The Warwickshire Herald. — 1887-07-28 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

REPORTED DEATH OF MB. H. M. STANLEY.  According to a report which has reached the West African Telegraph Company'. station at St. Thomas, Mr. H. M. Stanley has been shot dead. Two versions of his death are given—one being that he was shot while fighting some natives to obtain supplies; the other, that his steamer was sunk in ascending the river, and that he was killed by natives. The reportemanates from a Missionary at Matadi, who is said to have heard it from a native from upcountry. No direct messenger from the expedition had reached the coast up to the 16th Inst.  The report of the death of Mr. H. M. Stanley is generally regarded in Brussels as incorrect, especially in view of the intelligence received oi his arrival at the confluence of the Aruwitni with the Congo River. In reply to a telegraphic inquiry respecting the rumoured death ot Mr. Stanley, the King of the Belgians telegraphs through General Strauch :—" We have not received any bad news respecting the Stanley Expedition. Mr. Stanley left Aruwirni on June 3rd- for Wadelai." Neither the Church Missionary Society nor the Baptist Missionary Society have received any news respecting the reported death of the great explorer, although there is a missionary station belonging to the American Baptist Society at Matadi, where the rumour seems to have orgina ted.  The Central News says : "The committee of gentlemen who sent Mr. Stanley to the relief of Emin Pacha do not attach the slightest credence to the telegram announcing the death of the explorer. The latest definite news of Mr. Stanley brings his movements down to the 2nd of June, when he hrd reached Aruwimi. The news appears to have no better foundation than the statement of a missionary at Matadi, who is alleged to have heard the report from a native up country. It would have been utterly impossible for any news of Stanley to have left Aruwimi after June 2nd to have reached a missionary at Matadi who could have brought the news down to St. Thomas by July 20th. It must be remembered that the country between Aruwimi and Matadi is of the most difficult kind; that the distance is over one thousand miles; and that, had anything happened to the gallant explorer, a special messenger would at once have been sent back to the coast. But even relays of special messengers could not have brought the news down in the time. Authentic news of Mr. Stanley may be expected now very shortly, but it will in all probability come from the East and not the West Coast of Africa. It is fully expected by the committee that the next news will notify the relief of Emin Pacha by the expedition." The Press Association says :—A mmour has been current in the City to the effect that news had reached London that Mr. H. M. Stanley had been shot, but although inquiries were made in several quarters by one of our representatives the rumour could not be confirmed. The origin of the statement was given as Coutts's Bank, where Mr. H. M. Stanley has an amount, but it was there stated by the responsible officials that no such news had reached them. It is remarked as singular that this rumour should have been afloat in London twenty-four hours before Renter's telegram from St. Thomas conveyed the same intelligence; and it is further commented upon that the news of three striking events that had occurred in Africa previously was conveyed to London in a similar fashion, the event being a subject of common rumour long before the news arrived through the customary channels. The three events were the death of the Prince Imperial on June Ist, 1879, the murder of James Carey at Port Elizabeth on the 29th of July, 1883, and the death of General Gordon in January, 1883. The Foreign Office has not received any confirmation of the reported death of Mr. H. M. Stanley. The latter, it is believed, would have travelled far beyond the district in which he is said to have been shot, and in official circles the report is discredited."