HOW LIEUT. CHURCHILL
ESCAPED FROM BOERS
Introduced to an American Audience by Mark Twain.
COMMITTEE OF RECEPTION
Protests of Some with Pro-Boer Sympathies Whose Names Were Used - Mr. Van Ness's Circular.
Winston Spencer Churchill, the war correspondent, told a fashionable audience at the Waldorf-Astoria last evening how he escaped from Pretoria. The grand ballroom was crowded to the doors.
More than usual publicity had been given the lecture owing to the action taken by certain persons named on the reception committee list by Major Pond, who is managing Mr. Churchill's tour. On Dec. 7 William Dean Howells and J. Kennedy Tod announced that the use of their names was unauthorized, and this was followed by a similar protest from Edward Van Ness, who was actively pro-Boer during the war in South Africa. Mr. Van Ness addressed a circular letter to each gentleman named on the reception committee list, asking him if a similar liberty had been taken with his name.
The Reception Committee list as at first given out contained among others the following names: Gov. Roosevelt, Governor-elect Odell, Whitelaw Reid, Mayor Van Wyck, Senators Chauncey M. Depew and Thomas C. Flatt, and Thomas B. Reed.
REPLIES TO MR. VAN NESS
In answer to his circular Mr. Van Ness received this reply from A. M. Downes, Mayor Van Wyck's secretary:
I am directed by the Mayor to acknowledge the receipt of your circular letter of the 10th inst. concerning the unauthorized use of his name on the list of patrons of Winston Spencer Churchill's first appearance in New York and to say that on Dec. 5 he received a letter from Mr. J. B. Pond, which was dated Dec. 4 in which Mr. Pond said:
"Winston Spencer Churchill's first appearance in New York, Dec. 12, is going to be a brilliant affair. I write to ask you if you will allow your name to be used on the list of patrons to follow that of Gov. Roosevelt."
By direction of the Mayor, under date of Dec. 5, I sent the reply, which is herewith inclosed, to Mr. Pond.
This reply states that it is contrary to the Mayor's uniform practice to accede to the request made by Major Pond.
Among the letters of protest received by Mr. Van Ness were the following: Princeton University. Edward Van Ness, Esq.:
Dear Sir: Thank you for your letter. I have written to The Post protesting against the annexation of my name to support the conquest of the Boer Republic without consent. Yours truly, HENRY VAN DYKE.
Dec. 11, 1900
10 East Forty-sixth Street, New York, Dec. 12.
Mr. Edward Van Ness:
Dear Sir: If my name appears as one of the Reception Committee of Winston Spencer Churchill, it has been used without my authority or without asking me for the permission to use it.
I would never have acceded to the proposal if it had been made, and such use of a name shows that the person taking the liberty has no more morality than the thief or forger. Very truly yours, C. H. Van Brunt.
MAJOR POND'S STATEMENT.
Major Pond assured a reporter yesterday that men with pro-Boer sympathies had been invited to welcome Mr. Churchill, in all seriousness.
"No one could be more pro-Boer than W. Bourke Cockran," said Major Pond, "and yet he was pleased to be on the committee. It never occurred to me that any one could possibly object to meeting so distinguished a man as Mr. Churchill. I gave no thought to politics. How I came to name the committee was this way:
"Many of Mr. Churchill's friends in New York are people of the very highest social standing. They urged me to adopt the English custom of a list of patrons, or Reception Committee, to occupy the stage. I consented, and a list of names was suggested of about 100 leading citizens of various walks of life. Invitations were sent out by me, and about 75 of the 100 accepted the honor with thanks.
"A prominent Scotchman recommended the names of John S. Kennedy and J. Kennedy Tod. I received no reply to their invitations, but before the final corrected circular was sent out their names were erased. Thomas B. Reed sent a characteristic delightful note of regret, alluding to the other humorist who was to preside. I wrote Mr. Reed asking if he would allow his name to remain, and he replied, no. So his name was stricken off.
"During all this time the ticket sale for the Churchill lecture at the Waldorf-Astoria dragged very slowly, and I began to get discouraged. Not until these letters of protest appeared did the sale take a sudden bound. Van Ness? I never heard of the man.
Mr. Churchill, who was seen last evening before the lecture, expressed himself as being greatly annoyed at the incident.