OCR Text |
Show I THE BULLETIN. BINGHAM. UTAH i By ELMO SCOTT WATSON , r THOUGH Jedediah Strong Smith is commonly regarded r the best claimant to the title of "American Ulysses," , J f gs was 0nce another who, in many respects, was a better pro- - H. A f of the legendary Greek hero. "Red-Heade- d Shooter" the H nanled him. "Parson Williams" he became when, as a J 1 of seventeen, he left his home in Missouri to ride the cir-- tjl J , a Baptist preacher, threatening hell-fir-e and brimstone to 4 unrepentant. "Old Solitaire" his fellow trappers called him. 'N I rontier history has written him down as "Old Bill Wil-- "Vl Is" one of the most picturesque figures that ever galloped I Iss the stage of the Great West in an era when strong indi- - J fjiity and picturesqueness were the rule rather than the H lotion. A principal in one of the greatest disasters in exploration that ever befell any guide engaged during the history of the Rockies a dis-aster which was to be the con-tributing cause of his death, where his ability as a. scout and guide would be brought into con-troversy, and in the final chap-ter, result in the perpetuation of his name in Arizona by the nam-ing of a river and t mountain for him." But that is exactly what hap-pened. For Williams almost froze to death, almost starved to death and after Fremont and "the remnants of his expedition had straggled back to Taos he M long with history, legend has H I marked him for its own, as tai es3 a quotation from a ?! k published recently by the, Iversity of North Carolina 4 J L It is "Old Bill Williams, to I fintain Man," written by tAhcus H. Favour, who says: Fiction and fact have been nk Jnixed in the fragmentary ac-- ! fnt we have of the life of I f Williams on the plains and upon many phases of our national growth from the time of the Revo-lutionary war to the end of the west-ward expansion. His parents lived In part of the country where doubt and misunderstanding of the leaders of our country had become the com-mo- n attitude of the people toward the government. His kinfolk were among the Regulators of North Car. ollna, and his father, although a Revolutionary soldier with years of service, emigrated Into what was then a foreign land. Born. In the early days of the American republic, he lived undor if V.: Williams 1 One of us must be ready for dinner." After five years, however, Wil-liams gave up his circuit riding and settled among his boyhood friends, the Osage Indians, as a missionary. For the next 15 years he lived among the Indians. He married a girl of the Big Hill band of the Osages and she bore him two daughters. During these 15 years he became a changed man. When the United States gov-ernment established the "fac-tory" system of trading with the Indians, the first west trading post of the Mississippi was lo-cated at Belle Fontaine. It was succeeded by one at Arrow Rock and in 1808 Fort Osage was es-tablished east of the present town of Independence, Mo. Wil-liams first began serving the government as a messenger be-tween these trading posts and St. Louis. In 1817 he was em-ployed as interpreter at Fort Osage and four years later he was made official interpreter at the factory at Marais des Cyg-ne- s. After this service there is a hiatus in Williams' life for which his biographer cannot account satisfactorily. This is a tanta-lizing fact because, as he says, these years, between 1825 and 1841, "were the years he made a reputation for himself, the years in which his exploits made him famous as a mountain man. Much has been written about his doings; some of it is authentic, much is fiction. Like the others of that rest-less breed of mountain men dur-ing these 16 years he wandered through all parts of the Great West, trapping along the head-waters of its rivers, stealing horses from the Californians and Mexicans, trading with the vari-ous Indian tribes, living with them, fighting against them, coming to know every mountain range with its passes and its canons, every river and every trail. When the fur trade era ended "Bill Williams, Master Trap-per," as he signed himself, had, to look around for new fields of adventure. He found them in the role of guide for the military and exploring expeditions which began to penetrate the West in the forties. In 1845 Williams served for a time with the third exploring expedition of Capt. John C. Fremont, marked for future fame as "The Pathfinder" even though he deserved that title much less than did some of the mountain men who guided him, notably Kit Carson. In the early summer of 1848 i! .l.'t-- - ''tf?' ?...