The Portland daily press., 1890-03-15
PLucKY TELEcRAPHER.
some OF the Early Adventures OF
George KEENAN,.
Correspondence Of the Press.l


Correspondence of the Press.l
NEW YORK, March $50 much at
tention has been attracted of late to the
subject of Siberia and the Russian exile
system by the writings and lectures OF
Mr.. George KEENAN,, and there being
movement on foot in America to amelio-
rate if possible the condition of the
unfortunate victims of Russian rule,
that it seemed to me recently an inter-
view with the now famous traveller
might unearth some bits of his personal
experience that are. not known to the
general public.
MIR. KEENAN, is apparently between
forty and forty-five years of age, but pos
sesses that peculiar elasticity of move
ment, not to say temperament, which
makes him appear much younger. His
figure is slight but sinewy, indicating
good deal of reserve power mingled with
that peculiar nervous force that is often
found in journalists and telegraphers Che
belongs, by the way, to the latter SCHOOL,,
and his face is strongly marked with the
resolution that has carried him through
SO many difficulties. Withal, he is evil
IDENTIFY keen observer, retentive in his
memory, exact in his facts and admira-
bly, descriptive in his style of narrative.
asked him to give me off hand
brief story of his life and how as young
American he became so much interested
in Russian travel. Plunging into the
subject, in medals res, as the lawyers
say, he answered:
My father is probably the Oldest liv-
ing telegrapher in the United States, be-
ing now 81 years of age. AS the man.
ager of an office on the Wade, Speed
and O'Reilly line in Norwalk, o., where
was born-the first line built in the
west-he taught me the Morse alphabet,
and on my sixth birthday, before 1 was
able to read manuscript, sent my first
dispatch. AT the age of 12 l was reg
ularly employed in telegraph office.
AT the outbreak of the war, though but
a mere boy, went to Wheeling, Column
bus, and finally to Cincinnati, being all
the time anxious to get into the tele-
graph corps at the front, then under the
control of Gen. Staeger, an old acquaint-
ance of my father. In this, however, l
failed.
Mr.. Perry Macdonald Collins mean
while had projected an overland line
from America to Europe by way of
British Columbia, Behring straits and
Alaska to Siberia, the object being to
obtain communication with Europe
without employing the ocean cable,
which at that time was not working
with regularity After surveying the
route he came back, interested the West
ern Union company, and an agreement
was made with the Russian authorities
to construct line to California, thence
to Behring straits, up through Alaska
and on to the mouth of the Amoor river.
Here the Russian government was to
meet us with its lines from st. Peters,
burg. This enterprise attracting my at
tention, wrote to Gen. Staeger, asking
for a position in one of the exploring
parties to be sent out. He did not reply
to the letter, but one night came to the
instrument in his Office and, being a
practical operator, inquired for me.
/ answered over the wires. He asked:
"Can you get ready to start for Alaska
in two weeks?" EYES," 1 replied, 81 can
get ready in two hours" "You may
gor' was the message that came back.
was then Is years of age. Proceed
ing to California with one of the parties
'saf ..AH-A--s-a sssviviI, l re med there un-
til July, 1866, when with three others I
started on a small trading vessel for
Kamchatka, landing on its peninsula
after a tedious voyage" of forty-seven
days. Then began life of adventure
and hardship which lasted two years,
and took me over Siberia from Behring
straits down to the Okhotsk sea, our OBJ
ject being to locate the most desirable
route to the mouth of the Amoor river
During this period travelled six or eight
thousand miles on dog and reindeer
sledges, horseback and in canoes, fire.
quently camping out of doors six weeks
at time in winter.
After the successful laying of the Sec
ond Atlantic cable, l received notice in
the autumn of 1867 that our enterprise
had been abandoned. AS the circum-
stances have not been published, they
may be of interest. We had large force
Of men at work, and were cut off from
communications from the civilized world
Occasionally, however, vessel would
come into the Okhotsk sea, and every
spring we would go down to the coast
to watch the horizon for the smoke that
rose while the crew were trying out their
whale oil, hoping to get news from the
civilized world. We had whale boat in
which we could go out short distance
to sea, and, in the summer of 1867, OBJ
serving in the far distance welcome
cloud that indicated the presence of a
whale ship, we manned our little craft
and started to board her.
AS we approached the captain paid lit
tie or no attention to us, thinking we
were only party of natives. Finally,
however, we succeeded in climbing on
deck, and walking aft said to the cap
tain: "Good day, sir. What is the name
of your vessel?" You never saw man
look more astonished, for, being dressed
in the costume of the country, he did not
expect to find in me one of his own race.
or hear his own tongue spoken. AS soon
as he could catch his breath he exclaimed:
GOOD Lord! Has the universal Yankee
got up here? Where did you come from?
How did you get here? What are you
doingT And then followed welcome
the warmth of which you must imagine.
His name was Capt. Hamilton, and his
bark the Sea BIZ -, from New Bedford.
On parting the captain gave us a bundle
OF newspapers, some of them year old,
and presented Ills with liberal supply of
provisions. As soon as we reached shore
we built camp fire and sat down to re-
new our acquaintance with the outside
world. In the course of an hour or two
one of the party stumbled upon para
graph in San Francisco journal stating
that, in consequence of the success of the
second ocean cable, all work on the Rus
sian-American telegraph had been aban-
doned. This was the first notification
that our duties were at an end. During
the following September one Of our COM
panys vessels arrived with orders for our
return to the United States.
There being still some hope that the
Russian government might be induced to
build the line clear up to the Behring
straits, in which case it was thought the
American company would go on, was
left in Siberia, meanwhile collecting and
shipping to San Francisco the vast mass