The daily morning Alaskan., 1900-01-05
ID FAGE BOFRS
Skagwayan Chosen for Gen
 Roberts Staff.
F. R. BURNHAM THE MAN
Telegram Received Yesterday "nd ne Is Now on Hts Way 10 'hr Front-He Is m American.

FIR. Bumham, the Skagwav mining mn, yesterday received a telegram, by way of the steamer City of Seattle. from the south that he has been selected 10 serve on the staff of Gen. Roberts, who Is to haze charge of Great Britain'S forces in the great South African war.
 The word of appointment came from the British war department, and was brief and to the point. It dire:ted him to proceed to the front by the shortest route possible and quickly as possible, and to report at Cape Town. It also said all his expenses would De borne.
 The telegram was received only two and a half hours before the City of Seattle sailed for the return trip south, yet Mr. Bumham and his family are now aboard the ship speeding toward his new field of action. They had planned 10 go to Lon don, leaving on the City of Seattle this trip, and were In readiness to embark when the message was orene1. However, Mr. Burnham had not expected to receive the appointment nor had applied for 1t.
 The message had bee dropped In the postoffice, and was just by chance received before the City Of Seattle got away.
 Although Mr. Bunham has lived in Skagwav since last August and has been ln the north for mlnv mon hS, he has said little of his past, and few have known that he Is the mln once famous over the world as 1.-The American Scout" in the Matsbele war of 1893 and the Mitabele uprising Of 1896. His experience In those wars won him the reputation of fearless and skilful fighter, ani for h valuable services he was remembered by the British and by the great Briti>h.South Africa Company, at the head of which Is Cecil Rhodes, by high honors and rich gifts. The government presented him wi'h a rumb, of medals and the British South and. bS ifiii.ff iai. lGsqRosny gave hlm hne Burnham has friend in Cecil Rhodes and considers him one Of the greatest men that lives.
 lt was mining prospects that first carried dr. Buinham 10 South Africa. Now he has large interests in'the mines of that coua,ry, and it was to be where he could watch the fuc,uations of the mining mar ke, of the world that he hId prepd'd to 70 to London this winter. He felt that because ot the uncertain conditions in South Africa he might ind vIlulo'e op' portuniies m London for speculation or turns in mining properties. MT. BuInh'm has been a n ming man from his boyhooj and has interests in various piTts oi the world. notably also in platers ih th- Klon- dike. and in quartz in the neiehborhooi ol Ii is ei,v. He is said to have, or Is report ed having. interests in tie R iny Hollow eopper mines, on the Dalton trail.
 .ong had Mr. Bumham had desire to go to South Africa to mlns, so seven wears ago the first of this month he, aeeompa- nied by his wife, left California for the promised land. Without any mention oi participating in the Mitabele war, he ar rived in South Afrita just in time to tall In with the sritishsrs, and to engage in the capture of Bulwavao, in Rh;desia, from lobenqula, the famous African ehlei' gurnham was one of the three men of the fa,ed detachment that escaped the hor' rible massacre that befell the men unde' Major Wilson. Bumham and P. Ingram now of San Franeise,. and a MT. Arm strong were the only members of the de taehment that were not killed, and theN owe their lives 10 the fact that thev haG been sent back from the front for reinforce ments and were not present when th' enemy did its bloody work.
 Always modest, vel filled with a deslr for a life out of the ordinary routine O civilization, Mr. Burnham has spent many
 years in adventure. He was born In Mln nesota, near Mankato, thirty-nine wear
 ago. When Io years of age he went t
 Arizona and engaged in mining. and whll
 there fought against the Indians, and It l'
 probable that there he received trAlninI
 that was of value to him in going agains
 the African natives and which has bee
 suggested may be one of the reasons wh
 he has been chosen for the staff of Gen
 Roberts. Exploration has also fallen to the lot Mr. Burnh m, and at the head Of laTi