The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-05-20
Showing Strain Of Terrific Bat
tie in Jungle With Fever and
Hunger-His Party Almost
Starved
Refused to Discuss
Politics on Arrival
When Food Ran Out EXPIRES
ident Begs Son and Others
to Leave Him to His Fate.
He Replies to Englishman
About His River

NEW YORK, May le.-Colonel
Theodore Roosevelt. smiling and MS
teeth clicking. arrived today on the
Booth liner Aidan from the South
American Jungle, still weak from
fever, and limping from injuries re-
ceived on the river Of doubt, which
he and his party put on the map OF
South America
II am still worth several dead
men" said the colonel. his hronzed
cheeks showing many traces of the
strain of the hardships and the
dangers he has endured But the fact
was learned that the colonel and the
members of his party were near death
from starvation and that the coionei
himself Was SO Ill at one time that II
Was feared that he never would reach
civilization alive.
pelirious with fever almost cover
ed with fever sores and the wound IN
his right leg so terribly feyered that
Ii was necessary tn lance IL To the
bone. the colonel felt himself drs w
back to his party, after most Of the
provisions had been lost. and some Of
the canoes sunk In the rapid of the
River of Doubt Then. as he could
not make a hundred feet "a day. he
urged his comrades. including his son,
hffHlftt ANtt {i1 aiiNsHt anu Inv
Braziiians who accompanied him, to
60 ahead and leave him 10 take care
of himself.
The desperate experiences Of the
party occurred kttFs--etf Aps4l Ath and
18th. First the colonel was stricken
with the jungle fever after the party
had met with several ,nishaps. He
fouxhr his way down the river, how
ever. and when another canoe was
Il \.
ing swept away. the colonel jumped
into the river himself He saved the
canoe. but he gashed his leg severely.
The insects poisoned II. and the fever
aggravated the wound still more.
Food Supply Gone
He and the members of his party,
with their good supplies almost gone,
made their WAY. however. but when
the colonel reached Manaos, on the
Amazon he still was so weak that
he could not walk He had lost
sixty pounds and he was exceeding
~ depressed in spirits as the result
of the stress Of body and mind
through which he had been. The
country through which he had been.
scientists agree. is the most danger
Gus IN the world from viewpoint
OF disease.
When he greeted his friends on
the Adam this afternoon. he had inn
proved greatly In the course OF his
trip northward Though he was
affected with chills before the steam
err reached port. he was on deck the
moment the vessel reached quaran-
tine. Those persons who saw him
when he sailed away. last October.
and who met him on his home com
ing, found marked change in him.
In his talk he showed the same
snap and go. the same emphatic and
characteristic term Of expression Al
times however, you were forced TO
believe that he had not regained his
vigor, and then as he limped down
the companionway 10 the tug Dali
xell on which he was taken to Oys-
ter Bay. you again were struck with
the reminder that the colonel had
endured the greatest hardships OF his
life. That fact was borne out when
one OF his friends remarked: II guess
the colonel win never take a trip
like that again"
While Colonel Roosevelt and his com
panions. Leo f. Miller and George X.
Cherrie declined to go into vivid de-
tails OF their experiences. IL was plain
that they had not shaken OF the strain
Of the jungle and that they shook them
selves with JOY at being back home,
alive and we'll once more.
The colonel was exuberant. He met
questions about the river OF doubt
with snap Of the jaws. and as for
A. Henry Savage Lander who denied
the existence OF the river, the colonel
announced he had "a contribution to
make 70 Mr.. Landor's biography" That
10 said to be a letter which Colonel
Rondon, Mr.. Roosevelts guide in the
Jungles. has written.
There was no discussion of politics
down the bay except for the colonel
to deny emphafically that he had given
out any interview at Barbados In
which ne said that II he ran for presi-
dent In 1916 1t would be on a Pro-
gresstve platform which the Republi-
cans must accept. He announced with
equal emphasis that he will not run for
governor this fall.
The coionels home coming from
South America was as intensely quiet
and unobstrusive as was his return
from Africa and Europe. In 1910. dra-
maticaliy popular. 1t was his own
wish and also the wish Of his wife, who
had grave fears of her husbands con-
dition. Only Immediate members OF the
.Amiiy met him down the bay. while.
Y II course, the reporters. camera and
moving picture men. were out In force.
School Entertainment.
@ What In Aynerfed IN he nue NJ