Exploding Cigar - Footnotes

Footnotes

1. ^ Describing the comic in Popular Science Monthly in an April 1928 article, Fox stated, "There are always fools in the world who think it is funny to hand out exploding cigars, so I drew a picture of a yokel enjoying such a gift cigar in complete safety. This device included a bamboo tube extending through an umbrella parallel to the handle so that a cigar inserted in the ferrule end might be safely smoked from behind the shelter of the umbrella."
2. ^ Certainly there were numerous incredible plots to do in Castro that are ascribed to the CIA, including among others: poisoning his cigars (a box of the lethal smokes were actually prepared and delivered to Havana;) exploding seashells to be planted at a scuba diving site; a gift diving wetsuit impregnated with noxious bacteria and mold spores, or with lethal chemical agents; infecting Castro's scuba regulator apparatus with tuberculous bacilli; dousing his handkerchiefs, his tea, and his coffee with other lethal bacteria; having a former lover to slip him poison pills; and exposing him to various other poisoned items such as a fountain pen and even ice cream. The U.S. Senate's Church Committee of 1975 stated that it had confirmed at least eight separate CIA run plots to assassinate Castro. Fabian Escalante, who was long tasked with protecting the life of Castro, contends that there have been 638 separate CIA assassination schemes or attempts on Castro's life.
3. ^ Barbara and David Mikkelson, founders of Snopes.com, known for its investigations into possible urban legends, write that "Aside from minor inconsistency ... we haven't been able to uncover much of anything else about this legend. All versions of it apparently stem from the same Associated Press account, and we haven't found any other evidence of a connection or meeting between Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Norton. Without knowing even the name of the correspondent who provided the report to the Associated Press, we don't have much else to go by in trying to trace it back to a source. It could be a true story, it could be a bit of amusing fiction fabricated by (or fed to) a reporter, or it could be a literally true but staged event..."