Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-02-12
handsome boxe be repeated, if
 innd tn ifs I~
MEN WHO WENT WILD.
Than Louis de Rougemont, the Now Discredited sLater Day CRusoe."


 The meteoric appearance in our midst of a gentleman named Louis de Rougemont, with a marvellous story of hitherto unheard-of adventures during an alleged residence of some 30 years with the blacks of northern Australia, revives recolleetions of the "wild white men" that, from time to time, have fallen into the hands of the uncivil- ized Australian aborigines, and been restored to white humanity after long years of separation and degradation.
 The general impression is in the minds of many well-informed Austra- ians that the Rougemontian adven- lures and experiences are largely u superstructure or romance, based upon B small foundation of reality.
 The first recorded wild white man was William Buckley. On December 24, 1902, in company with six other sol diers, he was involved in an attempt 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 brief stay at the head of what is now the harbor of Melbourne he contriyed to escape in company with two other con Yiets. The latter perished, and, In the last stages of hunger and priyation, Buckley lay down upon what proved to be the grave of recently buried chief.
 Luckily for him the widow came along, and superstitiously concluded that her dear departed had returned to 1 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, q position for which he was physically well qualified, as he was man of great stature (six feet seven inches), strength and endurance.
 In the next 32 years Buckley led the fife of savage, hunting, fishing and fighting with the tribe that adopted him.
 It was on July 12, 1885, that he saw white face for the first time after the lapse of more than 30 years On that day the pioneers of the city of Melbourne landed from their little schooner, and Buckley advanced to meet them.
 He tried to summon up some Eng lish words from the depth of his mem ory, and at last succeeded in articu- lating the word "bread."
 He made himself very useful as an in- I. s4, tiers and the blacks, and, when his story reached London, the imperial au- thorities magnanimously drew the sponge over his offenses and sent him free pardon,
 He enjoyed small pension in his later years, and lived until February 3, 1856, when he was thrown out of a cart and killed, in his seventy sixth year.
 The site of the present town of Gee : long, about 40 miles from Melbourne, was the headquarters of the tribe to which Buckley was attached during his three decades of savage life.
 The story of little cabin boy, named ] Narcisse Pierre Pellatier, ought to have dlNLdClcu lilc dLlSHl HUH u sLllS DOy > novelist long before now. He engaged as cabin boy on the St. Paul, bound from China to Australia with $50 Chi nese emigrants. She also struck on a reef off the northeastern coast of Queensland.
 Officers and crew got away in the boats, not troubling themselves about the Chinese passengers, and, in their hurry, forgetting the little cabin boy, who was subsequently found by the blacks in a dying condition in a cram ny among the rocks, They nursed him back to life, fed him, treated him we'll ond, in fact, made him the pet of the tribe.
 Nearly all the Chinese passengers were captured by the blacks and eaten up, two at time.
 The flesh of the Chinaman is es- teemed great delicacy by the canni- bal blacks of Queensland. From the point of view of a cannibal, vegetari- m is vastly superior to a meat eater.
 Little Pellatier lived with the blacks for r years, and was rescued by Brit tsh ship the John Bell, on April II, 1875. He immediately returned to France, where he may be still living. He would now be a man of between 50 and 60.-Pall Mall Gazette.