The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-10-08
SKETCH OF SIR
HERBERT KITCHENER
From the London M. A. P.

| which latter is but natural allef twenty
years of service in Africa Finding his
| commission in the royal engineers too
| peaceful, he fought as a VOLUNTEER in the
| two great European wars of recent times
| against the Prussians with General
| Chanzy's army of the Loire, and against
the cars soldiers in the Balkans under
| Baker Pasha. But most of his service has
| been in the east where he first went in
| charge of a party of surveyors in Pales-
| tine.
| Here he began to acquire his remarkable
| knowledge of Oriental languages and tribes,
| of which many stories are told. For exam
! pie at one of his army camps on the Nile,
| two Arab date sellers were arrested as sus-
pected spies. and confined in the guard
| tent. Shortly afterward a third Arab pris-
| oner was hastily bundled into the tent An
animated jabbering ensued between the
| three, and in few minutes, much to the
establishment of the sentry, the latest ar
| rival drew aside the doorway and
| doorway and stepped out remarking; "All
| right sentry; I'm going to the general
1t was Kitchener. Again, only few
| minutes passed when an orderly hurried
up, and a spade was handed to each of the
lines, dug their graves, and were shot.
| They were dangerous spies and Kitchener
had detected them. But once the generals
| skill in DISCUSSES was nearly fatal to him
| self. He was working at water mill with
some natives, whose conversation he wished
| to hear, when a Tommy Atkins who DID
| not approve of ringers" CHANGED to pass
| by, and expressed his dislike with a stone,
which struck Kitchener on the head But
rude as this experience was, his adventures
| in the track of Strickland Sahib in Kipling's
| fiction and of the late Sir Richard Burton
| in real life have proven of yeoman service
| to him in his brilliant and unchequered
African career. But it were ungenerous to
| forget that he has had chief adviser
Slatin Pasha whose thirteen years captivi-
| ty in the Soudan have given him an init
mate knowledge of Soudanese tribes.
Probably because he has thus been wan
derer on the face of the earth-a modern
| Ulysses, who has very literally seen many
| men and known their minds"-perhaps also
| because he has been a terribly busy man
| from his early youth, Sir Herbert has never
married. In his forty-eighth year he is still
| bachelor. But perhaps marriage Will
| come in the near future with all the other
| things that his grateful country is prepar-
ing for him. 1t is stated in some quarters
that his honors for Omdurman will include
a heavy money grant, in addition to
peerage.
Kitchener began his career by very slow
| steps taking twelve years to gain his cap
taincy in the engineers But directly his
| chance came his GOODNESS and self-com-
hi ind ita1 and his
| miraculous capacity for hard work marked
| him out as man of action The turning
point in his career came when General Sir
Evelyn Wood undertook the reorganization
of the Egyptian army. He took service
under Wood in 1882, and in 1885 his marvel
Gus knowledge of the native mind and Ian
guage brought him to the front. He was
sent ahead of Sir Garnet Wolseley to deal
with the native chiefs and officials whose
attitude was uncertain. The following
picturesque account of him when engaged
on this ticklish mission was written by an
enthusiastic admirer of the Sirdar soon
after the victory of Atbara:
1.-The first time 1 saw Kitchener he was
alone and unarmed among the semi-hostile
Arabs, endeavoring to persuade them that
their interests would be best served il they
against the dervish rebellion. 1t was
strange sight to see this tall, SLIM blue
eyed Irishman armed only with illimitabie
self-confidence and fearlessness, arguing
with and sometimes threatening, the pow
erful chiefs who for aught he knew, might
have been sworn allies of the tribe that
had Just murdered Colonel Donald Stewart
and Consul Power not many miles further
up the Nile.
"When persuasive reasoning failed, he did
hot
their punishment would be when the w mite
Emir and his legions came upon them,
meaning Lord Wolseley with the British
battalions that were then toiling slowly up
the Cataract. Those brave words, in which
there was no doubt touch of boastfuness
pardonabe in the circumstances, frequently
gave rise to angry murmurs and sullen
uoks but they were met By the glance of
eyes that would not have quailed if looking
at grim death-eyes that in such moments
glow so curously that the light in them
seems fixed as if suddenly frozen"
1t was Sir Herbert Kitchener who went
ahead of Sir Herbert Stewards column with
| two native guides in the first dash for the
| wells of Gakoni. Near them notorious
| robber leader who had accompanied the
| Mahdists in their merciless raids, was sur
prised and chased by Nineteenth Hussar
! scouts He and his few followers would
probably have escaped if Kitchener, who
| was well mounted had not overtaken them
! Alone and far ahead of the hussars, he
| closed with these ferocious freebooters, and
| called upon them to surrender. The cool
| daring that had so often succeeded told in
| this moment. Deceived by it into the belief
| that they were surrounded by unseen foes
whom the bold Englishman had at his COM
mand, they parleyed and were lost for this
| gave the hussars time to come up and make
prisoners of the band 1t was bold and
characteristic act, which established
| Kitcheners reputation with British soldiers.
At the crisis of the Dongola expedition,
when it became necessary to seize a
strategic point, so that supplies might ac-
| cumulate there before the Nile got too low
| for river transport, tropical storms of vio-
lence previously unknown in these regions
| washed away sections of the railway on
which these supplies were, in great meas
ure, dependent. Following upon cholera
and other sickness in his corps, this fresh
| disaster seemed overwhelming. But he
stood up against it with characteristic
| fortitude.
J;c+ri I,,,tio Of