Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-04
BYRD, AT II, ENCIRCLED
GLOBE FOR ADVENTURE
Polar Explorer Had Dangerous Expert
ence in Philippines-Trip Had
Great Effect on Career.

might take part in an expedition te
arrest a German who had been killing
Filipinos and generally raising the
deuce in part of the country where
we we're trying to conciliate the ma
tives. We went out and arrested him
and brought him back. 1 felt sorry
for him locked up in cell, for he was
| an amiable person, and took him
magazines and books and things to
eat. That was all right until it was
| found that he had cholera. I didn't
| get it. however.
Rode With Constabulary.
1.-THE constabulary were always rid.
| ing around the country investigating
| instructions and massacres and l de.
cided to join them. l wanted to see
what was going on. One day when
we were at Albay we rode to village
| 81 miles inland to look into massacre
There | had the closest call l had in
the Philippines.
"Albay was beautiful spot. l re-
member volcano there with a per
feet cone going to a smoking point
5000 feet above the waters edge, the
most beautiful volcano I have ever
seen. When the day arrived to return
l started ahead of the party. and
found myself alone in a village that
had been pointed out to me as a dan
gerous place. The people there were
supposed to be treacherous. They in
vited me to stay, but didn't dare, and
started back along the trail to meet
the others. | had a pistol tucked in
my waistband and was prepared to
use it if necessary. Why l WASH t
shot from behind a tree l don't know
to this day.
fr1rr oil ri
where the massacre had occurred.
when suddenly. as / was approaching
small stream, several ladrones with
bolos in their hands jumped out at me
from the bush. They waved their
bolos and l whipped my pony. head
ing for the river and forgetting all
about the pistol. Luckily, / made it
in time and managed to get through
the water ahead Of them. They fell
behind, and l didn't stop until I had
caught up with the detachment. /
was reproved for my rashness in be-
coming separated from the rest. /
agreed with them, particularly as I
had almost been fired on by the sentry
when 1 rode in at q gallop. He came
so near shooting me that his hand was
trembling when I dismounted.
Was Kicked by Pony.
Some shooting had started near the
village after had left and the others
were still in the village. My only in
juries were from the pony. He kicked
me five times and bit me eight. Those
ponies were the most vicious animals
I ever saw.
After rejoining Judge Carson and
spending some time more or less
quietly, 1 decided to cut loose on my
own and went down to Darim Island,
near which the Ballengiga massacre
had taken place not long before. Sew
eral companies had been entirely
wiped out by the Filipinos. There
were two companies of soldiers quar-
antined on Darim for beri-beri, trop-
ical disease. but there was a greater
danger than from the ladrones.
Cholera was prevalent down there
and soon after I arrived one of the
soldiers camel in with pain in his stom-
ach. With u professional air that
Gen. Gorgas might have envied, l
felt the mans pulse. took his tempera-
ture and declared him sick. The poor
fellow had cholera and died q few
hours later.
There was no doubt about my hav-
ing been exposed to it, and cholera is
highly contagious. That night l was
sure I was going to die. I imagined
expected to see the morning. / spent
the night writing letters to my family.
so that they might have a last word
from me- When morning came
found, much to my surprise, that l
was still alive and apparently did not
have cholera. With the doctor
brother of Carson, and another man.
I was quarantined on a hilltop 100
yards from the camp.
"All during the next days we could
hear the groans of the men dying in
the huts. Cholera is a painful dis
ease, and the effect of those long
nights upon a boy was terrible. We
lived on parrots and monkeys, for we
were cut off entirely from the world
and our companions were depressed
by the suffering below and were un-
able to help. / shall never forget that
experience as long as l live.
FINALLY the doctor struggled me
on a native boat and got me away
to a port where I could get a ship
for Manila. After a short stay there
1 left for home on a British tramp.
I had been in the Philippines nearly
a year.
ION the way home we went around
by Ceylon and up through the Red
Sea, a fairly uneventful voyage ex-
cept that in the Red Sea the second
mate, whom I disliked. forgot to
wind the chronometer, and we got
lost. l was tickled to death, for the
mate got in bad. He was an Eng.
lishman and used to tease me about
my country. 1 couldn't see the joke.
I remember I disliked him so much
that one day when he was sitting at
table in the saloon playing soil
taire I poured a bucket Of water on
his head through the ventilator.
THE incident of the second mate
impressed on me the value of chro-
nometers. l don't suppose l had
ever thought much about navigation
before. l knew the compass was nee
essary and had seen the officers shoot
ing the sun, but l did not know that
time was a part of the calculations
for determining position. Navigation
became at once a mysterious and i'm
portant function, and I suppose my
interest in it dates from that moment.
Il remember that we steered due
west as the only means of finding our
selves until we hit Madagascar and
then piloted our way up the coast to
Port Said. That may be the wicked
est place in the world, as it has the
reputation of being, but to a boy of
IL it was merely dirty and interesting.
I'm due time we hit Boston, and 1
went home. 1t was quite a minor tri-
umph, and my adventures had a ire.
mendous effect on my later education.
for l was allowed to enter a military
academy ahead of the age limit"
Byrd has kept the smile, the en-.
thusiasm and the idealism of a boy.
He still hunts adventures. Quest of
the unknown, the untried, has kept
him young. He is only Sc now, and
there are lots of things he wants to
DO before he writes fms in the log
Of his travels
Perhaps the South Pole will be the