3
GREATEST
It Would Mean Death in, a Most Horrible Form for the Greatest Human
Athlete Who Ever Lived to Meet a Gorilla or Chimpanzee in the Ring.
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, MAY 9, 1920
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BT CAJMHLtJS PHILLrPS.
THE Cempsey-Carpentier contest,
in the preliminary discussions of
Its moralities, differs In no wise
from every other championship fight
since the days of Bendlgo. The ln
elinct of the average male of the spe
cies to see a combat between men
famed for their prowess must make
headway afresh, on every occasion,
against protests that stigmatize the
sport as primitive and bestial.
And now, as always, since the era
when ferocious Rome delighted In ac
tually pitting man against beast spec
ulation arises as to whether man,
unarmed and aided only by the skill
his superior brain affords his bare
hands, could cope with any of these
anthropoid cousins of hid that ap
proach him in size.
It may be altogether primitive, it
may be bestial; but it is, nevertheless,
a conjecture heard at every world
championship Tingslde:
"What chance would a gorilla have
with bare knuckles against either
of them?"
The answer, to be scientifically
true, however painful it may be to
man's conceit, is this:
Embody in one man the size of
Willard, the fighting fury of Sulli
van, the lightning adroitness of Cor
bett, the terriffic punch of Fltzslm
mons, the strength of Mike Dorizas
and the wrestling skill of Frank
Gotch; put him in the ring with any
ordinary gorilla and he would have
no more chance of victory than a child
against a grown man.
Incidentally, he would be stone dead
during the first round unless rescued
by his seconds, and the seconds would
be stone dead, too, unless they used
explosive bullets on the gorilla.
An acquaintance with African ex
plorers, ranging from the late Paul
du Challlu, the discoverer of the go
rilla, to Richard Garner, the special
student of the chimpanzee, together
with some near observation of the
great apes themselves, has left me
convinced that this opinion is an un
derstatement rather than an exagger
ation. And it la among the least sur
prising of the actual facts regarding
the fighting qualities of all these
"lower animals" as they are classi
fied by the species that has vaunted
Its comrbati veness among its highest
virtues from time immemorial on up
to the olose of the latest great world
var.
Terrible as is the gorilla, the cham
. pionahlp of the Jungle Is not for him.
It goes to the chimpanzee, in propor
tion to his weight.
Destructive as are the blows of
the modern boxer, murderous as were
those of the ancients reinforced with
the metal ceetua, neither prizefighter
nor gladiator has ever developed or
has ever possessed the power to de
velop the human hand as a weapon
along the. lines of its true offensive
a a it is employed by every child and
almost every woman.
There is an astonishing similarity
almost an Identity of method be
tween the blows delivered by such
great apes as the gorilla and chim
panzee and those used by the very
young of the human speciea, more
especially the females.
The angry child strikes with the
butt of the open hand the true go
rilla and chimpanzee blow, an
atavism harking back to the origin
of the race that perfects itself rapidly
in the case of the girl and the woman
into the clawing slap. It constitute
one of the most conspicuous evi
dences of the scientific thesis that,
where the male principle carries the
initiative of the uture, the female is
by nature the guardian and per
petuator of the past.
As' noteworthy is the fact that the
hand of the gorilla Is conspicuously a
feminine hand tapering, elegant, ex
quisite in its modeling as compared
with the hand of the average human
male. ,
Ages ago possibly in the period
of the Neanderthal Man our pro
genitors may have possessed some
slight remnants of the superhuman
physical strength that makes the
bare hand so tremendous a weapon
for the great apes.
Today, overwhelmingly superior as
we have become mentally, we are
pitiful weaklings, physically unfit
even for comparison with them.
In tests irtitmted to determine
the relative strength of man and
Chimpanzee, the ape easily outclassed
t
: kA
three husky sailors In a tug of war.
The strength of the gorilla Is rated
at twice that of the chimpanzee. A
Gotch, a Hackenschmidt, a Dorizas
would be merely a plaything in the
grasp of either animal.-
Both gorilla and chimpanzee, lined
up against a Jeffries or a Willard,
would be rated as deceiving antago
nists. The gorilla, always walking,
stooped because of the high ridge of
bone surmounting the spine at the
base of the neck; stands no more than
five to five and one-half feet in
height and appears to be all paunch
and hairy arms. Straightened out, as
many specimens have been after
death, the actual length runs close to
six feet and the shoulders are seen to
be twice as broad as a man's. The
weight averages from 300 to 350
pounds, the largest gorilla ever slain
having weighed 400 pounds.
