The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-12-10
EXCORIATED HIS CRITICS.
Stanley Gives in FULFIL Story Of
the Now Famous Rear
Guard.
Barttelot's Conduct Called De-
.moniacal and Jameson's Curl
osity Was Ghoulish.

Tho Rear Guard Wrecked by the Irreso-
luton, Indifference and Insubordi-
nation of Its 0nicers.
Henry NJ. Stanley lectured at ChickerinR
hall on the night of Dec. 3 on 1.-The Full
Story of the Rear Guard" He spoke ear
nestly, as is his wont. and he was frequent
" applauded The audience appeared to
be in full sympathy with the lecturer. MI.
Stanley said:I" From time immemorial it has
been the custom to regard the dead as free
from censure. and to bury their mlsdeeds
with them in their graves, But it must be
admitted that it is as cruel and unjuet to
SANDER and villify the living. II happened
that on the morning of the Goth Of August,
1888, surrounded by oyer forty-two dying
men, and grieving for the loss of 164 men
of the rear column Of my expedition for
the relief OF Emin, and shocked by the ter
rible disclosures made by the surviving off,
Ger, wrote in my report to the relief COM
mittee that the rear column mad been
wrecked by the irresolution of its officers,
the neglect of their promises and their in
difference to the written orders. The
censure seems to have provoked and to
have occasioned the publication of libel
Gus book called The Diary and Letters of
Maj. Barttelot,' and to have aroused the
hostilities of the Barttelot and Jameson
families, and the recriminations and angry
accusations of Messrs. Yroup and Ward. At
the time of writing that censure, four out of
the five officers Of the rear column were
crr,pooo1 In, ha a1iva ()n1v ono Mai Rnrk.
telot, was known to be dead, and it was re-
ported that he had been shot while COM
hitting an unmanly act upon woman who
was the guest of tho expedition. Mr.. Jane
son was supposed to be at Stanley Falls.
Mr.. Troup had been invaded home. Mr..
Ward was supposed to be detained at Ban
gala by orders of Maj. Barttelot, and only
Mr.. Bonny was left in charge of the scant,
miserable remnant of the rear column.
1t depended, therefore, on Mr.. Bon
ny, the sole educated witness living,
facts connected with the disasters, and it
devolved upon me, as leader of the
expedition to give my opinion upon the
evidence given by this officer and other
witnesses. When my letter which contained
my charitable censure reached England it
was published by the newspapers, and since
its publication have been continually de-
nounced as cruel, harsh and ungenerous by
the Barttelot and Jameson families. If
these denunciations had been founded upon
anything approaching to Justice, and con-
sisted only of expressions of indignation
from sorrowing relatives, I should have kept
silent as to the true reasons that had induced
me to include the living and the dead in a
general censure of that character.
''The father and brother of Maj. Barttelot,
however. thought that their dead relatives
good name and fair reputation had been
wantonly attacked, and that he should be
x,;~ tod and thov Of n h0nt ~ hv a6tkinn
the private diary of the major. and filling
their book with most libelous matter. cal
luminous accusations and imputations.
There are others alive who are far better
qualified, il they would, to publish the de-
tails respecting the conduct Of the rear col
umn or its officers. I know that they are
horribly, almost incredibly, scandalous,
and, therefore, am not in hurry to pub
lish these things. inasmuch as those who
are most guilty of the enormities are dcad,
full purpose, or that it is my duty to outrage
public feeling. Major Barttelot was vol
unteer officer. His motives for entering the
service were good and noble. He sought
opportunities to distinguish himself. or, to
use his own words, to obtain more kudos."
the privileges Of joining us, and led by his
ardor for the chase and to make collections
of natural history subjects, paid over 81 900
toward the relief fund, and was accepted.
His motives were also noble and good.
'sMr. John Rose Troup applied for a posi-
something better to do, but demanded re-
Enumeration for his services at the rate of
G15O per annum, with the addition of free
passage, outfit and such diet as our cir
cumstances in Africa could furnish.
"Mr. William Bonny was hospital stew
per annum, outfit, passage to and from AZ
RIGA, and such food as could be obtained.
''Mr. Herbert Ward was met as we were
journeying up the Congo, and volunteered
his services but as there were no vacancies
then he consented to accompany us on the
same terms as Maj. Barttelot, Messrs. Stairs
and Nelson and do what he could toward
effecting the object of the expedition. His
motives appeared to be, also, manly and
spirited.
Despite the representations Of some Of
the committee, had no fault to And with
of such nature as to induce me to resort
to dismissal. Maj. Barttelot had on two or
three occasions shown q curious temper,
but the outbreak was too trivial to be visit
ed with such severe punishment as dis
graceful dismissal would have been.
1T was not until August II, 1888. four
teen months AFTER separating from them,
that discovered reasons for publicly CEN
surfing the officers of the rear column These
reasons were made manifest by the official
report and oral accounts OF the surviving
officer of the rear column, by the TESTING
MES of the colored men-Zanzibaris, Sou
danese and Observation-Disclosures to it,.
and by the awful state in which forty-two
mon were found by US. After digeeting the
terrible story within the brief time allotted
to our stay in the CHASTITY pen Of Canslyi, |
wrote in a letter to the Emin Relief com-
mittee that the conduct of the officers OF
the re;.r column had wrecked it. Il, there
fore, devolves upon me now to explain the
ressOn OF this censure. and, first, a. to the |
irresolution of the officers.
.'You have read the statement in the LON
don Times, signed William Bonny, I'M
aRine that terrible story detailed to me in |
much tho same way as it has been written. |
Imagine him telling me that his leader had |
been 90 violent In his conduct as to be in |
the habit of perpetually stalking about in |
the camp, grinning like q fend, proddinQ |
men with steel-pointed staff, striking !
them Unfortunately, terrifying the poor |
people ont of their senses by his demonia- |
col conduct, fogging two men to death, |
striking ManyuemR's brains ont, kicking |
a boy child SO seriously that he died. shoot
ing Soudanese soldier for stealing piece |
of meat, then telling me that while in the |
act of hitting and kicking chiefs wife he |
had been shot by the infatuated husband.
'lmngine him telling me of another of. |
ficer having bought a girl 10 years old and
surrendering her into the hands of canni- |
balls, who had slaughtered and carved her /
ON the spot. in order that his curiosity to I
see an act of cannibalism carried out in all |
its horrible details might be fully gratifled. |
IMAGINE the Zanziharia and the Snndauoao