--"'i-ajS.r,- ,.. .... ... i J I FREMONT'S PARTY SNOW-BOUN- D IN THE i j SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS KIT CARSON accused Williams of stupidity, treachery, even cannibalism. These charges, according to Fa-vour, grew partly out of Fre-mont's desire to shift responsi-bility for the failure of the ex-pedition with its loss of life from his own shoulders to some con-venient scapegoat and partly, several years later, out of the necessity of grooming a tar-nished hero for a Presidential candidacy. Old Bill didn't live to defend himself but other members of the Fremont expe-dition came to the support of the mountain man to clear his reputation and historians of to-day, including Old Bill's biogra-pher, have accepted their ver-dict rather than that of Fre-mont. Two months after Williams reached Taos he started out, ac- - companied by Dr. B. J. Kern, who had been the physician with Fremont's expedition, and a few Mexicans, to regain the instru-ments and baggage which the expedition had been forced to m I the western mountains that, ; I though he stands out in most J them as a prominent moun-- " in man and master trapper, in $ any ways he has come to be 1 flgarded as a legendary charact-er. Certain of his characteristics " sfe always emphasized in the ' icords of his doings: his early ping as an itinerant preacher j Missouri; his efforts as a mis-- 6 jonary among the Osages; his Icentric habits; his drinking of ; jiantities of strong liquor; his j, iility to speak many different t dian tongues; and finally his ipability as a hunter and his Iculiar method of Indian fight-- k j "Search the records as you fay, Old Bill Williams never lems to have had any youth, fcr he is usually referred to as a fapper who had ' been many 1 jcars in the West. A number of , liferent versions of his death j ave been given, ranging from a jeremonial execution as a medi- - tiie man of the Utes in the ! fouthwest to a violent death at fre hands of the Blackfeet in ' p Northwest. The stories told Williams are more varied than ose of any other man of his fue, and leave the casual read-- r in uncertainty as to the real or in doubt, indeed, if there did exist such a character of fiction." ifcan, Mr. Favour's into the avaUable material has set at rest ? doubts and has given :: vv,.v ;...;:.;...::- 1.. 1fi' if if! 4 1 Spanish authority as a boy, and started his own career at the time Jefferson, Livingston and Monroe ef-fected the Louisiana Purchase. In manhood he became a part of the life of the plains and mountains. He saw fhe Indians pushed back, the New Mexicans dispossessed, and Cal-ifornia taken all In one lifetime. , .. As we follow him through life we find him a member of an average early American family, then a trap-per and hunter, finally emerging Into one of the most noted of the moun-tain men. Likewise we can follow In his. career the changes and develop-ments of the West from a wilderness of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 Into a compact section of our coun-try at the time of his death. The wanderings of this Amer-ican Ulysses becomes more un-derstandable when we consider his ancestry. He came of a line of Welshmen, restless and inde-pendent, who migrated to Vir-ginia, then moved to South Caro-lina and, failing to find the pros-perity hoped for there, crossed the mountains to the western part of North Carolina. When William Sherley was seven years old the urge to move struck his father again and the Williams family started west through Tennessee, Kentucky, southern Illinois, finally arriving in the Spanish country west of the Mis-sissippi and settling in a village of less than 1,000 inhabitants called St. Louis. There on Sep-tember 23, 1795, another son, John W., was born to Joseph and Sarah Williams the first Ameri-can white child born in that city. Even at that early period St. Louis was the center of the fur trade and young Williams saw "French voyageurs with their keel boats and barges going up and -- down the river, within sight of the Williams home. The cou-reu- rs de bois traveled over the old Trace past the Williams cab-in, going into the trapping coun-try and returning to . St. Louis laden with their packs of furs. All this became part of young Bill Williams' life. He grew up, from his first remembrance in the atmosphere of that trade." He also grew up in a religious atmosphere, for Sarah Williams was a recognized authority on the Bible among the American settlers. Although restrictions were placed upon freedom of re-ligion by the Spanish rulers of the country, they were removed when the Upper Province of Lou-isiana, including St. Louis, passed from the control of Spain to France and immediately to the United States in 1804. A. re-ligious