J D a They Could Lick Their Weight in Wildcats Q 1 I II I By ELMO ELl SCOTT V WATSON ATSON HOWEVER numerous may have been the faults of the American frontiersmen modesty of the shrinking violet L Lt variety was not o one one e of them reckless daring bumptious boastful boastful he he gloried prowess and he told the world about it of his self-esteem self was the characterization which who marched with Andrew Jackson to New Or- Or late in 1814 to repel the attempt of a British army to cap- cap that city applied to themselves Every man according tell was half a horse and half an alligator r 1 L r T-T T 1 P r 1 L r T-T T 1 P Old Hick- Hick 1 I so when and his frontier rifle- rifle had won that amazing y Y over Old General Pakenham lis ifs red coats the fame se se backwoodsmen was d ed across the land Then el II el Woodworth yes the Samuel Woodworth who The Old Oaken Buck- Buck Bucksat tsat sat himself down and rated their feat in a which he called The rs of Kentucky First Firstin Firstin in a New Or Orleans leans then then the- the n ti 1822 it was published rude little book of songs four years later 3 also printed in Boston roadside and it became table hymn of faith fry ry f. f frontiersman on ev- ev R merican frontier as as whined out by cowboy 3 the real not radio kind l campfires or on night uty It was roared out by jacks in their bunkhouses 4 in mining I saloons And today it is ising ing mg in many a mountain in the Appalachians a aps aps ps not every frontiers- frontiers basted that he was half a aind aind ind and half an alligator Perie Perle Perle Per- Per le ie le stated a little m more o 0 r e efly eny fly ny that he was the kind kindlier iter ter who could whip his hisk k in wildcats So when Daugherty decided to a collection of old- old make ales which would mage mage or pattern that might t the sprawling fecundity 1st human drama of the he chose for the f his book the highly-ap- highly ite te Their Weight in Wild Wild- fave lave tried to call up the F images the wild process s i the sw swift t fierce action and all this with a tiny brush a scrap scraper er a pot of ink and a he says in exion exion exion ex- ex ion of the illustrations he drew for the book of these illustrations are aced with this article by sy y of the Houghton Mifflin Mullin ny ny publishers t I immense 1 lore lor o r e behind few ew tales and sketches is ns ris as to me a vast Iliad and andy y in the raw says Mr erty further From it its s j and painters and rill be taking themes and ig up glorious songs and ands s and colossal carved and andI d I friezes and facades and as long as the ge- ge ugh cantankerous spirit of ca ea endures S luse Mike Fink the King Keel-Boatmen Keel so perfect- perfect this tough cantan- cantan l spirit of the men who whip their weight in wild wild- fit it is appropriate that his t n w a r I 1 r 1 r r I t jt N A At t- t w t h ft j f f y t jI 1 1 f tf f 1 i t b I fJ t o i PAUL BUNYAN Master l Woodsman e t tp p e should be the frontis- frontis of f the book and that one of pries Lanes about him should be berst best list st one in it It is The liThe iced aced ced Scalp lock taken The Hive of the Hunt Bee-Hunt- written ritten by T. T B. B Thorpe and hed back in m 1854 Listen 0 o 5 Mike as he talks big I 1 f I 1 will walk tall into varand var- var tand and Indian its it's a way got a and d it t comes as nat- nat Jas as grinning to a hyena fa a regular tornado tornado tough tough hickory winded long-winded as s ester I 1 can strike a alike alike like a falling tree Irce tree and and like every lick makes a gap in the crowd that lets in an acre of sunshine Whew bo boys s 's If the Choctaw in them ar woods would give us a abrush abrush abrush brush just as I 1 feel eel now Id I'd call them gentlemen I 1 must fight something or Ill I'll catch the dr dry rot rot burnt burnt brandy wont won't save me nIe The fact that the Choctaw devils in them ar woods were peaceable Indians didn't deter deter deter de de- de- de ter Mike Fink in the least To demonstrate his skill with the rifle for which he was famous and of which he was inordinately proud he shot the from the head of a Cherokee named Proud Joe To 10 avenge this insult Proud Joe and a party of his friends followed the flatboat on which Fink was working down the river attacked it one night and in the fight which resulted one of the boatmen and two Indians Indians Indians In In- one of them Proud Joe himself were killed More Admirable Qualities Such is the picture of the more ruthless and brutal side of these frontiersmen who could whip their weight in wildcats More admirable are some of their other other other oth oth- er qualities as revealed in the tales which Mr Daugherty has collected in his book For instance the backwoodsman's backwoodsman's backwoodsman's backwoods backwoods- mans man's resourcefulness is illustrated illustrated illustrated illus illus- by the amusing anecdote from John M. M Pecks Peck's Life of Daniel Boone published in 1817 1847 which tells teUs how that fa- fa J J c How Davy Crockett Kept Warm pioneer outwitted the band of