NELSON INSTITUTE AND PUBLIC LIBRARY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 2 April 1938, Page 13

NELSON INSTITUTE AND PUBLIC LIBRARY

NOTES FOR READER? I I (Contributed) | "Blood on the Moon,” the autobio-] I graphv of Linton Wells, is a book after: the style of “The Way of a Transgressor.” Mr Wells calls his first chapter "AiiI other Rebel is Born,” and mentions sevef ral ol his ancestors, who, for various; ’ reasons, rebelled against one thing or an-1 other; so perhaps it is not surprising that j in the course of a varied career, Mi l \\ ells has attended most of the rebellions 1 and revolutions which have disturbed the! 1 face of the earth in his time, chiefly, though, in his journalistic capacity. He was horn in Louisville, and first decided to become a war correspondent on 1 reading reports of Richard Harding Davis 1 dealing with the war between the United States and Spain, which lie found more i fascinating than any fairytale. He first - began work as a sort of glorified office • hoy for a few hours each day in a newsi paper office. He was about twelve when he covered his first story, reporting a . fire. Later the family moved to Denver' r where he worked for a while on the Denver ‘‘Post.” Then he entered the U.S. Naval Academy, not for the sake of a naval career, hut because it meant an eduI cation. However, the life didn’t appeal . to him, and tie was soon back again in Denver. Then he went to San Francisco l where lie hoard of a job in Shanghai, and t ti travel. He says that though he liked so, at last, set out to realise his ambition

■ Japan and admired the industry of the j people, the country never, endeared itself j t * bin., not like China which Tic loved from his first sight and scent of it. At the “China Press ’ his future employ- (*• was most annoyed at the sight of him. ' An experienced newspaperman was what { lie had expected, and Wells at the age of nineteen seemed far too young to him. j However, by the end of the month, Wells i convinced him of his ability. At that • j time China was in the midst of a revolu. j t ion led by Dr Sun Vat Sen, and Wells .'describes his experiences with the rebels. Soon after that he won 22,000 dollars in ija sweepstake, and decided lo leave the ’ .j “Press” to journey through the interior' .| of China, and through Russia by the - j Trans-Siberian Railway His impressions i oi pre-revolutionary Russia are interesting !! especially when compared with the Russia ,he knew later. When the World War broke out, he was hack in Shanghai, and . describes the various Japanese atinexai lions. Then lie went to Europe, hut as ; In could not obtain a correspondent s ereI deutials lie returned to America, where, i being unable to land a job which would' L take him back to the war zone, he de- j ; cided to go to Mexico where there had . been various upheavals. He joined - i General O’Brogan in the field and was i wounded before he returned, r After an interval during which lie learnt - to fly, he sought fresh fields and went ; to Honolulu and on to Apia where he l built, a dam. There, too, one of the - chiefs made him his heir and left him a 1 l : house and some land. Then he resumed i : newspaper work, first in Siberia, where, > j at one time, lie was sent to a eoncen- : L tration camp. There he made friends I with a Czech soldier who pulled out two I I teeth for him. Seven years later in Lou-

• don at a luncheon, he met a gentleman ■ who reminded hint of that episode. '1 lie ; Czech soldier had been Sir Johu Allison, the greatest British spy the war developed. Wells then went fro mone place to another, from Saigon to Manila, aud tlieu to the Japanese mandated islands, back lo the United States and Mexico aud finally to Japan in time for the great earthquake cf 1923, where he was injured when hit house collapsed on lop of him. The next event lie covered was the first world flight, when, in 1924, two L’.S - army planes flew round the globe. It took 1 them 176 days. Wells was on board | oue of the destroyers sent out to help tha planes refuel and also flew across India with them. Then came a brief visit to Italy wiser he interviewed Mussolini and was soon after ordered to leave tha country. He returned to America on tlm same ship as the then Prince of Wales. Later on lie attended another revolution in Central America, and then as special correspondent in Europe, he visited various interesting places and people (illI eluding Russia aud Gandhi) and finally I went to Abyssinia. This is an interesting book as the , writer not infrequently encountered unusual situations and saw them from au j unusual point of view.