THE BIG RETORT

[Engraving, Copyright (c) Jim Westergard. Used with his kind permission.] On the 1st January 1908, following a remarkable wager, a man wearing an iron mask set off on an astonishing 30,000 mile journey around the world - then disappeared. TheBigRetort ... The Great Iron Mask Hoax   In previous posts I detailed the extraordinary saga of 33-year-old Harry Bensley , who accepted a bet made between an American philanthropist and an English nobleman: to push a pram around the world, with his face encased inside an iron mask, for a purse of $100,000. Many sighting were recorded of "The Mask” at that time but then... he inexplicably vanished. TheBigRetort : where in the world did The Mask go?   Almost one year after the wager made between Harry Bensley aka The Man in the Iron Mask, a publication known as “ Answers” (December 19th, 1908, pi63) received a response to this same question; it has remained buried until now. The respondent – who remained anony...