So, like so many papers back in February 1899, the Cook County News-Herald ran a sensational story about monkeys picking cotton. The story goes that W.W. Magnum, a plantation owner in Smedes, Mississippi, had trained 20 monkeys to pick cotton on his plantation. The monkeys were so successful that Magnum ordered 500 more from Africa to prepare and pick cotton. According to the story first printed in the Cotton Planter's Journal by T.G. Lane, girl monkeys picked far more cotton than boys. However, when 500 monkeys arrived, the new monkeys were less keen on picking cotton as the first group. Even the Los Angeles Times ran this untrue story, which has roots back to 1849 when a farmer claimed to have imported 23 monkeys from the island of Trinidad to train to pick cotton. And how did that work? 'For the next two weeks, all hands, white and blacks, were engaged in the cotton fields teaching monkeys.' However, none of the monkeys picked so much as one ounce of cotton, and supposedly, the farmer gave the monkeys to his neighbors. 'My monkey speculation has thrown behind six weeks in cotton picking. The next time I go to Trinidad, I don't believe I shall want any monkeys.' Cook County News Herald archives
