New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-09-28
DESERT CIVILIZATION
WHITE MEN WHO CAST IN rBE1p ,
WITH DUSKY RACES OTHERS wuo
SEEK SOLITUDE OF DEs
ERT ISLANDS.

Dlstaste Tor the uammels and prejudice, =,
CIVILIZATION leads far larger number q, ~.
and even of women, than the readers n, ~
Tribune can imagine to withdraw from ,h..
accustomed haunts n order to go forth ana
alone in remote and out Of the way spots =,
to cast their lot among barbarous or semi -
ilized nations. They are always croppin, y.
the most extraordinary and unexpected 49,
often furnishing the solution of sO-called g
ferrous disappearance" of years long mas,
constituting material for romances that ara -
the more interesting. in that they are ~
upon fact Within the last few weeks Wa -
seen ScOtchman by the name Of KiIlick ~
ing the rank of admiral in the navy of the ~
republic of Hayti, blow UP himself with his sSt.
rather than surrender the latter to a Germ.
man-of-war
Attention has likewise been called recen,Iv -
Dr. Barr, the eminent specialist for the disease,
Of the mind, to the case Of an American million,
aire who. severing his ties from the land Of hi,
birth, has taken up his abode in Japan, wbs,,
he consorts. not with the educated classes In,
with the so-called Hanins, or people Of the moss
degraded and lowest type, whose mode Of e.
istence differs but slightly from that of brut.
beasts and who are accustomed to perform
those kinds of labor which no one else In III.
Orient would undertake for fear Of contamina.
ton and loss of caste. Then, too l have lately
received the news of the death Of a once well
known and brilliant Austrian cavalry Office,
who spent many years alone on the island O,
Juan Fernandez which he rented from the Chill
ian Government, and where he led a solitary ex-
istence, similar in many respects to that of the
whose name The island baarc
The story Of this officer Of Iancers is a case in
Ioint He bore the name Of Baron de Rodt and
in the war of 1866 against Prussia was 50 Sc
verely wounded a charge at the battle Of
Sadowa that he was obliged to retire from &C.
tive service. This seemed TO prey on his mind
and after spending some years in Paris and
taking part in its defence during the siege he
suddenly disappeared, leaving no clew to what
had become Of him. Every effort was made to
discover traces Of him, but without success. and
the conclusion was finally adopted that he was
dead. 1t not until many years afterward
that by mere chance l was enabled to assure
myself that these fears had been unfounded.
He had leased from the Gillian Government the
island OF Juan Fernandez, and had Established
himself there. living for considerable time en-
tirely alone. Eventually he permitted few
Chilians to take up their residence there on the
condition that they agreed to submit to his
in all things
This went on very we'll for a time and the
little colony grew and prospered. exporting
quantities of Holsters and agricultural products
to Valparaiso. But the time arrived when the
colony grew too large TO submit any longer to
the barons benevolent despOtism, and the in
habitants. having quarrelled with him. claimed
their right 10 abide by the laws of Chilli rather
than by those which he had devised for their
benefit Inasnuch as the Gillian Government
as in duty bound. sustained them in this argu-
rnent. and declined to recognize the right of the
ex-Iancer to place his own rule above that Of its
own in territory that is distinctly Chihan IA