not immune to the romance of a white prehistory. In fact, nationalistic impulses spurred them to identify their own MONDAY AFTERNOON I I,.11 ,1E7.. races and nations as the progenitors of modern American civilization. Over the Discovery course of the 1830s, for instance, Carl C. Extraordinary Rafn, a Danish antiquarian, corresponded Below the Great Falls of hw Potomae. with New England historical societies in an hi attempt to connect their artifacts with Viking Ic ,landieWouanL,BWried iii O15, withlI lore. In 1837, he published the fruits of that Tiukt.s, Roman Coi, &, ?.xhumedj.b dialogue, AntiquitatesAmericanae. Rafn badly misinterpreted native and colonial artifacts in concluding that the "Vinland" of A Romarkable Runi [u eriptio _ Scandinavian lore was, in fact, present-day New England. He likewise interpreted A..ihtwlis,a0f 1}i6'j1b Ihefl ri~tb. t references to a "Great Ireland," a land south and west of Vinland and visited by Irish sailors, as the region between the Chesapeake " TO 0t. .tt", of Io .. ,. ii:. Bay and Florida. Rafn's seminal publication Portsit trn, through vour eoliurnw, to did lead indirectly to the discovery of a pre- near klli5ih th details of the I Idicovery, Columbian Viking settlement in t)iA ritv of WVasbington, of the remrnlns Newfoundland, though no concrete evidence of"an Ie01andle Christian woman, who of Irish settlement has ever been found. did in the year 16711 and of the inscrip- Still, modern archaeologists maintain lioin Itunlc charaeler' .hltoh marks that Norsemen likely did not sail further than the Atlantic coast of Canada. grave, the announ(oemnt or Whieh south he In the 19th century, however, Rafn's has aleady sped by telegraph through lMd-to publish a misinterpretation of the American the Now World to the archaeological record only fueled wild and the history fltet which. naterially tifeets% grossly inaccurate speculation.! by E.uro- of the. discovery ot' America On July 8, 1867, Cowan ignited the to the .poans, by adding one more proof already controversial field by publishing his many, now generally received bk. histo- literary hoax in the pages of the Evening by Union. It took the form of a letter from riana, of the extraonidinary voyago- a fictional member the dventirous Northmnen.-.without "Thomas C. Raffinnson' or (quadrant, to the eastern of Copenhagen's Royal Society of Northern cornpa5 Antiquaries. The Union gave the letter continont, five eigturles !)e- ctast of this over the front page, bumping of Columbus, and to fix complete reign fore the lauding other major stories such as the trial of John the extent of their liland expl6rations) H. Surratt, an alleged conspirator in the Af ttIft I one ditectioti ; besades, to re. Lincoln assassination, as well as the ongoing power struggle between Congress and the Frank Cowan's Viking hoax led the Union's front page news on July 8, 1867.

Libraryof Congress

WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY I FALL 2007 51 President. Raffinnson's letter followed a series of sensationalized headlines, among them "Extraordinary Discovery Below the Great Falls of the Potomac" and "A Remarkable Runic Inscription."9 Before delving into the particulars of his discovery, "Raffinnson" set the stage by reviewing earlier scholarship, much of which Cowan had adapted from Rafn and tweaked for the purposes of his narrative. In particular, Raffinson cited the discovery of the "SkAlholt Saga" in 1863 and its subsequent translation by an Englishman named "Sir Thomas Murray." This saga-a figment of Cowan's imagination-allegedly described the voyages of Hervardur south and west of Vinland, while also relating his daughter's death at the so-called "White-shirt Falls." According to Raffinnson, Murray postulated that this woman died at the Great Falls of the I Potomac, some 15 miles northwest of present-day Washington, D.C. Raffinnson himself claimed to have ventured to the Potomac region in June in search of I archaeological evidence to support this hypothesis. On June 28, while inspecting the Falls' well-known "Arrow-Head" rock, Raffinnson allegedly discovered an inscription, partially covered with lichen and I sheltered by a nearby spruce pine. The inscription contained letters from the Runic alphabet, an early Germanic script. Translated, it read: Here rests Syasy, or Suasu, the fair- haired, a person from the east of Ice- land, the widow of Kjoldr, and sister of Thorgr, children of the same father....

