the September 1937 issue of California History, outlining a list of problems. The spelling seemed modern. The wording did not match normal Elizabethan forms. For example, the plate reads "Queen Elizabeth", not the standard style "Elizabeth, by the Grace of God, Queen of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith". The plate contains the modern forms "the" and "this" instead of the 16th-century "ye" and "y(i)s". Physically, the plate seemed too uniform and the patina suspect. Yet none of these elements by themselves seemed to determine the matter, alternative interpretations of each being available. Haselden's points were immediately disputed. Chickering published a defense of the plate in the same issue of California Monthly. Conspirators' supposed warnings One Clamper related that the plate was placed in an area where there were several popular hiking trails so that they could stage a “surprise” find by Bolton. One of the Clampers recalled “the whole discovery was mixed up because it was picked up by somebody and thrown in a car.” It seems that while most of the members of the Yerba Buena chapter of the Clampers may have thought it was just a joke on Bolton, there was an inner circle working with Bolton and knew that Bolton was orchestrating the hoax. Bolton was in on the whole joke that got out of hand, but needed to be protected in case the plate was found to be a fake. The old theory that there were various spoofs done to tip off Bolton is absurd, and this speculation seems contrived. This was a lot of plotting for just a joke. Bolton was the Grand Royal Historian of the Clampers, he had a phone, and one of his fellow Clampers could have just called and told him that the plate was a joke before Bolton made the big announcement in front of the California Historical Society at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. In fact, just before the Preposterous booklet was printed, fellow Clamper, (and the person accused of the hoax) George Ezra Dane, sent Bolton a promotional flyer soliciting preorders. Printed in the flyer was an interesting comment that may have alluded to the truth of the scheme: “As history thunders down the corridors of time, the name of E Clampus Vitus and the Francis Drake Plate will be forever joined.” "Confirmation" While Bolton and Chickering continued to defend the plate, doubts and rumors