Title: The Confidence Men
Rating: 3 Stars
Although I only gave it three stars, the story is a good example of narrative history. It well tells a small story set within a large event. The story beggars belief. It’s full of drama and comedy.
Given that it is such a great story, the reason why I gave it three stars is that the author pretty clearly only had a relatively few number of sources to collect from. Checking the notes at the end, it would appear that the bulk of the narrative comes from three sources. Given the relative scarcity of reference material, the author augments the basic story with vaguely related background information. With this augmentation, the book still only clocks in at around 240 pages. The story could have been told in a long form article. Even so, it’s an enjoyable read.
The story takes place in Turkey during World War I. Henry Jones, a Welch Scottish officer in the English army, was taken prisoner by the Turkish army. Cedric Hill, an Australian, was a pilot in the English fledgling air force. He was captured when his plane was shot down. They both ultimately ended up at the same Prisoner of War camp located in a remote part of Turkey. The town was so remote from anything else that the Turks did not even bother with walls or barbed wire.
The main problem that the POWs experienced was boredom. They played games. Weekly lectures were scheduled on subjects in which a prisoner had some expertise. They created musical instruments.
Eventually, the passage of time exhausted all of these possibilities. One day, Jones had the idea of building a hand made Ouija board and trying to communicate with spirits.
This isn’t as weird as it might seem. In the preceding decades, there were scientific advances that seemed magical. Voices and music could be invisibly transmitted using radio waves. The inside of a body could be seen using x-rays. People separated by great distances could talk to each other in real time via a telephone. The average person didn’t understand any of this. Remember that, during this time, most people believed in religions that taught life after death. Given all of that, does it really seem all that strange to think that there might be a way to talk to dead spirits?
Considering the fact that millions of soldiers were dying in World War I (not to mention the normal everyday death by disease that was will still quite common), people claiming to be able to talk to the dead were a popular trend. Even seemingly rational people like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, fell under the spell of mediums claiming to be able to talk to his dead son. The magician Harry Houdini, infuriated at charlatans using basic magic tricks to swindle those in grief, spent much of his time exposing them.
Given all of that, Jones’ Ouija board proved to be popular. However, despite everyone’s best efforts, the board only produced nonsense. Interest was beginning to wane. Just for fun, Jones invented a spirit (Sally) and began to channel her. Expecting his fellow prisoners to immediately see through his ruse, he was shocked that they were completely taken in. Within a short time, all of the prisoners were crowding into the room listening to his now myriad spirits communicate through the board.
One day, one of the Turkish officers, a man the prisoners called Pimple, attended one of these sessions. Pimple completely fell for it.
Jones now had an idea. None of the prisoners have tried to escape because they know that, first of all, they’re in the middle of nowhere, and, even if they do succeed, that the remaining prisoners will suffer mightily for it. What if he could make use of the Ouija board to trick the Turkish officers into facilitating his escape while at the same time doing so in such a way that no harm could come to the remaining prisoners?
He knew that he couldn’t do it alone. He recruited Hill. Hill’s value was that he’s a master of sleight of hand. While Jones could spin a story through his spirits, Hill could manifest acts that reinforced Jones’ tales.
The two of them embarked on an elaborate long con. Unknowingly, they incorporated all of the major components of a long con (roping the mark, telling the tail, giving the convincer, taking off the touch, and giving the blow). Unfolding over a period of many months, they spun a fantastical tale to the Pimple and to the head of the camp (a man named Kiazim) of a secret buried treasure located somewhere in Turkey. It involved spirits that were helping them, other spirits that were impeding them, and buried clues that need to be found and unearthed.
Kiazim and the Pimple were completely taken in. In the final stages of the con, following the lead of their supposed spirits, the two aided Jones and Hill as they both feigned madness. Convinced that the treasure is in Constantinople, the Pimple led Jones and Hill on the long journey. Once in Constantinople, the two ended up incarcerated in a mental institution. They spent months there as the Turkish doctors try to exposed them as frauds. Eventually, the doctors certified them as insane. By this time, having feigned madness for many months, both Jones and Hill were not in great shape, mentally or physically.
Eventually, they were paroled to a medical ship heading to England. Most amusing, after all of their months of cons and deprivation, they only arrived in England a couple of weeks before their fellow prisoners. In the interim, the armistice ending World War I had been signed.
It is a fascinating story. When you hear of a long con, usually it’s for a nefarious purpose. Here, two men used the techniques of the long con to achieve their freedom. Reading about it now, it strains credulity that they could have pulled it off. Their absolute commitment to the con was impressive.
Even though their efforts only yielded a couple of extra weeks of freedom, it seems clear that the ennui that they were suffering at the camp was enervating. Going through with the con gave them the will to survive that carried them to freedom.
dorkenstein 