The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-11-26
HAD MAY ADVENTURES
Crittendsn Marriott Travelled
Seventy-F Five Thousand Miles.
HE'LL NEVER ROVE AGAIN
He Faced Wild Bsasts Unarmed In the
Jungles of Africa-Carried Dis
patches Through the
Spanish Lines.

In six years. faced. unarmed, wild
beasts in the African Jungle. served on
board a BOAT loaded with dynamite and
name by a mutinous crew. had his be-
longings overhauled by Spanish officers
while carrying Cuban dispatches
through their lines. and who has at last
settled down. never to owe again, can
retired rover Is Crittenden Marriott, the
well-known Washington correspondent.
whose magazine work and novels are
now coming into favorable notice.
rs II possible for a man to travel
about the world with little or no money
and yet to enjoy himself?" was the
question I put to Mr.. Marriott, by way
OF opening the conversation when I
called to get his story the other day.
Mr.. Marriott laughed. why not?"
he said. "Of course everybody can't do
II. Some people would ind II easy and
consider that they were enjoying them
selves. while others would think that
they were undergoing terrible hard
ships. 1 can't remember when I didn't
".ht " taftt ~ WINS tito t,ota ~.
led me, years ago, to work hard until l
got an appointment at the naval acad-
envy, only to find. after two years. that
my eyesight was failing fast and that
I should have to resign on that ac-
count. I didn't give up the hope Of
travel. however. though for two years
my chances of seeing the world seemed
very small. Finally, when / was about
n. I inherited $500. m at once deter
mined to go to California with II. OF
course. &C my fervid imagination. Cali
fornia meant gold mines and gold
mines meant wealth.
II reached the Pacific coast at the
time that the gold discovery fakes of
Lower California were first sprung on
the confiding public. OF course 1 went
there. That was wha, l was in Cali
fornia TO do. With me were half a
dozen other cheerful idiots. We hired
a team. went south. and fattered our
selves that we were living Bred Harte
characters. One day one of the party
came into camp with a chunk of rich
quartz that he said he had found near
an abandoned mining shaft. We at
once concluded that we a struck 1t
rich, and started back to find the own
ers Of that shaft and buy II before they
learned its value. We did buy II, paying
chiefly I'm promises. Then the other fell
lows levied an assessment, froze out us
poverty-stricken members, n then
proceeded to develop the mine. II did
my heart good later on to learn that
the man who had found the quartz was
In the pay of the original owners of the
mine and had sailed IL OF US In great
shape.
This Disguised me with mining for
a while. and / went to San Francisco,
| spending almost my last cent to get
| there. Some time before I had written
an article for an Eastern paper a
guarding the region. n on my return
TO civilization l found a small check In
payment. This settled my life. 1 de-
termined to be a correspondent. i got
a Job as n reporter on the strength OF
that article and stuck 60 Il for a year.
during which time ] earned an average
OF s1f n week. Then I got a better
place and saved something. II was OBJ
vious that IL 1 wanted to be a corre-
~spnodent. II was high time that / was
beginning TO correspond. / resolved to
advertise myself. i determined to go
somewhere. anywhere that everybody
| had not been. While / was h~esitating
between the East Indies and interior
China I came across al article In a
| magazine entitled Golden Mashona-
land Ten minutes before I had never
| heard of Mashonaland. and / did not
know how to get there nor how to get
away. but that made no difference. My
mind was made up. / would go to
Mashonaland.
son June 4. 1892, I left San Francisco
| with a railway pass to New Orleans.
| some engineering tools. an agreement
to write up anything interesting i
might find for the San Francisco
| Chronicle. and about $3.50 in money. 1
went to London on a slow and cheap
steamer. Arrived there. ] set out TO
- A.. ths,.g n xxraptad knew that
my rough travelling clothes would pre-
judice me. and so. although ! knew L
should not need them where i was go
ing. l spent nearly $40 I'm fitting myself
with new clothing. Then ! let
tiers OF introduction to officials OF the
South African company on b strength
OF my newspaper credentials. got the
steamship to give me a Sec
ond-class ticket at third-class rates.
and six weeks afterwards i reached
Beira, i'm Portuguese East Africa. with
just ss5 In my pocket.
To-day there IL n railway inland
from Belra, but in those days there
was none and the country was almost
unknown. Joining with two other men.
/ went by boat 20 miles up the river
and there hired three negroes TO carry
my clothes and tools. amongst which
was a t~heodolite given me In a
Francisco. I had to pay these boys 81
eaCn IN ADVANCE. anu WITH 4 ndu uoht
SO I had just So left. II wasn't a pleas
ant predicament so far from home, but
Il was too late to back out then.
I'VE tramped inland for IL days and
I soon found that I could outwalk n
outwork my negroes without half try
ing. They were pretty good boys. too.
as they go down there. Finally we
reached Umtali without any particular
incident except a 8 meeting with
n lion. was alone when I met him.
and assure you my hair stood straight
up. However. he wasn't hungry or
seemed To scorn my lean and hungry
look. for he only gave a snin and
turned away. inc I got back to camp
as quickly as I could. The country was
full Of big game. including elephants
and lions.
From Umtali there ran In those days
a line of government OK carts. which
carried mail n passengers into the
interior. These could not start nearer
TO the coast because of the dreaded