Page 19 - The Great Wall of China

It was a sweltering summer night, and four men
huddled in the corner of a dimly lit tavern in
downtown Denver. The four men, reporters for
the major Denver newspapers, whispered in
conspiratorial tones. Each had been tasked by
their editors to patrol the hotel beat in lower
downtown, scavenging for an interesting tidbit
or two with which to enlighten and entertain the
masses. Each had come up empty.
It’s rumored that Al Stevens, reporter for the
Denver Republican, was the first to suggest
fabricating a story. The others, Jack Tournay,
John Louis and Hal Wilshire (employed by the
Denver Times, Denver Post and Rocky Mountain
News respectively), debated the idea briefly. A
consensus was quickly reached, given that their
deadlines were rapidly approaching, and none
were anxious to meekly return to their editors
empty handed. Besides, what harm could it do?
And so they set about the task of concocting a
story; one which would pique the interest of the
public, not be too
easily discredited, and hopefully be quickly
forgotten without too many follow-up questions.
It’s impossible to know what ideas were bandied
about and summarily dismissed, but we do know
what tale they ultimately settled on.
The tale involved Frank Lewis, a civil engineer
from Chicago, who stopped over in Denver
on his way to San Francisco, bound ultimately
for China. The reason for his excursion was
simple: The Chinese government was planning
to destroy part of the Great Wall, and use the
rubble to build a “remarkably fine road” from
Nanking to Siberia, and the syndicate of Shy-
Town investors Mr. Lewis represented wanted the
contract. Absurd? Yes… but not quite to the point
of implausibility.

19