Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-17
Arthur Sowe1by, Explorer,
Zoologist and Author, Dies
Briton Came Here TO
Write Memoirs on
Life Of Adventure

Write Memoirs on
Life Of Adventure
Al life Of adventure ended yes
terday for Arthur de earle Sow
erby. explorer Of the northern
wilds of China. author. hunter.
naturalist, collector and animal
lover.
The 69-year-old British To-
ologist died at the Fairfax Hotel,
2100 Massachusetts, avenue NV.
He had come to the United
States in l949 after being In
termed 10 months by the Japa-
nese in Shanghai. He settled
In Washington to write his MEM
oirs. Death beat him to the last
chapter.
Mr.. Sowerby had survived
snow and sapd storms, stoning
and pelting by Chinese villagers.
the Boxer Rebellion and the
Chinese Revolution. He had
discovered many new kinds Of
mammals and birds and had
supplied specimens to the
Smithsonian Institution. His
first new discovery was kan
CARGO rat which was, named for
him.
At %, Mr.. Sowerby led his
third expedition into the wild
Shansi and Kansu provinces of
north China. The scientific and
geographical expedition for
American millionaire Robert
Sterling Clark was in the interest
Of the Smithsonian. During the
trip Mr.. Sowerby's horse stepped
into a mud pool that completely
engulfed the animal and swal-
lowed the explorer UP to his neck
Fought on Chinese Mob.
Earlier he had spent five
months in the Crdos Desert in
southern Mongolia collecting
mammals for the British Mu-
scum of Natural History in con-
nection with the Duke Of Bed
ford's Geological Exploration in
Eastern Asia. During the expe-
dition MIR. Sowerby and a COM
panion fought of with their fists
a mob Of Chinese who hurled
rocks at them and yelled, kill.
kill" When they counted I'D
the damage. Mr.. Sowerby and his
friend had knocked out eight
assailants.
In 1911 during the Chinese
Revolution, Mr.. Sowerby was
leader of the foreign residents
Of a town named T'ai-yuan Flu.
He organized their evacuation to
the coast and talked the Chinese
into giving him a train for their
trip.
Hearing that a number of
British missionaries had been
massacred in Shansi Province,
Mr.. Sowerby led a relief expedi-
ton Of nine men on horseback
to rescue the other Protestant
missionaries. After shooting
wolves along the road and enter
ing gate hung with two human
heads. the explorer rescued three
missionaries and a two-week- old
baby from one Chinese village.
At the village of I-Chuin he
alone faced an army of Chinese
waving swords, guns and spears
tasseled with long sred hair as
they swarmed the turreted wall
of the city. yelling. Shoot.
shoot. kill. kill" The adven-
turer talked the men into send
ing him a negotiator. and then
talked his way into the city,
only to come face to face with
a loaded cannon. A man hold
ing burning incense stood by
to fire the piece should Mr..
Sowerby or any of his group
make false move. They didn't.
Epic Rescue Trip.
During the 2,000-mile rescue
trip in which he led 81 mis-
sionaries and children and $50
Chinese refugees safely to Pc
king. Mr.. Sowerby saw bodies
run through with red-hot pokers
and culprits hung to trees by
their thumbs. At one point his
group OUTRAGED a retreating
army Of revolutionists to a vii
lage. barred the gates and then
waved the fleeing revolutionists
on. Before the trip ended he
had to deal with both imperial
list and revolutionist generals
and convince them they