The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-01-01

VANCOUVER. B. C.. Jan. 1-BenjamfI
Bridge, an American who was nine year.
/ a captive Of Australian savages. has ar.
rived here on the steamship AiiIoEera
| de speaks his native language with dffn.
Guilty now. having been so long among
! wild men de is magnificent specimen
q nanhood-tau, stalwart, handsome
/ Although only thiTty-eight years old MS
| hair and mustache are white because OF
| |hat he endured while the Australian
| saYages treated him as mascot and a
: goo.
He vas the first white man ever seen in
| an uneXplored part OF Australia He was
/ continually feted- and W0rshIped. but the
role Of deity and savior Of the tribe
! brought him PerilsUsly near starving Of
ten, Tor MS captors were cannibals who
! believed nothing but human flesh good
enough Tor god 10 eat. Scores Of times
he prepared 10 take his life
Bridge left his home IN New York
twelve years ago and went TO Australia
] When he was twenty nine he stared aff
/ cn a long hunting trip. ACCOMPANIED only
by a black servant. an aborigine- After
/ travelling through North Queensland On
horseback Bridge struck across unex0I0F-
ed country in the northern territory.
The blacks tTaiIed US hundreds Of miles
before they captured US he says The
~ - A4-AiG LL4Ss attacked US my DlGEh ROT
and we're camped beside a river IN the
Northern Territory All Of d sudden We
found ourselves surrounded. Every tree
IN the forest seemed alive, q black face
peered at US from every bush Without a
word uttered spears dropped around US
thick and fast.
I don't believe now they meant to kill
US. although I thought so then / after
ward had reason 70 know that they are 50
expert with the spear they could have hit
US as often as they liked ! was well arm
ed and fred az the blacks. who vanished
as quickly and as suddenly as they had
come
! did not see them again for two weeks.
and then 1t was at place nearly eighty
miles distant 7 had sent the boy 20 get
the horses. which we're feeding he did
moi return as soon as I expected ana I
started out TO look for him
When I had gone about fifty yards 7
was surrounded by the same horde Of saw
ages as II by magic I thought I was gone
sure. but 1 thought ! would give them d
rattle before they stuck me- and fired
al one Of Them. I missed him but he shot
aroused my black boy, who came TO help
me, and the shots frightened of our enc
mieG-
Before we saw them again we had
other adventures. Wild animals are
pretty big there. but not as savage as
the blacks I saw kangarOos, wild Shet-
land ponies. emus. buffalo, and aIliga-
tors. and the black people eat everybody
ana everything in sight
The only reason the alliga tors did not
eat me Was because they could never
get near enough. although once an ALI
gator followed my trail eight miles The /
blacks would have eaten me when they
finally got me. as they did the boy. but !
they had an idea that I brought them |
good luck
AT. Oyeru. River. near where I was /
camped, my horse went to the river to /
drink He had no sooner set foot in the !
water than an alligator raised his head !
and dragged the horse away. Next /
We could find nothing but the
horsesss hOofs. I think il was the same |
alligator that followed me. We were If
teen miles further up the stream / have |
seen alligatOrs lying on the river bank
waiting for the buffalo and emu have ]