Omaha daily bee., 1922-04-16
VWiers and Others
tfrom the New York Tin,...D

Il iieiStlsh Nillrfs, WHO has Just
died In England after more than q
score OF campaigns in which he was
often under fire. stands out a hand.
some figure In the gallery OF war
correspondents OF the old school IL
included William Howard Russell,
whose description of the charge Of
the Light Brigade Al Baiakaya Is
prose that makes the pulse heat
faster; Archibald Forbes, whom dan
ser never kept away from the near,
est telegraph office II relays of
horses could carry him there; Benst
Burieish, whose large family OF chill,
dren did not restrain him from
taking the first shiny for the front
when the toeslD OF war soundedi
Edmond o'Donoyan. scholar. iinguist.
botanist. craftsman. who WAS the
auietest daredevil OF them all. and
who shared the snnihilation OF Hicks
Pasha's army, In the iii-omened
march on obeid, Fred Burnaby. mad
with lust for battle. the giant who
was transfised with an Arab spear
IN the broken square at Abu klea,
the American MacGahan, who cam
paigncd on the oxns and was pres
ent nj the fall OF Khiva without
being invited by the Russians. and
who. winning their esteem. gave the
world the most graphic accounts OF
the fighting nj Shipka Pass and
Pieyna. tho American Francis ID.
Miilet. who was the comrade of
Forbes and MmcGahan. but Is re.
membered more as a painter. deco
rative artist and man OF letters than
a. u.
but far from least. George War
rington Stevens. who died of enteric |
fever In the Boer war. and OF whom
Kitchener said: "Hc was a model
the best ! have ever |
known"
II would be invidious TO name
these writers In the order Of their |
merit. but tho earliest OF them. |
known resentfuily to many Ameri-
cans as Bull Run" Russell. was the |
parsonage OF the company-may Il |
be said the most illustrious? Mat |
thew Arnold imagined him In the |
Franco German war "as being hoist |
ed into the saddle by the old king OF
Prussia, while Bismarck was at the |
horses head and the crown prince |
held the stirrup." War correspond
ents who had arrived were respected |
in those days. although a British
general In the Crimea did order
RusselIs dog-tent kicked down be- |
cause he was an interloper: the fact, |
OF course. being that Russell had
dismantled more than one reputa-
ton by writing the truth. As war
correspondent he was terrible as an
army with banners to incompetents.
humbugs and rogues. Russell, the
bon vivant and man Of the world.
endeared himself to his friends.
Thackeray once said that he would
pay a guinea any day to have Rus
sell dining at his table at the Garrick
club. The prince Of Wales who be-
came Edward VII had a high regard
for him, because, no doubt, he was
"matchiess good company" and an
entertaining story teller. Douglas
Jerrold and Dickens were fond OF
him. In 1895 Russell was knighted.
How good a Judge OF human nature
he was may be inferred from the
fact that, arriving late at Longford
as a reporter for the London Times
to describe cheated" Irish election,
he went straight to the hospital to
interview the most active voters in
their beds.
Russelrs first chance as a war
correspondent came with the Cri-
mean war. He found himself ia
nous a few days after landing. by
his exposure of the commissariat
and medical departments. A man
of less courage would have had to
take the first ship home, but Russell
faced the storm blithely, although
in some way he had lost most OF his
baggage and was denied rations. His
Irish wit and bonhomie saved him.
He was allowed to stay. and the
world was the gamer by his brilliant
narratives Of the fighting. Lord Rag
Ian complained that Russells dis
patches gave information to the
enemy; on the other hand. Sir Eve
lyn Wood has said that RusselPs ex-
posures saved the remnant OF the
British army. After the Crimea ne
went through the Indian mutiny
with Sir Colin Campbell, who put
"all the information at Headquarters
at his disposal" Delane OF the
Times expected great things OF Rus
sell when he was sent to America
to report the civil war, but the story
Of Bull Run was his undoing. AL
though Mcclellan and Mcdowell
liked and trusted him. Secretary
Stanton excluded him from the field,
and Lincoln would not overrule
Stanton.
It was after hearing course of
lectures at Aberdeen by William
Howard Russell that Archibald
Forbes enlisted in the Royal Dra-
goons. While still a trooper he
blossomed out as a writer on mill
tarv tonics In Sentemhar 1870 he
was sent to the front in France by a
London paper, and his career as a
correspondent who would brave any
danger to get and transmit news be-
ganI The pupil beat his master
Russell. As writer Forbes was by
no means as accomplished, but he
10 ssx,isik ~ laa