The Milwaukee Leader (Milwaukee, Wis.), May 12th 1921

Human Curios

“The Princess Caraboo.”

By William Nelson Taft

Not many years ago there died at Bristol a woman of considerable personal attraction, whose early history was amusing enough, yet took a strong hold upon her early contemporaries. She pretended to be a native of Javasu, in the Indian ocean, and to have been carried off by pirates and then sold to the captain of a sailing vessel. She claimed to have been ill-used on board the ship and to have jumped overboard, swimming in to the coast of England and landing near Almondsbury, in Gloucestershire. Thence she found her way to Bath, where she created quite a sensation in literary and social circles, being feted and dinned with all the ceremony and pomp usually accorded a princess of the blood.

Finally, however, it was discovered that the whole affair was a hoax, cleverly sustained and acted by a beautiful girl who had hungered for notoriety and even invented an entirely new language and alphabet in order to obtain her ends. The “Princess Caraboo” was really Mary Willcocks, daughter of a cobbler in Devonshire. On being deposed from the honors which had been given her, the “princess” retired into a comparatively humble sphere of life and married. But there was a species of grim humor in the occupation which she later followed – that of an importer of leeches. Her operations, however, were conducted with much judgment and ability, and it is recorded that “she carried on her trade with credit to herself and satisfaction to her customers.”

Disclaimer: This 1921 newspaper article was published prior to 1931. Under United States copyright law (specifically the 95-year rule), this work has entered the public domain and is thus free to use or republish. It is presented here as an interesting and folkloric newspaper oddity.

Source(s): https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045293/1921-05-12/ed-1/?sp=12

Categories: Newspapers, Mysterious Strangers, Princess Caraboo, Hoaxes