Show rican n Ae adventurers S by omo am scott watson the old pioneer A CENTURY ago newspapers in 1 various parts of the country frequently printed contributions signed by an old pioneer the man who thus signed himself was one of the most interesting characters in the history of the west john mason peck preacher writer teacher and editor A yankee by birth peck arrived in st louis in 1817 as a young and zealous preacher sent out by the baptist church to missouri territory except for or two or three thred years the remaining four decades of his life were spent in traveling thousands of miles on horseback preaching exhorting establishing schools churches and bible societies making friends and jiving giving counsel to many a settler far removed from civilization also during this time he was making an even greater contribution to posterity he was recording his observations and impressions of the people and the country through which he traveled he interviewed many frontier notables among them the venerable daniel boons boom and later wrote a biography of the great kentucky pioneer by the time of pecks death in 1857 his journals numbered some 53 manuscript volumes which he willed to a library at the beginning of the civil war the librarian went away to fight and pecks material was stored temporarily when the library was moved to new quarters at the end of the war it was left behind and eventually was acquired by a paper mill and turned into cardboard thus much priceless historical information was lost but despite this loss pecks life had not been lived in vain his writings published in the newspapers had a great deal to do with bringing settlers into illinois and missouri and in es establishing tab lishing those two commonwealths 0 under five flags ROLAND is believed WALPOLE VT to have been present at more historic events and known personally more historic h characters than any other american who is not famous in his own right he served under five flags fl as with the british as a major in the turkish army during the crimean war a colonel of cavalry y in in the mexican can army a general in the chinese army under li hung chang a scout tor for custer in the civil war during the crimean war he was an eyewitness to the famous charge of the light brigade and in india he was present at the relief of lucknow he knew the duke of wellington napoleon III HI sultan VI V of of turkey who decorated him and abraham lincoln who expressed his gratitude for rolands leaving the chinese army to volunteer in the union army roland went 20 miles into confederate territory and returned with the topographical maps upon which the famous battle of gettysburg was fought at the age of 71 he volunteered for service in the spanish american war and was w as rejected as being be in a physically p h ys unfit but 13 years later at the age of 84 he was lost in the canadian woods for 21 days day s without food and came out of it without any injury to his health in fact he lived to be more than years old but this war worn adventurer spent his last days in a poorhouse in detroit 0 western newspaper union |