Sir Henry ;M. Stanley Journalist and Explorer
Personal Recollections of the Great Traveler by Edward Rosewater
.Tim rrnt Aath of Rlr llMirv XT.
I I Stanley vividly recall to my
I mftnrt v mv first meetlnir with tha
Intrepid African explorer and
subsequent Incidents that brought
u Iok ther after bit return to America. Ia
the fall of 1Su6 a robust young man of 29
or 2G, rather short of stature, but heavy
set and muscular, with a full head of
black hair, black mustache, bluish gray
eyes and the bronzed faco of a war vet .
ran, presented himself to me with ere
dentlals as correspondent of the New York
Herald and the St. Louis Democrat, now
Globe-Democrat, and bespeaking for bias
the usual courtesies extended to repre
sentatives of the press.
I was then manager of the Paciflo tele
graph lines and agent of the Associated
rrenn, and very naturally we were brought
together quite frequently by reason of our
mutual relations as news gatherers. When
I first became acquainted with Stanley
lie appeared to be rather taciturn, morose
and uncompanionable. But he gTaduilly ..
thawed out and made himself more so
clable. During his stay In Omaha be had
desk In the editorial rooms of the Omaha
Republican, where he prepared tbe man
uscript for his letters and penned his spe
cial dispatches. The desk, rescued front
the salvage of the consolidated Tribune
and Republican, Is still preserved as
souvenir in the Bee building. Stanley waj
an occasional contributor to the local col-,-'
Umns of the Republican In exchange for
news, but was never employed on Its ed
Itorlal staff.
In 'September, 1867, Stanley accompanied
the military expedition to Fort Laramie,
beaded by General W. T. Sherman, with
Whom were also Generals Harney and San.
born, empowered by President Andrew
Johnson to negotiate a treaty of peace
with the Sioux Indiana, who had been on
the war path and massacred Colonel Fct
terman and a whole company of mounted
regulars during the preceding spring. Stan
ley managed to make himself so unpopular
With General Sherman's staff that he was
politely Invited to retire to the rear, and
returned to Omaha before tbe expedition
had concluded Its mission.
A few weeks aner his return Stanley
Informed me that he had been com mis
sioned by James Gordon Bennett to .pro
ceed to Abyssinia to accompany the Brit
ish army commanded by Oeneral Napier
as war correspondent for the New Turk
Heruld. The announcement seeir.ed to me
decidedly Incredible. Why should James
Gordon Bennett seud to Omaha when there
were scores of expert war correspondents
la New York and London, and why of all
cnen should he select Stanley, who had
Impressed me as a man of only moderate
ability? But It did not take very long
(or me to become convinced that Bennett's
estimate of Stanley's capacity and mettle
bad not been over-rated.
Before leaving Omaha Stanley delivered
a lecture on bis adventures in Turkey, a
country be had. toured and written up for
the New York Herald Just after the close
ef our civil war, but few people in Omaha
seemed Interested In Stanley and be drew
a very slim audience. At its conclusion
Stanley asked me to wire the substance to
tbe Associated Press, a request declined
politely by me, because the lecture was
very dull and the lecturer was compara
tively unknown.
A few months later the battle of Mag
dellu was fought und tbe first news of the
.Victory of the BiliUh army and the death
of King Theodoras on the battlefield
reached London by way of New . York
through a dispatch wired by Henry M.
Stanley to the .New York Herald. This
was the opening chapter of Stanley's mar- '
-velous career In the exploration of the
dark continent beginning with the search
tor David Livingstone and ending with the
establishment of the Congo Free Btate and
tbe rescue of Emln Pasha.
Twenty years later I called at the
.Everett house In New York to extend
jreotlnga and congratulations to Stanley
On his return to America. Major Pond,
who bad brought Stanley over from Lon
flon, where he had been lionised and feted
for a lecture tour of the United States,
ushered me Into Stanley's apartment.
JTrom the descriptions that had appeared
4a the London papers after his triumphant
return from his African explorations, I bad
-,.. -Vx.
HENRY M. STANLEY. From an Autographed Photo Owned by Edward Rosewater.
prepared myself to meet a man turned
prematurely old and gray. I was dared on
entering the chamber to see Stanley sitting
near a window looking exactly as he did
when bidding me goodbye In Omaha, Ap
proaching closer, I found bo had dyed his
hair and mustache. I extended my hand '
to him, but he would not shake.
"You have discredited my discovery of
Livingstone," said he. ' "As an Omaha man
you ought to have stood up for me any
how." '
"My dear Stanley," said I, "I am not In
the habit of writing what I do not believe.
I did not believe that you had discovered
Livingstone and therefore did not credit
you with the discovery. I bell-ve it now
because the. Royal" British Geographical so
ciety and Livingstone's relatives have fully
confirmed your story."
I had seen Stanley at his desk writing
letters descriptive In detail of scenes and
Incidents In the streets of Denver when he
was not within 600 miles of the town, and
that Is what caused my Incredulity about
his later exploits and discoveries In Cen
tral Africa.
Mollified by my explanation, Stanley got
over bis huff bravely and after chatting
for half an hour Invited me to call again
the next day for. an Inscribed autograph
edition of his "In Darkest Africa." When
I called on Stanley the following morning
he had again sailed for Europe a cable
dispatch from the king of Belgium hid
called the explorer back to the Congo Free
State, and that mission kept him In Africa
three years more.
In the fall of 1890 Stanley, who had in
the meantime married Dorothy Tennant.
famous as an artist and a wealthy Engl sh
society woman, returned to this country on
another lecture tour, accompanied by his
wife and her mother, Mrs. Tennant. This
time our meeting took place in the press
gallery of the 'house of representatives In
the national capltol building, where
Stanley bad delivered an Impromptu speech
In response to an address of welcome by
the president of the Gridiron club.
