Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-10-04

RccOllecfiOnS OF n Famous Scout who
Became the Chief OF an Indian
Tribe.

In Plumas county, California, there is a fer
| tile mountain valley in the heart of the North
ern Sierras, where, for some years. Beckwourth,
the famous trapper guide, Indian chief and
| fronstiersman, lived The annals Of western ad-
venture contain no more interesting figure than
swarthy Jim Beckwourth, the dscoverer, in
| 1851, of this mountain pass. The writer has met
many persons. army officers and civilians, who
knew Beckwourth, and has talked with gold
| hunters whom this fearless guide led across the
| Sierras in 1851.
Beckwourth was born in Fredericksburg, Va
in 1873. His father had been an officer in the
Revolution. About 1905 the family removed to
Missouri, and settled twelve miles below st.
Charles in region still called Beckwourth's
| Settlement. When only nineteen years old Jim
! Beckwonrth became the hunter for Col. R. NJ.
| Johnson's expedition to treat with the Sacs
| and Foxes. and work lead mines in the Galena
region. 1t was not long before Beckwourth
| joined Gen. Ashley's Rocky Mountain Fur
company. From 1877 until he started for
California in 1874. his life was a succession of
hairbreadth escapes, of fortunes made and lost
and of Indian battles He served under Bent
and Subette in the west and with Gen. Jessup
| during the Seminole war in Florida. He even
became first counsellor Of the Crow nation and
| finally their head chief leading them in count
less forays against the Sioux and Blackfeet
He always protected the persons and property
| His popularity with the tribe whom he ruled
with rod OF iron. was due to his wonderful
| knowledge OF Indian nature and his unsurpassed
| mOss-trooper instincts. He was never so happy
| as when in the saddle, leading war party by
night marches to assault Lipan or COmanche
encampments. or to stampede their horses and
| dash away again like Whrlwind. One of the
| dozen or more Indian names he had meant in
English, Enemy Of Horses"
| One of Beckwourth's famous feats was accom-
/ ~,
river trapping beaver. He was pursued by over
200 Indians, and ran all day without food or
water. covering, it is believed not less than 95
miles before he reached Sublettes camp. This
| feat ranks in the tales of the west with Bent's
| famous ride 20 wears LATER In 1886 while Beck
wourth was in st. Louis and was still chief of
| the Crows. foolish trappcr told that tribe that
| he had been killed. They at once surrounded
Fort Cass with thousands of warriors to take
immediate vengeance. After much parley a
| truce of three months was agreed upon until
! word could be sent to Beckwourth to come and
rescue the beeacured fort, which contained
| 100000 worth of goods. A trapper named
| Pappen was paid Il coo to deliver the message
to Beckwourth, and the Crows encamped to
await results. The fur company paid Beck
wOurth $4,000 and all expenses to return at
once, and he rode. with two companions the
entire distance in so days, and saved the fort
| frOmdestruction.
After this he traded in New Mexico. and in
Los Angeles in January. 1874 He was one of
| the most active OF the revOlutiOnist of 1916
under Gen. Castro, being leader of the thirteen
| American r:femen who first joined Castro. He
was lieutenant of the subsequent corps Of 100
which captured the Pueblos of Santa Barbara
and Monterey, defeating Suffers forces. When
in 1917. war was declared in Mexico Beck
wourth and his company of trappers, number
ing less than dozen, collected over 1.S00
horses in the Los Angeles region, and. starting
eastward, reached the Arkansas in safety. He
then carried dispatches from Fort Leavenworth
to Santa Fe and other points. On one occasion
| he rode 913 miles in fifteen days. In 1S4S he
returned TO California.
Here he helped to bring to Justice the perpe-
traitors OF the Reed murders near San Miguel
where respected English family and their
+, servants. eleven in ALL were killed. The ranch
was twenty-five miles from the nearest house.
and Beckwourth was the person who dis
covered the deed not an hour after it was CON-
mitted. He rode seventy-twO miles that night
and collected a band of forty men, to whom
twenty more We're added the next day. They
separated. and BeckwOurth, with twenty men,
overlook the fourteen desperadoes who had
killed the family in order to get $1,000 worth
OF gold dust In the attack two or three of the
murderers were killed. and the others were
captured. tried by lynch law, and shot. After
this BeckwoUrth became a familiar figure at
the gold camps of the SierraS, from HangtOWn
to Shasta.
Beckwourth was rather under medium size
but possessed OF great strength and endur-
ance. He was famous for his vivid descriptive
powers in telling Of his adventures. He died
In his lonely cabin score of years ago, a
yagrant of the wilderness, an uneducated
kind-hearted fr0ntiersman, less noble than
Boone and Carson, yet not unworthy Of their
cOmmnonshiD.