LIFE OF GREAT ROMANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20958, 22 August 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

LIFE OF GREAT ROMANCE.

: \ : —: " TRADER HORN'S" ESTATE. \ ' SAID TO HAVE LEFT £20,000. SPIRIT: OFv HIGH ADVENTURE. People who .knew " Trader Horn," the hero of counties* thrilling adventures in the African who died in a nursing home at TankertOn, near Whitstable, Kent, on June 26, from a chill, declare that he was worth a, considerable sum of money at the time of his death. It is computed that from the book of his life, which sold in great numbers both in Great Britain and in,the United States, deceased made perhaps £IO,OOO. Before receiving this money, however, he had little means. Afterwards " Trader Horn," or Mr. Alfred Aloysius Smith, to give him his real name, went to the United States, and is said to have " done well " out of a lecture tour, during which he was idolised by the public. But he himself declared that he made scarcely any profits from the film, in which he co-operated, depicting some of his adventures.

" On the whole, therefore," one who knew him well said to the Daily Mail, "it would be more or less correct to estimate that deceased did not leave more than £20,000, and, moreover, it is quite probable that lie did not leavo as much." " Trader Horn," according to

his friends, was neither extravagant nor niggardly. He " did himself well." " Trader Horn " brought to the 20th century something of the spirit of high adventure of Elizabethan days. He spent about sixty years in the African wilds, and nearly all the time carried his life in his hands. He escaped being impaled on the tusks of a mad elephant, being slashed to death by cannibals, and many other violent 'ends. No one knew his exact age, but he is believed to have ' been about 82. It was in 1871, as Alfred Aloysius Smith, that " Trader Horn " left Liverpool for the Ivory Coast of West Africa. There for a time he helped a steamship company's agent to develop the ivory and rubber trade. Then he struck out for himself and went into the interior as a trader. He seemed to be able to establish relations of the closest friendship with the natives and lived almost as one.

Occasionally " Trader Horn," as he became known, dragged himself from , his beloved rivers and forests and appeared in Capetown. Sometimes he had plenty ol money, but more often ho was penniless when he visited civilisation, and look to peddling gridirons. - It was on ono of these occasions that he came in contact with Mrs. Ethelreda Lewis, the authoress. She learned that when in the wilds he had for amusement jotted down his experiences and thoughts on odd pieces of paper, and suggested to him the idea of a book of his adventures. When Mrs. Lewis read his jottings she found them as delightful and exciting to read as were the stories of his life from his own lips. And so. under her editorship, appeared the book of his life. N Mrs. Scales, the daughter of " Trader Horn" says:—"The idea that he has always been penurious and hard-up is ridiculous. He has been through two good legacies in his time. He made a few thousands out of his book, and I expect he has left a thousand or two—but I do not think it* is anything very much.'!