The Hartford republican., 1916-06-30

he set himself to the task. He first
gained the good will of some "friend-
ly" Arabs and spent large part OF
his time with them, learning their
language, habits and customs. Final
" he dressed as friendly" sat on
his launches like - a friendly"
smoked and ate and worshiped like
them. He even stained his skin and
talked of making the tour of Mecca.
In this guise he explored the whole
region as far south as Khartoum.
How He Awed Tribesmen.
Once when he was in this strong
hold of the Khalifa, the superman
who was the successor of the Mahdi,
the reincarnation of Mahomet, he was
in the company of some Shelks when
the latter described a newly dis
covered attribute of the Khalifa-
the ability to travel up or down the
hill on the backs of crocodiles. Kit
chener automatically expressed his
doubts, and by so doing aroused the
ire of the Sheiks, who demanded to
know what kind of an unbelieving
dog he might be who would deny the
Khalifa may have wonderful pow
ers," said Lord Kitchener, "but j,
too, have great powers" and with
that he dislodged his artificial eye,
tossed it 10 feet into the air, caught
and deftly replaced it. The astound-
ed Sheiks promptly made their OBJ
eisances to his newly discovered
superman, and thereafter the tribes
man from the lower Nile region was
regarded with esteem sacred to that
bestowed on the Khalifa.
The "COrrespondent's Enemy"
More than anybody, Lord Kitchen
er was responsible for the growth in
the power of the newspaper censor in
times of war. When he began his
march toward Khartoun newspaper
correspondents by the scores, the
majority of them free lances," went
thither from England. All wanted
to be "in at the death" of the mahdi
and they made Lord Kitchener's life
miserable. After some days he sent
home those who did not have proper
newspaper credentials and appointed
an officer to censor the dispatches of
the remainder
After the battle of Omdurman he
ordered three gunboats to go down
the river to Atbara, the head of the
railway and telegraph lines. One
boat was to carry his own official re-
ports of. the battle, the second was
to take the wounded and the third
which was ordered to reach Atbara
last, was to take, among other things
the dispatches of the correspondents.
On the way to Atbara the gunboat
carrying the Kitchener reports hit a
sand bank and was delayed eight
hours. - The boat with the wounded
proceeded to its designation and,
there, out of its hold, leaped stoker
bearing a copy of Bennett Burleigh'a
report of the battle. A Few moments
later the report was on its way to
London with the result that the
Daily Telegraph next morning had a
"beat" of the first magnitude, while
the war office and the other newspap-
ers had nothing.
Correspondent Forgiven.
Burleigh's enterprise in sending
duplicate dispatches on two gun
boats gained for him great renown
in England, but it displeased Lord
to such an extent that ne
refused to permit any correspondent
to accompany him to Fashoda and
to cashier any officer who
would give information to any cor
After the French flag
had been hauled down at Fashoda
and Lord Kitchener's staff had re-
turned to Cairo, Burleigh gave
Inner to which he invited many of
he officers. He seated all the Off
1arc at ono and Of tho fahlQ and saw