Indians who tried to capture him one day in the cabin where he was curing tobacco Boone pretended that he was glad to see them offered to give them some of his tobacco and then when they were completely off- off guard crushed the dry leaves in his hands and hurled the stinging dust into their faces Then he sped for the safety of his cabin The story of The Captivity of II oIW 1 J J J I h 1 JJ fi 1 n u h i 0 h n. iW lIw II h I f l C. C s sJ t J c 1 J J WJ 7 j if eRr f 7 7 s t f I. I K lIl L 1 tOI I l E EtOI A. A lP i IM 1 JI J It t f 9 I vl J L f v vJ IA v i VJ 1 I fg G 1 J 1 J JI d J A J I r J p j I- I Y R j J r II A. A 1 Y 10 a Y I V Z tj k r. r n J lj i rn r to 0 y I IY cg j J JI Jl l I 0 I r. I MIKE lIKE FINK KING OF Simon Kenton as reprinted from Henry Howes Howe's The Great Vest West 1855 is not only an il illuminating illuminating illuminating il- il example of the amazing amazing amazing ing endurance and indomitable will-to-live will of the typical frontiersman frontiersman frontiersman fron fron- but as a later biographer er of Kenton has said for its momen momentous ous succession of perils transitions and hairbreadth escapes escapes escapes es es- es- es capes has no parallel in m all the adventurous annals of western border history Equally thrilling is the story of The Fight in the Canyon from The Adventures of Foot Big-Foot Wallace Vallace the Texas Ranger and Hunter by John C. C Duval 1870 It reveals also the chivalrous side of the frontiersman's frontiersman's frontiersman's frontiers frontiers- mans man's character in that Wallace Vallace gave his Indian foe a Christian burial after he had killed him And for a variation on the whip their weight in wildcats theme is another story of this hero of the Lone Star state state Foot Foot Big Wallace Wal Val Vallace Wallace lace Whips His Weight in Wolves truly Wolves truly an Homeric feat IF it can be believed in all its details Where Fact Leaves Off The trouble is one never can be sure where fact leaves off and fiction begins in these tales For closely allied to the frontiersman's frontiersman's frontiersman's frontiers frontiers- mans man's boastfulness of his own prowess was his fondness for telling telling tell teU- ing tall tales Davy Crockett may not have originated this pleasant American Ameri Ameri- can diversion of telling whoppers whoppers whop pers but he was one of the earliest and most skillful exponents exponents expo expo- exponents of the art For who else but this immortal hunter bear-hunter a and n d coonskin congressman could have invented and made believable such an ingenious method of keeping himself from freezing on a cold night as the THE KEEL one he tells about in A UA Narrative Narrative Narrative Nar Nar- of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee Tennes Tennes- see Written by Himself Here is his version My blood was now getting cold and the chills coming all allover allover over me I was so tired too that I could hardly walk but I thought I would do the best I could to save my life and then if I died nobody would be bc to blame So I went to a tree about two feet through and not nota a limb on it for 30 feet and I would climb up it to the limbs and then lock my arms together er around it and slide down to the bottom again This would make the insides of my legs and amI arms feel mighty warm and good I continued this till daylight in the morning and how often I up my tree and amI slid down I dont don't know but butI I reckon at least a hundred times Two Immortal Liars Whether Jim Beckwourth or Jim Bridger was the Uthe biggest liar in the West Vest has never been settled Both men are dead these many years but e n h. h 1 y 1 a s t r i ir r 1 rya fr JOHNNY the art of telling tall tales did not die with them It lingers on onto onto onto to this day in the yarns which the lumberjacks tell about that master woodsman Paul Bunyan and Babe his big Blue Ox and andin andin andin in the songs which the negroes sing about John Henry who was the steel man that ever lived It survives in the tale of The Big Bear of Arkansas Arkan Arkan- sas first told by T. T B. B Thorpe in m The Hive of the Hunter Bee in 1854 and still repeated in many manya a cabin home in the Ozarks For these folk tales are a part of our frontier heritage They are as much that as are the tales of legendary feats by such heroes heroes heroes he he- roes as Daniel Boone Simon Kenton Davy Crockett and Kit Carson yes Carson yes even Johnny Apple- Apple seed for his story is also included in this book One wonders what the gentle Johnny would think when he found himself in such company with company with Mike Fink the ruthless rifleman and Lewis Wetzel the brutal Injun One reviewer of this book has suggested that Johnny would have licked his wildcat by prayer pray pray- er They are the kind of stories stories stories sto sto- sto- sto ries that never grow old and they will be repeated over and over as Mr Daugherty suggests so long as the genial tough cantankerous cantankerous cantankerous can can- spirit of America en en- dures p Western Newspaper Union