The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-03-20
WALKS AND TALKS
By JULIUS CHAMBERS.
By JULIUS CHAMBERS.


making an appropriation to erect mon
ument in Washington to one of the most
superb specimens Of manhood ever known
to me. ] refer to J. A. MacGahan, born
in Perry County, Ohio; a newspaper cor
respondent. who in one years time
earned for himself the imperishable title
of "The Liberator of Bulgaria" Clip
pings from the London Daily News print
ed in the winter of 1876 and 1877 describ-
ling the horrors Of the Bashi- Bazouk
lmascacres in Bulgaria lie before me as
write. The pen pictures that MaeGahan
drew were sufficcntto stay the hand of
Premier DisraeI. who was Oriental in
his sympathies, and already had the best
ships Of the British navy in the Sea of
MarmOra and outside the Dardenelles
ready TO aid the Sultan of Turkey. But
this young Ohio newspaper man. by tell
ing the absolute truth about the condi-
tons in Bulgaria. was able to prevent
Interference. In a month after he began
! his memorable ride through Bulgaria he
had put an entirely new aspect upon the
so-called Eastern question. England.
whose people are sympathetic at heart
and. above ali. Christian. had arisen in
wordy revolt against the unholy alliance
with the Sick Man OF Europe" II is
very curious how this all came about,
but as happen to know the whole story
it might as well be told here:
Januarlus Aloysius MacGahan was born
of Irish parents in Perry County, Ohio,
in 1877. He had a younger brother, who
afterward became prosecuting attorney
OF the county III which Toledo IS situat-
ed Young ]. A. went over TO Brussels
to study international law, and when the
Franco-Prussian war broke out, in 1870.
ne hurried TO Paris and offered his serv-
ices 10 George w. Hosmer, who was then
the New York Herald correspondent.
I Hosmer was a keen judge of men, and
although MaoGahan was lacking in news
paper experience. he was engaged to sc-
company the French force under Gen.
BOurbaki. AS bad luck had it, MacGahan
did not see any fighting in the war prop
er, but he returned to Paris when the
/ Commune broke out. and some OF his
letters descriptive OF the terrible scenes
during that reign Of terror are marvels.
He was arrested and condemned 10 be
shot, but he worked on his copy up to
ten minutes OF the appearance Of the
firing party. apparently unconcerned. IN
the nick Of time the American Minister.
Air. Washburn, appeared with a pardon
for him
MacGahan and the writer first met dur
ing the height Of the virginius excite
ment. I was sitting in my room at the
Russell House. in Key West. entertain
ing a lot of naval officers. some of whom
are now rear admrals, when the door
opened and the figure of man of mid
die height. chunky. and with cheeks as
rosy as a girls entered. He introduced
himself as MaeGahan. We did not need
any further details I distinctly recall
the fact that Commander Cushing, In
command of the Wachuset, a wooden
corvette. was in the party. He was
among the first to greet MacGahan. Civ
ing TO him a title that forever stuck to
him. "MacGahan of Khiva."
The glorious feat of crossing the Kara
Kun and KILL Kun deserts of Central
Asia almost alone had been achieved by
this intrepid young man-he was only
twenty-six-and his praises were at that
time being sounded throughout Europe
and America. He was quiet and modest.
despite his well-earned fame He became
at once the most popular member of the
large corps Of newspaper correspondents
assembled at that wretched outpost OF
the United States. Key West He was
working upon his book about the Khivan
campaign of Gen. Kaufman, an i'm
mortal volume, that afterward appeared
under the title of campaigning on the
ONus." But the most valuable OF all the
friends MacGahan made on that terribly
hazardous trip bewond the Aral Sea was
hazardous trip beyond the Aral Sea was
young Skobelen, afterward Lieut.. Gen.
Skobelef, the hero as a fighter par ex-
cellence, of the Russo-Turkish war of
1S7-7S
All that Skobeleff ever did for MacGa-
han was more than recompensed by Mac
lGahans classic description of Skobeleff's
attack upon the Gravitza redoubt, on the
Loftcha road, which will be found in
Volume III of the "Daily News War Cor
lrespondence'' (Tauchnitz edition., pages
S. TO So Nowhere in the whole range of
literature, from Tacitus to Cressy, can
such marvellous description Of actual
battle be found. so vivid is it" said
Gen. Francis Y. Greene to me years aft
erward, that one can smell the powder. -
1t is the duty Of every newspaper man
who cares TO know what can be done
with pen amid the carnage of battle to
read that chapter of MacGahan's work
However, I have anticipated. The next
time met MacGahan was on his return
from his trip to the arctic regions. where
he had gone as a correspondent with Al
len Young in the Pandora. That last of
all attempts to ascertain the fate of Sir
John Franklin had resulted In nothing
greater than penetrating Peel Strait to a
farther point than had been previously
reached. Apparently the Pandora at
tanned very nearly the place at which
veritable trophies of the lost Sir John
have Size been discovered. Capt Young
was knighted by her most gracious mai
esty, but such are the rewards of Jour
naiism that MacGahan had TO content
himself with publishing his delightful
story Of the trip. Under the Northern
Lights" The charming title was sug-
gested by the Russian lady who after
ward became Mrs. MacGahan, came to
this country after his death, with their
son, and recently died here as a working
newspaper woman.
A few years after MacGahan's return