Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1861-05-21
From Temple Bar London) for April.
CnInnt.I RnNNia aud hIa II niEn


l had never had the pie sure of being per-
sonally introduced in America to that very
great man, Colonel Bowie. He was | believe
first class screamer," as they say in the
southern states and these states owe a large
debt of gratitude to that truly ingenious, truly
original inventor, to that Columbus of cut
Iery, to that tacilitator of justifiabe homicide.
had always heard the Colonel was what the
rowdies or unemployed chvary of Louisiana
and Missouri beautifully denominated, with
all the fervor OF southern poetry, "a regl r
ripper" but never thoroughly understood
the great debt the human species owed the
dead hero, till had scientifically discussed the
invention by which he acquired his immortal.
ity in a cutters shop, or a 'store' as the
Americans call it, in the city Of Richmond in
the state OF Virginia
had spent some days in that pleasant city
so redolent of tobacco, whose brown and smear
shaped leaves tapestry, indeed, every wall and
every roof. | had been to the agricultural
show-tair, sand stared my fill at "bear batting
the performing mice from Japan, and the
smallest man i'll the world from Madagascar"
had beleld, with, l trust, sufficient admira-
ton, the large dubious sweet potatoes, the
rosy "Buffum' apples, the brandy peaches,
and The gigantic orange globes OF pumpkins.
Tired OF these not unsatiating pleasures,
and DESTROYS OF possessing myself of that
Il
country, good wie-knite, that day en-.
tered about noon the shop of Hiram Peabody,
in the High Street OF the Virginia City.
had long since learned that nearly every
one / met carried or "toted" as they phrase
it, either a bowieknife or 6veshooter l
had been assured that in case of dispute,
however tritiing, (say about the slave question
or the then pending presidential election, if
travelled without arms, | should certainly be
shot down bnfnra / had ctr
having myself strong opinion that the car
rylng OF arms, unless in the time of immed-
ate peril, is unwise in the traveller as provok.
ing him to rather seek than avoid quarrels, /
gave way at last to the repeated urgings of
prudence, and, entering Peabodys shop asked
to look at some of his best bowieknives.
"Take seat, mister" said Hiram, blandly,
as if he was going to sell me only cosmetics
and soft soap; land I'll look out the sort of
bowie think you would like to tote Han.
nibal, get down that "A case from the third
shelf"
Hannibal, rising from a dime novel whicl&
the Syracuse Daily Avalanche insufficiently
concealed, rose, and brought me the case of
weapons
Imagine rather short and broad carving.
knife, with buckthorn handle and a dagger
hilt of the ordinary cross form But, reshap-
ing it partly on the forge of your fancy do
high tempered and brittle that it would snap
like glass if you pried open with it the lid at
a joApel-hnv SIepoUvu WIJu ar UulIque StaD
into the soft deal of a kitchen dresser; no, but
rather weld two or three such knives together
until YOU have a backbone to it massive as
that of a woodlands bill hook; so that, if
camping out in the woods, you could lop in
two with it at stroke the aromatic boughs of
the red cypress, the knOtted shafts of swamp
canes, or ceave in two like carrots young
hickory or maple saplings thick as the wrist OF
your boy at Elton.
The first weapon Hiram handed to me was
doubleedged towards the point which did not
resemble that of spear-bead, but rather that
of Turkish scimitar, or the crusaders tal-
chion, the type OF which our armorers proba-
bly, derived from the East, II was weapon
to cleave bears head with, to stab dying
panther still dangerous with his claws, to slit
open an alligator, or with which to break up
dead deer as he lay crlmsoning the dun leaves
of Carolina pine wood. In weight it was
heavier than the heaviest Oriental landjar or
poniard, and in its whole character it strong
ly reminded me of the short heavy Roman
gladium with which Caesars soldiers probably
fought in Gaul and Spain.
/ objected that it was too heavy, upon which
Hiram said solemnly:
"No, mister; guess it is mere toothpick
to the bowie Missouri gentleman, who was
in here yesterday to buy revolver, 'toted.
'You must have substance i'll these arti-
Giles" struck in the quck-eyed journal-loviag
Hannibal, cor what use are they in fuss
Yes, sir, when your turn comes to sail in"
A negro, whose white teeth when he grinned
looked as il his mouth was full OF rice, came,
deprecatingly, and looked over our shoulders
at Col BOwes invention.
eyes, SIR" said Peabody, Colonel Angus
tus Twiggs, who led on the Palmetto regiment
at the battle of CEeputepec, in the Mexican
wal, bought his bowie-knie in this identical
store, and no European could wish for better
article than thai"
Upon this we fell into conversation about
bowie knives in general, and the various at
tempts to improve them for close conflict, IN
which they have been found so deadly The
most ingenious of these was one in which the
back of the knife was followed and partly
filled with quicksilver. This fluid OF course
fell to the handle when the weapon was raised,
and when it struck it ran down towards the
point, weighing it at the end, and giving
greater impetus to the blow. This invention,
at once observed to Peabody, was not origi-
nal. The medieval armorers, for the same
purpose, attached running weight to their
two handed swords,-a sort OF steel apple, as
far as L remember,-that when the weapon
was in its sheath remained near the pommel,
but in striking ran down the blade.
But the true Yankee, with many virtues, is
not modest in his self assertiveness SO Pea.
body only spat twice, cut a fresh plug of mig
perhead. and waived the objection, observing
that most OF the best bowie.kniyes came from
Sheffield, and remarking that after some OF
the Mexican battles the "Greasers," as the
Yankees call them, who had fallen by the
bowie-knte, were found with their skulls clo-
ven almost to their teeth.
asked if Colonel Bowie was still alive
Peabody almost sighed as he replied, No;
but thinking it manlier, he only spat violently
and shifted his quid
That great and soaring intellect, after many
years of meditation upon destructive weap,
on that should be as nearly perfect as limited
human intelligence could render it, struck Out
this great improvement on the Roman SWORD
tile knife that derived its name from hl:i
1t was a weapon to STAY red Indians and thin
off grisly "bars," to prepare wood Tor camp
fires, and fay buffalo, TO stab "painters" ant
lessen alligatOrs. There was not want o
the American hunter, north or south, it dir
not supply,-it would do to slaughter Mexi
cans, or to white pine logs. Let stage breal
down or steamboat "burn up" the knife wa
friend in need There was no computn
how many brandy -smases, gin-slings corpse
revivers, eye.openers, Japaneses, and othe
spirituous compounds, the Colonel had cor
sumed before the great idea had at last com
to light; now Othello's occupation was gon,
and the Colonel had nothing to do but 10 trea
under foot the icy cobbler aud the adhesiv
billiard-cue, and plunge once more into hi
q a. xpu "a e.