f , twenty-five years of age. May God make glad her soul. 1051. Raffinnson and his companions-given rney, names by Cowan that conspicuously ention his resembled those of leading American little-known stint as hoaxer. ScodThbbl scientists-immediately began to excavate the surrounding area. Soon, they unearthed

52 WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY I FALL 2007 ......

the teeth and bones of Syasy as well as a series "Raffinnson" at face value and presented it to specific accomplishments, the newspaper of trinkets and ornaments. According to the public as established fact. The Hagerstown cited Cowan's "valuable contributions to as well as his "ever Raffinnson, the discovery profoundly Mail, for instance, informed its readers in the American literature" changed notions of America's ancient past. following manner: "The discovery proves the active" pen. Both were legitimate Syasy's remains placed the Vikings in the visit of the Northmen to our shores five compliments, to be sure, though they took on modern United States and seemingly centuries before the time of Columbus, and special irony in light of the ongoing hoax. validated the sagas as historical documents. that they made explorations inland."' Still, with his appointment secured, Cowan For Raffinnson, this latter point was Demand for the Evening Union decided to reveal the truth about the colleagues. In early especially crucial. The Skdlholt Saga, in skyrocketed in the wake of Cowan's inscription to friends and aware of keeping with other Norse manuscripts, made sensational story. To further stoke interest, he August, the Union's rivals became reference to the Irish having previously and Florence collaborated on a series of the fraud and brought the truth to the settled the lands in and around Vinland. With follow-up articles. In one "biographical" masses. The Evening Star called Cowan's hoax century." Enterprising the sagas now shown to be historically piece on Raffinnson, they predicted that "the biggest sell of the accurate, the Irish suddenly had become the photographs of the antiquarian soon would readers soon recognized clues to the true discoverers of America and, along with grace thousands of American households and deception that Cowan had left within his the Vikings, major players in the early history that his name would endure "as long as there original letter. "Thomas C. Raffinnson" of American civilization: will be an American history." On Saturday, The page of American history that treats July 13, the Union ran a special edition that of the partial occupation and explo- included all news to date on the discovery. by the North- ration of the New World While he undoubtedly inflated the number to men, five centuries before the "HE attract advertisers, Florence estimated the discoveries of Columbus, which have rendered his name immortal, is no special edition's circulation at 20,000 copies. longer a conjecture but a fact ... No With coverage so heavily focused on the EVENTUALLY longer is the discovery of America by the Potomac inscription, local wags began to Irish, in the dim distance of the panora- refer to Florence's newspaper as the Evening SOUGHT as if by the ma of history, pointed to Runic. In keeping with public demand, spectre of a dream."0 Florence and Cowan also staged a makeshift Within a matter of days, the REFUGE IN THE exhibition at the Union's offices. Cowan "Raffinnson" letter was national news. The furnished Florence with artifacts from his Chicago Daily Tribune reprinted it in full, own archaeological cabinet as well as a MANNER OF while the New York Evening Post issued a photograph of the inscription that he revised timeline of world history in light of subsequently had engineered. These items the recent discovery. A writer to HIS VIKING brought sizable crowds to the Union's offices, Massachusetts' Newburyport Herald crowed so much so that Florence eventually moved that the exploits of Scandinavian sea kings ANCESTORS, the exhibition to the more conveniently had joined "Indian barbarisms" on the "dim located Getty's Bookstore. 2 and blurred" pages of American prehistory. At the height of public fervor SAILING AWAY Raffinnson's findings likewise appeared in the surrounding the "discovery," Cowan received pages of Scientific American, the nation's word that the Senate had confirmed his TO DISTANT preeminent science journal, though the nomination as secretary to President editors of that publication exercised caution Johnson. The Union hailed the "excellent by labeling the news: "Important SHORES." appointment," praising Cowan as a "talented Archaeological Discovery - Perhaps." Still, and estimable young gentleman." Among his most publications tended to take the word of

WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY I FALL 2007 53 Mt. uain rarK, ureensburg, Pennsylvania, remains the last vestige of Frank Cowan's lifelong Viking obsession. Brian,Btko

clearly was a reference to the late Danish of Congress eventually did succeed in his mind. His first legal client was Joseph antiquarian Carl C. Rafn, who overzealously impeaching the President, though they failed Henry, secretary of the Smithsonian had situated the Vikings within New England. to remove him from office. After Johnson's Institution who publicly acknowledged the "Phillip Marsh," the man said to have death several years later, Cowan would ingenuity of Cowan's hoax. At the same time, discovered the "Skdlholt Saga" in 1863, very provide insight into the President's mindset antiquarians continued to fall prey to likely was George Perkins Marsh, one of during this time of crisis, noting that Johnson Cowan's deception, even after the truth had Rafn's foremost adherents on American maintained a spirit of optimism during been revealed. In 1868, London's shores. "Thomas Murray" likewise was public appearances but, in fact, was deeply Anthropological Review reported Raffinnson's English geographer Hugh Murray, who pessimistic about his chances before discovery as major scientific news. joined the intellectual debate over Vinland Congress. At the same time, Cowan recalled Newspaper editors obviously had not been decades earlier. While Cowan himself private moments with Johnson, including nearly as diligent in spreading the truth about remained outside the fray, those who knew one occasion in which the normally grave and the inscription as they had the lies." him attempted to explain his rationale to a taciturn President showed an unexpected A few months after completing his wider audience. As one unidentified writer to enthusiasm for Chinese history. After Ulysses studies at Georgetown, Cowan returned to HistoricalMagazine noted, Cowan simply had S. Grant succeeded the lame-duck Johnson, Greensburg. He married Harriet Jack, been "ventilat[ing] his Scandinavian lore" Cowan opened up a law practice in daughter of the late Congressman William 3 with the literary hoax. Washington. Around the same time, he Jack, and soon the couple would have their Over the next year and a half, Cowan concluded his nighttime studies at first child, daughter Lucy. Cowan focused on his new role in the White House, Georgetown Medical College and graduated simultaneously opened up medical and law managing land patents on behalf of President as president of his class in March 1869. Still, practices in Greensburg, while also launching Johnson. Along the way, he would become a for all Cowan's professional and intellectual Frank Cowan's Paper, a publication focused witness to history, as the ventures, the Runic hoax never was far from on Western Pennsylvania's native industries.