revival, then sweeping across the Middle West, helped foster more interest in spiritual matters. So it was not so un-usual that young Bill Williams, with his religious training and his gift for speech (he is de-scribed at the time as "a ready talker, witty and quick at repar-tee") should begin to preach. Within a short time he was rid-ing a regular circuit and Wd-lia-once said of himself that he was so well known that even the chickens at the farms which he visited knew him and would exclaim: "Here comes Parson ftjftmisM.i. TrllMiiWiMiiftrt.t M.n.wiflM. OLD BILL WILLIAMS AT COCIIETOPA PASS (From the painting by Marjorie Thomas) Old Bill served as a scout with the Missouri Volunteers against the hostile Apache3 and Utes and was the hero of the Battle of Cumbres Pass. Although he was "shot in the arm, shattering it most horribly, he managed to use it so as to keep his rifle hot during the engagement" and won from the commander of the troops, in his report of the battle, this accolade: "Williams, a cele-brated mountaineer, though wounded badly, behaved himself gallantly in the engagement." Williams went back to Taos to recover from his wounds and late that fall went up to Pueblo, Colo., to spend the winter there with some old comrades. To Pueblo in November came Fre-mont on his fourth expedition and although all the mountain men advised the army officer against trying to cross the snow-filie- d passes in the winter, Fremont prevailed upon Williams to un-dertake the job of guiding. "Lit-tle did he expect that in a few short weeks he was to become a leave behind during the retreat from the mountains. On March 14, 1849, their camp was at-tacked by a party of Utes and both Kern and Williams were killed at the first fire. After-wards when the Indians dis-covered whom they had killed, they gave the old trapper a chief's burial. His grave is unmarked but he has an enduring monument. Down in Arizona there is a "beautiful green, wooded moun-tain, a towering solitary peak above the foothills at its base, characteristic of Bill Williams Old Solitaire and not far dis-tant is the mountain stream, quiet and peaceful, or, after a storm, a rushing torrent, em-blematic of the human career, whose life as a mountain man helped to save the plains and mountains of the Louisiana Pur-chase to this country." Both that" mountain peak and that stream bear the name of Bill Williams. Weatern 4ewfpa.p7falon. j GE. JOHN C. FREMONT SfSf fiSt length biography ItrJZ mous frntiersman. It in j! hls career from his birth Wanuary 3, 1787, on Horse North rA" ,Rutherfrd county, PerfcoftheUtesontheUp-rad- o Mande in suthern Colo-Por- ts nn Iarch 14' 1849- - and re-P- s I" Th detail 89 can oid bI u',done the 0dyssey of WffliaemSg,aS an dividual, Portent Ul1 name--is more of II VyPVas a sym-tor- y, th ii ,m Amerkan his-b-e Siwhic" can never c raphe?' says his biog- - U"lifecolncl with and touch. Britain Will Help Citizens to Combat Poison Gas Attacks Every English Home May lie Gas-Pro- of Dugout GAS-ATTAC-K by air. the Horseman of the Apocalypse of modern war, is at last disturbing Great Britain, whose people hitherto have dis-played characteristic native phlegm in the face of feverish preparations In continental cities for civilian protection during possi-ble air raids. Every Englishman's house, traditionally his castle, may now have to become his gas-proo- f dugout. Detailed suggestions for render-ing rooms in ordinary dwellings gas-pro- have been drawn up by a trained professional, C. E. Bow-er, who is styled Air Raid Pre-cautions Officer to the Commis-sary of No. 1 District, St. John Am-bulance Brieade. Keeping Up iene Science Service.- -WNU Service. Stone Age Secrets Are Revealed by Musty Flint Dagger Neolithic Men Kept Cows, Sheep and Horses SCIENTISTS , poring over modern "crime laboratories" are able to extract many secrets that the layman, and certainly not the criminal himself, would ever imagine possible. But a group of Ger-man museum workers have "mined" a single weapon for in-formation never before obtained about the way of people in north-western Europe ten or fifteen thou-sand years ago. The weapon is a flint dagger about eight inches long, dating from the earlier part of the New Stone age. It was found during the digging of a ditch through a moor in northern Germany. There is nothing remarkable about the weapon itself. Scientists Turn Sleuths Exceedingly remarkable, how-ever, is the fact that this dagger was still in its leather sheath, with a long leather carrying strap still wrapped around it, just as the own-er left or perhaps lost it, those many centuries ago. Also, part of the wooden handle was still in