BENNETT AND GORDON.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2662, 3 August 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

BENNETT AND GORDON.

The story that James Gordon Bunuett has i;one to Cairo to rescue Gordon from the dungeon in which he bus been kept for several years by tho Muhdi, sensational, but it will not hold water. That Gordon was killed by the Mahdi's troops in January, 1885, there is no possibility of doubting ; accounts of his death by eye witnesses have been frequently published. Wo have had since 1885 a number of letters from Khartoum, written by Christian prisoners of the Mahdi, and describing events in that city. If Gordon had been in oaptivity there, they would havo mentioned the fact. It is not credible that Lord Wolseley would have begun the retreat of February, ISSS, had he not been thoroughly satisfied of Gordon's death. Wo may, therefore, dismiss this theorv as the wild fancy of a sensation loving reporter. It is not at all impossible that Bennett may be en route to Khartoum, in pursuance of a wager made with one of his wild French friends. Hβ is just the man to indulge in the freak of bearding the Mahdi in his castle, at the risk of bis life ; and the odds are that, if he does, ho will escape scot free. What would the Mahdi make by killing a hnrum ficarum American editor ? lie would be much more likely to invite his visitor to establish a Soudanese edition of tho New York Herald at Khartoum. But, on tho whole, the visit of such a constant wanderer as Bennett to Cairo may moan nothing more than that ha was bored by the boulevards, and wanted change of air. Cairo isn't so bad a place in May, and the sky of Egypt is always lovely at this season, to say nothing of tho Guawazee. A despatch received in San Francisco from Bennett at Cairo did not appear to presage an adventure full ot thrilling episodes and hairbreadth escape-*. —Sau Francisco Chronicle.