54 WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY I FALL 2007 The productive Cowan further worked to when asked why so many of his writings Odid'after the chief Norse deity and installed honor his region by amassing local folklore remained unpublished: a hammer at the estate's entrance in honor of series of concentric drives likewise and history into what eventually would Because I am a typical sea-rover in the Thor. A Hall of the Chosen of my Scandinavian became "Utgard;' "MidgardI" and "Asgard," become Southwestern Pennsylvania in Song forebears. I go from one adventurous while Cowan called the two houses "Valhalla" Story (1878). Still, this period was and voyage to another-I delight in the difficult for Cowan both personally and strenuous, in the extreme, I enjoy a bat- professionally. In 1873, after giving birth a tle of making a book ... When I finish a names to various trees and stones on the second time, his wife Harriet died, and infant book it belongs to the past while I property as well as to his pets. Cowan's home life was anything but a secret son Jack likewise succumbed a few months belong to the future, and when I fall it eccentric will be with my wounds in front and my to the residents of Greensburg. For instance, later. Frank Cowan himself fell into ill health face to the foe. he once threw a public party at his so-called during these years, and, as a result, he was Cowan even made the Vikings part of his "Hall of the Chosen," but only those citizens forced to shut down his newspaper. He daily home life, fashioning his late father's of Scandinavian ancestry were allowed access. eventually sought refuge in the manner of his hilltop estate into a living memorial to the While on one hand honoring a legitimate Viking ancestors, sailing away to distant Norsemen. He christened the hill "Mount shores. Cowan visited , , , , and and became one of the first Americans to spend any significant time in Korea. Upon his eventual return to Greensburg, Cowan wrote earl and tou menu wooprisl~ by ti- -o- -- *te''...... - -* and firmly betleve4 by many t extensively on the so-called "hermit nation'" ~true and authlentic. The h"on( describing the state of Korea's medical IKING FINE SHIP OF DEATHAD 0N. ,,.-wor of Fk,, -oof , profession, while also furnishing the State FRANK COWANR, WHOSE PASSING AWAY the time sstlinnaulIn the smithannnan tut Department with valuable information on THE BOAT ISflFSlONEflF.W and was only Sa years old. its natural resources and economic potential. Cowan also published volumes of poetry H -I-wit,--- -or-- -- , on his experiences abroad and issued linguistic tracts on the languages of the Wasionssin, 'I aSS'o~o, South Seas as well as the vernacular of cj Mt Wese ws English-speaking sailors." A In his later years in Greensburg, Cowan ERASMUS WILSON THINKS DR. COWAVN MA GRETL" continued to write prolifically while also THE BLUE BIRDS WHEN THEr COME IN THE SPRING appearing on the popular lecture circuit. Still, Ermsus Wilon, inspir by a piece dark o steries he punctured and let in in Pluto's kitchen. 7 poetry to he found eisewhIere ,n thi.. the I . And in order to maintain a But he is up against a stiff proposition he was fast becoming known as an j.t r-, and up against it so hard and paper, writes in the Pittabug (-qle. ojper a. irimr, be n- mystifled and darkened some simple things no complete tight and fat that he is asit ready to intellectual recluse. Even simple interviews as mllows shout tDr. liuk (cowan. ly and so celeverly tiut wie savants call on his friends to help him greak And so my we all, faor he i. jolly, have looked upon them reverently and away from it. - - with local newspapers became exercises in good feliow ad has hose aroun.d the puruosood them, good. Beeing that he ihad canoqield about earth seeral time,, aed through it no AMs,re bogt Is a mere side play and every lion he bad met in the way and sighing for other lions to kick aside, he heavy sarcasm and hyperbole, with the reader 11e knoes how atits. HOewa the first so liaisl as compared with other widte man to ers the bridge If death shenies and notiono, thnt he was great- boldly tackled one labeled ]It grippe., left uncertain as to when Cowan actually was that separated the royal pIlace of Korea ly surprised that his fellow-men should nd fur nigh onto a year he has been do- from the outer world, and to stand fans thin it worthy of more than a passing ing his level Ieat to get a throttle htd being serious. On one occasion, for instance, to fae wit tle high ectionr, whom notce lie doesn't. on it, hot it appseasrs that it can give the he overawed or h.vpmnotto with his lonv, Dr. Co vn'svetreome spirit i like master jiu-jilti aett cards and apades Cowan cited bad poetry as the cause of a flowing, now-wlite bairei, o t ly to iead to his undoing her onamtl, and win easily. man of blood f.11. a -unt yl ippel .nd h " i 5o tevl bt it wi Yes, he is up agaist Is grippe. current illness. At the same time, he him as an &raefat mione do-sn from or l t o ieo-- , f it ,vhee 1.reeOfn hei him!1 emootrl of the nos And so ay-al befuddled the public with his constant seno to, wrak0-sea from the g-1p and just likely as not to run amuek it would not surprise mor references to Norse culture as well as his self- bane~m* ~ tenthheotcsanmost crowded poets of spir- intimete friendn if he *Ibeol o .Coan, anal, muyit b i es7meti~g ta rai.nsa grean weleome t identification as the "last of the Vikings:' In a representative example of his latter-day Cowan resolved he would be buried in a replica Viking fire ship, one of his final hoaxes. mindset, Cowan gave the following answer WestmorelandCounty Hitorcal Society

WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY I FALL 2007 55 passion and also reveling in the role of public outlined his preferred orientation within the I, as the last of the Vikings or Berserkers, eccentric, Cowan also clearly was feeding his unconventional coffin as well as his desire to desire my effigy or cold corpus to drift ego. The Viking references served as a have his corpse covered with quicklime. Once away over the mountainous billows of the Sea of Appalachia and sink in a blaze constant reminder of the Runic hoax, which Gaither's article had circulated, the dying of glory in the womb of the west- Cowan called the "first of my literary Cowan was besieged with angry letters. One which, from the pier of my departure is successes, and the most remarkable." His minister, for instance, denounced the plan as the cloud of smoke and soot over the sense of the hoax's import only had grown in "heathenish" and likewise bemoaned the city of Pittsburgh. [emphasis added]" recent years, as noted naturalist Armand de "desecration of the conventional Christian Cowan finally succumbed on the ' Quatrefages de Br~au and geographer Gabriel coffin. For effect, Cowan subsequently morning of February 12, 1905. He was 60 Gravier both had cited Raffinnson's letter as disavowed Gaither's explanation of the fire years of age. Within days, when Cowan was 6 fact within their own scholarly works.' ship. He wrote a follow-up letter to The interred at the St. Clair Cemetery in Upon falling gravely ill late in 1904, Weekly Clipper,in which he pledged to set the Hempfield Township, it became evident that Cowan resolved to exit the stage in dramatic record straight, but Cowan only stoked the he had hoaxed the public a second time. One fashion. He planned another media hoax that controversy further. On one hand, he newspaper with apparent knowledge of the at once honored the memory of the Runic maintained that, even if his family substituted situation reported that Cowan never had any fraud as well as served as its logical extension. an effigy for his corpse, his symbolic aims still intention of being buried in the fire ship and, In December of that year, he engaged local would be achieved. At the same time, in fact, had arranged for a cemetery plot early carpenter John Walthour to build him a however, Cowan described Yggdrasill as the in his illness. The hoax had been a gambit to replica "fire ship" the funeral vessel of Viking point selected for his "symbolic sailing over keep his friends-and the public-invested chieftains. After Walthour delivered the 8x3 the Sea of Appalachia, or [his] inhumation." in him until the very end. Cowan caused foot boat, the dying Cowan conducted an The former reference implied the presence of enough of a stir that, in the coming weeks, interview with reporter Walter H. Gaither. the effigy, while the latter left open the newspapers such as the New York Times added Cowan explained that he had instructed his possibility of the fire-ship burial. A week later, disclaimers to his obituary to indicate that the family to place his remains within the fire Cowan again referenced the uncertain fate of fire-ship burial had not, in fact, taken place.' ship and bury it beneath "Yggdrasill," a tree at his corpse. In a letter to the local newspapers, At Cowan's direction, Mount Odin the summit of Mount Odin. He likewise he wrote: eventually passed to the city of Greensburg for the "play, recreation, and social enjoyment" of its citizens. Today, Mt. Odin Park boasts public tennis courts as well as a golf course that winds up and down the formidable hill. The "Frank Cowan Clubhouse" stands where Valhalla once did, though a biographical plaque makes no reference to the two Viking hoaxes. Still, more than a century after Cowan's death, the name of "Odin" serves as a constant reminder of the diverse accomplishments-and unusual passions-of one of Pennsylvania's most unique historical figures. And, just as Cowan would have wanted, it likewise pays tribute to the brave early adventurers who may never have seen New England or the , but who, at least in spirit, ended up permanent residents of Greensburg and Westmoreland County.'" 0

