Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-11-20

III Ek0H183 EH00Ay &2<IE - 80 49,
mountain valley in the heart Ut the
Northern Sierras, where tor some
years Beckwourfh, the famous trap-
per, guide, Indian chief, and iron
tiersman lived. The annals OF
Western adventure contained no more
| interesting figure than sEsrthy Jim
Beck wourih. the discovsrer. 10 1871,
I 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 Fred
ericksburg, Va, In 179e. His father
had been an officer 10 the revolution
About 1906 the family removed TO
Missouri, and settled twelve miles be-
| low ST. Charles. In . region still call
ed Beckuourfh's Settlement When
only 10 years old Jim Beckwourth
became the hunter for Colonel X ID.
Johnson's expedition to treat with
the sacs and Foxes, snd work lead
mines Ia the GaIena regions. II was
not long before Beck xourth Joined
General Ashiey's Rocky Mountain
Fur Company. From 1917 until he
started for California In 1874, bis life
was q succession Of hairbreadth es-
capes. Of fortunes made and lost.
and Indian battles. He served under
Bent and sublette In the West. and
with General Jessup during the Sem
mole war In Florida. He even be-
came First Counselor Of the Grow
Nation, and finally their head chief,
| leading them In countless forays
against the Sioux and BIackfeet. He
always protected the persons aud
property Of the whites while he was
The ruler Of the Crows. His popular
lity with the tribe, whom he ruled
with q rod of iron. was due 10 bis
wonderful knowledge Of Indian ma
lure and bis unsurpassed moss-troop'
or instincts. lie was never 30 happy
rs WHEN in the saddle, leading war
party by night marches TO assault Lii
ban or Comanche encampments, O.
to stampede their hsfses and dash
away again like a whiriwind. One oil
THE dozen or more Indian names he
had meant. In English, Eaemy OF
horses.
| One OF Beckwourth's famous feats
was accomplished about 1922. when
he was near the Snake river, trapping
beaver. lie was pursued by over POI
Indians, and ran all day without
| food or water. covering. IL Is heliev
ed. not less than ninety-five miles be
| fore be reached Sublette's camp.
This feat ranks In the tales OF the
West with Beng's famous ride twenty
years later. In 1885, while Beck
wourth was Ia Sc. Louis and was
still chief of the Grows, q foolist
trapper told the tribe that he had
been killed. They at once surround
ed Fort Cass with thousands of war
riors 10 take immediate vengeance
After much parley truce of thres
months was agreed upon until wore
could be sent TO Beckwourth to come
and rescue the beleaguered fort, which
contained $4,000 worth of goods
A trapper named Pappen was pait
$1,000 to deliver the message To Beck
wourth, and the Crows encamped Il
await results. The fur company
| paid Beckwourth 5000 and all ex
penses TO return at once, and he rode
with two companions, the entire dis
lance in fifty days, and saved the for
from destruction.
| After this he traded In New Mexi
co, and in 1874 led an expeditions {,
California, reaching Los Angeles II
January, 1874. He was one of thl
the most active of the revolutionist
In 1915, under General Castro. beinl
leader of the thirteen American rifle
men who fret joined Castro. He wa
lieutenant OF subsequent corps o
: 100 which captured the pueblos o
Santa Barbara and Monterey, defeat
ing Suffers forces. When in lS47
war was declared in Mexico, Beck
wourth aud his company of trappers
numbering less than a dozen, collect
ed over 1900 horses In the Los Ange
les region, and. starting eastward
reached the Arkansas in safety. ii,
then carried dispatches from For
Leavenworth TO Santa Fc and other
points. On one occasion he rode Of:
miles in fifteen days. In 1913 he re
turned 10 California.
| Here he helped to bring to justice
the perpetrators of the Reed murder
near San Miguel, where respected
English family and their servants
eleven In all. were killed. The ranch
was twenty-five miles from the near
est house, and Beckwourth was til,
person who discovered the deed no
al hour after IL was committed. 1T,
rode seventy-two miles that night
and collected q band of forty men, Il
whom twenty more were added tn,
next day. They separated. and Beck
wourth, with twenty men, overlook
the fourteen desperadoes who hae
killed the family in order TO get 800,
worth OF gold dust. In the ATTACK
two or three of the murderers wer,
killed, and the others were captured
tried by lynch law, and shot. Afte
this Beckwourth became familia
| figure at the gold camps Of the Sier
ras, from Hangtown To Shasta.
Beekwourth was rather under me
dium size, but possessed of grea
strength and endurance. He wa
famous for his vivid descriptive pow
ers In telling OF his adventures. Ii,
died in his lonely cabin score o
years ago, vagrant OF the wilder
ness. an uneducated. kind .heartes
fron,lersman. less noble than Boos
and Carson, yet not unworthy o
companionship.