Southern reveille. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1851-185?, 1852-12-15

talnly were greatly indebted 10 our dear moth
er for much Of the information we possessed.
She was a sincerely pious woman, and always
ineulcated the pure principles Of the religion
Of that Saviour whom she SO faithfully
served. r
Ny brother James spent the most impor,
taut part Of his childhood in Catalonia parish,
between the years Of 1902 and 1909, embra-
cing the period between the ages Of six and
fifteen years.
About the year 1914. James left my faith
ers house, and launched upon life
with all the world before him,o
and not only undertook to provide for himself,
but actually did it, as has often been done by
hundreds Of others before and since. He
settled on Bayou Beuf, Rapides Parish, and
cleared a small piece Of land, but his chief
means Of support was from saving plank and
other lumber, with the common whip-saw,
and boating down the Bayou for sale. The
proceeds Of the lumber procured him his food
and clothing. powder and shot, &c.
He was young, proud, poor. and ambitious,
without any rich family connections, or inhu-
ential friends to aid him in the battle Of life.
After reaching the ago of maturity, he was a
stout rather raw.boned man, Of six feet height
weighed $50 pounds, and about as well made
as any man l ever saw. His hair was light
colored, not quite red-his eyes we're gray,
rather deep set in bis head, very keen and
penetrating in their glance his complexion
was fair, aud bis check k-bones rather high
Taken altogether, he was a manly, fne-look
ing person, and by many Of the fair ones he
was called handsome. lie was possessed Of
an open. frank disposition. with rather good
temper, unless reused by some insult, when
the displays Of his anger were terrible. and
frequently terminated in some tragcal scene.
But he was never known to abuse a conquered
enemy, or to impose upon the weak and de-
fenceless A man Of very strong social feel
ings. he loved his friends with all the ardor OF
YOUTH and hated his enemies and their friends
with all the rancor Of the Indian. lie was
social and plain with all men, fond Of music
and the amusements Of the day. and would
take glass 10 merry mood to drive dull care
away but seldom allowed it to steal away
his brains, or transform him into beast. "
lie lived and labored several years on
Bayou Beuf, where no doubt many yet live
who can recount his deeds Of wild sport and
recklessncss which he there performed, promp-
ted by bis innate love Of excitement lie
was fond Of fishing and hunting, and often af-
forded rare sport to his neighbors, by his dar-
I ing exploits in roping and capturing wild deer
in the woods, or catching and riding wild un-
manageable horses. He has been even known
to rope aud ride alligators lie had a way OF
catching bears which was entirely original.
In the summer season, when the bears we're
constantly ravaging the little patches Of green
corn Of the early settlers, he adopted the fol-
lowing novel plan to entrap them. After
finding the place where they usually entered
the field, he procured hollow cypress knee
Of suitable size, which was properly cleaned
out and then sharp iron spikes were driven
through it, with the points inward and IN
clined downward similar to the fingers OF q
fsh-trap Being thus prepared some hon.
ey (of which the bear is passiOnately fond)
was pat in the bottom Of the inverted knee,
aud this pat in the place where the bear cros:-
cd the fence. In his eagerness 10 get the
honey, Bruin would thrust his muzzle and
head down amongst the spikes and when he
would attempt to draw out his head, the
spikes would pierce the skin and flesh in such
a manner as to prevent him from throwing of
the mask. and in this blindfolded condition
ho became an easy prey to his gleefui
eaptors
During his sojourn here, Bowie mixed
little with society, and was very successful IN
securing a fair portion Of the friendship OF
the better class Of the people. AS the coun-
try improved and landed property became en-
hanced IN value, he sold his land on the Bay
on. and used the means thus obtained. 10
speculatinr ia the purchase Of Africans from
tie notorious LATTE. who brought them TO
Galveston, Texas, for sale. James, Resin,
and myself fitted out some small boats at the
mouth Of the Calcasieu, and went into the
trade on shares Our plan Of operations
was as follows We first purchased forty
negroes from Laftte, at the rate Of one dol
lar per pound, OF an average OF Sl4O Tor
each negro we brought them into the limits
Of the United States, delivered them to a
custom-house officer, and became the INFORM
ers ourselves; the law gave the iniormer nan
Of the value Of the negroes. which we're put
up and sold by the United States Marshal
aud we DcCdule the pufCHt-cio ~ wy -
took the half as our reward for informing ana
obtained the Marsbal's sale for the forty ne
grocs, which entitled MS 10 sell them within
the United States We continued 70 follow
this business until we made S65,OOO, when
we quit, and SOON spent all our earnings.
james then went into the land speculation.
and soon made Sl5,000 This business nee
essarily caused him to spend much Of his time
IN the woods, where natural inclination also
gave the employment a charm peculiarly
pleasant to him lie had hunting g-kHlfe
made, which suited his fancy, by common
blacksmith, named Snowden. In after years
this knife became famous, owing 10 some very
tragical occurrences which originated as fol-
lows About the year 1926 James became
involved in the political and party squabbles
Of the day, and his fiery, impulsive natare
caused him to enlist all his energies in the
strife At this time be resided in Alexan-
dria. on Red River, and in some Of the mo-
montary excitements Of the day, an alterca-
ton took place between him and the sheriff
Of Rapides Parish. Mr.. Norris Wright, dur
~, xphinh Wrioht shot HOWie in ms left