Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-12-30
NOTED WILD WHITE MEN
DERELlcTS WHO FELL INTO THE
HANDS OF NATIVE AUSTRALIANS.

Chiefs widow - Epicurean Cannibals.
The meteoric appearance Of gen.
tleman named Louis de Rougemont
with marvellous story Of hitherto
unheard-of adventures during an al,
legged residence of some thirty years
with the blacks OF northern Australia,
reyives recollections of the wild
white men" that from time to time
have fallen into the hands of the un-
civilized Australian aborigines and
been restored to white humanity after
long years OF separation and degrade
ton,
The first recorded wild white man
was William Buckley, n native of
Macces field, and at the close Of the
last century soldier in the Fourth,
or Kings Own, regiment. On Dee.
"a, 1902, in company with six other
soldiers, he was involved in an at
tempt on the life of the Duke of Kent.
He was sentenced to transportation
for life and taken out in convict ship
to the Antipodes. During n brief stay
at the head of what is now the harbor
of Melbourne he contrived to escape
in company with two other convicts.
The latter perished-how was never
ascoNained and when Buckley was
subsequently questioned as to their
fate he was exceedingly reticent and
disconnected. That it was case OF
caunibalism was the general belief of
the early settlers around Melbourne.
Anyhow, in the last stages of hunger
and privation, Buckley lay down up
on what proved to be the grave of
newly-buried chief. Luckily for him
the widow came along, and supersti-
tiously concluded that her dear de-
parted had returned to life in the
shape of white man. She promptly
annexed him as her own, led him to
the camp of the blacks, explained the
circumstances under which she had,
found him, and secured his admission
rs chief of the tribe, n position for
which he was physically we'll quail
fed, rs he was man of great stature
Is feet z inchesl, strength and en-
durance.
For the next thirty-two years Buck
ley led the life Of a savage, hunting,
fishing and fighting with the tribe
that adopted him. He does not ap-
pear to have taught the blacks, any
thing or raised them in any degree in
the scale of civilization. He simply
l,aoan,a opa as tban,oalyao o,I o1onf
ed himself to his new environment
in every respect-perhaps his best
aud wisest course under the circumi
stances. 1t was on July II, 1885,
that he saw white face for the first
time after lapse of more than thirty
years. On that day the pioneers of
the city Of Melbourne landed from
their little schooner, and Buckley adj
yanced to meet them. He had by this
time become but little superior to the
savages around him, but the new
Corners noticed the comparatively
light color of his skin. He tried to
summon up some English words from
the depths of his memory, and at
last succeeded in articulating the
word "bread." He made himself
very useful rs an interpreter between
the new white settlers and the blacks,
and when his story reached London
the imperial authorities magnanimous-
ly drew the sponge over his offence
and sent him free pardon. He EN-
ioyed a small pension in his later
years, and lived until Feb. 2, 1856,
when he was thrown out of cart and
killed in his 10th year. The site of
Geelong, about forty miles from Mel
bourne, was the headquarters of the
tribe to which Buckley was attached
during his three decades of savage
life. Three miles from Geelong there
is still shown a cave in river gorge
where he is said to have resided, and
the adjacent rapids continue to per-
petuate his name as Buckley's Falls.
James Morrill,, a native of Maldon,
Essex, was the sole survivor of the
shipwreck of the bark Peruvian, that
struck on reef off the northeastern
coast of Queensland on March s,
1916. He lived with the Queensland
blacks for an even longer period
twenty years.
The story of little cabin boy
named Narcisse Pierre Pellatier
ought to have attracted the at.
tention of the boys noveists long be-
fore now. He engaged as cabin boy
on the st. Paul, bound from China to
Australia with $50 Chinese emigrants.
She also struck on reef off the north
eastern coast of Queensland. Officers
and crew 60. away in the boats, not
troubling themselves about the Chin
ese passengers; and in their hurry
forgetting the little cabin boy, who
was subsequently found by the blacks
in a dying condition in Granny
among the rocks. They nursed him