The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1890-04-15
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH.

One Of the Most Sublime Heroes Of Amer
ica's Colonial Period.
The famous early explorer and colon
ist Of Virginia was born in 1873 or 1880.
in Lincolnshire, England. the son of .
well-to-do tenant farmer. His parents
died when he was q mere lad, and left
him with means at his disposal sufficient
to follow his own inclinations. He early
showed his spirit and love of adventure.
From 1896 TO 1906 he travelled In Europe,
Asia and Africa. During this period he
served in the armies of France, Holland
and England, and performed prodigies
of valor in many places. He was taken
q prisoner by the Turks, and went to
Constantinople TO be sold or ransomed,
but was saved by lady who had fallen
in love with him; but her devotion only
brought him into more and greater diti-
culties, and be was led to kill his tor
mentor, who was the brother of his lady
love, and escape to Hungary and Aus
tria, and returned to England after an
absence Of years 1t was at this period
that the excitement Of colonial enter
prise and adventure was high in En-
gland. He entered into the Virginian
project with all the enthusiasm Of his
nature, and was associated with Bar
tholomew Gosnold and others, and was
one of the founders OF the London Com
pany of South Virginia, the other COM
pany being the Western Company for
North Virginia. The Raleigh colonies
had been failure, chiefly because there
c,,tta h ~ IN
islands. The first object of the three
ships that went with Smith WAS to find
place that would afford ample refuge
and safety in all seasons and weather.
The voyagers went by way Of the West
Indies. On the voyage Smith narrowly
escaped being hanged on the charge Of
conspiracy, and, although afterward the
lives of the men who had tried to hang
him were at his mercy, he saved them.
The explorers found the James river,
and fixed the site of their colony. The
first president Of the council was e. M.
Wingfield, and the settlement was
called jamestown. Smith was finally
released from durcss after thirteen
weeks restraint, and Winsfield
was compelled to pay him 900
as damages. The colonists were
badly in need of food, and Smith
went in search of it with nine men
and a barge. 1t was on this trip
that he was captured through the DISC
bedience of some of the men with him.
For weeks he was captive of a brother
of the Chief Powhatan. 1t was finally
decreed that he should be killed, and he
would have been but for the intercession
Of Pocahontas, the daughter of the Indian
chief. This story of Smith and Poca-
hontas was accepted generally without
question until 1866, when it was openly
denied by DR.. Charles Deane, of Cam
bridge, Mass But it is still believed
by many, and it seems to have been gen.
orally received in the lifetime of this
remarkable man. Smith became the
head of the colony, and his most bitter
enemies would have persisted il it had
not been for his efforts in their behalf
to keep the colony from starvation and
humiliation He remained in Virginia
for some three years, returning to En-
gland in 1909. The remainder Of his
life was spent in exploring Canada and
New England, from 1910 to 1917, and
then in writing an account of his life
and adventures. He lived until June
81, 1881, when he passed away, and
was buried in St Sepulchre's Church,
/, London--Chicago Inter Ocean