The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-06-08

to England to stand trial on a charge
OF murder on the high seas, was Just
another typical instance Of the re-
sourcefulness and daring OF that cele.
brated adventurer and soldier Of for
tune.
For seven months Capt. Duquesne
lay on his back in a bed at Bellevue.
He said he had paralysis and was I'M
able to move his legs. and he feigned
Illness so successfully that he deceived
all of the surgeons and specialists at
the hospital, and was carefully carried
about by attendants whenever It was
necessary to move him. But when an
opportunity for escape presented itself
Capt. Duquesne hoped nimbly out of
bed with all Of his old time luck and
fortune favoring him. and Skinned
merrily down a knotted blanket to
First avenue and freedom. Although
the adventurer left Bellevue with moth
ing but his night clothing, neither the
police nor the Government has been
able to hnd any trace Of him
Captured by Kamr warriort.
Capt. Duquesne Is about 40 years
old. and for twenty years or more his
life has been hardly more than one
adventure and one narrow escape from
death or Imprisonment after another.
Long before he was twenty years old
Capt. Duquesne had been captured by
the kaffir warriors Of South Africa
during the fighting between them and
the Beers. and on several occasions
only the timely arrival of Boer troops
saved him from torture and death.
Capt. Duquesne used to relate
that once when he was captured he
escaped torture by happening to catch
the eye of the black, buxom daughter
OF Kafflr chieftain. and by making
love to her saved his life. His other
adventures include big game hunting
In South Africa and in India, where
he obtained a poison ring" which he
always carried with him and with
which he used to say he would end
his life when he got into a place so
tight that he had no hope of get
ting out; service with the Boer army
as a captain of engineers and as a
spy; an escape from a British mill
tary prison in the Bermuda Islands;
f1ghting against the Indians In South
America, tits with New York police
men, and finally, according to Ameri-
can and British Government agents,
service as a spy with the German For
eign Office.
Capt. Duquesne comes OF GOOD,
solid French and Dutch stock, and is
descended from a family OF soldiers.
He was born at Pondoland, South
Africa, while his parents were on a
trek across country with a party OF
Beers, and he always said that at the
very time OF his birth the men Of the
expedition were beating hack an at
lacking troop of Kaffirs, so that the
first sound that greeted his ears when
he came into the world vas the rattle
Of musketry.
He claimed direct descent from the
famous French Admiral Abraham
Duquesne, and his uncle was General
Pet Joubert, one Of the most cele-
brated commanders Of the Boer armies
during the war with England. He was
brought up in the profession of arms
and trained to hate the English. He
lived practically In the jungle UP to
the time he was 16 or IS. and by that
time had gone through several wars
with the Kaff!rs. had hunted big game
in the African forests and marshes.
and used to claim that when he was IL
years old he killed a lion and an ele-
plant. But even his closest friends
and admirers used to doubt that, be-
cause 1t takes a rather large bullet
and a powerful rife to kill an elephant
or a lion, and a rife Of that calibre,
especially the old muzzle loading mus
kets of those days. would probably not
leave much of an 1f-year-old boy who
tried to fire one Of them.
"Boy scout" of Boer War.
Capt. Duquesne's family sent him
TO Europe when he was in his late
teens, and he received a. technical mill
tary education in a military college in
Brussels, and also took several courses
in military engineering. When the
war between the Beers and the English
broke out young DuquSne hurried
back to his native land and threw him
self into the midst OF the fighting. He
became known as 1.-THE Boy Scout of
the Boer War" and his exploits even
''ch Boiicu ann BiCoh iohO"h ASA aAAS
courage and GOODNESS. Several times
he received wounds which left scars
that still plainly mark his body.
Along toward the end OF the war
Capt Duquesne went to Cape Town
rs spy for the Boer high command,
In connection with the plot to burn
and dynamite that city. 1t has been
said that the plot originated with Capt.
Duquesne, although he always said
hat he had spoken OF it to Dom Paul
Kruger, the president OF the Boer Re-
public. and that President Kruger had
approved the scheme.
At any rate, Capt. Duquesne got into
cnpe Town unknown to the British.
md for a long time mingled freely
Nth his enemies, obtaining valuable
Information, which he always was able
70 get through the English lines, some
lines taking Il himself and at other
lines sending II by messengers he
could trust. But he trusted too many.
One Of them betrayed him. and the
English military police agents arrested
him one night as he was sitting a.
The dinner table of the English Gov
irnor General OF South Africa. He
Immediately was sentenced to be shot.
but only an hour or 80 before the
necution the commanding General OF
nc British army in that area happened
% recall that Duquesne knew the en-
nre signal code of the Boer army.
The Englishman then had Duquesne
49,.