TOLD THE WORLD

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17227, 5 April 1930, Page 17

TOLD THE WORLD

MR. RUSSELL OWEN WRITER TOR BYRD EXPEDITION There's nothing pretentious about Mr. Russell 'Owen. To have seen the worldfamous New York journalist step from the. Limited on to the Auckland station, no one would have thought him the internationally known chronicler oi Lear-Admiral By'rd's Antarctic expedition.

Yes, it was he. He had a black travelling bag in one hand and, a sign o identification, a typewriter with the word "Owen" in sprawling white, letters, in the other.

Quietly spoken, and completely unassuming, Mr. Owen shared with Byrd much of the personality of the expedition. Did he not give to a. waiting world the accounts of the South Pole ventures of discoveries of vast iceridden mountain ranges, of the little tragedies and the humors of the Little America Camp," even a. story of the inquisitive whale which nosed its way to the. great ice barrier, under the gaze of the explorers? He absorbed the profound atmosphere of the Antarctic, necessarily, but be found time, even under the suspense of Incurs of waiting lor news of the fate of fliers attempting bold flights over bleak. UliehartoiT wastes, to give lighter happenings. All manner of incidents be penned lor dispatch by wireless and by cable. His words were avidly read, whether they told of a minor disaster in the camp kitchen, or of some discovery of geological significance. CROWDED CAREER.

The expedition has been Mr. Owen's crowning distinction in a crowded career of journalism; millions, whether in the Hutted States, in the United Kingdom, or in the British Dominions, can recall those few lines above the messages from Little America: "Copyright by the New York 'Limes -and the, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, by Hussell Owen." Mr. Owen told the Auckland Sun briefly oi the more prominent stories he has "covered" in years in New York news paper life. These are a few : 'the sensational Scopes trial ai Dayton (Tenn.). where the teaching of evolution was an issue of world importance, .Mr. Owen thinks the trial was probably bis most i'ascinat'Hig assignment.

A journey to lone Spitzbergen. on the verge oi' (he Arctic, to describe Hie flight to Alaska by Roald Amundsen and the American. Lincoln FJsworlh. Flying hazards were many. but aviation near Little America, in line weather was surprisingly safe. Liter dependence on the meteorologist's reports was essential, as fair conditions could change into obscure vision within five, minutes. Il was all a test for Hie iiiagnilieeui aviation of Byrd, Bcrnt Laicbeii. Beau Smith—who, in the United Slates, regulurh conducts the \ew York-Cleveland night mail service over .dangerous c dry Harold .lone. ami Captain Allen Parker. Down in Little America.. Mr. Owen was librarian in an excellently appointed library. There be wrote bis messages for tlie world, on a makeshift desk built by none other than Dr. Could, the geologist. Not without anticipation will Mr. Owen leave for America, on the Corinthic on April 9. He joins the City of New York at Panama, to return to his high position on a staff of more than 70 writers. That is Russell Owen.

At Spitzbergen, during the AnmndsenElsworth preparations, Byrd arrived to make his flight to the North Pole and back. This was Mr. Owen's first meeting with the man he was to accompany on" the Antarctic venture. Mr. Owen was associated with another journalist in describing Byrd's flight from Spitz licrgen. The Schneider Cup air speed contests in 1926. Several trans-Atlantic flights. Lieu tenant Noel Davis, who was killed: Byrd. Chamberlain, and Colonel Lindherg—all these airmen were met by Mr. ' ASSIGNMENT.

And those are Mr. Owen's outstanding assignments, now overshadowed by the By rd expedition. He has been writing on the exploration project since March. 1928. Mr. Owen began in journalism in 1806. Kor more than 13 years, he wrote' for the New York Sun, and foi six or seven years lie has been special writer and reporter on the New York Times. In between times he has been engaged on publicity work. He began as a stenographer at 15; once he was a linotype operator. The Times, which has a' Sunday circulation of nearly 1,000,000, and a daily issue of 500,000, selected him specially for the Byrd project, in which the newspaper was financially concerned. "New Zealand is a charming country, and the people are the most hospitable I have met, Mr. Owen said. "They have the likeable characteristics of the English. 1 find the British colonial friendliness similar to the American. "1 may write a book on the Byrd expedition. Journalism is tho only game 1 know." saiil Mr." Owen. The restraint of New Zealand newspapers inipiessed him. The single |ine and not very communicative headlines of most of the papers were strange to him, too. Most of, the news was extremely well written, lie wanted to return to New Zealand to observe more of the country. Tile Antarctic was actually healthy and invigorating for physically lit men, and the majority of the 42 members of Byrd's community benefited from the experience, even with the temperature at 72 degrees below zero.