"It described a man who sent his servant on a array of wild cause chases on April 1," says Alex Boese, author and curator of Museum of Hoaxes. "Eventually, the servant attracted on and complained that he'd been sent on a 'fools' errand today.'"
The advance is history.
As good as April 1st pranks can be, the thought is that it's not famous as often as it once was. Boese attributes that goof to our childhood memories. "It's a gala from people's childhood. They affirm of it thanks to this former golden age of April Fools' Day," he said.