Greensburg's own Valhalla. WestmolandCounty Historia[ Society

56 WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY I FALL 2007 Z~l~ll~l~a ElI tacl

bou: Odin," Westmoreland History Magazine 4, no. 4 Typis Officinae Schultzianae, 1837). The exact loca- cule (1999), 22-28. tion of "Vinland" remains unclear, but mainstream r archaeologists today agree that it was either present- Cowan biographical items: Connellsville Courier, Feb- _ fold day Newfoundland or another location on the Atlantic NOTED Mg l h ruary 17, 1905; Cowan's interest in the Eddas and coast of Canada. For more on the Vinland controversy, possible ancestry: The Weekly Clipper, January 17, see Kenneth L. Feder, Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries, Cowan family history, see 1905. For more on the 411ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill/Mayfield), 2002),133- Dr. Frak Cowan Write as Hie , John K. Fleming, The Cowans from County Down, ed. 148. For more on American interest in Norse culture, Is Slowly Dying at is Y Richard P. Draves (1971; Reprinted by the editor, see Erik Ingvar Thurin, The American Discovery of the 2000), Norse (Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, Heimitage. http://users.telerama.com/-rpdravescowan/Cowans- 1999). brot FromCountyDown.PDF. For a brief overview of Viking to r, history and the Eddas, see Jonathan Wooding, The Evening Union, July 8, 1867. SHAPED COFFIN a be Vikings (New York: Rizzoli, distributed by St. Martin's 10Ibid. BOAT grw Press, 1998) and John Haywood, Encyclopedia of the ced 1 Chicago Daily Tribune, July 16, 1867; New York IS IN "GREAT HOUSE." Viking Age (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2000). Evening Post, rpt. in Evening Union, August 3, 1867; carp The Weekly Clipper, January 17, 1905; Connellsville Newburyport (Mass.) Herald, rpt in Evening Union, Extraordi nary Closing Days of a ton Courier, February 17, 1905; and "Oddities of a August 12, 1867; Scientific American 17, no. 5 Noted Man," undated newspaper clipping, Frank Mail, August 9, d0o (August 3, 1867); and Hagerstown Philosopher, Scientist and History Society, ICal Cowan folder, Westmoreland County 1867. Author. Greensburg, Pennsylvania. 2 Evening Union, July 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 1867; 4 Connellsville Courier, February 17, 1905; Albert H. Magazine 2, no. 2 (1867), 121-122; and Th Historical BY WALTER H. GAITTHER. art Bell, Memoirs of the Bench and Bar of Westmoreland "Oddities of a Noted Man," Westmoreland County 7.-As th# , C REENSBUR(G, Pa.. Jan. County, Pennsylvania (Batavia, NY: The Batavia Times Historical Society. but surely at l shadow of death is slowly Publishing Company, 1925), 166-167; and George envelopling all. tat is mortal of Dr. Frank h054 1 Evening Union, July 20, 1867; Evening Star, quoted Fort Milton, The Age of Hate: Andrew Johnson and Cowan, of this place, his eccentriclties u wi in Evening Union, August 6, 1867; Historical Maga- the Radicals (1930; Hamden, CT: Archon Books, are gradualy developed to the world. In of a zine 2, no. 3 (1867), 184; Historical Magazine 2, no. of 1965), 232. 1il1 life of.Lstudentship he had become a t* 2 (1867), 121-122. philosopher, an explorer, a physician, an TT0 U.S. Congress, Senate Exec. Journal, 39th Cong., Johnson: Pittsburgh Leader, August attorney-at-law, an author, a poet, a a ru 1 Recollections of 2nd sess., 14 January 1867, p 76 and 26 January composer of music, a lecturer, an bisto- wla- 22, 1875, rpt. in Frank Cowan, Andrew Johnson, 1867, p 138-139; U.S. Congress, Senate Exec. Jour- rian, and I fact everything whicl by stan President of the United States, 2nd ed. (Greensburg, his own efforts man may, attain, every- haSP nal, 40th Cong., 1st sess., 8 March 1867, p 367, 9 of a successful It PA: The Oliver Publishing House, 1894); see Milton, thing save the position March 1867, p 398, and 12 March 1867, p 428; business man. Dr. 232-235 and Trefousse, 157 for key recollections. bo Isat his own little farmhouse whes Titusville Morning Herald, April 29, 1867. For more While Cowan biographical items: The Weekly Clipper, Janu- some miles from this place, propped up his f on the Senatorial election of 1866-1867, see John with pillows, he is constantly writing. for, " ary 17, 1905; Annual Report of the Board of Regents his lifeand it will be the D.Stewart, The Great Winnebago Chieftain: Simon Writing has been of the Smithsonian Institution (Washington: Govern- his death. A stone's throw away from glorl Cameron's Rise to Power 1860-1867," Pennsylvania his bedside in the "great