Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1909-04-06
NECRO'S LANGUAGES
 ATTRACT ATTENTION
Eugene Caldwell. Born in Africa and Reared in Germany. Claims Com. mand of 21 Langnages, in State Prison.

The Little Rock Gazette of recent date has the following story relative to Eugene Caldwell. negro, whose remarkable use of various languages was reviewed in The Graphic some weeks ago while hn was prisoner in the Jefferson county jail. Cdld- we'll recently plead guilty to charge of grand larceny in the Jefferson cir cult court and was sentenced by Judge Grace:
 Eugene Caldwell. a negro who was born 62 miles north Of Hamburg in Germon, and who is serving q sentence in the Arkansas pententi- ary on charge of grand larceny. having ~been sent ID from Jefferson county, is probably one Of the bs st linguists in Arkansas, regardless of color, if his own st4tcinf nts carry any weight. The negro claims to be able to speak 2l different languages He says he has been ill 27l nations and provinces on continents and in 1000 islands of the sea. The negro has been nicknamed Dutch" at the pen itentiary
 lie was seen yesterday at the pen itentiary hospital by reporter whose knowledge of foreign languages is considerably less than 21 It was plain, however, the negro could con verse better in German than in any other tongue, and a German-speak- ing convsct was called to aid in in- terpre ting
 The negro stated that he could speak German, English Ere nch Ital- ian, Spanish. Russian, Chinese, Jap anese, and many Of the Polish dia- lects; that he knew many Of the lan- guages spoken by the tribes of south Africa and that he could converse freely with many of the tribe in the Philippine Islands.
 Languages Easily Acquired.
 Owing to the hampered use the negro has Of the Engl sh language, IL could not be clearly learned inst i how he came to master so many ton gues. From his conversation, how ! ever, it was gleaned that both Ger man and English governments learn ! ed Of his aptitude in picking up lan- Suages and that he had been employ ed by both of the governments as an interpreter. He claimed that he could l acquire working knowledge of nearly any tongue in ten days. He explained this by yng that he had observed that the ordinary words of various languages come from the same roots. In this way he classi- fled the nations of Europe in one branch, Asia in another and Africa in another. He claims that as soon as he hears new word it fastens itself in his memory and as soon as he has placed the word to the object it becomes part of his vocabulary
 He was asked f he did not be- come confused at ines as to what language he was Hg. He claimed that he could use ss language him self that he fo' d. but that he cannot alwa} fl eand what is said to him e. G. -pur of the mo- meht ln any si T language He said me words sounded familiar, but that lie could not always. without some :, reflection, place their meaning.
 Has d German Accent.
 Dutch" as he is called. looks inst like any other negro. He is very black and is proud of his color That ne is not an American negro is plain. He speaks with decided German f accent and asks with shrug of his $ shoulders and wave of his hands, ( Do you understand me-"
 Just why he left Germany to come 10 America he could not make plain owing to the fact that he spoke part of the words in German and part in