Stanley talked and acted then as If he
were In a trance. Although he had sent
me word that he wanted to see me, he
appeared scarcely conscious of my pres
ence during our conversation and was ob
livious almost of the fact that he was In
the capltol. I learned afterward that he
had been compelled to resort to opiates
to cure an African Jungle fever and was
not himself during the entire American
lecture season. In an Informal way he
merely, expressed the hope that he would
meet many oft his old friends and ac
quaintances on revolting Omaha. .
On Christmas eve of the same year, after
an absence of twenty-three years, Stanley
received a veritable ovation before an en
thusiastic Omaha audience of more than
1,800 people! presided over by General John
M. 'Thayer, then governor of Nebraska.
The recital of his thrilling adventures In
darkest Africa was frequently Interrupted
by generous applause and especially the
closing portion of his lecture. In which
he described his last Journey of more than
6,000 miles across equatorial Africa from
the western ocean to the Indian sea. At
the conclusion of his lecture Stanley was
presented with a beautiful floral horseshoe
bearing the tallsmanlc words, "1867 Wel
come 1890," as a gift from the citizens of
Omaha to a most distinguished former resi
dent of the Gate City. An informal recep
tion was held upon the stage and hun
dreds of people availed themselves of the
opportunity to greet the famous traveler.
On Christmas morning I found Stanley(In
his hotel apartments In one of his melan
choly moods. Mrs. Stanley and her mother
expressed their anxiety to attend divine
service In a church of England (Episcopal
church), but Stanley declined to accom
pany them. Volunteering my services as
their escort the ladles cheerfully assented.
"Shall we drive to church In a carriage?"
I asked.
"No, we prefer to go on foot," said Mrs.
Stanley. "We English women like exer
cise." So we walked leisurely from the Millard
hotel to Trinity Cathedral. Both Mrs.
Stanley and Mrs. Tennant appeared to
' be much Interested In Stanley's life In
Omaha, by asking various questions. On
our return from church we found Stan
ley In better humor and after luncheon
started on a carriage drive. As we passed
the block In which were located the old
Republican and Omaha's first theater, Stan
ley, pointing to the building, exclaimed:
"Here Is my old stamping ground. There
Is the academy of music. What has be
come of Jane Clara Walters?"
"She Is out In Salt Lake," said L
"And where Is Chaplin?"
"He Is playing somewhere In the east.
"And where la Annie Ward?"
"She Is dead," I responded.
"Dead I" exclaimed Stanley, and he hung
his head mournfully without saying a
word. Annie Ward was one of the
actresses of the theatrical stock company,
that was stationed In Omaha during Stan
ley's residence, and he was reputed to
have been "dead stuck" on her. Mrs.
Stanley appeared oblivious to the conver
sation. When we reached The Bee building a
reception was awaiting the guest by the
Omaha Press club, and once more he
seated himself by the old desk he had used
as Omaha correspondent. There was emo
tion visible In his lnperturbable features
and be could not refrain from expressing
appreciation of his cordial treatment, and
astonishment at the marvelous growth of
Omaha since he had been part of it Look
. Ing backward, Stanley's pathetic forecast
of "Greater Omaha," that appeared In
the New York Herald on February 4, 1867,
over his name is worthy of reproduction
In thin connection:
"Omaha is situated very nearly on an
air line, and almost half way. between New
York and San Francisco. Her command
ing position as terminus of a great rail
way, destined to carry the great traffio
between the Atlantic and Pacific, prob
ably to revolutionize the Japanese and -Chinese
trade of the world, gives her com
medical advantages which sooner or later
will make her one of the leading cities
of the great northwest"
In the middle of June, the following
year, 1891, I availed myself of Stanley's
invitation to pay him a visit at his home
in London. I had no difficulty In finding
his residence on Richmond Terrace, close
to Westminster Abbey and opposite to the
palace of the Duke Buccleuch.
The striking features of Stanley's Lon
don residence were the trophies he had
brought home from Africa. The hall and
drawing rooms were a veritable museum
of weapons of savage African warriors
spears, shields, clubs, bows and arrows,
etc. There were also rude Implements,
headgear and footgear and a great va
riety of skins, horns, claws and tusks of
the wild animals of the African Jungle
and desert . On the library walls were
portraits of Livingstone and other African
explorers. Stanley himself appeared to be
a changed man. His taciturn and morose
disposition had disappeared altogether. His
conversation, while not frivolous or gay,
was cheerful and amiable. The marked
change was manifestly due to the full re
covery of his normal health and the dis
use of the drugs that had made him so
irascible and almost unapproachable dur
ing his American tour of the previous
year.
During the afternoon luncheon Stanley
talked without reserve about his last Im
pressions of 'America and Its future, re
verting occasionally to the escapades and
misadventures of his early life In the
' United States, his variegated experiences
In the Confederate and Union armies, and
especially of his life In Omaha and In tha
far west. He also Indulged In retrospec
tive comparisons between the progress of
civilisation In America and Africa and
their prospective growth in wealth and
power.
When asked whether European coloniza
tion with Its modern civilizing agencies
would revolutionize Africa and make it
as great and prosperous as the United
States of America, he candidly expressed
the opinion that It would not. even within
many, many centuries, owing to the dif
ference In its climatic conditions and its
vast uncultlvable area and its tropical
native population that Is lacking n an
th. tleiucuts of Ihrlft Industry and nat
Uial bent toward higher standards of It.
Ing.
Reverting to bis life in America, Stanley
expressed his admiration for Americans,
and his obligation to them for tbe Inspira
tion and example of pluck, energy and
Indomitable will to achieve success. This
attachment for America and Americans
I feel sure be entertained to the end.
E. ROSEWATEB,