To embarrass the British during the Revolutionary War, Benjamin Franklin, then living in France, published in a newspaper printed in his shop at Passy, a fictitious story including an imaginary letter, which, it was claimed, had accompanied a large package of colonists' scalps being shipped to the King of England. According to the newspaper account, both package and letter had been intercepted by the Americans.
Although several of Franklin's biographers have explained the affair, many reputable historians have quoted the letter as fact.