Source Material Relating to Tewkesbury’s trips to the Darien in 1939 and 1940 – Tewkesbury in publicity – radio scripts

              April 8, 1941
HEAT(.PER ,,- -. .
Here at our WE THl"3;PEOPLE microphone, ladies and gentlernen,is,
8..."1 offie,lalin one of: the most -important organiza.tior15 in
He's asked fortirneto introduce SJ:J)!KA
COFFrITiEfS next; guest., And I'm happy to ;present' the director
of: th~. pan-Axnerican Highway , ConfEfJdera-t;;.:forl, Mr. Stephan James.
,'rhank you, Mr . ' Heattar. For years,:, ' plans haveheen underway
to build a highway,· on Which, North and South Americansco1l1d
' and forth, -gett1ngt? ' kl(-owand 'like their ' [811014; ....
Part of the road l1.as. been built. But then ,we .
came t'O 3cb-milE; stretchof -JUrIgle betwf3en Panama and OolUluhia.
VIJl1.ite!!1en 'had' trledfor centuries to get thr9ugh 'it ,but t1:le-y:' d
" always " f 'ailed.- , There were ,stories of. head-hunters and man-eating
'-'-- ' ~ r"_ -,,-,, j-'
i:hsects :infesting ,that jungi~. It looked as though the.' highway
~. - f ' . . -<t-l><-<-............
barely five fee 't; two, na'11ed Richarq
- ','- , , , - - - , " 9; , ' - '- , '- , '
He said he 'waBan a~ebra ' te~acher at
Tewkesbury 'cEfU1etb see me.
a high school in Charlotte, • - - ¥
Oarolina. Hatold m~ he was going t'G through that Pa."iama
jung;le. \Vell, Iju~t8<taredinrunazehlent • . Isaid,~ !lYOUC$Il't
do tha,t'--you'r,e not an explorer--yo-u' ,d, just be cOrnr1litting sUl:cide. n'
'He ' shook his head.
JAMES
worryab?t;it me, r,1r. " James, It he ~aid, 1fT III be ' all rigJ:;l.t_. It
r asked. i1Why do ,you have to go through
uSomebodyha.s to, tI he .said. Then
, " .• ' > •
' in a final effort to dissuade him, ", I said, flyou, know, -w,e- cauJt .. ,
1
f ..
i
,
p y YQurexpenses ~ " r:.i Th~tf saIl right,u'he "Ihavo ' a
littlc money saved IJ~ . lt Hichard Te .. ikesbuy'y is 11.e.1':0 wit h me now .
And Richard, I v,i s,;l:t you'd tell overybodY"Jusf; Wh2t YOll did •
. TE111'~S BURY. • •
A few \"{eeks . ~.r te'r' I nawMr. J ames I stood at the edge of' the
panama Ju.."lg;l e~ At last I was ready to start my grea t adventure.
The dl'esJl1 I had fOl" yenrs. I madeD. doalwLtly two Indian
to t ake ll'lfS South towards Colu.i1b i a in their dUi.;out canoe. · Hy
rionos backinGlu:;.rlotto had begged mo to take a gun , but I .didn't
want to' shoo Jc an yon 0 9l"v.1 I f i gured no one would want to shoot me ..
. .
30 ' 0.111 had lyas a machet·' , to cut'thr01itn. thejunb1e a Eight
days c.ftcr I st~rted South inthnt canoe , the IndJcalls 'with me
reJ\~sed to go any farther .. They had h e ard
C~) .
heard ... ... about heacUTlUiter s , . deadly; i r:se c1;s, and snakes inth~
. -. .
I ' !~eached: . D. na:tivo v1_11age , amib:r '\ising s~gn l angtrage J
,' got thee C'1:d.of t'olcnd rl13'C;ulcJ.es to t ake m':3 to tTie next vil lae;e . ·
I kept i:';o:triS farther . South th::\ t 'ira;J . Every day I expected t o·
.. . .. . . .. ... •. ~),
be mabU?h0d ~ pyheadh1mt ers . But for 100 11eB. n othing ;hap.t)ened.
But ()n0 morning mY;i;uides va.."1ished. I ·thaut~ht J , !trlm in oIv8; 'of
t\.w taboo .se c t iol1s I I 'Ie he i::'.rd about ; Ariyttrtngcan h appen. now. n
---') ' --
. TEWKESBUHY ••• (C,ofrT ' D)
but alII coL,tlddo W?,-S try .to rf3Bch the
and follovf it North ... back to .civiliiation: I followed e.
but t h E1 ' jt\ngle growth was ' sothick at t h e . ed.ge , I waded most of )- . ~ . ' . . ;" , ,
I 'let nwselfd()WTI. 3p'-faot falls .by clinging to roOks
vines. I sawstl' ange, dangerous7look:ing snakes - but alwaysm~ria ged.
' to .see them .first. For d~ys 1 hacked my wa,y through the jungJ.e. }i'in1;),lly
I , got to tl,l.EfCaribbea..'>i,. and we eks iater backto Pane.tna. ,.1 ' d . :t:,~ilEJd .. but. the
followingsu11l1O,er. I drey, out my savings, s e:iled for Pananla, ?'- ndstf:l'ted
t hrough the j ungle again. 'Thistirne I k:qewwbrit t o ;Lo6kollt fora'lJd.lw8.s
better preptired.l\he gotng was tough - but I kept on £'.01'33 days . And then
' o~e.· mornir:lg , as I got t .o, the top of a hill, I saw a clearin'f!; ahe~\d.IWy trip
the ;jung;l€! y,ie.S over.
'Well" ladies ' and. gentlemen, there ' s more to Riche;rd 'I'~";"lke sbury ts
story then hE) '" S tol,d y'ou~ Be proved that the panama ju'ngl'e was not '
' , ' ,- .' ,- ;, ' - ," . ': . . ' : ---
impassable. He proved that the legE?i:lCl:ary ,headhul\ter:s, that had kept
white :m~n out of t };re ju.ngle forcenturiesdidn'tr exi~t. He
, ". > .. .. " .-' '~..
back 'not es. and mapstl;l.at gave highvJayengineers thei r first clear
idefX ' of 'Nhlit t he i nh3rioroi Pan.a.'11ais "like/ .And we know nqwthat
. ,
road can be pushed through th~t junf-l~. Itviill ,bepushed through
.and,Americans everY'.vhere 'sho,lld be grateful.i to Richard Tewkesbury.