P. T. Barnum exhibited a fake of a fake.
In 1869 a 3-metre gypsum 'petrified giant' was 'dug up' in New York State; refused the chance to buy it, Barnum made a copy and declared the original a fraud.
More amazing facts
- 1869 1869: in March Mendeleev presented his periodic table, and in November the Suez Canal opened.
- 1869 · 1871 Aida was not written for the opening of the Suez Canal.
- 1869 The biggest gold nugget ever found lay just 3 cm below the surface.
- 1869 · 1886 The owner of Neuschwanstein, the castle that inspired Disney, lived there for just 172 days.
- 1869 · 1872 Phileas Fogg's race was made possible by 1869.
- 1869 Margarine was invented for a prize offered by Napoleon III. The emperor wanted cheap butter for the army and the poor, and in 1869 the chemist Mège-Mouriès won with oleomargarine made from beef fat.