Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1898-12-02
NOTED WILD WHITE MEN
oERELlcTs WHO FELL INTO THE
HANDS or NATIVE AUSTRALIANS.

Adventures of william Buckley, an rs
capped Convict-He Was Six Feet Seven
Inches Tall. aud Won the Heart of a
Chiefs widow - Epicurean Cannibals.
The meteoric appearance of a 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,
revives recollections Of the wild
white men" that from time to time
have fallen into the hands Of the nm
civilized Australian aborigines and
been restored to white humanity after
long years OF separation and degrada-
tion,
The first recorded wild white man
was William Buckley, a native Of
Maeclesfeld, aud at the close of the
last century a soldier in the Fourth,
or Kings Own, regiment. On Dec.
"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 a convict ship
to the Antipodes. During a brief stay
at the head Of what is now the harbor
of Melbourne he contriyed to escape
in company with two other convicts.
The latter perished--how was never
ascertalned- when Buckley was
subsequently questioned as to their
fate he was exceedingly reticent and
disconnected. That it was case OF
cannibalism 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 a
newly-buried chief. Luckily for him
the widow came along, and surersti-
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
as chief of the tribe, position for
which he was physically well quail
fed, as he was a man of great stature
Is feet Z inches), strength and en-
duranee.
For the next thirty-two years Buck
ley led the life of savage, hunting,
fishing and fighting with the tribe
that adopted him. He does not ap-
pear to have taught the blacks any
thing OF raised them in any degree in
the scale of civilization. He simply
became one Of themselves and adapt
ed himself to his new environment
in every respect perhaps his best
and wisest course under the circum-
stances. 1t was on July u, 1885,
that he saw white face for the first
time after a 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
sayages around him. but the new
comers 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 as 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 be was thrown out of cart and
killed in his 18th 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 a 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,, 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 8,
1886. He lived with the Queensland
blacks for an even longer period
twenty years.
The story of a little cabin boy
named Narcisse Pierre Pellatier
ought to have attracted the at
tention of the boys novelists 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 got 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 dying condition in a granny
among the rocks. They nursed him
back to life, fed him, treated him well
and, in fact, made him the pet of the
tribe. Nearly all the Chinese passen-
gers were captured by the blacks and
eaten up two at a time. The flesh Of
the Chinaman is esteemed q great
delicacy by the cannibal blacks of
Queensland. From the point Of view
of a cannibal, vegetarian is far SUI
perior to meat-eater. Little Pella-
tier lived with the blacks for seven
teen years, and was rescued by a
British ship, the John Bell, on April
IL, 1875. He Immediately returned
to France. where he may be still liv-
ing. He would now be man OF be-
tween fifty and. sixty.
rr,a siEba