Show Champ fi of the i r a I 4 1 T hj t I X J r r t tt t t AJ Y t y 4 4 II I- 4 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON I II the old timers of t the W West Test t there wn n a popular saying that that j part of ot the United States had three threeT T great grent Jim was ns one of ot them and Jim was uns the tile other two In reality this did dida iJ a grout great Injustice to old Jim Jhn mountain man scout and one of ot thereal the Ihl real pathfinders of ot the West Ill t. t It Is la latrue true that Hint he tie wan a n teller of ot toll loll yarns but most of It them thI hint had a n aery very ery basis In fact Ills reputation for tor stretching time the truth vas bused based upon his description of ot natural wonders 1 In the West 1111 notably In what hat In Is now Yellowstone National park ut lit a lime alien those wonders were Ire unknown even n to the early explorers So Ho when old ohl Jim Jinn reported seeing noi-Ing these natural and was met 1111 with unbelief perhaps he became a u little angry at the sceptics and In tn revenge stretched the truth n a little more mare Then ton tea in his hilt later yc when he ho was vas questioned I by the curious w who III ho had heard of ot his hits reputation us a prevaricator he took teak u II mischievous ous delight In what became a recognized custom of ot the Went variously known ns as shilling lulling the tenderfoot tender foot loot or hazing tho iho pilgrim But the olle of ot Jim I lock our I h was very try Ills lies 1111 were Ire not bused based upon de- de of ot natural wonders They had bud mainly to do dolth with himself hla himself his daredevil 11 courage his h great tents teals of ot strength and aud endurance and h his is pre Ire In a race rao of ot lighting fighting men ns liS the of ot theta them alt all So Ho In reality the tho old might well 11 have hll been bocu revised to read l Mere were Ire sIx great liars In tho the West and Jim Will was all nIL of ot them reputation In this respect Is bused based largely upon ulon a n biography of ot him written by by T. T T 11 B. B Horner Bonner und and published In 1850 The fhe Immediate result of ot this book was an nn In In- recorded n by later a II which offers of ot- fern fers an nn Interesting on Jim Beckwourth's right to the title of ot champion lolI liar of ot the West st stOut Out In n the Sierras of ot California there cattle came to the mining camp cump where whre was well known II the news lIew that lint some one lIoe had written a alook book look about him BO so the tho next nest time anybody from Irom the camp went vent to tho the city he be was ordered to bring back buck a copy Y of ot this b book ok It so ao happened that the tumor miner who ho tilled this commission had only n R slight alight knowledge of ot books So he returned returned returned re re- re- re turned with u n COli copy not of ot Bonner but of ot the Bible bl 1 That night some of ot the miners gathered around the fire to hear one oDe of ot their more literate literate lit lit- erate number read story to them Opening the book at random he chanced to begin be tie gin reading from Judges n wherein Is told the tho story Mory of ot Samson III SOli who ho caught three hundred foxes and after tying tire brands to their tails let them deem loo loose among the cornfields of ot the Ihli For or a little while white the bearded gold- gold washers listened II attentively It Ill I'll II nI Then one of ot them sprang to his feet and halted the reader that'll do dol I he exclaimed Id know that for forone forone one Ine of ot Jim s damned lies anywhere any 1111 where Other historians beginning with It h Francis Minds made use of ot Bonner's Bonners book In their writing covering 0 the period In III the tile history of the Vest during witch which lived and labored labored la la- bored lored so mightily Souse Some of ot them denounced the book as os utterly unreliable and further 1 Beckwourth as the toaster master prevaricator Irl of ot all time But Dut whatever the character of ot thinners hook book and of ot Beckwourth's life story both certainly have Ito some sollie enduring qualities for only recently a n new edition of ot It has been reprinted by Alfred AlfredA A A. I Knopf nolt publisher of ot New IW York rork This edition edt edi tion Is 18 one of ot the tho 01 II III IS I'S In III the series Americana Ameri cans cana Deserts wilted by Bernard De Do Deoto Voto oto and Mr De Pe Deoto Voto oto tins has done dent a real service to hL historical lorl- lorl cal al scholarship In III n gh thing IlIg us a new evaluation of ft this classic of ot pioneer American life In III his Iris introduction to t the hI new edition of It ners ner's narrative nar lIar he be has attempted from the conflicting testimony about by other historians to arrive at some somo conclusion satisfactory us to just how touch much In Bouner's book ran Dill may be t believed te- te lle ed und and how much must be rejected After examining all the evidence e here her In brief Js his conclusion It U Is therefore respectable today to e believe when he hI Is I. talking about an any subject but himself A drastic limItation limitation limi limI- tation 1 since I-since since Jim discusses other subjects only through Inadvertence The Tile hook book does doli not often stray from Its objective the delineation