Check your facts – Mad Anthony Wayne edition
Sometimes trivial things piss me off but when you’re writing an article for a major newspaper such as the Pittsburgh Post Gazette I’d think that some things would be checked if your story is front page news.
Case in point…
As I opened the paper this morning I saw a story on Mad Anthony Wayne and how today is the 200th anniversary of his burial in Chester County. If you’re from Erie you know his story and most likely touched the kettle his body was boiled in which still is on display at the Erie Historical Museum. Anyway, the article states “his body rested for 12 years in an oak coffin at Presque Isle, a peninsula off Lake Erie”. It SHOULD read “his body rested for 12 years in an oak coffin at the flagpole next to Wayne Blockhouse.” Don’t believe me? click here to listen to the mp3 from the Erie Historical Society.
If you’re not from Erie or are not familiar with the area let me Google Map this bad boy for you with “A” marking the FORT Presque Isle’s location.
A little father to the right of the A is the Blockhouse which can still be visited. As you can see these are different locations. In fact there is a big ass body of water separating the 2. Most people would probably say “eh quit nit picking” but honestly this is a careless error. It took me less than 2 minutes on Google to double check stories. Now if the argument was to be made, which it shouldn’t but we’ll say it is, that the area itself was named “Presque Isle” but then that would have been noted.
If his body wasn’t boiled I bet Anthony’s ass would be chapped over this blunder.
