New Britain Herald Newspaper, January 29, 1929, Page 19

e Cannibals Crowned Astonishing Adventures of a Beautiful Author in the Savage b FF the coast of Australia the warm sea is studded with {slands, paln?- fringed, . lazy, numerous as stars. Some of these are known only to island trading schoon- ers, and in their unexplored interior tribes live in prehistoric savagery. The Dutch New Guinea group harbors many such tribes, whose customs have remained unchanged for countless generations. Elinor Mordaunt, charming English author, primeval races. She resolved to go and observe them, to brave dangers that hardy seamen shrank from, in order to fill her notebooks with atmos- pheric literary material. She went, with her young son, and & succession of adventures befell her that throw into shadow the tale of “She,” H. Rider Haggard’s imaginative account of a lovely girl ruler of an unknown race. For Elinor was not only crowned “lady king” of a tribe of fierce cannibals, but actually ruled them over a period of months. It was not easy to gain access to the lovely but foreboding island fastnesses. Staid Dutch officials were reluctant to sce an attractive and talented young woman risk, together with her son, un- speakable dangers. They knew that tfie stories of head-hunting warriors, of naked savages indulging in feasts of human flesh, in sensuous and indescrib- able orgies, were not idle rumor. But Mrs. Mordaunt persisted. She and her son at last set out among the islands. For weeks they visited little-known shores, met many natives. But this was far too tame for the ad- venturous Elinor; she wanted more pungent adventures. Her publishers, while naturally eager for fresh and “exclusive” copy from the typewriter of the gifted lady, had implored her not to take unnecessary risks. The venturesome Elinor paid not the slight- Mrs. Henry Scott Rubel. the Former Dorothy Deuel, of Muscal < Comedy Fame, * Whose Clever Manipulation of Church ncing sses Has Aided the Parish Funds, East Indies, Where She Ruled an Adoring Elinor_Mordaunt, Beauty, Travel Ex‘m and Author, Whoe Wa Crowned “Lady King' of the Fierce Minahassian Tribe on an Island in the Dutch East Indies. est attention to any of their warnin ‘“‘Show me—or tel: about—the wild- est, most primordial place washed by the Banda Sea,” she said, “and I'll go there. Furthermore, I'll dig up stuff at first hand that no other writer in the world has ever even dre of.” Perhaps th words were tinged with both de with humor. But they came y true. A grizzled “oldest inhabitant” of Kokopo, interrogated by Elinor, scratched his white-fuzzed head, thought a few minutes, then responded: “Well, Miss, if it's wild life you're looking for, couldn’t do better—or worse— look up the Minahassians. They're the liveliest trihe west of Tol but I would hate to think what might happen 5 - heard of these mysterious . A Minahassian Bejeweled, But Regarded by Her Fellow Islanders as Unworthy to Become Their Queen. to a white woman in their midst.” This served only to whet Mrs. Mor- daunt’s imaginative energv and pioneer ~ Danced Her Way Into the Minister’s Heart, Then—! elle, Affuble, Comely and Tribe of Fierce Savages. urgings., She studied maps of the Arafurs and Flores regions; finally located the tiny kingdom of Mina- hassia; ordered transportation; packed ber bags and was off, At this precise point the narrative beco necessarily hazy in details, though absolutely verified in general trend and-outline by the woman who dared death for literary ambition. Elinor Mordaunt refuses, just at this particular time, to disclose either the means of her entry into the Mina- hassian country or her departure from it. Her loval son is equally tight lipPed. “But I'll tell you one amusing thing,” the traveled author said. “Though the Minahassians are an- thropophagous (which is highbrow for cannabilistic) they never even once motioned toward the cooking pot while | was their guest. Not only that, they even managed to like me so much B that they crowned me—not in the slang sense of the term. No, they crowned me, not the queen, for they'd never heard of a wo- man potentate, but what they called their ‘h(iy king.'” Despite the fantastic cast of Elinor's phrases, they constituted an exact de- scription of the central episode in her “Do It this way!™ Mrs. Rubel Demonstrating the First Movement In an Intricate Measure for Little Pupils’ Benefit. the footlights; then she danced right into his heart, and now she’s teaching his young parishioners to be baby Paviowas and Mordkins! H E saw her toes twinkling before This, briefly, is the story of the Rev. Henry Scott Rubel, rector of St. Michael and All Angels' Episcopal { “Often as she was retiring (or the night, she would be startled 1o see spear-laden hands and black faces 81 window and door.” ng' dennl Ruled. East Indies adventures. Arriving on the island, it appears, she was accosted by guards, swarthy, nose-ringed and fierce of mien, who demanded, in hor- rifying pantomime, who she was and what she wanted. Finally their leader’s eyes opened wide in incredulous stupefaction, Had some detail of her costume, coloring Church, Berwyn, Illinois, and his wife, the former Dorothy Deuel, of the famous Deuel Sisters, stars of musical comedy. Six years ago, Dorothy, who has revues, Newspeper Feature Garvics. 