of ot a azero zero tero James I 1 Beckwourth takes the stage and the whole West Vest appropriately revokes rt around him He lie U is wholly unreliable in three natters numbers romance and personal grandeur Ills hits Imagination could transform a II score or two of ot Black feet on a II horse raid III Into Intoe e a disciplined diL arm army three thousand strong making mak wak- III dug ing a campaign for tor the destruction of ot 1 the Crow Mr Do no Veto Voto then Ihen proceeds to show tho that pitched battles on a large larg stile mil between n Indian I tribes were ere so 0 rare r. r us lIS to ha hate base t t teen lIn n utmost almost non non-e non und the Iho says rend render reader wil be safe sate then theu If It he hI stiles down Jims Jim's eat estl- estl fl nates us b by IlIn three As Ali to II the tilt self sett advertised hero air Mr Ir IK- IK ltv Vito sa says 9 Imagination culminates of ot ViS C ctr r i. i rr rim r s' s F M r A Ai H rk course In III the rhapsodies of ot Jim's Jims heroism on which his reputation as liS a noted old liar HaV rests One Is not lIot wife safe In discarding them entirely Jim oils WI a mountain man and the obligation to 10 lie gloriously I Is on him When he lie borrows a u spectacle spec spec- ache lolle from some one Olle II else e and dresses It up UI to his own grandeur he Is 18 merely ob observing er the cl convention of ot the camp lIml fire Hut But to get to 10 the career cartr which Inspired these marvels mar of ot longbow drawing According to 10 his own awn statement Beckwourth was born In III Fred Fred- ericksburg Va Vo on April 20 O 1794 one of ot a famIly family fam fam- ily of ot 13 children whose hosl father frillier was an nn In the tine Revolutionary war What he ho neglects to say U Is that Iris his mother another was colored tl probably a quadroon und and almost t certainly certainty a II slave slate That Jim was a mulatto Is known beyond question of ot a doubt for tor we WI have hate the testimony of ot his contemporaries to prove pro that It has hns also been heen claimed Unit lint his father tuther was IOS an nn Irishman from Maryland but hut this account agrees with the other other oth er fr as to his mother another und and to his being a mulatto In 10 his hili youth his father moved ld to St. St Louts and relates that us liS one of ot the Innumerable merable family westward In III the early orly years of ot the Nineteenth century Hilt But De D. Doto Veto Voto says ilIS that If It he went with his father to St. St Louis he went not as a n s son n might go but as a flute FIU St. St Louis was then a frontier settlement and Jims Jim's Wild We West t adventures IId began almost Immediately lie He saw blockhouses b being built for tor the protection of ot the settlers and according to his story he saw neighbor children massacred b by the Indians In III he lie was apprenticed to toa a blacksmith to learn that trade After Arter several sc disputes with his employer he finally succeeded In 10 becoming free from the obligation and we next find him accompanying ln In what capacity opacity be he does dot not say say say-a a military 1 expedition up III the Mississippi to the tho present site lite of ot Galena III where the leader of ot the party was sent to nuke narke a treaty with Ith the Sue Sac and Fox rOI Indians which would allow the whites to work the lead mines there This Tins was followed by a trip to New o Orleans where he narrowly I escaped death from yellow fever but returned to St. St I. I Louis Louts LouisIn In time to have hate a part in one of ot the most famous expeditions of ot the West In 1 1822 Gen William Henry Ashley a general general gen gen- eral fa I of ot the Ibe Missouri militia und and lieutenant governor governor gov gOY of It Missouri with Andrew Henry a R Re veteran vet e Bran eran fur tur trader had formed the Mountain Moun tain Fur our company In III that year year- Ashley Ashly and Henry went their first on expedition l' up ul the Missouri Henry going as us fur far us as the mouth ot of r the Yellowstone where be tie suffered the loss of ot a alIum lIum number tr of ot men and most of ot his horses horst's from hostile Indians A Ashley returned to St. St Louts I for tor more men Oleo and in the th summer of ot 1 isiri 1523 1 a again aln ln started up UI the Missouri The personnel of ot these two t e expeditions Is U a veritable who's who of ot old time western notables men who for the next decade were to make history In that glamorous period when the fur trade was OS at Its lis height there Here Is the roster Jedidiah Smith the American Ameri Amerl- can on JI Ulysses' Ulysses Thomas Fitzpatrick J lIz J of ot the till Broken Hand Etienne Provo Provo Prove Utah preserves IS I'S his hi fame William and Milton Sublette Jim Jun Bridger Hugh Glass Class the hero of ot one of ot the real reul epics of or tine the old ohl West Vest Robert Kobert Campbell David Jackson and Johnson Gardner Asi Ascending ending the th Missouri Ashley was attacked by the Indians and again oguIn returned to St. St Louis louls for tor more urea men It Is at lit this time lime that Jim Beckwourth stops steps Into the picture According Accord Accord- ing lug to his story he h. went along alongIS as IS a Q valued member of ot the expedition on an equal basis with the others Hut But some authorities say