Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-03-20
COLONEL eowlE's KNIFE.
It Is as Popular as Ever, But Not &
DueIing Purposes.

It Is as Popular as Ever, But Not for
DueIing Purposes.
A reporter of the New York Evening
Post was talking with one of the pro-
prletorS of a big downtown cutlery house
when a customer entered and said he
wished to see some bowie-knives. varied
assortment was shown to him, and he
selected one, paid for it, and went out
"What on earth is he going to do with
thatP' asked the reporter, as the customer
disappeared through the doorway, Eight
a duel or whats" Scarcely" laughed the
proprietor, as he took up one Of the keen
blades and ran his thumb-nai over it. men
dop't fight duels with bowie knives now
adays. He will probably use that knife in
hunting"
''Are there many bowies sold for that
purpose?n
Lots of them. The bowie is one of the
most useful articles that a sportsman who
IS going for big game can carry, for it
| serves a number of purposes. With it
hunter can kill and skin his game, as well
as cut wood for his camp fire. The bowie
knife of to-day is little used as a weapon of
offense or defense, as it 'has no show
when pltted against the self-cockiug re-
volver or repeating rife. The knives we
| sell are well made in both blade and handle
The finest steel is used and great care is
/
used are buckhorn, but some sportsmen
prefer deer's-foot or ivory, silver mounted,
and for such they pay fancy price, often
| as high as fifteen or sixteen dollars"
"Where are bowie knives manufactured"
"Mostly in England, although they are
made to some extent in Connecticut. The
Van l1ee knives are fully the equal of their
! English competitors. Several firms in the
city import bowie-knives, but no one house
-
wouldn't pay. Most of the knives that are
sent out of the city go to the West and
South. Since stringent laws were passed
in the South, however, making the carrying
of bowie criminal offense, the trade in
that region has fallen off considerably A
great many are sent TO Cuba and South
America, although in those countries the
machete, a larger and heavier knife, is more
popular"
SIS the present bowie knife of the same
| shape as the first on s made!i'
'The genuine bowie has but one shape,
which has never changed. The famous
| Colonel Bowie, you know, from whom the
knife received its name, invented it by &C
cident, his sword breaking off in a fight.
He was so pleased with the shape and size
| of the fragment which remained in his
hand that he had knife made precisely
like it. Lots of people will call any large,
stralght-bladed knife a bowie, but the gen.
uine article always has clip point, which
extends about one-third the length Of the
blade. When bowie knives first became
popular, their blades We're made from
twelve to fifteen inches long, two inches
broad and thick in proportion. Now the
blades vary in length from five to twelve
inches, rarely exceeding the latter"
"What is the cost of bowie kniyes?"
THE fve-inch knife sells at S1.50 retail
and S13 dozen wholesale. The twelve-inch
knives are about S32 a dozen wholesale, and
a good one at retail will cost about s4. The
intermediate sizes bring prices in proper
ton. The figures given include the sheaths,
which are made Of strong leather, tipped
with steel and furnished with loop by
which they may be suspended from the
waist. Bowle-knives not used for hunting g
are carried in various ways, the most poprI-
lar, because the handiest IN case of emer-
gency, being to suspend the knife under
the left arm, securing the sheath to the
edge of the armhoie of the vest by spring
oil