Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1914-05-01
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AREW YORK.-Salute Ransford ID.
M Bucknam Pasha. Once more
i'll the international limelight plays
on the doughty American. Now
he energies from the obscurity of his
recent years in troubled Turkey and
Is revealed as the head strategist of
the Ottoman fleet in the sea battles
with the Greeks
Rover and adventurer all his life,
boy captain of a whaleback on the
great lakes. later commander of YES
sells plying between New York, Bos-
ton and Baltimore, chief navigator of
big steamships on the Pacific ocean.
Bucknam became a firm favorite of
the cruel and tickle Abdul Hamid who
made him admiral of the Turkish
navy. But being Yankee from Buck
sport. and when Abdul was over
thrown. refused to accept the ultima
tum from the new Sultan, Mohammed
", that he swear allegiance to the
Ottoman flag and become a subject of
Adults successor.
Bucknam Pasha was ace-high with
the young Turks and also strong with
the old Abdul Hamid supporters, but
he quit the Turkish service rather
than become a Turkish subject. But
his restless, constructive mind was
not to be curbed. and it has Just be-
come known that he is now a sort of
John ID. Rockefeller and William C.
Whitney in Constantinople. He OBJ
tanned concessions in oil lands as well
as in street railway routes. and his
friends In New York have learned
that he has begun to pile up q big
fortune.
1t was to buchanan. now an oil mag
nate and traflc expert, that the
Turks turned when the Greeks began
to threaten the Dardanelles with their
squadron. When the Ottomans made
a desperate and dashing sortie and in
attacking and driving on the Greeks
Sc followed tactical plan Of unusual
skill, the Greeks were astonished.
Only when their spies inside Constan-
tinople reported. did the besiegers un-
derstand what had happened. 1t, was
Bucknam Pasha. the down east Yam
kee. who drew up the elaborate plan!
During the battle he watched and ad-
vised by wireless from the heights be-
hind Fort Kun Kaleh.
American Brain Won Out.
Bucknam couldn't keep out of It
He owed much to his Turkish friends,
even though under q new regime.
And although not In active command,
It was an American brain that fur
nished the strategy Of what Turks
hailed a. q brilliant naval achieve
ment
But buchanan doesn't need any
three-sheet advertising on the bill
boards of the world. He is forty-nine
years old, hard as steel and shrewd
as storekeeper at the four corners
In his native state. He is short, broad
as he is long. undershot java regu-
lar human bulldog. II was lucky fate
for him that Mohammed v. tried to
force him to give up his American
citizenship. Otherwise he might not
have had the opportunity to develop
as the chief explorer Of some Of the
most valuable petroleum resources Of
the Ottomans.
Buchanan has the rights In three
important oil centers in European and
Asiatic Turkey. His opportunity is
. wonderful one, because Turkey has
In the past imported 400. 900. 900 gal
Ions of oil from Russia, Roumania and
America every year. Bucknam's An
glo-American syndicate owns enough
oil land to supply not only the wants
Of Turkey but to export large quaint
ties to foreign countries. An impor-
tant source Of his supply IL the region
Of Meriofito. . port near Rodosto on
the European shore Of the Sea of Mar
mora. He has negotiated the exploit
tation Of $4,000 acres of this oil land
by a British company capitalized at
81 ,00O, 900. Bucknam Pasha also con-
trolls 100000 acres of oil-producing ter
ritory near the northeast shore Of
Lake Van in Eastern Asia Minor, and
another $4,000 acres about 80 miles
south Of Trebizond, the chief Turk
ish port of the Black Sea. The oil
found on the buchanan possessions ex-
cells the Russian product as a fine
parafiine oil, and also is three to i've
days nearer the European markets.
This il the new phase of an amazing
career that Bucknam has now entered.
His life has been replete with bold
adventure that finally took him into
strange service in q strange country.
His exploits began young.
Early Fondness for the Ocean.
When Bucknams father died at sea
the lad was fourteen and his old grand
father gave him the choice between
farming and the seafaring life. Young
Bucknam had an instructive love for
the old ocean, a love that helped him
to pick up the knowledge of ship
with little effort. His first venture
was made on the great lakes as cabin
boy aboard a schooner, Of which the
captain was also the owner. The cap
tain's wife took fancy to the young
ster, and ultimately they adopted him.
When he was sixteen Buchanan sail
cd from New York as quartermaster
of a schooner bound for the Pacific.
At Manila the captain and mates died
OF cholera and Bucknam went before
a special board to be examined for
. masters certificate. as he was the
only remaining member OF the crew
who had studied navigation. He pass