Show 0 way tva pal knife 7 t yv N 4 r camez bowie wie by ELMO SCOTT WATSON tin name bowle knafo Is linked with the tha history atory til of the alio alverl vu can frontier as ah are arc th alie names of those other weapons which played their part par in the winning ot of the west ali the 0 kan lucky rifle which incidentally should bo bd the 06 rifle since it was first ma inada de in n that stat otlie the sharps buffalo cheater and the cotts alx shooter it figured in innumerable bloody a Trays mule borne of which havo become cla classics s lea in 10 western history als tory it was a dovle bo ae knife which wild mil bill hickok ww to piave bave wielded in the tight which save gave him the wild bill bilk the so called ed light fight with hith the mccandles McCand fea balig gane it was vas a howle knife with which al packer a prospector killed ilia his four companions while they were snowbound snow now bound iri in the san juan moun of colorado and won won for himself tho the dreadful title of tile the sn san junn juan manester man ester nater the dowle knife lins has alg aured in tales of jim bridger and jim daker kit hit carson and california joe and a dozen other border notables bamo bomo of the jartis authentic and others no doubt the product of the lie dime novell novelists sM 1 such a famous weapon it would ig been e em that its ita history y should be well moll known but attempt to trace its origin and see BOB how for far you gett get butof out of tile the maze of c testimony only one fact merges emerges clow clear that it was named for forgone bone of the tha bowles cut but wig was it resin john or Ji jilies lues As tor for the inventor of the bowle knife cou consider sidor this evidence head almost any encyclopedia and you sll unit find it as i an huntine dibber ila alier named alter after ats ln inventor 1 cole col james dowls bowls in I 1 sk bielat noar near natchez 1127 in which six men inen were wece killed and fifteen wo the colonel an opponent with ith a 1 made out ot of ik ra babp op erbig or biff and this k n ito ho he had fashioned at 1 into ati tits weapon with ia name nama la g 8 bills oneat ono 0 the 0 earliest biographers of duvy davy crockett devot debotts dev otts considerable apace to rezin nod and james bowle bowie and respecting the invention of the famous faim im e u s bowle knife an intimate lady irr friend lo 10 n d oatha or tha dowl bowie family in a note to to tie tha writer under date of do december ce donber ma and written in diw orleana Or leano says abb knife was wa vented invented in by RI 1 I P brother of 0 jamas for the purpose of I 1 unthaw wild cattle on t the h plains or of the the first one on was a manu fac tred by one of c his hl slaves at the arl va vate t a blacksmith shop hop on hla his plantation it wits wan never intended tor for any other U ame a except that of a simple hunting knife nor was it ever busied otherwise until til la in the duel dual at Nato natchee Natch box ex when 4 J jame gwei dowle acted as an second and all the seconda we were redrawn drawn lato into the light in may 1830 the new york fork star said of otilda this knife it wax wa invented by col jamea amex dowls bowie who was killed by the mexicans at the tha capture of the alinio alamo about is 18 months go three brothers othera br named dowle in the at bbate a to of mississippi hotd hadady hadad a 4 adly conflict with seven even other persona persons armed with every species of weapon the brothers only with a large units this weapon they handled with ouch dexterity as is to dellda the conflict in their favor although were against them and it has ha since aca been called the dowle knife 11 the lied niver herald of boches la copied fill alila article and in june printed printon it with tile the following this account la in entirely the flygt weapon ot of this 1 waa W 11 1 manufactured I 1 in the parish or of 21 I 1 da ln in the or of louisiana near the plantation ot of capt charles iol on gayou bayou moeut in 2820 1820 this knife was waa made according to the in of at col jamea dowle then known by the appellation of at alff jim f bowle it wag wa intended to answer anaker the purpose of waxing trees roes and of at a hunt ine ina knife the tha colonel carried this deap weapon on for or five alv or six fix years yearn when the th dreadful conflict conni ct yet fresh areah in the decol lec tlona of many took place in the state 0 a circumstance which at once gave if an unrivaled reputation e all the steel in the country was wan immediately converted into bowle bowl years ogo ago in a centennial edition of tile the arkansas ija cozetto zette there appeared appear eI an article called the true tnie history of the dowle bowie knife wl with it a biographical sketch of its inventor e n tor james dlack black written by da dan n W jonca Jones governor of arkansas from IS to 1001 alio knew black intimately for 30 years this to in brief Is his story dinck was born la in ne new w je jersey arsey I 1 in aso ran away awny from home at the age of cf eight ht to philadelphia where tie was wag apprenticed