10 @ The Secret Lije of Nature
the word. It took a great deal of time and concentrated attention to
convince me, but I can claim that the inquiry was thorough."
Following publication of the article in the Strand, so many inquiries
were made by an aroused public that the Daily News G Westminster
Gazette commissioned one of its best reporters to search the county "to
discover the truth in order to break the fiaud."
Being ayorkshireman himself, the reporter had the good sense to
start out from Bradford. By following up each rumor he soon tracked
down the Wright family in Cottingley, where he interviewed mother,
father, and daughter, each separately. He then visited the glen sites to
verify them against the photographs. He visited all photo labs in the
district and consulted many other possible sources of information.
Friends of the Wright family were particularly closely questioned. All
to no avail.The reporter could find nothing even vaguely suspicious.
Having found no flaws, he concluded his story: "In the end I very
nearly believed in fairies."