Evening star., 1920-02-22

difference-the world is spared another
war book This was the extensive and
inpassioned comment made by Col.
Thomas Lawrence, the young British
archeologist and soldier, often called
tste ''uncrowned king of Arabia" when
he discovered the theft of his bag,
| which contained the first 100000 words
| of the inner story of the war in the near
east and the capture of Jerusalem, not
| to mention few secret letters of
Lloyd George, the King of Hedjaz, Emir
| Feisul and others involved in one of
the most stirring dramas of history.
The world can i'll afford to bear this
loss, however, according to Lowell
Thomas, the only observer permitted
TO obtain both the entire story and pic
terial record of the campaign which
freed the Holy Land. who was init
mately associated with Col Lawrence,
and who is now giving in this city his
lecture entitled 1.-THE Last of the Cru
saders,' at the Shubert-Garrick The
ater.
Lawrence is one of the most remark
able characters of history, according to
Mr.. Thomas. Perhaps no scientist ever
had so much in the way of responsibility
and, later, honors thrust upon him, for
In the beginning he was retiring
archeologist and, in fact, his bent is
still all that way. Later circumstances
6&aUc Htlic OI every
MAKER, soldier, liaison officer, diplomat
and politician and national executive.
These responsibilities he accepted gladly
and out Of them performed achieve
ments that read more like fairy tale
than like events in the prosaic twen-
tieth century. The honors he refused.
He declined to be made a general; de-
ciined to be made a knight. and even
declined the pricess Victoria Cross, for
which he was officially listed because,
forsooth. its bestowal entailed a public
ceremony. and the prospect Of this was
simply more than he could bear.
story In Fascinating.
yhe story OF Mr.. Thomas's contact
with Lawrence and with the great events
of which he was the guiding spirit is a
fascinating one The lecturer had been
attached to the intelligence departments
OF various allied staffs. He learned of
the fall Of GAIA in 1915, and phophesied
TO himself. correctly, that If Gen. Allen
by could take that town he could and
would take Jerusalem, and that such
an event would more than make up in
spiritual, sentimental and historical i'm
portance any pre-eminence it might lack
from purely technical military stand
point, although the latter was not to be
minimized. Thomas made it his busi-
ness to get to the spot as quickly as
possible with his camera men and other
assistants, and succeeded in becoming at
tached as an observer to Gen. Allenbys
British forces. His first view of and
interview with Lawrence are character
istic
Il was walking down a street in
jerusalem, he told a Star reporter
and passed group Of Arabs One in
Particular. absolutely oriental in
every particular Of dress, deport-
ment and conversation. had pink
cheeks and blue eyes and, as
,1nd loTnd @ out M later. blonde hair also.
ernor of the CITY. later in the day,
told him of the encounter. and ask
ed who he thought the man might
ne. Gen Storrs said nothing. but
my. Arab of the morning. with his
feet reposing indirectly on the desk
formerly belonging to Gen. Won
iiae"iahag iineinhhayn, and directly on that dis
tailed plans to Keep slIe6s's AlIen6y out oef of
the Holy city. He was reading a
pamphlet on archaeology.
Blushed at Introduetion.
He blushed when he shook hands
with me-" continued Mr. Thomas.
and altogether he is the most mod
est and the most easily embarrassed
like OF notoriety or even fame as
Fsumed. 1t Is congenital, apparently,
and ineradicable. Now he is enjoying
a fellowship at All Souls College, Ok
ford, and devoting himself to his
chosen profession and to- literature
In fact, it was on a trip between Ok
ford and London that the invaluable
bag was stolen. OF course he can
start the book over again, but such
an efort never results as success
tuily after setback like this. An
bther indication of his extreme mod
esty is the fact that he intended this
book to be published posthumously.
Il knew in a general way what
Lawrence had been doing, or rather
i knew he had been going great
VIKINGS under cover I inquired If
there were any chance to obtain this
wonderful story. The reply was mega
tive. Two weeks later, at a dinner at
whichF the Duke of Connaught and
Gen. Allenby were both present, the
reason was explained to me. 1t seems
Arabs fighting in the Turkish army.
Dhe allied authorities wanted them to
think that the whole opposing cam
paign was purely an Arabian ma
neuver-a sort of national uprising
on their own hook-and to desert
\ In large numbers and join the move
Gment against their former employers
Exactly this happened. More
Arabians were lost to the Turkish
army than any other army, central or
ditIcu, loSl uuTlIS tnt war except In
qPnnection with the Russian collapse.
H. Proved to BE Moving Spirit.
w Nevertheless, found that this self
effacing young scientist, only twenty
six years of age, was the moving
spirit in everything. At the outbreak
of hostilities Lawrence was quietly
superintending some excavations of
ancient Hittite civilization along the
Euphrates. He was naturally taken
over into the map department Of the
British forces operating in Mesopo-
/ tamia and commissioned second
| lieutenant. General officers coming
into the maproom at headquarters
md knowing of his familiarity with
the region. used to consult him as
well as the maps. He usually had tc
tell these high officers in plain Ian.
guage that what they were planning
was the wrong thing, and the ac,
curacy of his Information would later
be demonstrated. either through
failure or. more often, through sue.
! cess.
after a few months he was pro.
NOTED to he in charge of the entire
allied spy system in the near east. AL
he had to do was to be able to tell his
superiors where every German uni
operating in that territory was at any
given hour. Some job. but he could dc
IL. He knew all the ropes. all the
channels of information. For instance
he not only spoke pure Arabic, a mos
k.difficult language, correctly, but spoke
olv aruin lfo1