place, and between the wood and the stone a layer of cloth which had been inserted to improve the grip of the wood on the stone. A group of scientists immediately went to work, each identifying some special part of the find. The leather of the sheath was sheep-skin; an outer sheath decorated with shallow cuts in a sewed spruce-needl- e pattern, and an in-ner lining of softer sheepskin. The carrying strap was of cowhide. The cloth fragment proved to be highly interesting. The warp was almost wholly decayed, through the action of acid water. A tiny frag-ment, unidentifiable by ordinary methods, proved to be linen when subjected to a new type ultra-viol-analysis. The wool was a mixture of sheep wool, goat wool, horsehair and cow-hai- r. Adding all these fragments to-gether, it was possible to conclude that the people of this region, very early in the New Stone age, were herdsmen keeping sheep, goats, horses and cattle. To get his directions widest pos-sible publicity, with graphic pic-tures of important details which might bo overlooked if given only in print, they have been published in the Illustrated London News. An ofllckil booklet is announced for publication shortly, by the home office. How to Figlit Gai The ordinary English urban or suburban villa presents a rather difficult problem. Its one floor, at ground level, lies within the ex-pected "zone of saturation," if a gas raid conies. It has no base-ment, and there are numerous openings through which gas might enter notably the open fireplaces which are features of almost ev-ery room in an ordinary English house. Yet the problem can be solved, Mr. Bower declares. Select one or more rooms, enough to give each occupant 20 square feet of floor space, with a ceiling height of about nine feet. Putty all window joints, paste paper on the inside of the windows, and board up the out-side. Finally, fasten a wet blanket inside the window. Do the same for the doors, and seal up the fireplace, and all other openings. See that the room is always pro-- , visioned with food and water, and furnished with folding camp beds and bedding in addition to neces-sary chairs and tables. Have fire extinguishers and a first-ai- d kit available. Provide means for pass-ing the time books, radio, phono-graph, playing cards. Ancient Syrian God Found on Euphrates NEW HAVEN, CONN. The calm, bearded face of an ancient Syrian god Hadad the Thunderer and an elaborate temple built for his worship, have been discovered in ruins of Dura on the Euphrates. Yale scientists, pronouncing lat-est buildings uncovered at Dura "sensational finds," said that the temple of Hadad contains a high altar built like a miniature Tower of Babel. The high altar, standing within a court, is about 17 feet square and 16 feet tall, and is ap-proached by a flight of steps. An altar of burnt offerings in the prin-cipal sanctuary and the throne of the high-prie- before it have been preserved through the centuries. Hadad was a god of storms, whose name is familiar to Bible stu-dents because three kings in the Bible had names in which this heathen god's name formed a part. The discoveries at Dura include the headquarters of the governor or duke of the Euphrates frontier in Roman empire days. The vast complex of the building included of-fices, barracks for body-guar- and living quarters with elaborately painted walls and ceilings. House-hold attendants included a troupe of actors. In one guard room, the archeol-ogist- s have found on the wall the opening lines of Virgil's Aeneld scrawled by a Roman soldier. A living room has yielded a magnifi-cent oval brooch of gold four inches across, ornamented in filigree and set with garnets and emeralds. The palace of the hereditary may-ors of the city, also revealed, con-tains over 40 rooms and two great courtyards. Children's Fear of Darkness Is Removed by Novel Training NEW YORK. The horrible fear that many little children suffer from when they must en-ter an unfamiliar dark room can, in many cases, be overcome by a method of training worked out by Dr. Frances B. Holmes of the Child Development institute, teachers college, Columbia univer-sity, here. The scheme worked out by Doc-tor Holmes was one which enlist-ed the active of the child in doing something himself about the terrifying situation. Learns by Play In the case of the dark room fear,' this is what was done to re-move it in a group of nursery school children: While the child was playing a game with the experimenter, the ball was rolled into the dark room and the child was sent in after it. When he refused to go into the dark room alone, the adult would go with him. At the same time the adult would