Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-07-11
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DAVID CROCKETT,
BY JAMES PARTON.

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BY JAMES PARTON ----7
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Few men have reached Congress by a
stranger road than the, eccentric indi
vidual named at the head of this article
Some men have talked, others have
written, others have fought themselves
Into Congress; but David Crockett sho,
himself thither.. 1t was his wonderful
skill as a marksman. and his daring as
albear-hunter which made him so popn-
lar in his district, that when he chose tc
run for office he dlstanced all compete
tors. He could shoot a humming- bird
on the wing with single ball. Seated
upon the margin of a river, he would aim
at a fish, and as soon as the crack of his
rite was heard, one e OF @ the little inmates
OF the stream would be seen struggling
on the surface. he used to speak o.
his battered old rifle IN words like
these: Es.--g.,....,..
Shes mighty rough old piece, but
love her; for she and have seen hard
times; She mighty seldom tells me
lie. III L hoid her right' she always
SENDS the paii where l tell her"
Shootlng was not his only quallhca-
ton. lie had other gifts and graces
calculated to win the favor OF frontier
populations; although it was his match
less skill with the rifle that first drew at
ttentlon to him. He was an abundant re
i lator OF comic anecdotes, and an uttere'
OF those eccentric remarks which are
passed from mouth to mouth, and form
large part ofthe common stock OF with
country place. Forty OF fifty years ago
almost everynewspaperthat appeared hae
story In it, in some odd corner, II
which the name of David Crockett fig
ured. se2eaG aos ~ H
lie was born in East Tennessee, ii
17S6, the youngest but one of the siz
sons of John Crockett, who by turns was
farmer, miller and. tavern-keeperaI This
. John Crockett was the son of an emf
! grant from the north of ireland, who
after fighting with noted courage through
the Revolutionary war, settled in East
Tennessee. There he and his wife Were
murdered by the Creek Indians; one Of
their sons was wounded and another was
carried into captivity, and remained a
prisoner with the Indians for seventeen
years. john Crockett. escaped, grew up
and in due time became the father of the
famous David. When the boy was sew,
en-, years old his father met with mis-
fortune which reduced him to utter pow.
erty. A freshet swept away new mill
in which he had invested the savings oi
lifetime. 1t was carried off bodily
leaving not a wreck behind. The un.
fortunate proprietor then removed to an.
other county, and opened small tavern
not far from the present city of Knox
vile.
1t happened one evening, when David
was twelve years of age, that an old
Dutchman, drover, put up at his fathers
tavern, having with him drove OF cat
tie. To this Dutchman John Crockett
hired his son, as drover's boy, with the
understanding that he was to help drive
the cattle as far as Richmond, and then
return. Away he went, and was soon
in high favor with the Dutchman, from
whom he learned those Dutch anecdotes
and the Dutch brogue which he after
wards employed with so much effect
He liked his master very well, but after
travelling for some weeks with the cattle,
he became homesick, ran away, Joined a
wagner bound for East Tennessee, and
SO reached home again.
The next winter his father sent him
to school for the first time in his life ;
but before ne had been at school week
ne had fight with one OF the scholars,
in which he gained the victory and
beat his antagonist so severely that he
dared not show himself in school again.
So he played truant for several days ;
but discovering that his father had found
him out, he thought it prudent to beat a
retreat, and hired himself to another