The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-06-15
From the Marietta Times.]
DAVID CROCKETT.

San DAVID CROCKETT.
Robert Crockett, of Hood county,
Texas, is the only surviving son of
Col. D1vy Crockett.-[Exehange.,
+ Forty years ago, David Crocket was
a noted man, and his name was as
familiar to the people, east, west, and
south, as that of , jackson, Clay, or
Biddle. Born, he could scarcely learn
where, in 1856, of the humblest
parentage, he grew up to manhood on
the frontiers of civilization He had
no early advantages of any sort. So
little schooling did he get, that, when
thirty years old, he was barely able to
read, and could just write his name.
The campaigns OF the wal of 1912, at
the far South, under the leadership of
General jackson, afforded DaVy a
chance to show that he had within
him fhe stuff of which soldiers are
made, while his wit, shrewdness, and
audacity, together with his reputation
as a 'scrack shot," gave him an early
and undisputed ascendaney over the,
backwoodsmen by whom he was sur
rounded. He became their leader ON
| all occasions; because, of this class of
primitive western men, the successors
of Boone and Hardin, he was the ex-
aggerated type As a bear hunter, he
| hal no equal, and always dwelt
! upon his exploits in that way with
| supreme satisfaction For this reason
he was q chief among the hunters.
| He was elected, in 1929, 10 the State
Senate of Tennessee the rude. people
i about him Judging thatif he could aim
so truly with the rifle, he could not
vote amiss iuia legislature. In those
early times, The practice had been to
send none but gentlemen to delibera-
tive bodies. This was the rule before
the Revolution; it continued to be the
rule long afterwards; and so, Crockett
made almost as great sensation IN
Nashville, by his eccentricities as a
backwo0lsman, as if he were sitting in
the State house at Albany OF Harris
burg. A oCut this time General Jack
son was brought before the people for
the Presidency. AT first, Crockett
was among his staunchest adherents-
But Davy was, by nature, as much OF
a conservative as Geo. CADET or limo
thy Pickering and hence, in 1929,
when jackson was President, he was
one of the earliest to diecoyer that
thou III he liked the man he could not
support his measures. Without the
slightest hesitation he went over to |
the other side alta time when Jack /
son was the Nun Of Destiny in
American politics, and VIXEN, to oppose
him, an I6IinSSeee, was simply the
rashness of courting political death:
We must also remember, if we would
properly rate Crocketts boldness In
1880, that Poindexter, Hugh L.
White, Berrien, Bell, and others who
afterwards became the chiefs of the
Whig party in the South, were still
jackson men, and apparently on eX-
cellent terms with the President.
Crockett was candidate for Congress /
in 1925, and lacked just two votes Of s
being elected. HIS friends advised
him to contest, the seat, and there
were GOOD grounds for such proce- 5
dure. but he declared Ee would not
sneak into Congress that way if he
had not the clear voice OF the people1l I;
in his favor, he could wait In 1924,
however, he was successful, receiving Il
a majority Of 1nore than 1900 votes,
and he was re elected in 1929. His
opposition to General jackson cost his
seat at the election .ini 1881, but he
cot it again in 1888. d. He was, in
truth, as fond Of public life as John
@. Adams, and in spite of his defec-
tive education and his oddities, he {
was a good Congressman. He was !
always in the House; he attended
closely to his duties; and kept a vigil {
ant eve on the business of the session.
Though a Jealous Wing, and, towards {
the last, a fervent admirer of Henry /
Clay, he was as independent OF the {
great Neptuckian's dictation as any
Jackson man on the floor. There was
another feature in Crockett's charact-
er; he could and would learn, and he 7
did learn all the time he was a public +
man. He went to Washington in
1927 with the broadest Western dialect @
9n his tongue, and with eeentricities d
IF manner which were quite as anus
ng to Cook Of Illinois, as to Webster,f
,f Massachusetts, for Cook though !
Western man, and really d
Identified with Western interests, was Ii
porn and educated in one OF the older Il
States, as were most, if not all, of his L
Western colleagues. The backwoeds p
;lyle in which Crockett habitualiy' Il
poke was, however, perceptibly toned
lown in 1929; four years latter he
vas to deliver a speech with touches 81
II elegance as well as force-but' a
nevertheless. characterized always by | t,
lis strong individuality and, in 1888, Il
lie could, without effort, clothe his CT
deas with happier forms OF expression Sc
han many practiced orators command. ii
lie civilized his outward appearance CT