The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1920-09-22
COW PUNCHER
Is CONDUCTING
RESCUE MISSION
FEEDS HUNGRY CHILDREN AND
TIRED SOULS ARE COMFORT
ED in BUENOS AIRES.

BUENOS AIRES, Sept. 22-on a
street In Buenos Aires which might
be called the backwash of the worlt
Judging from the human derelicts
cast up from every stream and every
land, a North American COW punchel
of the old West is conducting a res
cue mission where hungry children
are fed and tired souls are comfort
ed. He is John Calvert de Bohun.
who says he "was born on the hurri-
cane deck of a cayuse" in New Mexi-
co.
Cowboy, jockey, wanderer land fin
ally ordained minister, Bohun's life
has been such as to make him one
with the dead wood that drifts into
his mission, as he tells his story, and
his redemption to bodily and spirit
ual health a parallel to that of some
of his people. There was a time, he
says, when American whiskey was no
longer strong enough for him so that
he satisfied his appetite with Chin
ese whiskey, which is like drinking
mixed turpentine and banana oil.
But through the years came glim-
pses to him of something better. A
touch of remorse in Australia, a good
example in Europe, the sight of a
woman who reminded him of one he
FUSED to know, the influence of
Father Damien, who gave his life to
the lepers of Hawaii and who was so
loved that there was scarcely dry
eye in grog shop or ships cabin from
Manila to Melbourne when he died,
such things made him wonder. And
finally worn and world-knowing,
when he drifted back to that New
Mexico from which he had started
md found atom the Devil" preach
ng instead of running the old gamb-
ing game ,and later saw others fol
ow in his steps, Bohun says that the
light came to him. He became a
Minister.
Bohun's missiort is located in
'uilding something in appearance
ike San Antonio's Alamo, and with
history as eventful as those who
epair to it. Built for Masonic
odge many years ago, it has been
ariously dance hall, gambling house,
eadauarters of Black Hand in Ar
entina and is now a combination
hurch, school, orphans home and
rst aid to the morally injured.
In the room where once women and
len drank and danced, now there are
eligious services in Spanish, and
etween times children, seldom less
nan 100 of them, at lunch or supper. /
Children of every race and religion t
re fed there. Other work of the a
lission is with lepers, and with old I
en- and women. The mission OF
hich Bohun took charge about four L
ears ago, is not maintained by any J
ganization, but is held together by E
zee will subscriptions. J
Whe Bohun talks with a visitor, [
Irticularly with an American who "
lows the West, his references to his @
,rk are mingled with spontaneous H
les of "hard riding and hard shoot L
q men," Of John Wesley Harding, C
r instance, the frock-coated gamb- N
of Ell Paso, who, Bohun says had v
lied ID men, but "was every inch j.
ntleman and always killed with re- c
et"; of Calamity Jane, whose story c
Is bound up with the fight between j.
" and things as they wre that de- B
lated Tombstone, Arizona; of Mo- S.
20. king of cattle thieves; of Wild E
Il Hikok, who met his end at Dodge G.
tv. and of many more who made D.
, West place of romance. Minis G.
, though he is, he is still cowboy, Jo
ot ON getting his herd safe into the J.
al roundup. \
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