The chimpanzee, shorter by half a
head and nearly 50 per cent less in
weight, is much slighter in the body
and longer in the legs. H might be
regarded as the Bob Fittzslmmons of
the fighting anthropoids, where the
gorilla la a combination of Jeffries
and John L. Sullivan. Physically
and in physique only, for their skill,
strength and endurance remain to be
demonstrated the parallels for the
coming international contest would
liken Carpentier to the chimpanzee,
Dempsey to the gorilla.
The one man now alive who knows
most intimately the animals of the
African jungle is Richard L. Garner,
student of animal speech, who
brought to this country from the
French Congo the famous chimpanzee
Susie, a very good friend of -mine be
fore she entered the University of
Pennsylvania and later the Bronx
zoo. In many talks about the fight
ing qualities of the great apes of
Africa, Mr. Garner made clear what
would happen to the mightnest of
human champions In any conflict
with gorilla or chimpanzee. To quote
him verbatim:
"I remembered Maguanga well a
giant of a man, six feet two in height,
built like an ox, supple as a panther,
in the prime of his strength, a vet
eran hunter He carried a Weapon
ideal for ouch an encounter, a long,
keen knife lashed fast to a heavy,
seasoned stick three feet in length.
"Alert, every muscle tense, his stab
bing spear "held In instant readiness
for the death strike, Maguanga was
within a yard of .tiie tree when, from
behind it, the wounded gorilla sprang
to the attack. Maguanga, wildly In
readiness, drove his knife blade
straight at the broad, black chest.
"It was a lightning thrust down
ward, with all the force of a powerful,
practiced arm. Yet before the knife
point touched him the gorilla had
wrenched the spear from the hunter's
grasp, seized him by the ankle with
THEODORE ROOSEVELT BENDS WILL OF
EX-KAISER, AUTHOR SHOWS IN ARTICLE
Letters Show Attitude of Colonel to Germany's former Rnler Correspondence With King Edward Reveals
Desire" for Anglo-Saxon Union.
NEW
Roos
of a
EW TORK, May 8. Colonel
osevelt is shown in the role
diplomatic letter writer to
European royalties, bending even
former Emperor William of Germany
to his will, in freshly disclosed cor
respondence edited by Joseph Bucklin
Bishop, the late, president's biog
raphed, which will appear in the April
Issue of Schribner's marazine.
The correspondence includes letters
to and replies from King Edward,
Emperor Nicholas of Russia, the e
peror of Japan, Albert, king of the
Belgians,' and Queen Elizabeth of
Routnania. In addition to the lengthy
epistles that passed between the
colonel and the head of the Hohenzol
lerns. Writing on August 14, 1906,
to Henry White, who was then Am
bassador at Rome, Colonel Roosevelt
said:
"My course with him (Emperor
William) during the last five years
has been uniform. I admire him,
respect him and like him. I think
him a big man, and on the whole a
good man; but I think his Interna
tional and Indeed his personal atti
tude one of intense egotism. I have
always been most polite with him,
have done my best to avoid our tak
ing gay attitude which could possibly
a prehensile foot, and in the act of
dragging him to earth struck him on
the thigh a flail-like, clawing blow
that stripped off every vestige of
flesh from the bone. Another blow,
as Maguanga reached the ground,
dismembered hfm. Before the nearest
warrior could reach his side the go
rilla had disappeared in the bush.
' "That .Incident, I think, answers the
question whether the man has ever
been born who, unarmed, could defeat a
gorilla in open combat. Every advan
tage lay with my friend Maguanga
the gorilla was even seriously wound
ed. The issue of any such encounter
would resolve itself into the simple
matter of co-ordination between brain
and body. Man's reaction is abso
lutely too slow to have the slightest
chance against the unbelievable quick
ness of the ape.
"Yet, the gorilla, powerful and
quick as he is, invariably proves in
ferior as a fighter to the smaller, less
heavily thewed chimpanzee. More
than that, he knows it and for all
his ferocious courfege avoids battle
whenever his self-respect can be pre- (
served from the appearance of cow
ardice. "This may seem strangre language
to apply to an ape. But my observa
tion, extending over the ownership
of nine gorillas and similar relations
with many chimpanzees, has enabled
me to discern in them practically all
the moral attributes we are prone to
ascribe exclusively to man some of
those attributes highly developed,
others more or less rudimentary. As
an instance:
"I planted the first of the steel
cages I. used for my studies of ani
mal speech in a jungle in Odimba,
near the grounds of St. Anne's Mis
sion, in Fernan Vaz. My friend, Pere
Buelon, was at work beside another
priest of the mission with mattocl?
and spade, preparing the ground to
install a fountain which is now dedi
cated to St. Joseph. Their rifles lay
at hand in readiness for the ever
present dangers of the bush.
"There arose, in a small plantation
near by, the roars and screams that
told of sudden battle. ,The clergy
men snatched their guns and hurried
to the scene.
"A gorilla and a chimpanzee were
fighting, like two boxers, among the
banana plants. The noise of their
blows sounded like the roll of beaten
drums.
"While the missionaries gazed, the
gorilla's spirit weakened. He began
io give ground. The chimpanzee,
with the air of a man who is not con
tent with simply defeating an adver
sary, followed him, foot by foot, still
administering punishment. The go
give him legitimate offense, and have
endeavored to show him- that I was
sincerely friendly to him and to Ger
many. Moreover, where I have forced
him to give way I have been sedu
lously anxious to build a bridge of
gold for him and to give him the
satisfaction of feeling that his dig
nity and reputation in the face of the
world were safe1.
Force Necessary Once.
"In other words, where I have had
to take part of the kernel from him,
I have been anxious that he should
have all the shell possible, and have
that shell painted any way he wished.
At the sane time I have had to speak
with express emphasis to him on more
than one Occasion; and on one occa
sion (that of Venezuela) have had
to make a display of force and to con
vince him definitely that I would use
the force if necessary."
Mr. Bishop declares that in spite of
the Venezuela Incident of December.
1902, which must have been a "humil
iating check," the former emperor
cherished no resentment and subse
quently wrote Roosevelt the most
friendly letters. He also sent the
colonel a number nf photographs
show ins himself gad Roosevelt astride
rilla, a hulking giant beside the slen
der chimpanzee, fought back, but now
only half-heartedly, as though loth
to suffer more, but equally reluctant
to admit complete defeat.
"After a few of these rallies, the
gorilla's nerve broke and he tried to
make speed away. The chimpanzee
swung a heavy hand on him and
clawed him until the gorilla turned
again and tried to fight back. His
conqueror seemed to delight in these
little contests, outpointing him at
every turn until at length the edge
of the bush afforded the gorilla his
opportunity for a dash into its depths
to safety. . The chimpanzee halted,
gazed after him in a sort of amused
contempt, and leisurely departed.
"That was undoubtedly an unavoid
able encounter, a meeting by mutual
surprise from which the gorilla's In
nate pride -would not permit with
drawal without putting up a fight. It
was one that seldom occurs, for the
substantial reason that the gorilla
habitually endeavors to see the chim
panzee first and quits the dangerous
neighborhood as fast as he can. I
have come across beds in the bush,
still warm from the bodies of the go
rillas that had lain in them over night
and, aroused by the voices of chim
panzees at dawn, fled hastily and' afar,
although the gorilla Is a sluggard
who will quit his bed for no other
animal under the sun.
"The social conditions of the jungle
may he defined, briefly, thus: Between
gorilla and chimpanzee there Is hered
itary feud, with survival of both spe
cies practicable through the discretion
of the gorilla. Between' gorilla and
man there is a like feud, tempered by
a oertain discretion on the part of the
gorilla since firearms made their ap
pearance in the African Interior. Be
tween man and the chimpanzee there
prevails a certain tolerance, with the
chimpanzee capable of adapting him
self, once made captive, in a marvel
ous manner to the life and habits of
mankind where the gorilla remains
forever untamable and murderous.
But between the leopard on the one
hand and man. chimpanzee and go
rilla on the other, there prevails a
quenchless hatred, the sating of which
Only man, exercising the prudence
born of his superior intelligence, ever
consents to forego. Leopard and chim
panzee, or leopard and gorilla, cannot
magnificent horses at a manoeuver of
the German army. On the auto
graphed pictures ho had written: "The
colonel of the Rough Riders lectur
ing the chief of the German army,"
"Total agreement about the general
maxims of life and policy between
America and Germany," "On the
Muhlenberg; a grave discussion; Car
negie, look out" and "The chief of
the German army thanking the colo
nel of the Rough. Riders for the honor
of inspecting his troops." Mr, Car
negie, by the way, once had credited a
rumor that Germany was building -a
strong fleet to attack the United
States. ,
Kaiser's Consent Compelled.
A letter the colonel wrote to Ed
ward VII of England on April 25,
1906, contains a reference to the Al
geclras conference of that year, an
international parley which at the
time was said to have averted a gen
eral European war. The biographer
states that "the secret history of this
conference, which stands revealed In
Roosevelt's correspondence and which
Is far too long for publication in the
magazine, shows conclusively that it
was arranged by Roosevelt at the in
sistent request of the. kaiser that
come within range of each other with
out combat, and I have not known
such an encounter that left a survivor.
"My caravan had halted for rest
during the heat of the day when we
heard, above the growls and snarls
of a leopard in the bush, the angry
tones pf a chimpanzee. Anjanga, the
guide, seeing me take up my express
.80, implored me not to interfere, jly
own knowledge of the risks made me
out combat, and I have not known , t 'Nil, lifJ&U i VAX
such an encounter that left a survivor. - Vl V. , 1 , I X
"My caravan had halted for rest V V ' N " , ' " ,
during the heat of the day when ' 5 "
heard, above the growls and snarls iiW t Z. " f" y
of a leopard in the bush, the angry v . '' N - , 5
tones pf a chimpanzee. Anjanga, the I I J , -V-?- - -,I
guide, seeing me take up my express I I tV " v I I
.80, implored me not to interfere. My I I VA 1 3 X ' ' Y :1 I I
cautious, so I penetrated the bush
only within eyeshot of the combat
ants. "It- was a fight characteristic of
the intelligent chimpanzee, full of the
strategies of the prize ring, advances
and retreats for the securing of tech
nical advantage, exchanges of blows
delivered too swiftly for the eye to
discern and grapplings during which
the bruising blows of the chimpanzee
resounded as far- as the waiting car
avan until, as I watched, the an
tagonists fought their way into the
dense jungle and the tumult gradu
ally subsided.
"It would have teen madness to
follow them. I resumed my Journey,
but, returning three days later, made
a search of the vicinity. Not far
from the spot where I had lost sight
of them I found the body of the
chimpanzee, slashed and torn to rib
bons by ' the" claws of the leopard,
while, beyond, the leopard lay dead,
bitten and gashed about the head by
the chimpanzee's teeth and, under the
skin, its whole body a beaten pulp.
"In my collection of jungle trophies
is the skull of a gorilla that perished
in a similar struggle. The one dif
ference between the two fights lay
In the sheer, bestial pugnancy of the
larger ape, unrelieved by any trace
of the generalship employed by the
chimpanzee.
The first faint glow of that glo
rious, universal flame which is the
tropic dawn was lighting the village
Of Ndogo, on the bank of the Rembo
Nkami, when the piercing yells of a
leopard answered the booming thun
der tones of an enraged gorilla. The
whole demoniac struggle was fouarht
out ln.the course of a half hour under
the eyes of the villagers.
'It was a clinch from start to fin
ish. For all the heavy handicap of
his rigid spine, the gorilla was not
only Infinitely stronger, but also
quicker than the leopard. But neither
Roosevelt drew up the terms of set
tlement which were adopted, and that
he fairly compelled the kaiser to give
his unwilling consent to them."
Roosevelt's impatience with . the
ceremonies and etiquette of courts
found vigorous expression, Mr. Bishop
says, when he exclaimed after de
scribing his experiences with poten
tates of various kingdoms at the
funeral of King Edward, at which
he represented the United States:. "I
felt if I met another king I should
bite him!" Amused and irritated by
the fussy anxiety displayed by the
ruler, of a petty kingdom . about his
prerogatives and the precedence to
which he was entitled, Roosevelt at
another time said, drawing upon his
bird lore for a simile: "He is nothing
buf 41 twittering wagtail.
Writing again to King Edward of
England, for whom he professed a
high regard, he said In' 1908: "I feel
very strongly that the 'real interests
of the English-speaking peoples are
one, alike in the Atlantic and the
Pacific; and that, while scrupulously
Careful neither to Insult nor to in
jure others, we should yet make it
evident that we are ready and able to
hold our own""
Greeks Buy Steamer.
VANCOUVER. B. C. The steel
freighter, S. S. War Charger, built
by J. Coughlan & Suns, was recently
sold to Greek operators for 11,800,000.
Since sailing from this port late in
1918 the vessel has been In service in
the Pacific, Mediterranean and At-lantic.
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antagonist, in such close quarters,
was able to bite often; and the leop
ard's four flying claws, as compared
with the gorilla's two hands, gave
him double the offensive power. Tet
the gorilla, made his two bare hands
suffice.
"He tore from Its socket the leop
ard's whole ear. He gouged out an
eye. He crushed in completely the
temporal bone and broke the left
malar bone in two places. And he so
flailed the leopard's whole body that
not a square Inch remained that was
not mere pulp. His own left fore
arm was broken; arms, legs, head
and breast were everywhere gashed.
Through the wounds In his right
thigh the bare bone showed, while
several ribs were laid open and the
FANFARE OF TRUMPETS AND
KING'S GUARD" GREET POET
D'Annunzio's Court Procedure Hung About "With Ornate Practices of
Elaborate Rulers of Romance.
FIUME. May 8. "This is the most
interesting court in Europe," said
one of d'Annunzio's secretaries at
the luncheon tendered the poet on St.
Gabriel's Day, when the "liberator"
of Flume acted his part .with court
iers, soldiers and "king's guards" and
the populace acted theirs.
Fanfares of trumpets, the rush to
arms of the "king's guard" announced
his every entrance and exit. He Is
always accompanied by a long line of
aides and functionaries and wears a
happy countenance himself. At meals
all . the courtiers center their atten
tion upon him and listen to the stories
he tells, laughing sometimes and cry
ing at others.
D'Annunzio's wishes in food are al
ways complied with and religious
zeal marks the efforts of the entour
age to please him. His uniform is al
ways spic and span. There is not a
blemish on his clothing from heel to
crown. His long Italian cape some
times calls to mind the familiar garb
of the fallen William II in' his Ger
man military cape.
On public occasions in theaters, his
place is reserved with much attention
and when he enters cheers are given
by the men and women who follow
him, Wheu he gives a, concert in the
-f . .v.
leopard's claws tore deeply into the
thoracio cavity.
"The finish came suddenly. In the
midst of his terrific blows on the
leopard's boJy, the great gorilla re
laxed and fell dead. The leopard as
instantly ceased to ply his bloody
claws and, like one stricken with
extreme age, dragged himself a few
totter'ng steps apart. Then he, too,
dropped dead.
"Too many millions of years have
passed since man and ape knew a
common ancestor for man now to
dream of equality as an unarmed,
bare-handed fighting animal. The
only relics of his prehistoric prowess
that remain are evidenced in the
futile slap of the little child and the
claw'ng scratch of the woman."
palace, his place m rne front row is
respected with the reverence due to
a religious chief. His apartments are
bedecked with all sorts of presents
from the townspeople. Italian and
Dalmation flags make up he color
scheme. On his name day he was the
recipient of bowers of flowers from
admirers in the city. The royal march
greets him when he makes his ap
pearance on the balcony of the pal
ace. LAND GETTING SCARCE
Settlement for 1919 Sets Jv'ew
lvecord Mark.
VICTORIA, B. C Land settlement
in British Columbia during 1919 was
much in excess of previous years.
Government figures just tabled show
1752 pre-emptions were Issued, more
than the total of 1916 and'J9!? to
gether. A total of 1139 irown granta
were issued to pre-empcors, 223 under
the soldiers' homestead act and
mineral claims.
In addition there were a large nurii--ber
of farms sold by private iiilei i-sts
to new settlers in the Fraser vnlley.
Kamloops, Okanogan and Koolenaj
districts.