Audio
TRA Interview- T.R.'s American guide in Africa, Leslie L. Tarlton
Transcript
(0:00 - 0:26)
And a leading surgeon there, Gerald Anderson, Dr. Anderson, the second white baby that was born in Kenya, Jack Hubcraft and his family, knew Leslie Tarleton. And all I remember is we were all invited to tea at Leslie Tarleton's home. I remember it was a lovely spot.
(0:28 - 0:40)
Tell me about the farm itself. Well, no, his home was in Nairobi. Yes, Tarleton had a home in the city of Nairobi.
(0:42 - 1:29)
What kind of house was it? Well, as I recall, it was a single story house with a large veranda and a lawn out beyond the veranda where we had tea, sort of on the veranda. And how did he happen to tell you the story? Well, another fella and I were having tea at a small table. Leslie Tarleton came up.
I remember him, a wiry, rather slender, very much a live man. And he said, boys, would you like to hear a story of how I was hired by a president, fired by the president and hired back again. That sounded like a pretty good story.
(1:30 - 1:52)
We said we certainly would. And he said, all right, boys, I'll sit down and tell it to you. Well, he said that he had been hired as the white hunter to lead one of President Roosevelt's hunting expeditions into East Africa.
(1:52 - 2:16)
He, at that time, of course, was a much younger man and had been a professional white hunter and evidently one of the best ones. He said the party got well underway and he was very conscious of his responsibility. One day, President Roosevelt shot a lion.
(2:17 - 2:30)
He didn't kill it, but he just wounded it. This lion ran into some underbrush. Now, this underbrush led into a rising behind it.
(2:30 - 2:43)
They thought that lion had gone into the brush and then maybe up this rising. And President Roosevelt started right in after it. And Leslie Tarleton... He was on foot.
(2:43 - 3:16)
Oh, yes, they were all on foot. They spoke of having horses with them, but I think at this time they were on foot. And, yes, I'm quite sure because the president started in after this lion and Leslie Tarleton told him very severely, don't go after that lion.
That's dangerous. A wounded lion may attack you. The president replied just as severely, no one will tell me what to do.
(3:17 - 3:36)
And he started right into that underbrush. So Tarleton took a hold, reached out and grabbed a hold of the president's coattail and gave him a pull. And the president turned around and brushed him off, saying at the same time, your services are no longer needed here.
(3:38 - 3:52)
You no longer need to be with us. And the president went right in. As Tarleton said, very fortunately, and I must say he said this with the greatest respect and good humor.
(3:53 - 4:03)
You felt that Roosevelt was his great friend. Of course. And he said, fortunately, the president went in.
(4:04 - 4:28)
Now, I don't recall whether they actually got the lion or not, but he came out safely and he wasn't attacked. But the order of having fired Leslie Tarleton as the leader of the expedition still held. And he described at some length the gloom over the whole camp.
(4:29 - 4:37)
A great quietness descended. The president went to his tent. And everything was quiet.
(4:38 - 4:53)
Well, he, Leslie Tarleton, he spoke of having his own horse and a pack horse. So he went to work folding up his tent, packing up everything. He went into this in some detail.
(4:55 - 5:12)
And people wanting to know who was going to lead the expedition. Where would they go from there? In the course of this, one of the president's representatives came and said, the president would like to see you in his tent. So he said, I went to the tent.
(5:13 - 5:26)
And he was sitting behind a table. And the president said, Sir, do you have anything to say for yourself? He said, no, sir. He said, sir, you must have something to say.
(5:26 - 5:53)
Do you have anything to say? And he said, well, Mr. President, all I will say is this. If I went to America to study politics, and I was led to Washington, and I would inquire who is the best man in America to teach me politics. And if the reply was the president, Sir, I would do exactly as the president told me to do.
(5:54 - 6:02)
Roosevelt replied, You're right, sir. You stay with us. Now that's about the story.
(6:03 - 6:15)
It's a good story. And I remember he was showing us around his house. He had many memos and trinkets and gifts.
(6:17 - 6:35)
from the president signifying a very great friendship. I remember one present was an elephant's foot that had been made into sort of a gift box. It looked about, I suppose, eight or ten inches high with a kind of a lid on it.
(6:36 - 6:57)
And you could see the elephant's foot, all the toes and all. And on the top of this was an engraving on a metal plate to Leslie Tarleton from President Theodore Roosevelt. So his house was full of many such memos of the trip.
(6:59 - 7:13)
Tell me, you said he was a rather small man. Yes, he was, I recall, small and rather slender. About how big would you say that he was? Well, I would say he was five foot seven or eight.
(7:15 - 7:32)
A wiry, not at all feeble. With a sense of humor and steel. I'll have to look up Mr. Roosevelt's own account.
(7:34 - 7:54)
It should probably be in his book on Africa. Oh, that would be very interesting. That'd be very interesting to... Can I tell something about that? I don't recall that he told us the year.
(7:55 - 8:17)
Well, it was, I can tell you, it was either 1909 or 1910. He left the prison. Oh, I see.
(8:18 - 8:34)
I see. So it was the year 19... He was in Africa about a whole year. Oh my, that must have been a great... And there must have been abundant gain.
(8:35 - 8:48)
Oh, yes. Because there still is a sense of gain. You see plentiful gain apart from the reservations on the different farms and the different roads.
(8:50 - 9:20)
And the gain was in part very dangerous to the... Yes, it was. Yes, the Dr. Anderson that I spoke of, who was one of the leading surgeons in Nairobi, one of his relatives was killed by a lion that got in their house. A lion? Yes, a lion got in their house and killed one of his relatives.
(9:21 - 9:46)
Now that I don't think too often happens, that's rather an exception, but... No, but during the very first days that Mr. Earle was in school then, somebody had been killed in one of the... Yes. ...in one of the small villages. And he went viral, that's true.
(9:50 - 9:58)
It was just like one great natural zoo, he said. Yes. And he took the train.
(9:59 - 10:17)
And the other gain was just going through that region. Well, as we learned, Kenya really grew up very much around that railroad. That railroad originally went to Uganda.
(10:18 - 10:34)
Uganda was the... earlier a more important country. And so the railroad had to go through Kenya to get to Uganda. When we were there, it was powered, and I would think still is, by wood.
(10:36 - 11:00)
Yes, a whole carloads of wood to power the engine. Yeah. I suppose he was... well, I don't know his age, but he looked to be a man of 70.
(11:01 - 11:09)
Leslie Carlton at this time. He's 48. It would be interesting to know how close that is, but that's what I would recall.
(11:09 - 11:13)
Well, that would be about right. He must have been about 37 then. Yes.
(11:14 - 11:20)
He's a man of 70. But I would have made him about 33 or so. Yes.
(11:23 - 11:34)
My guess would be that he was older than that. Yes, he might have been. He was one of those men that was weathered.
(11:34 - 11:41)
Yes. Toughened and weathered. And at this period, was relaxing in his home there in Nairobi.
(11:50 - 11:51)
You know how to stop that thing? Yes, I think I do.
Description
THRB 4160 STORY TOLD BY TR'S AMERICAN GUIDE IN AFRICA, LESLIE L. TARLTON, TO PAUL HOGUE (?) 1948
Credit
Hermann & Mary Hagedorn- TRA
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