State

The Son of Livingstone Few poople arc aware of the fact dial the offspring of the famous explorer joined the Union Army, died in prison at Salisbury and was buried there under an as¬ sumed name. tty JOHN W. HARDEN NEW attention hue been focused on the life and story of David Livingstone, famous missionary to Africa, with the general showing over North Carolina recently of a motion picture, “Stanley and Living¬ stone.” North Carolina has two reasons for being keenly interested in the Liv¬ ingstone saga. Livingstone College, Salisbury Negro institution, was named for tho missionary, and Rob- ert Livingstone, son of the missionary and explorer, died in the Salisbury Confederate prison of Civil war days, and is buried there, under an assumed name. Facts in the case have been as¬ sembled from a copy of “The Personal Life of David Livingstone,” a com¬ pilation of the journals and corre¬ spondence that was in the hands of the Livingstone family. The book was published in 1880. On page 366 of this hook it is re¬ ported that Dr. Livingstone received u report that his son “poor Robert has died in a hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina.” Robert Livingstone seems to have been a restless soul. An expression found in hie father's writings, with reference to his son, shows that the father considered him “a deal of the Ж bond nature from his father.” ol was irksome to him, and he was sent to Natal, in South Africa, with the view of joining his father. But there was no opportunity for him to get from there to Zambesi, ami he finally returned to America. Land¬ ing in Boston, he enlisted in the Union army. He had no desire to trade on his father's fame and name, so he enlisted under an assumed name, to give ex¬ pression in battle to the dislike that he, iim well ns his father, bore for slav¬ ery. Ho considered that lie was fighting for tho freedom of the slaves, his corrc.'pondcncc to his sister showed. Too, he purposely abstained from taking life in battle, even in the heat of a charge, which made him a strange sort of soldier. Eventually, he wa> wounded, taken prisoner and sent to the Salisbury prison. From the prison he wrote to his father, again express¬ ing an intense desire to travel. But his career came to a close. He died at Salisbury in his 19th year. Livingstone must have derived sat¬ isfaction from the last letters his son wrote to him, from the prison in North Carolina. These may have, in a measure, counterbalanced the sad¬ ness the missionary had experienced at his son’s unsatisfactory career. Writing to a friend in 1864, Dr. Livingstone said: “I hope your eldest son will do well in the distant land to which he lias gone. My son is in tho Federal army in America, and no comfort. The secret ballast is often applied by a kind hand above, when to outsiders we appear to be sailing gloriously with the wind." The body of young Robert Living¬ stone lies in Salisbury in one of 18 trenches that contain the bodies of 11,680 soldiers of the Union army who died there. The gay son of a world- famous father came to the end of rest¬ less wanderings with other wearers of the Blue. Disease settled upon the Confederate prison at Salisbury and the men died off so fast that individual graves could not be provided for them, and they were buried in long trenches, side by side. Livingstone enlisted at Boston under the name Rupert Vincent. The records in the office of tho na¬ David Livingstone, above, famed African explorer, scientist and mis¬ sionary, has recently come back into the spotlight of world attention as a result of a motion picture account of his remarkable career. Salisbury’s Livingstone college was named for him. The Negro college thus honored a man who had done much for Negroes, throughout the world as well as in Africa. The accompany¬ ing story also tells of the death and burial in Salisbury of Livingstone’s son. tional cemetery at Sal in bury show that: “R. Vincent, private, company II, Third New Hampshire regiment, died December 5, 1864, from a wound.” JEFFERSON STANDARD MAKES SOME CHANGES Ralph C. Price. Vice President of the Jefferson Standard Life Insur¬ ance Co., has announced two changes in the Company’s field organization set-up. John W. Umstcad, Jr., lias been ap¬ pointed Manager of a new Branch Office which lias been opened at Dur¬ ham, North Carolina. Mr. Umstcad was formerly Agency Organizer for North Carolina. Ransome J. Williams has been made Manager of a new Branch Office which has been opened at Florence. South Carolina. 1 1