suy that Jim 1101 the tho mulatto was 09 nothing mor mor than a R body body- servant for Ashley De II Voto oto expresses the belief be bl lief lItt that his skill as a blacksmith was responsible sable sible for tor his hili employment by Ashley At Rn any rate rille he was sent among the Indians to 10 purchase horses hori and aud there began the first of ot hl his marvelous adventures ad among Indians both friendly and hostile Later according to his account Ashley took him on several of ot his expeditions Into the mountains and this much that much that he heS he'S w S 'S s with the tha Ashley party and was present at one of ot those gatherings the trappers trapper's rendezvous where those In engaged a ld In the tare fur tur trade met after attra r a seasons season's work ork to celebrate the end lid of ot their labors with n a period of ot stor storytelling telling drinking drinkin 1 and carousing e Le we know to be bo true But Beckwourth's Beckwourth's Beck neck story of ot how law he saved sated General Ashley Ashley's life lite In n the swift current of ot a n river how bow he was war offered the leadership of ot a detachment how bow hi he quarreled with the general and they narrow narrowly norro averted a n duel to the tho death all of ot these ca can safely be set down ns as products of ot Jims Jim's nation notion Ills His own picture of ot Jim Beckwourth h as lIS a sort of ot central figure ure In these Homeric episodes episodes epi Miles almost an equal of General Ashley simply aim sim ply does not Jibe with his real status the tine mulatto mulatto mu mu- latto lutto servant body of ot the leader There are several returns to St. St Louis and 1 In one of ot these occurs an Incident which serves serve s as a proper prier Introduction to an Important phase e of ot Beckwourth's career That Is the phase o of ot f Jim the guy gay Lothario Jim the lire wedded oft hero o Jim who was Just about the person person per son the tho West ever knew It seems that he ho ha haa had hod hada a II I boyhood sweetheart rt In St. St t. t Louis named Eliza Eilza and telling of ot one of ot his iris return trips to St. St St StLouis Louis he gives an extremely sentimental account t of ot his farewell scene with her General Ashley Ashle y has offered him a large lorge sum of ot money to act a as S bearer of ot dispatches to the mountains Eliza a tries to dissuade him from going I 1 care no not t for tor money James she sa said bursting Into u n flood of tears tars Thus does dolS Jim describe It an and d he ho continues My heart sought relief from it Its lis S overcharged feeling In the same ame way I left lefther let lether t her amid her sobs promising to make a speedy speed y return and that we would part purt no more moro tl till it death should separate us And was James faithful to his Eliza 7 Ie Let t et the record speak for tor itself I 1 After Atter he left Asley's Ashley's Ashleys Ash Ash- h leys ley's employ he went among the In In- u. u L n- n mm nun upon uc u me tile ot of a chief as his wife he hesitated not a moment In making lair her his bride Finally he went to live liTe among the Crows remained remained re rl re- re with them for tor several years keeping right on with lIh his marrying proclivities of ot course established a great record as liS a II fighting wan man with their tribal enemies was elevated first counselor of ot the nation and then upon the death of ot the head chief was appointed as his successor II By Ity this tints time he had accumulated a total of ot seven wives among the Crows A young oung girl who desired to become his wife finally succeeded sue suc In persuading him ant and this girl to whom he ho refers as I the he little wife yes he does dols I bore him a son on the old child of ot his which h he recognizes and who later ro rose e to 10 a n high position amon among the Crows And now begins the climax anti of ot Beckwourth's Beck career To any OilY other man the tine years which tollow followed would have t been heen exciting enough but for tor Jim Beckwourth after the swashbuckling I old days das of ot the fur trade era tra they were corn com tame tallie He lit became a trader for tor Sub Sub- lo hotte tte and Fitzpatrick J with the III Indian tribes of ot Colorado In III 1542 he 1 established a post on the Arkansas which grew eventually Into Inlo the city of ot Pueblo the Pittsburgh of ot the West Vest Next Nest he ho was a trader on the th Santa Fe re Trail and part owner of ot a hotel In the city of or Santa rl Fe Among other doings doing I got married to 10 Senorita Louisa records Ju just t a n mere Incident In a busy life lite I In 1841 1544 he hI went to 10 California became Involved In a I revolution rt and had bad to leave leare hastily So 80 he went to New Mexico and during the Mexican war acted as a messenger carrying dispatches dispatcher for tor l general Kearney Whether Il legend II or fact It Is as good an ending as any to his iris career De Lie Veto Voto In raising the ration of It w whether Nether or not the story of ot Jim I i as written by Bonner should l le be e dl pecked Ill I'll to make sure gurt whether I It Is history and Incidentally he h. declares that the cr er more mort senti sentimental rental parts of tine tile love lo stories are probably the Intention invention of ot 1 Bonner Penner although h |