The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1912-03-14
Magician ThurstOn
Visits Famous Tomb

In the quest for novelties TO te
used In his stage work, Howard
Thurston, the famous magician, now
playing an engagement in the Ly.
ceum theater, is a great globe trol.
ter and when not fulfilling American
or European engagements he is either
visiting or playing in the Orient Dir
Ihurston, who by the way was born
In Detroit and lived here until Y
years OF age. has the hobby of book
collecting keenly developed and is an
ardent admirer OF Khayyam. Kiplihg
and our own Bret Harte. II Nj
Thurston We're not a magician hC
might be writer of little Journeys
to literary shrines. While playing in
Teheran, the capital OF Persia. he
made a caravan journey to Naisha
pur, TO visit the grave of Omar khay
yam. The tomb of the old tent
maker is in a dilapidated condition,
said Mr.. Thurston TO The Times, "fCr
the Persians have little regard fol
the author OF the 'Rubaiyat' 1t was
the spring OF the year when | was
there and the grave was literally bur
led under a wilderness of white and
red rose petals that drifted from the
trees that ring his tomb. asked
many OF the natives of NaishapuI
about Omar. Some of them knew
that he had been a tent-maker, a great
mathematician and astronomer, but
they were ignorant of his fame as a
poet"
When I was In Lahore, India,
was surprised TO find how unfamiliar
the people were with Rudyard Rip
iing,s stofies,-eYen= his old associates
on the Civil and Military Gazette tae
paper on which Kipling worked as a
young man. The newspaper Office rs
the same today as when the 1aurctte
Of Greater Britain as Howells. calls
Kipling, read proof, wrote locals and
scrubbed poetry under its low roo.
had not been In Lahore on hour be-
fore | hurried to see the room In
which Kipling worked. The news
paper plant, two low-spreading bun
galows in a broad compound, was
very different from an Americans
conception of a newspaper Office. In
-eHe-ef the buildings was the editorial
Offices aud in the other the compos-
ing rooms, printing presses and bust
ness Offices In the former building
was Kipling's old room. where he
wrote most of his Plain Tales and
the Soldiers Three stories. 1t was
a high-ceilinged. Notwithstanding place
with imposing stacks of books and
files standing against the walls. The
assistant editor showed me many of
the old files OF the paper with the
authors early stuff in print. There
| saw that wonderful story OF his, My
Lord the Elephant just as 1t WAS
written for publication In a daily pa.
per. | learned TO my surprise that
Kfpftng was not very popular with
his associates, and some OF the boys
on the staff were rather uncompii.
mentary in their "reminiscences. There
was one exception, however, old
Rookun-ud-din the foreman OF The
press room, whom Kfpiing mentions
so many times in his stories. The
old Hindu never wearied OF talking
about Kipling Sahib, and pointed out
the table at which Kipling sat on that
awful night when Daniel DravotI the
man who would be king and his pal
Peachey Carnehan. came to get in
formation about the provinces TO the
north of the Khyber Pass Three
years afterward, in the same press
room Peachey Carnehan came back
and laid the withered head OF King
Dravot on the table, and gave TO Mr.
Kipling the details OF what Is one OF
the greatest short stories In any Ian
guage. Lahore is the City of Dread
full Night that Kipling described with
such yividness. and In the native sec.
ton OF the city Is the mosque NEIL
toned I'm his terrible story of The
Mark of the Beast"