Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-05-08
THE POET SCOUT.
Sometime bout the Early Life of Capt.
\ .cI. CraNt ford.

4 au9anuCEslS ana private sccIeLois VI oiS
immortal George d, Prentice, OF the
Louisville J0urHdl and who for many
years was "a distinguished member OF the
Missouri press gang, arrived in this city
a few days ago from the far West, having
been in the past ten years citizen and
newspaper man in California, wyoming
and Colorado.
'During the month Of March and part
of April,'' he said. 81 have been in New
Mexico with Capt. Jack Crawford, the
famous scout, delivering my lectures,
/ Sixty Minutes in the War; ETC., and hay.
ing invaded every nook and corner Of that
interesting country, / got hold of stuff
enough, novel and queer, to write book,
sut | won't do it. The people in this
world have been kind to me, and | am not
ungrateful. Let me say, however, that
New Mexico is a land of great promise.
Its silver and copper mines are exceed
ingly rich and but little developed; it has
almost inexhaustible resources as cattle
/ raising country, bavlng such vast
stretches Of grass-grOwing region, and /
am informed that the diseases peculiar to
cattle are almost unknown there. In
deed, the animal kin gdOm, including man,
is seldom afflicted with any kind of dis
.
Of sunshine and clean. light air, ana the
microbes Of disease can't live there. Be-
sides, the climate is equable, and in the
greater portion of the Territory extremes
of heat and cold are not felt, and on &C
count of the rarifed condition of the air
the highest and lowest marks OF the mer-
curry do not carry with them the discom-
forts of lesser attitudes. For instance,
/ 40 degrees OF heat is not felt there so
/ az HanrpnG would
Louis.
"In Santa Fe, which, by the way, is TIE
second Oldest town in the United States,
one finds a necessity tor the thickness of
a pair of blankets to sleep under in mid
summer nights, and one rises in the morn
| ing 50 much refreshed from good rest that
he is the better able to stand the heat of
the day. Santa Fe is a quaint old town,
built, for the most part, OF adobe houses,
the walls Of which are SC thick that
houses are cool in summer and warm in
winter. Indeed, nearly all the towns and
cities Of New Mexico are built OF adobe.
Especially is this the case in SOcorro,
/ Las Cruces and Santa Re. Many of the
other towns have lately acquired what
are called new towns which, being
/ AmercaniZed, are built OF brick, wood
and stone, notably Las Yeas, Albu-
querque and San Marcial. Then there
are towns which, having been built en-
tirely by Americans, have very few adobes
i'm them, such, for instance, as Ration,
! Deming and Silver City.
NOT A NEW COUNTRY.
sIt is somewhat amusing to hear East
4 ern people talking Of New Mexico, and
indeed all of the Rocky Mountain region
south of the Platte, as a new country,
when the fact is that it had been explored
and cities were built there by the Span
t.Fssfae1 fl1I
ashore at Plymouth Rock a century be-
fore New England had any European set
| Elements. COronaua and other Spaniards
marched from Mexico as far north as
where Omaha now stands in the sixteenth
century, and only thirty years after the
discovery Of America by Columbus de
Naca, a Spanish buccaneer who had been
wrecked on the coast OF Louisiana or
Texas, explored the country as far north
as Central Kansas
"You were speaking of Capt. Jack
Crawford" said the reporter. do you
know much about these long-haTed buck
skin scouts? | see there are several OF
them in st. Louis now"
eyes, | know mum hers of them and their
history, and am specially acquainted with
Crawford. l believe that he has done
more effective work with the army and
has entitled himself, by herioc deeds and
hairbreadth Escapes, to more fame as an
Indian hunter than all of the others put
together who have figured in the Indian
wars OF the past twenty years. He was
with Gen Crook on his Sitting Bull Sioux
campaign and was an enterprising CORE
spondent of the New York Herald not
only in that campaign, but in the opening
of the Black Hills. and made some Won
derful rides to get dispatches to the tele-
graph lines. He was chief of scouts in
the campaigns against the Apaches,
Victoria and Mana in 1879 S0-Sl and
along there. and was also correspondent
of the Herdld then. He is now post-tradeT
at Fort Craig, N. NJ, hut has been with
me in the lecture field this winter. One
remarkable thing about this man is that
in all his wild career as an Indian hunter,
government scout, etc, he never tasted in
toXicants in his life, and though he has
published a handsome volume of poems,
and is known as the Poet Scout and has
done great deal of newspaper work, he
never crossed the threshold of a school
house as a pupil, but was taught to read
and write by the Sisters of Charity while
lying wounded in a Philadelphia hospital
after the battle Of SP0tsylyania.
A GREAT BUFFALO HUNTER.
she did a great deal Of work years age
as a plains guide and buffalo hunter, and
has. perhaps, killed on contract more
ever lived. AS the world knows, his
shooting is miraculous and his endurance
is almost beyond belief. Once he broke
10000 glass balls in six days with his rifle,
which would be 10000 shots per day, and
he says he will give any man $1,000 who
will bring his rifle up TO an aim 1,000
times in succession. He is moreover an
educated gentleman and has hOb-nObbed
with the crowned heads Of England"
"Why do these scouts wear their hair
long% the reporter asked.
"Well, in "A state Of nature so TO speak,
there are several good reasons for it. Out
on the pains, in the scouting days, there
Were no BARRIERS, no shears; besides, the
long hair was u protection to the neck
from the heat Of summer and the cold OF
winter. 1t answered the use of what is
known in the army as a havelOck, and
il is said that the Indians have a higher
regard for white men who wear long
hair, and treat such prisoners with dis
tinguished consideration. Gen. Custer
wore his hair that way, and many plains.
men desired to initiate him in the matter.
Nowadays, and in civilization, the most
Of them keep their hair at that length,
more from habit and from a distinguish.
ing mark than from any other reason.
] want 10 tell you little story on Craw-