Mickey Starling
Riverbend News
Few historical monuments stand out as much as the Eiffel Tower, which looms near the Seine River in Paris, France. At 984 feet high, it was the tallest structure in the world until the Chrysler Building was erected in 1929. The Burj Khalifa, a skyscraper in Dubai, at over a half mile high, is now the tallest structure in the world. The Eiffel Tower, built by Gustave Eiffel, was completed in 1889, taking only two years to complete.
Eiffel’s design won a competition for a suitable monument to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution, which was held at the International Exposition of 1889.
Eiffel knew the massive structure, made almost entirely of open-lattice wrought iron, would be in danger of being taken down if beneficial uses for the tower weren’t put into place. He supervised changes that accommodated several worthy uses of the tower, including a meteorological station, military telegraph station and a lab for studying aerodynamics.
Proving that ignorance is never bliss was an artful con man, Victor Lustig, who read of growing complaints, in 1925, from Paris officials about the costs of maintaining the tower. Eiffel had passed away in 1923. The dwindling number of visitors to the tower caused the press to echo the financial concerns about the tower’s upkeep.
Lustig seized upon the builder’s death and those press reports to construct a scheme almost as brilliant as Eiffel’s design. He enlisted the help of a few like-minded scoundrels to pose as scrap dealers, who attend an auction to buy the Eiffel Tower, since it was soon to be “torn down.”
Lustig created fake stationary to make his invitations look authentic, and the flawless plan worked. André Poisson was the only legitimate scrap buyer at the auction. He was duped into a purchase of the tower for an unknown sum. After discovering he had been conned, Poisson was too embarrassed to report the crime to the authorities. Lustig repeated his con again the same year but was unsuccessful.
For another 10 years, he continued various scams in France and the United States, before being arrested in 1935. Lustig was convicted and sent to Alcatraz, the infamous federal prison in San Diego Bay, Calif., where he died 12 years later.
Today, the Eiffel Tower stands as one of the most popular paid attractions in the world, with seven million visitors each year. The tower now features a museum, several restaurants and a large reception room that provides space for various events and social gatherings. It also features several shops and an observation deck at 906 feet up.
It’s hard to imagine how much money Lustig could manage to steal today if he was still around to swindle some sucker into thinking the Eiffel Tower was for sale. The sky’s the limit, I suppose.