Sublime

The practical methodologies evolved over many years, and were largely the work of John Hall, a gunsmith from Portland, Maine, and inventor of the “Hall carbine” that became notorious when muckrakers dug into the youthful Pierpont Morgan’s dealings with Civil War procurement authorities.

The public never heard the name Dircksian Phantasmagoria. Dircks happily accepted five hundred pounds for the idea and waived any future royalties, merely asking that his name be attached to the invention.

But it is not known whether the principle obscurely described in the specification was applicable in any way to the invisible agency employed in Psycho.The punch line was that the article was signed "John Algernon Clarke." So the author claimed he was mystified by his own creation and couldn't properly determine whether his own patent was

By 1883, Gould had become the dominant owner of, or controlling shareholder in, or chief executive of, literally dozens of railroads, some of them only for brief periods of time. The blur of activity sent shock waves of alarm through competitors even as it delighted stock traders, many of whom grew wealthy divining what Gould was up to and followin

His specialty was convincing each person that they had witnessed a near catastrophe.

Boucicault's ghost was state-of-the-art stagecraft.

Houdini was himself a master of publicity and self-aggrandizement, yet he also championed the little guy and had a fondness for old retired showmen.