encourage the child and tell him how to feel his way and how to search for the phos-phorescent, glowing pendant which had been attached to the end of the long light pull-cor- When the light had been found, the child was al-lowed to pull it on, but then was encouraged to pull it off again and watch its dim glow in the dark. Odor of New Cut Wood May Be Made Perfume LONDON. Perfumes of a rustic tang, bearing such rural names as "Odor of Earth," "New-Cu- t Wood," or perhaps going across tho Channel into 'Terre sillonee," are made a pos-sibility by the discovery of special micro-organism- s that are respon-sible for the characteristic scents of fresh-plowe- d fields In spring, of earth after strong rain in summer, or of freshly felled trees. The rganisms were discovered by Dr. Dr. A. Raistrick, working at the Rothamsted Experimental sta-tion at Harpenden. A distinct field of "costume per-fumes" is suggested by the possi-bility of propagating these organ-isms in pure culture and making ' use of their scent. Helium Suggested as Preventive of "Bends" WASHINGTON. Helium, now used to lift men into the air, may find a new use in treating those who go under-ground or under the sea and who, working under compressed air, contract caisson disease, it ap-pears from recent investigations on helium's solubility in the blood, reported by Drs. J. A. Hawkins and C. W. Shilling of the experi-mental diving unit at the United States navy yard here. The "bends," an exquisitely painful malady which affects workers who are exposed to air at high pressure, is caused by the blood's taking up a great deal of nitrogen from the air. Limiriou3 Peacock Motif To Do in Cross Stitch' The Peacock's "regal beauty' worthy of your finest linens in-spired this beautiful design, and is sure to inspire you with the de-sire to embroider his splendid im-age in cross stitch. You can, you know, for the pattern's a very easy one, despite its rich effect. Wool, silk or cotton floss in real-ty "j '""-- q "a Pattern 1164 Istic bluish-green- s' and warm browns, or orre color only if you prefer, will make a handsome scarf, pillow, chair set or re-freshment cloth. Pattern 1164 comes to you with a transfer pattern of two pea-cocks 12 4 by 14 2 inches and four motifs 3 2 by 3 1-- 2 inches; color suggestions; material re-quirements; illustrations of all stitches needed. Send 15 cents In coins or stamps (coins preferred) to The Sewing Circle, Needlecraf Dept., 82 Eighth ave., New York, N. Y. Write plainly patiern number, your name and address. t;jLtt.-tr- y tutJ itiU ill fill tj f fcfeL O The Coleman In a gm- - I R Q f nine Instant Lighting Iran. All ron have to do la turn nlm, tMk mateh and tt llitha Instantly. Yoo don't have to Inasrt the match instdotlia Iron no burned flngera. Tha Coleman ht In a JilTr: Is quickly roaitf for use. Kntira ironinnurfapO la tieatea wHa point tha hottoat. Maliilalna ita hat even for the (at worker. Entirely Opwatei for Ha4 an hour. You do your Ironing with leM effort. In d Una time. Be atire yonr next Iron la the genuine Instant-Lightin- g Coleman. It'a the Iron every woman wanta. It'a a wonder-- ul time and labor aaver nothing like It. Jb Coleman la the eaay way to Iron. SfNO POaicaRO (or PSta rokler eaa tM Detalle. THS COLEMAN LAMP AND STOVK CO. WMIta, Eaaa.l Chloaao, m.i . FhUaoalBliia, fa, U Angelea, CalU, (6tUW Our lobby la delightfully air cooled owing the summer months Radio for Every Room J$ 200 Room 200 Bath J 'til ts I'J jw f $ri Vff HJ-- i HOTEL Temple Square Rates $l.SOto$3.QO The Hotel Temple Square haa a highly dealrable, friendly atmos-phere. You will lwy find It Immac-ulate, supremely comfortable, and thoroughly agreeable.) on can there-for understand why this hotel is l HIGHLY RECOMMENDED You can also appreciate why I Iff a mark of distinction to clop at thit beautiful hostelry Even There "Can I trust him?" "Why, he's so crooked that th wool he pulls over your eyes is half cotton." Knows Her Boy Mother (to boy) Bo sure not to et your bathing suit wet, dar-lin- g. Friend What an absurd thing to tell him. MotherMy dear, it's the only way I can be certain he'll have a thoroughly good bathe. , ( Yes, Tell Us He My father weighed only four pounds when he was born. She Mercy me! Did he live? Turning Point Squire to Villager So you're married, Tom? Tom Well, zur, I tuk a fancy io she 'cause of 'er looks; 'er's purty like. When I heerd she was doin steady washin for seven families, then and thero I sur rendered, zur. . Worth a Battle Magistrate For two years you two men fished together peace-ably, and yet you had to fight over this fish. Prisoner You see, sir, it wai the first one we ever caught i |