Mr. Sable, Freelance Adventurer:
"Canadian born, Mr. Augustus Ernst Sable, lived a life of high adventure in the late 1800's to around the beginning of WWI; details are sparse as his remarkable story was overshadowed by the notoriety of his brother, Preston Sable, the infamous 'Cannibal Cowboy'. Mr. Sable was a former medal-awarded Lieutenant of the Queen's League of Frontiersmen, the British Overseas Forces, which became a bit of a rogue contingent in its own right, being generally made up of fortune hunters and adventurers. Decidedly not rogue or adventurous enough for Mr. Sable, and not being one for travel on the high seas to begin with, he went spectacularly AWOL by cutting some sail rigging from The Discovery II after leaving Fort Castillo, Cuba, swinging and splashing into the sea within sight of Belize City, in British Honduras. Upon swimming to shore, (there are several highly implausible and unsubstantiated reports that, rather than swim the vast distance himself, he rode the back of a shark in the manner of a Vaquero) he found his fortune in the ruins of the Mayan Kingdoms and through various questionable activities through Panama reaching to Northern Chile. Known as much for losing fortunes as making them, Mr. Sable was always able to find mercenary work and keep a comfortable lifestyle despite his penchant for living in jungle conditions - it's even rumoured he'd developed a taste for roasted giant spiders and scorpions. This may be another tall tale as one letter in Sable's own hand detailed jungle life with strange reports of prehistoric beasts and large copper and iron automatons roaming abandoned towering cities of gold. These rare letters to brother Preston are attributed to 'Jungle Fever'.
On occasion, Mr. Sable accepted calls back into service for freelance work with the Frontiersmen, but the League would often attempt to court martial Mr. Sable upon completion of these missions. After several such attempts, Sable refused their dispatches preferring to cavort with and to free Negro slaves, masterminding plantation mutinies and/or plundering and generally causing havoc as long as a good time was had by his accomplices and compatriots. It's known he often carried a tumbler of whiskey into such frays, along with his trusty Webley revolver*, and it is also reported he never spilled a drop if whiskey! It's suspected the spirits may have been what incited most of the Mêlées. Overall and despite his scoundrel-like ways, Mr. Sable was thought of as a good sort and garnered much support wherever his travels did take him. His fate, however, was not as jolly as the rest of his exploits. Sable met his end at the end of a spear and his shrunken head is now kept in a humidity controlled cabinet off-display at the Smithsonian Museum."
-excerpt from 'Strange Figures of Canadian History', a book by Dudley Wainwright, pub 1982.
This shot made Explore on July 25, 2009!
He is more often pictured with an 1869 .45 Cal. Schofield single action revolver.
Comments and faves
lamont_cranston added this photo to his favorites. (35 months ago)
lamont_cranston (35 months ago | reply)
bravo!
Grant Neufeld (35 months ago | reply)
Win!
Unrelated Patterns (35 months ago | reply)
good show!
Unrelated Patterns added this photo to his favorites. (35 months ago)
Capt. Sugar (35 months ago | reply)
Banner Bio!
binkmeisterrick (35 months ago | reply)
I've seen that shrunken head at the Smithsonian, too. Quite impressive, that stuff.
gamp (35 months ago | reply)
awesome outfit
Brian Lynn added this photo to their favorites. (35 months ago)
puuikibeach (35 months ago | reply)
Have you ever worked out a family tree or genealogy of the Sable clan?
Will the grisly end of Uncle Augustus be featured in the painting for which "The Missionary Position" study was composed?
Dejah Thoris (35 months ago | reply)
Well Met!
I love it! You've whet my appetite to get back into the fiction behind Ms. Thoris....
One of many reasons I proudly call you one of my Wingmen.
DT
Mr. Sable™ (35 months ago | reply)
Thanks, kids!
David, there is a loose Sable genealogy so far. The Cannibal Cowboy is the one from "Fourteen Days from Damnation". I think your question about the painting should be what it depicts in the end, yes. Good call on that.
Ms. Dejah, you should maybe post a photo and bio in the same manner.
Insane Little Child added this photo to her favorites. (35 months ago)
Dejah Thoris (34 months ago | reply)
The thought had already crossed my mind. We have to talk. Time wise, they (AES and DT) *may* have known each other. In fact, very easily.
Had I ever sent you her curriculum vitae?
Mr. Sable™ (34 months ago | reply)
no, you hadn't.
Brianna Clemons Kloutse (31 months ago | reply)
all bs aside this is a great photo. the story is quite engrossing. i can only live to hear more.
Mr. Sable™ (31 months ago | reply)
I didn't shoot it, but I spent an hour messing with the photo anyway. There may be a short film about on of his adventures one day. There's one featuring Preston already: www.youtube.com/user/MisterSable#p/a/u/1/K_5Z 7ETRgQM
Brianna Clemons Kloutse (31 months ago | reply)
gonna check it out later. have to edit my 365 right now as i multitask.
Tinkerbots added this photo to their favorites. (27 months ago)
cobolt 69 (26 months ago | reply)
Outstanding, a jolly cracking life, well done Sable
nexus6zora added this photo to her favorites. (21 months ago)