The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1901-1901, 1901-06-21
OFFICIAL CITY PAPER.
FRIDAY JUNE q, 1901.
HIS INDOMITABLE SPIRIT.

We have failed to notice IN all the
editorial comment concerning Cover
nor Pingree, many tributes though |
there be, any allusion to the great
cause in which he met his death. |
From the exposure and trials of a
South African trip Governor Pingree,
not any too robust, never recovered.
His object was to assure himself OF
the conditions of the South African
war and to meet the Boer upon his ma
tive heath. Having powerful friends
among the British his endeavor was
rather encouraged than frowned upon
at the court of St. James, and among
the Beers, those liberty-loving people,
Governor Pingree's mission was rec
ognized, aided and abetted. Unfortu-
nately for them his impressions will
never reach the public heart, but there
is no question but that the governor
came back from the Transvaal a Boer
in spirit, impulse and voice.
w. T. Stead, the London journalist
thus paid tribute to Pingree's South
African exploit.
''The career of one of the most not
able of modern Americans is closed;
a man who for strength of character,
firmness of purpose, indomitable ener-
gy and immense public spirit presents
an example in two worlds.
"Pingree had an extremely interest
ing experience in his brief visit to
South Africa. He went out armed
with recommendations from Chamber
lain which enabled him to pass every
where freely through the English
lines. recommendations from the col
onial Office enabled him to penetrate
regions Theoretically sealed to the or
binary civilian.
accompanied only by his secretary
he penetrated into the heart of the
seat of war and soon had an Opportu.
nifty of making the acquaintance of
the Beers at first hand. Extraordi-
nary though it may be, he was able
to lunch in the British camp in the
morning and dine with the Beers in
the evening. He found to his aston
ishment that the Beers were by nc
means so black as they had been
painted. They were by. no means de
void of human intelligence; they
dressed and washed like civilized HUI
man beings. welcomed by generous
hospitality, the travelling American
who found them far from extremists
1.-The commanders he visited wer'
we'll clothed and we'll armed, ever,
man possessing at least two horse
with a good reserve of ammunition
They are safeguarding it no doubt, bu
they still have stores of Mauser car
ridges to fall back upon, but for tn
present they are doing all their figh
ing with Lee-Metfords and cartridge
which they supply themselves wit
from the British stores.
1T was impossible that such ma
as Pingree could fail to be deepl
touched by the spectacle of these h
roic burghers maintaining their strul
gle against overwhelming odds fl
liberty and independence of the
country. He found no difficulty wha
ever in traversing the hostile lines
he drove in a Cape cart with his Sc
rotary and son riding bicycles as a
escort. 1t was somewhat perilous II
them as the Beers have the disagree
able, although natural habit, of shoe
ing all bicycle riders on sight II
with them. spies and British dispatt
riders is synonymous terms. It
much to be regretted that for II
interest of truth and justice such
keen observer should not be spar,
to return to his own country to
scribe the Beers as he found them
a struggle which must have recall,
at every turn the stirring episodes
the war of independence"