Original carbon copy of typescript, with corrections and emendations, recounting Bennett’s time as the American Red Cross general eld agent in Manila during the Philippine-American War and his subsequent travel in China during the Boxer Rebellion.
[N. p., but Los Angeles? ca. 1902-1909?]. 35 pages, rectos only on onionskin fastened along the upper edge, with over 200 additions, corrections, and deletions in pencil and ink, likely in the author’s hand. Some edge wear, in good condition. Item #22614
A detailed and seemingly unpublished article or lecture from an agent of the American Red Cross, with accounts of conditions in Cuba, his call by Clara Barton to the Philippines, travel to Manila, accounts of the rebels (along with other local color and war news), and finally a brief report from China and the Boxer Rebellion. Bennett’s prose shows an accomplished photographer’s eye for incident.
The irony of this colorful account is that Bennett had been sent home in disgrace from Manila, a late instance of a recurring theme in the life of this American rogue, William True Bennett (1836-1910)—a Michigan native, pioneering Australian photographer, Civil War officer for Black troops, corrupt carpetbagger in Reconstruction North Carolina, an embezzler in Iowa, sometime traveling lecturer and/or mining speculator, and eventual bibulous Red Cross field agent—this account perhaps written with an eye to an exculpatory magazine publication or for rostrum performance. Though unsigned, the dates, details, provenance, and situations coincide with known historical accounts of Bennett’s movements. For a fuller description of the life and career of Bennett, see a fuller description in a PDF file here.
Price: $3,500.00