St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-26
REAL LIFE ROMANCE.
A Brother and a Sister Meet
for the First Time in
Their Lives,
After Cireling the Earth to
Accomplish the Reeog-
milton.
A. j. Munford's Singular 1aie
Of His Australian
Life.
A Glad Reunion Scene at the
Merchants Hotel Yes
terday.


He was tall and commanding in APP
pearance. His hands showed muscles
and knots denoting hard work and con-
tant toll and his face was tanned and
bronzed until it was as dark as the face
Of all Indian. lie was we'll dressed in
dark suit Of clothes and on his head
he wore broad-brimmed hat of the fin
est make. An immense watch chain,
weighted with some queer-looklng
shells. was suspended from his broad
vest and OH entering the hotel he had
carried two immense valiseS which APP
peared to be heavily weighted.
His face denoted feVerish anxiety as
he scanned the register, and his hand
trembled with half suppressed excite
ment.
"Thank God she is here" he finally
exclaimed, as his OutStretched fingers
reaehe d q name. My sister is here"
Chief Clerk Allen looked at the name,
then at the room rack and said:
'Mr. and Mrs. Cummings, of Dover.
England; yes, sir, she is here. She is
up stairs now, and said if any one
called he was to be shown up at once"
where is the room | must see her
at oncew he exclaimed. Il have never
seen my sister in my life, although
have often dreamed Of her. Take me
to the room at once"
In response to the energetic ring of
the bell boy started for the stairs, and
the anxious visitor quickly followed
him. They disappeared up the stairs as
though they were after a whirlwind,
and couple of boys were quickly called
to rake the heavy valises out of the way.
The man had tossed a card OH the c0un-
ter, and on the cardboard was inscribed
the name of A. j. Munford, Melbourne,
Australia.
There is a chance for a story" said
Clerk Allen 10 reporter for the GLOBE.
Mr.. Munford came down stairs in
about an hour. His face was wreathed
in smiles. and he acted as though he
had nothing more to care for in this
world. He almost squeezed the hand
Off the GLOBE man after he had intro
duced himself, and at once inquired Tor
the bar.
Pm tickled to DEATH" he said. after
he had expressed his surprise at finding
a reporter who did not cate to drink
II have just seen my sister for the first
time in my life, and she is a grown
woman. The story is strange one.
Certainly; | will tell it to you If you
care to have it.
Don't look like & Chinaman or a
Malay?' he asked, with smile, as he
looked at his immense hands. II have
been toasted to brown by the sun of
Australia, and--Sinking his voice to a
whisper--''I have gone without n stitch
of clothing for five years at stretch.
But I'll tell you how it happened:
My folks lived in Dover, England.
and my father was captain of clipper
which sailed between ports in England
and the Indian ocean, He made trips
which lasted for years at a time, and
the first time | saw him was when | was
five years old. He had just returned
from trip to India. and on his arrival
he told my mother that he was going TO
take me with him. She cried and wept,
but he was memorable, as he said it was
only fair for him to have me for a
while. after she had taken care Of me
for five years. Poor mother! | never
saw her again.
I'VE set sail from Dover one pleasant
afternoon, leaving my mother and my
two older sisters, who have since died,
in the little white cottage by the shore.
/ can see 1t now, with its green, twining
vines about the doors and windows, and
nv sisters and mother standing ON the
little plot of grass before the door. [
stood on the rail waving my handker-
chief until the land had faded from
view. and then [ cried myself to sleep.
That was thirty years ago. We had
pleasant weather, and our ship being
fast clipper, as was necessary in the
India trade. we made good speed. Our
~ TN Anin Iyl0 Ic.
then we made short stop at the Canary
vegetables, and the third port was at
the Cape Verde islands. We then took
a run into Sierra Leone, and from there
went due southeast to Cape Town OIL
the southern extremity of Africa.
1--WE hal crossed the Tropc Of Capri
corn and were at about the Maritlus
islands when one OF the terrible trop-
ical storms or hurricanes burst on US.
The ship was put before the wind. and
we scudded i'll an eaSterly direction to
keep from laundering. 1t was many
days before the storm abated, and then
was in condition which demanded as
sistance from some passing vessel, If
any such should be sighted. All of the
good ships upper works were stove i'll
by the fury of the hurricane, and the
masts had gone by the board. There
were scarcely any light spars left for
the construction of jury masts. and
leak had been sprung in the bows.
1--WE were comparatively helpless.
The wind still blew strongly and pre-
vented any repairs from being made
and the water in the hold was gaining
Oh the pumps. All of the men were
exhausted from hours of unremitting
toll at the pumps. and it was finally de-
cided to take to the boats. Just before
leaving the ship my father took an OBJ
servation and one of the sailors pricked
the marks on my wrist. Here it is to
this day."
He rolled up his sleeve, and on the
brown skin could be seen faint marks.
They gave the longitude as being 120
deg east and latitude 18 deg south.
''Just after we had taken to the boats
the ship went down. We were within
a short distance of the shore, and after
two days'in the boats we reached the
land. Tafterward found out that we
had landed on Tasman land, short
distance from the De Gray river.
After we had been on land for few
days we started for the interior. hoping
to make our way across country to the
south, where we could strike some of the
settlements Of the colonies. We had
not gone far when we were met by
party of the natives, who attacked us
with the greatest feroclty. All of the
members of the party, with the excep-
ton of myself, because of my youth,
l suppose, had been massacred,
and | was carried away by them.
The adventures which l had are too
numerous to mention. l played with
the little natives and rapidly learned
their language. | was taught to throw
the boomerang, to drive spears and to
shoot with bows and arrows. / soon
became as brown as any of them, and it
was almost impossible to tell me from
one of the Bar-roo roos, that being the
name of the tribe to which 1 was at
tached. We lived on roots and herbs
which the women dug out of the ground,
and the men killed the kangaroos and
other animals.
"We had number of battles with
neighboring tribes, on whose territory
we encroached while wandering. The
tribe belonged to was nomadic, and
when we would run across the territory
of some Of the other tribes they would