house" ther Ther ment Printing Office, 1874), 193-194 and James E. History 39 (January 1972), 20-39. For more on the awaits him a boat-shaped ctta. In a was Morgan, Addresses Delivered at the Twentieth Annual nearby field there Is a grave alrealy dugl 'the conflictbetween President Johnson and Congress, in and out there is plail quic] Commencement of the Medical Department of Every*here see Milton, The Age of Hate; Hans L.Trefousse, tteaorolnW,virevidence. of the peculiarltles.ho of this ex ItIthat Georgetown College (Washington, DC: Intelligencer Impeachment of a President: Andrew Johnson, the Printing House, 1869). Later hoax victims: Anthropo- I, ano",,11Farm Into Park. I.oi, Blacks, and Reconstruction (New York: Fordham Uni- logical Review 6, no. 21 (1868), 223-224. Down 'from "one generation to anothel was and Chester G. Hearn, The land In Westmoreland quit versity Press, 1999); came valuable a Cowan biographical items: Fleming, The Cowans of county. Situatel on a picturesque hill Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (Jefferson, NC: bome distance from here are 100acres. McFarland & Co., 2000). County Down; "Oddities of a Noted Man," Westmore- which represent a portion of this man's WI share In his father's estate, for his bed, Dates of 40 Congress: U.S. President, A Compilation land County Historical Society; John Newton Boucher, mother still lives. Ten years ago the it vr1 History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (New old Cowan homestead burned to the him of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents up. tied York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), 1:401- ground and a new farm. houme .prung (Bureau of National Literature, 1897), 9:3715. In It is In this Dr. Cowan lies awaiting the platc 402. Cowan in Korea: William Elliot Griffis, Corea: later recollections of the hoax, Cowan did not impli- The Hermit Nation (London: W.H. Allen & Co., until the very end. cate or mention Florence. The editor's complicity is Cowan captured the limelight 1882), 427. WestmorelandCounyHistorical Soiet assumed not only from the multiplicity of articles in 26 Sage of Mt. Odin Pens a Note" and "Oddities the Evening Union on the Runic inscription but also "Sick from equally sensational stories on American prehis- of a Noted Man," Westmoreland County Historical tory in the coming months. See Evening Union, Society; The Weekly Clipper, January 17, 1905; Con- August 9, 19, 24, 1867 and September 7, 1867, nellsville Courier, February 17, 1905; Greensburg Morning Review, February 13, 1905. Later decep- 7 For more on the pre-professional struggles of the Scott Tribble, M.A., is a freelance journalist and tions: Armand de Quatrefages de Breau, L'espece American scientific community, see Neil Harris, Hum- His book on the Cardiff Humaine, 5th ed. (Paris: Librairie Germer Bailli6re, independent scholar. bug: The Art of PT Barnum (Boston: Little, Brown, 1879), 156 and Gabriel Gravier, Ddcouverte de giant hoax will be published by Rowman & 1973) and mark Jaffee, The Gilded Dinosaur (New I'Amdrique par les Normands au Xe si~cle (Rouen: E. York: Crown Publishers, 2000). Littlefield Publishers in 2008. Cagniard, 1874), 139. of American archaeology and For more on the history 17 "Oddities of a Noted Man" and "Devil May Yet Be Endnotes the Moundbuilder controversy, see Gordon R. Willey Chadwicked," Westmoreland County Historical Soci- and Jeremy A. Sabloff, A History of American Archae- For more on literary hoaxes in American history, see ety; The Weekly Clipper, January 17, 1905. ology (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, 1974) and Fred Fedler, Media Hoaxes (Ames: Iowa State Univer- 17, 1905 and New Robert Silverberg, Mound Builders of Ancient Ameri- 25 Connellsville Courier, February sity Press, 1989). Earlier locally-focused retrospec- The Archaeology of a Myth (Greenwich, CT: New York Times, February 13, 1905. tives on Frank Cowan include: Daniel J.Ackerman, ca: York Graphic Society, 1968). See also E. G. Squier Cowan Bequeaths His Estate to His 'Nearest of "Dr. Frank Cowan, Poet Laureate of the Westmoreland 11 "Dr. Ancient Monuments of the Missis- Bar," The Sidebar: The Newsletter of the Westmore- and E. H. Davis, Kin' for a Period of 30 Years or Longer," Westmore- York: Bartlett & Welford, 1848) and land Bar Association 18, no. 5 (2006), 15-17 and sippi Valley (New land County Historical Society. Charles C. Antiquitates Americanae (Hafniae: James V. Steeley, "Frank Cowan: The Sage of Mount Rafn,

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