19278 : short, barely five feo [/ Native Minshassian Hut, of the Type Occupled by Queen or figure attracted his atten- tion. He approached the somewhat intimidated young woman and, with his ds stretched, one down, one up, in meas- uring-stick fashion, began to “take her height.” The result was apparently impressive to him, for his former challenging manner swiftly changed to one of ceremonial regard, and he gave orders to his followers to escort her to the palace. Arriving there, Elinor Mordaunt be- gan to understand what it was all about. The King, seated stiffly, almost primly, on his gorgeous throne, had an imposing air, but he was extremely . two inches. The captain of the guardsmen had been staggered by the fact that this white, feminine intruder overtopped the monarch. Therefore—so tgo native mind apparently works—she was his superior, not & goddess, for the Mina- hassian theology includes no female deities, but a differently formed and differently colored kine, in short, a “lady king.” By just what indigenous process of coronation Elinor ascended the throne vacated by the disgruntled potentate she has not yet told. But her sway was 80 compelling that in no time at all she apparently held the island in the palm of her slim hand. Their reverence fc= her, while great. could not overcome their curiosity, and often as she was wearily retiring for the night she would be startled to hear Elinor During Her Incumbency as Ruler of the Tribe. gutteral whispers and to sge spear- Jaden hands and black, blank, wonder- ing faces at window and door. All through the nights, for the first week or two of her stay, the natives would creep into her thatched “palace” vhile she slept. At first she was ter- rified, fearing that they intended harming her. But this thought seems not to have entered their simple minds. Instead they wanted only to touch her! They couldn’t q@#ite understand that she was real, and their actions were veverent in the extreme. After a time she got used to it, und these strange goings-on failed to keep her awake! The arduous tack of “play- ing king” began to get upon her nerves very soon. Besides, she asked herself, what she was doing in this foolish role when her real work lay ahead of her, exploration of the interior of the * fascinating, little known island. Imperiously, she an- nounced that she was set forth on an expeditionary trip, and demanded that an ;qulllll guard be furnished er. "Now comes a really comie— and slightly tragic—incident for which Elinor absolutely vouches. It seems that the Dutch Government maintains, in close proximity to the monarchical Minahas- sians, a penal colony of ne’er-do-well whites, convicts imprisoned there for a variety of offenses. It was from this crowd of forgers, cut-throats, thieves and other malefactors that the childishly whimsical subjects of “Lady Kink” Elinor chose her escorts, They indicated that she could have any brand of evil-doer she preferred, and she preferred eighteen murderers, on the score that they were daring men. She didn’t want any thieves, who might rifle her personal belong- ings. The expedition was, says Elinor, & success; but “something happened” on it. She had started out with eighteen men. On the road, or in the under- brush, two extra white men joined it, unnoticed, and when they got back to the penal colony, the guards, counting heads at the stockade entrance, were staggered to find they had accumulated two more prisoners than were their legal due! But they didn’t stop to bother about details; they merely in. carcerated the “extras’ in the stockade, putting them briskly to work. “Travel light!” That is Elinor's advice to those contemplating a bit of unconventional globe-trotting. Mrs. Mordaunt likes to travel in slow steamers and even on sailing ships, be- cause these craft visit the out of the way places of the world where express liners never touch. ‘While on shipboard she allots a eer- tain number of hours each day to work, and she does most of her writing during the calm days at sea. On more than one occasion she has found her- self stranded in some little port where & ship touches enly every few months. And several times she has been forced to resott to tricks to extricate herself from embarrassing circumstances. - Doubtless other entertaining details of her stay with the Minashassians will be set forth by Elinor in her next volume of travel lore, which bears the significant title of “Too Much Java.” The Rubels Shown With Four Stanch Church Members, Demonsirating Their Technical Proficiency as Embryonic Paviowas. written for the Episcopal Actors’ Guild, Rubel, then a student for the ministry, was & member of the cast. Memories of Dorothy’s beauty and charm and talent behind the footlights smote him and he realized that this was love. They were married and led a most happy domestic existence, but Dorothy's toes were restless and so she suggested that ‘her h‘ubma.let her form a danc- ing class among his young parishioners. He was enthusiastic and so Dorothy’s classes have grown from a hesitant ex- periment into an institution which is gopuler. praiseworthy and lucrative or the church funds.