Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-03
SIGN OF CROSS SPoILS FEAST
symbol on M~issiOnary's Arm stops
Cooking Arrangements of
Cannibals.

Stripped preparatory to being cooked for
a canibal feast, a cross that had been
tattooed on his arm saved the life of Rev.
Thomas N. Needham, who is well known
as a part of the evangelistic army of DR..
j. Wilbur Chapman.
In a recent sermon in Richmond Mr..
Needham told a remarkable tale of kid
mapping in his early youth, being taken ON
a tramp steamship, being finally abandoned
among the cannibsls on the coast of Pata-
gonia, and of his deliverance at their
hands because of the discovery of the
cross, which had been tattooed by the
sailors, the story of the cross having been
taken to Patagonia years before by the
Jesuits, and a superstition regarding II
being still extant among the inhabitants.
DIR. Needham was originally from Boston,
Mass. He relates that as a child he spent
all his idle moments on the water front,
listening 10 the weird tales told by the old
men of the sea. So thoroughly engrossed
| did he become with the life Of the sailor
that, according to his own admissions, he
/ frequently neglected duties which he
should otherwise have performed in order
to hear some old salt tell the stories Of his
adventures.
1t was on the quays of the Hub that the
future DIR. Needham was kidnapped, carried
aboard a vessel bound for a South Ameri-
can port and finally abandoned, to be de-
livered by means of the cross, which ulti-
mately resulted in his own conversion and
the dedication of his life TO the saving of
human souls.
II sometimes feel said DR.. Needham,
now that my own experience is all re-
| Prospect, that God in His infinite wisdom
decreed that 1 should be tried in this man
ner; hat He in His wisdom knew that I
should be better fitted to carry the Gospel
to all men after / had been placed in the
balance and found worthy Of the test.
Despite the wishes of my parents, whom
I honor and respect and love, 1 was a con-
slant frequenter of the vharves of my ma
! tive city. which attracted me in a manner
which L am at a loss to explain. The day
on which I was abducted 1 had been listen
ing in rapt attention to an old sailor tell
ing a story of shipwreck and rescue. II
was the same old story that I had listened
TO many times before, but it was ever new
10 me-.
IT was taken from behind suddenly, hur
ried aboard a ship and thrown into thu
hold, from which I was not allowed t.
emerge for many days. In the meantime
the vessel plowed it's way across the-tc
me-unknown waters. When I was finally
brought on deck the sailors tainted me
and in a spirit of deviltry tattooed a eros
upon my arm. Finally I was abandoned
on the coast of Patagonia.
"This coast, as is well known, Is infested
by cannibals. I was captured by one o
the cannibal tribes. 1t was decreed that
should be made into the principal dish a
a great feast. I was accordingly stripped
preparatory to being cooked. When I stoot
before the savages naked the crucifix upol
my arm was discovered. The preparation
for the feast were at once discontinue
and I was taken before the chief. VIII
personally examined the marks upon m,
arm and issued orders that I should b
treated with the greatest respect.
81 lived among those savages for severa
Lyears, during which time they treated m
with the greatest reverence. I finall
learned the cause of my strange deliver
ance. Jesuits had visited the country year
before and had left a sort of superstition
among the tribesmen regarding the cross
Finally 1 made my escape. Making m