The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 130, January, 1909

In Short

This volume is a 1909 issue of The Wide World Magazine, a British periodical dedicated to true, first-person accounts of travel, peril, and international oddities. Through non-fiction narratives, photographs, and illustrated anecdotes, it documents a world on the brink of modern integration, where Western outlaws, Arctic missionaries, imperial officers, and globetrotting journalists encounter extreme environments and unfamiliar cultures. Its enduring appeal rests on its raw, unvarnished human drama, capturing the sensory details of physical hardship, historical flashpoints, and global curiosities directly through the eyes of those who survived them.

The Story

The volume opens in the American West, tracing the escalating crisis in Three Corners, Montana. A soft-spoken yet lethal gambler named Jim Cutler shoots an aggressor to protect the honor of a young schoolmistress, Miss Thurloe. Refusing to involve her in the public trial, Cutler flees into the hills. A sheriff's posse besieges his stronghold with heavy weapons. When his old friend Joe Ludlow rides up to negotiate, Cutler reveals his quiet motive, prompting Ludlow to break ranks and seek out Miss Thurloe so her testimony can halt the bloodshed.

From the American frontier, the narrative scope expands across the globe. A travel writer details an arduous nine-hour trek up the slopes of an active Hawaiian volcano, describing the ascent past seven dead and smoking cones to reach an eighth miniature crater that hurls white-hot lava and ton-heavy boulders into the air. In the dense West African bush, a hunting expedition turns lethal when a wounded mother leopard and her cub attack a party of trackers, forcing split-second decisions with old muskets and revolvers to save fallen companions.

The scene shifts to maritime intrigue and geopolitical exploits. A former newspaper editor recounts a covert smuggling scheme aboard a German liner carrying a Japanese diplomat home after historic negotiations. In the Middle East, an Arab chieftain known as the "servant of cruelty" enters a desert camp to demand a young woman as his fourth wife, upending the peaceful routine of the tribe. Meanwhile, an American globetrotter races against the clock on the Trans-Siberian Railway, attempting to set a world circumnavigation record while regaling fellow passengers with stories of his wife's fashionable New York walking style.

Undercover operations unfold in West Africa as an intelligence gatherer disguises himself to enter the hostile city of Kontogora, fleeing through city gates under the hooves of a giant horse to bring back vital military intelligence. In the grim, frozen expanse of Labrador, Dr. Wilfred Grenfell embarks on an emergency medical run across salt-water ice. When the ice breaks apart, he drifts out to sea on a disintegrating floe. To survive the sub-zero night, he slays three of his sled dogs, coats himself in their raw skins for warmth, and ties their leg bones together to raise a signal flag toward an uninhabited shore.

Interspersed throughout these long form accounts are short dispatches of global eccentricities: a Spanish house built to imitate a ship's bridge, a ship cat that survived a five-hundred-mile open-boat journey in Baffin Bay, a twenty-ton spherical rock in New Zealand balanced so finely four men can spin it, and Mexican horsemen throwing wild bulls by their tails.

How It Unfolds

The outlaw's stand Jim Cutler flees into the Montana hills after a lethal gunfight, prompting the local sheriff to launch a full siege against his mountain retreat.

The lava field Explorers hike nine hours across Hawaiian volcanic fields, braving suffocating sulphur fumes and shaking ground to photograph white-hot lava cascades belching from an active cone.

The leopard attack A West African hunting party faces a desperate charge from an injured leopard and her cub, forcing hand-to-hand combat along a riverbank to save a fallen comrade.

The desert demand A feared Arab chief arrives at Sheikh Khaleel's camp at dawn, using his formidable reputation to demand the Sheikh's daughter as his fourth wife.

The race around the world An energetic American journalist boards a Russian-bound steamer, boasting of his strict itinerary across Eurasia to break the global travel record.

Escape from Kontogora A disguised scout slips past the spear-bearing guards at the city gates of Kontogora under cover of night, securing vital intelligence before fleeing by river canoe.

Adrift on the ice Dr. Grenfell's dog-sled plunges through melting sea ice, trapping him on a floating floe where he must harvest his dogs' hides and bones to endure the freezing sea wind.

The People

• Jim Cutler: A tall, soft-spoken gambler and deadly gun-fighter who is tender toward children but ruthless to bullies. He chooses to become a hunted outlaw in Montana rather than publicize a schoolteacher's name to justify a duel.
• Joe Ludlow: A loyal friend of Cutler for fifteen years who risks his own standing with the posse to negotiate, eventually riding off to uncover the truth behind Cutler's exile.
• Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell: A dedicated medical missionary in Labrador. Faced with sudden isolation on a melting sea-ice raft, he exhibits cold calculation, sacrificing his beloved sled dogs to build survival garments and a makeshift signal staff.
• Tawiah: A courageous African tracker who steps directly into the path of a charging leopard, using a small palm tree as a shield to buy time for his wounded companions.
• The American Record-Breaker: An overly chatty, relentless traveler met on the steamer Mongolia, driven by a desire to beat the world record for global circumnavigation by twelve days while constantly praising his wife's New York style.
• Abd-el-Thullam: Known as the "servant of cruelty," an intimidating Arab chief whose unexpected arrival at a desert camp throws a family into crisis when he demands a young bride.

In Its Own Voice

"He was a man of very few words, but with one great failing--he would shoot first and argue afterwards." An introduction to Jim Cutler's reputation among the residents of Three Corners, Montana.

"Boulders that must have weighed a ton were being hurled high into the air as if shot from a cannon." The author describes the immense physical power of the active Hawaiian volcanic cone.

"I stripped, and, much to my surprise and pleasure, did not find it was half so cold as I had anticipated." Dr. Grenfell prepares his emergency signal flag after spending a night clad in dog-skins on the open sea.

What It's Really About

At its core, this issue examines human survival at the outer margins of early twentieth-century civilization. It pits individual resolve against extreme environments, unpredictable wildlife, and unyielding social codes. Beyond the immediate physical peril, the collection explores how different cultures codify honor, duty, and endurance. Whether through the self-imposed exile of an American gambler protecting a woman's reputation or an Arctic doctor transforming a tragedy into a calculated fight for life, the narratives illustrate how individuals maintain agency when stripped of modern security. It records a transient historical moment when remote wildernesses were becoming accessible, yet remained immensely dangerous.

Why Read It Today

This volume appeals to readers who enjoy unvarnished historical travelogues, wilderness survival tales, and turn-of-the-century journalism. Reading it feels like sitting in a room with worldly, plain-spoken storytellers who have just stepped off a steamship or trail. The prose is immediate, active, and devoid of self-conscious literary posturing.

Modern readers should anticipate period-typical phrasing and attitudes regarding native populations, colonial presence, and wildlife hunting. The narrative voice shifts rapidly between American Western vernacular, imperial travel reporting, and clinical frontier medicine. What stays with you long after reading is the sheer physical tenacity of the contributors—most vividly, the image of a marooned doctor standing on a shrinking block of ice in the North Atlantic, calmly fashioning a beacon out of bone and skin to signal a empty shore.

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