to a manufacturer of all vor ver plate after serving hl his apprenticeship tice ship nod and becoming expert at the trade he emigrated to the byest in 1818 eventually coming coining to the town of washington ark he found employ ment with a blacksmith washington was wag a frontier town where all men went armed the favorite weapon being a knife black began manufacturing knives whIch soon became famous ar tor the lie temper of theli steel lie ans ae ac custo mcd to make thom then to order from a pattern of the alio exact size fitze and shape desired desire by tho the customer ne ile plated them with gold or allyer and his price ranged from 5 to 52 depend depending in g upon how they were plated but the quality of the tempered steel was always the same according to jones who continues about 1831 james dowle came t to 0 washington and gave black an order to for r a knife furnishing a pattern and desiring it if to be made within the fol 01 ol lowing 60 6 0 or 80 90 days when he would tot cal tor for it black made the knife according to dowles Goi toa pattern ile ha know knew howla bowie well veil and had a high estimation of him as A man of 0 good taste ua an well an aa ot of unflinching courage cou rasa ile iia had nevor never modo g a knife which suited lit hla own taste in point of 0 shape and concluded this thin would be a good opportunity to do so 0 o consequently after completing the kalta ordered by dowle bowie he be made another ani when dowle returned black showed both of then them to him and explained thes the difference nt at the same time bivins him hla his choice at the same price I 1 bowie promptly selected clicks pa pattern shortly titter this bowie became in evolved in a difficulty di with three des p pe e rodo who assaulted him with k niven knives ile iia killed them all with the knife kal black had made after this when anyone ordered a knife tr rom ora clack black he boult order it to be made like bowles which finally w wax an shortened ened into make me a dowle bowle knite thus this famous abou amou weapon acquired its name bowie himself WAS not a mechanic of any kind lie was waa killed in the alamo with davy crockett and the legend runs ruins that his body wan waa surrounded by dead Mex mexicans leans whom he be had bad killed with that tame ram knife other men made knives in those adayr and they are still beloff made but no ons one has ham over mr made the bowle inife 1 except james black its if value was in its ito temper clack black undoubtedly possessed the Dam damascus aticus secret it came to him mysteriously and it died with ith him in n the th same sam way such Is 04 story of tho the InVent invention loik of 0 the bawlo knife atch sounds mi all then tle dut but says bays another star story Y the real inventor of 0 the knife was jesse jcsse cliffs a blacksmith by the tha elder alesin kowle bowie fattier of 0 jhb three bofto bs sone time utter after the I 1 riv of the knife james engaged in on an altercation with ath maj norris wright which in wright al shoat alloin loit ing qt nt james jamea the latter batter was baked when a silver dollar la ili hla his pocket deflected flecked the bullet drawing his own onn james aimed nt at arlt but the trigger snapped ills ilia mother fattier then thene gave ae james the lutfe saying Eay luET this will ft ui never snap it was this that led james bowie always to carr carry A phife V by tho knife on tits hla person thereafter there Is still another is atory t ry of the origin of the bowle knife and another inventor of it itt I 1 this story names as the fattier father of the weapon a named john sowell sowells who fought with jackson in the war of 1812 then moved to missouri and finally settled in gonzales gonzalea texas in 1829 being a blacksmith he began plying tits hla trado there then the story as told by sowell descendants in texas continues james jamea bowie often passed through gli Cl donz alaa on hla his way cast ras after tafter a trip prospecting in the mountains to the west a and d he ha generally had bad Is 16 to 80 men with him all indian fighters and aind they had many encounters with the Co manchen and other tribes in one of the these 0 fight dowle thrust at an indian with with hla his butcher buschor knife and his hl hand clipped blipped over the blade cutting him ve very badly this cut suggested the tha idea of A guard between the handle and blade and he be cu cut t a pattern patter A from a piece of 0 wood and in passing through gonzals Gonzal cs topped stopped at sowells shop and asked him if he cout coul 3 make one like it sowell replied that he could and selecting a piece or of deteel turned out a knife that pleased leased cowla bowie very much mr sowell eked asked dowle bowie it he sowell might give the knife a name bowle bowie replied in the a affirmative and mr sowell said bald 1 I wl will name am it in honor ot of you we w will 11 call it the dowle bowie knife who invented the howle bowie knofe anif 11 let him who can read that conflicting tekli testimony nony and then give a reply which tie tic can be sure IS correct I 1 |