As with most claims of powered-flight-before-the-Wrights, the only supporting evidence James Watson produced was that of eyewitnesses. Like other claimants, the eyewitness accounts Watson supplied are inconsistent with one another and were made at least fifty years after the alleged events took place. In this respect the Watson case draws parallels with that of New Zealander Richard Pearse. In a letter dated 19 December 1959 to one G. Bolt Esq., after he had submitted information about Richard Pearse to Charles Gibbs-Smith, the latter advises Bolt to be wary of eyewitness claims. With regards to the Watson case, he states that after the story and photographs were published in 1953: