dual personalities

I was reading about what happened in history on October 16–a lot, including the public burning alive of Ridley and Latimer in 1555 and the be-heading of Marie Antoinette–when I ran across the story of the long-forgotten near assassination of President William Howard Taft.

Taft met with Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz in Mexico in 1909, the first meeting between a U.S. and a Mexican president and also the first time an American president visited Mexico.

The day of the summit, Frederick Russell Burnham and a Texas Ranger captured and disarmed an assassin holding a palm pistol only a few feet from the two presidents.

I followed the link to read about Frederick Russell Burnham and, boy, what a guy was he!

Born in 1861 on a Dakota Sioux Indian reservation in Minnesota to missionary parents, Burnham was an American scout and tracker in the Apache wars, world-traveling adventurer, conservationist, and Rough Rider. He is also known for his service to  the British Army in colonial Africa and for teaching woodcraft to Robert Baden-Powell in Rhodesia.  (Lord Baden-Powell adopted the Stetson and neckerchief worn by Burnham.)

Burnham has a mountain named after him. Of course he does.

It is supposed that Sir Rider Haggard based his character Allan Quartermain on Burhnam. (Not surprising.) “Burnham in real life is more interesting than any of my heroes of romance!” he said.

I have checked out Burham’s book Scouting On Two Continents from my flyover university library (I’m sure it hasn’t been checked out in decades.) I’ll let you know how great it is.

*This quote of Burnham’s reminds me of this quote from El Dorado (1966):

Cole: Either one of ya know a fast way to sober a man up?

Bull Harris: A bunch of howlin’ indians out for hair’ll do it quicker’n anything I know.

Have a good day–read some history!