Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1901-10-02
PROF. GARNER HEARD FROM.

PROF. GARNER HEARD FROM.
"The Man Who Makes Monkeys
Talk" Writes From Africa.
Prof. R. L. Garner, "the man who
makes monkeys talk, has, after months
of silence, been heard from. Mr.. Har-
ry E. Garner, Of 1,411 Mount Royal
avenue, son of the distinguished scien-
tist, yesterday received a letter from
his father, dated Mbeka Manji Nenge,
West Africa, July 4. Prof. Garner is
In excellent health, and, according to
his letter, is mainly engaged in hunt
ing big game in the jungles Of the Dark
Continent. He says nothing about his
experience with the monkeys or how
his experiments with the phonograph
are progressing. Much Of the letter is
devoted to personal and family affairs.
Omitting these portions the letter is as
follows:
MBEKA, MANU- NENeE, West Africa,
July 4, 1901.
My Dear Son: am just in receipt Of
your letter of April IA Since
the first week in March I have been liv-
ing near this native village, about 40
miles from Cape Lopez, and for four
months never saw a white man. Last
week, however, white man who lives
at Cape Lopez came to visit me, and
insisted upon my returning with him to
the coast to spend a few days. We
went overland, and the little walk of
40 miles did me good. I returned by
canoe.
I could write you of many adventures
with buffalo since my sojourn here. I
have been, much of my time, in quest
of them as my chief food supply. You
must know that the equatorial buffalo
is a very wary and dangerous animal
to hunt and quite the hardest to kill
and pugnacious, and when provoked or
wounded will fight to the death.
was charged three times in one day by
| them, and have been in some very mar
row calls with them. A few days ago
I killed three in less than two hours,
and two of these shot at one sitting
l. that Is to say I killed one, and by
the time it was on the ground I shot
the second one.
All three fell at the crack Of the rife,
which is a thing almost unknown to
20 h,,n IN n
+ this burly bovine. fshot and wounded
two others the same day, but they got
under cover Of the jungle. into which
no hunter ever dares to follow one. Of
ten they are found dead in the bush af-
ter the meat Is spoiled. I think there
is no doubt that have killed as many
Of them as any other man has ever
done in the same length Of time, but
the greater part Of them are lost in
the manner above described.
The dry season is now on and 1t Is
not so laborious to hunt them, but dur
ing the wet season it Is something in
describably difficult. The jungle Is full
of swamps. many Of them up to ones
neck, and the trails are in many in
stances so thwarted by submerged
roots and vines and fallen trees as to
be almost inaccessible to man. The
plains, too, are crossed by great, deep
marshes, so filled with long grass,
rushes and other aquatic plants that 1t
is very difficult to wade through them.
Yet for miles and miles I have strug-
gled and trudged my way through
them, day after day, in rain and
scorching sunshine, and often returned
to my camp without any reward for
my labors.
In few days I am going to an olako,
sometime in hunting buffalo, hippot-
ami, wild pigs and elephants. After
that shall go to another place where
there is a big lake in the midst Of a
vast plain, and hunt elephants. There
are plenty of them about here. but they
never stir about in the daytime, be-
cause Of the village or camp.
There Is only one gun here besides
/
they manage to kill some game with
1t. I couldn't do 1t. have q Winches-
ter (model '95), 3O-30 calibre, smokeless
powder, soft-nosed bullets. and, of
course, 1 can catch at long range, but
1t requires a centre shot to get buff
falo. You must hit the brain, or heart
or break the spine to get one.
| r. L. GARNER.
Prof. Garner left Boston, July %,
1900. for Africa. He took with him a
great cage and a phonograph, and 1t
was his avowed object to learn the
monkey language, he holding to the
theory that the animal had one. He
reached the French Congo in Septem-
Der and was there stricken with jungle
fever. Edward Everett Hale, Of Bos-
ton; Prof. Putnam, Of Harvard, and
other leading educators with vast diff
ficulty succeeded in getting succor to
the stricken scientist.
Prof. Garner was heard from Janu-
ary last direct, and since then, up to
yesterday, his son has had no word
from him.-Baltimore Sun.
| AssAssINATIoNs OF A CENTURY.-Fol-
lowing is the record of rulers who were