- Tarzan is twenty years old when Tarzan Of The Apes comes to a close.
- Most readers don't pick up on it, but The Return Of Tarzan actually starts chronology-wise on the same day.
Date: August 22, 1893
Event: Porter party in a railway station in northern Wisconsin on way home to Maryland. Tarzan decides to drive his car to New York. William Cecil Clayton finds Tarzan's dropped cablegram.
Source: Clayton ask Jane where Tarzan was. She replied, "at the last minute he determined to drive his machine back to New York. He is anxious to see more of America than is possible from a car window. He is returning to France, you know." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Prentice Depot, Wi. |
- Most readers think The Return Of Tarzan begins with Tarzan sailing for France which I showed above was not the case. What we do learn about Tarzan's ocean voyage to France is that the jungle lord is age twenty-two when he met Countess Oga de Coude.
Source: The exact date that Tarzan sailed from New York to France is untold by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author, so therefore it will never be known. Although we will never know the exact sailing date a sound logical figuring date can be deduced. We have already concluded in earlier writings that Tarzan was born September 1, 1872. Therefore, if the ape-man meets Countess Olga de Coude at age twenty-two the meeting had to occur on or after September 1, 1894.
One must keep in mind that the events of The Return Of Tarzan occur over a span of one year. At The Return Of Tarzan's end, the jungle lord is still twenty-two when he marries Jane. To have enough time for all the events in The Return Of Tarzan to occur the ape-man would have to leave New York City as soon as possible after his twenty-second birthday.
I revealed in Tarzine #62 Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author, had a habitual knack of inserting true life dates, names, and events into his fictional stories. Keeping in that spirit and following his habit I have also tried to follow that lead. For a working date, I have deduced Tarzan would have sailed from New York City on September 1, 1894, which is the ape-man's and Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author's birthday. Theoretically speaking, Tarzan, now twenty-two, met the Countess de Coude on September 3, 1894. Although this working date may not be the exact date it does agree with Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author's, descriptions and it provides us with a figuring point.
- The very earliest Tarzan could have turned twenty-two and meet Countess Oga de Coude was September 1, 1894, his twenty-second birthday. I used this very earliest meeting date to allow time for Jack Clayton to be born under normal conditions. So the question is. If Tarzan was in Wisconsin on August 22, 1893, and he didn't set sail from New York for France until September 1, 1894, at age twenty-two, what did Tarzan do in America for one year and nine days? Edgar Rice Burroughs the author of the Tarzan series never tells us. Not even a clue. Therefore, anything concluded about this time gap would be speculation. One thing we know for sure, thanks to Jane Porter, is that Tarzan is planning to drive his car back to New York.
Templeton, Wi. |
- Any description after Tarzan leaving Wisconsin in his car is speculation. Instead of leaving a one year and nine-day time blackout, however, let's have some fun by reconstructing a timeline of what could have happened.
Date: the evening of August 22, 1893.
Shlesisingerville, Wi |
Chat: How do we know Tarzan drove a steam, or electric motorcar, instead of one of the new gasoline motorcars just hitting the marketplace? On September 21, 1894, in Springfield, Massachusetts the brothers Charles and Frank Duryea drive the first gasoline-powered motorcar in America on public roads. Since Tarzan and Robert Canler were driving in Wisconsin in August before this very famous historical event their cars were steam or electric.
American Battery Company |
1890 Morrison Sturgis Electric |
Event: Tarzan read in the news, on or near this date, about brothers Charles and Frank Duryea drive the first gasoline-powered motorcar in America, on public roads in Springfield, Massachuttes.
Source: On September 21, 1894, Charles and Frank Duryea drive the first gasoline-powered motorcar in America on public roads in Springfield, Massachusetts.
1894 Paris-Rouen Race |
Event: The first number plates appear in Paris, France.
Source: Based on true life events.
Event: The 1893 World's Fair, also known as, the World's Columbian Exposition closes.
Source: Based on true life events.
Date: January 4, 1894
Event: France ratifies Duple Alliance with Russia. This new state alliance opened up the door for Russians Nicklos Rokoff and Alex Paulvitich to enter France from New York City.
Source: Based on true life events.
Chat: Nickolas Rokoff was the brother to Countess Olga de Coude. She, in turn, was married to Count Raoul de Coude twenty years her senior, who was a higher up in the French Defence Ministry.
Date: January 8, 1894
Event: Columbus World's Fair in Chicago destroyed by fire. Tarzan's exact involvement in this incident is unclear at this writing. Most likely something linked to stalking the serial killer, Herman Mudgett, also know as Dr. Henry H. Holmes.
Source: Based on true life events.
Fire Destroys Columbus World's Fair |
Event: Tarzan attends the first college basketball game. The University of Chicago beats Chicago YMCA 19-11. Most likely Tarzan's presence had to do with stalking serial killer, Herman Mudgett also known as Dr. Henry H. Holmes.
Source: Based on true life events.
Date: February 12, 1894
Event: Tarzan reads in the news shortly after the event occurs, about Anarchast Emile Henry tossing a bomb into Paris Cafe Terminus.
Source: Anarchist Emile Henry tossed a bomb into Paris Cafe Terminus on February 12, 1894, killing one and wounding twenty.
Date: May 22, 1894
Event: Tarzan read in the news shortly after this event, about the execution by guillotine of twenty-two-year-old French Anarchist Emile Henry.
Source: Twenty-two-year-old French Anarchist Emile Henry was executed by guillotine for bombing Paris Cafe Terminus on May 21, 1894.
Date: July 23, 1894
Event: Tarzan read in the news shortly after this event, about the world's first motoring competition from Paris to Rouen in France.
Source: The Parisian magazine, Le Petit Journal organized what is considered to be the world's first motoring competition. The race was held July 22, 1894, and from Paris to Rouen, France.
1894 Le Petit Journal |
Dr. Henry H. Homes |
1893 Murder Castle |
Event: Tarzan arrived in New York City on the day Lizzy Halliday was convicted of murdering Margret and Sarah Jane McQuillan.
Lizzy Halliday |
Brooklin Bridge |
Source:: Based on a real-life event.
1894 NYC July 4th |
Sante Geronimo Caserio |
Event: Tarzan sailed from New York City.
J. Allen St. John |
Event: Captain Alfred Dreyfus arrested accused of espionage in France.
Source: Based on true life events.
Chat: Any connection to the secret papers Tarzan seized in Algiers from Captain Gernois?
Date: November 17, 1894
Event: America's first serial killer Herman Mudgett, also known as H. H. Holmes, heinous crimes weren't discovered until after the Chicago World's Fair ended October 30, 1883.
Source: Herman Mudgett, aka, Dr. H.H. Holmes, was arrested on November 17, 1894, in Massachutes. Law enforcement believed that H. H. Holmes was responsible for dozens of deaths.
The Evening Star |
About The Author
James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines, over a span of forty-five years. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled, Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory).instead of the more excepted date May 1888.
James Michael Moody is also the author of the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, and Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022. Swordsman On Unium is going through the publishing process.
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