St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-04-14
CRAWFORD'S CHATS.
The Poet Scout Pleasantly Enter
tains Large Audience.

The Poet Scout Pleasantly Enter
tains a Large Audience.
Capt. Jack Crawford, the noted scout
and rhymer, spoke two hours and
half in Acker Post hall last night to an
Col. Albert Scheffer introduced the
speaker in an eulogistic speech, charac-
terizing him as an uncut diamond. Capt.
Crawford lost no time in demonstrating
to the audience the truth OF Col. Schef-
fer's application, and in winning their
admiration and hearty applause.
Not man, woman or child stirred from
his seat while the captain went gallop-
ing along over the plains III magma
ton. or stopped occasionally to indulge
in pathetic or thrilling descriptions of
events on the field of battle, scenes on
the plains or incidents with noted peo-
pie III civilized life. He had stated that
he was loaded for an eight-hour talk,
and the audience at 10:30 was willing to
have him proceed to the end, but he
stopped as suddenly as he began. Capt.
Crawford has rare faculty OF grasping
situations i'll all phases of life,
either serious, pathetic or humor-
Gus, and of portraying them in graphic
prose or jingling rhyme. He said he
and he would not be discounted by
Burns, Byron or even ST. Paul's poet
laureate, FRANKLIN W. Lee. He recited
several of his poems and related the
stories that inspired the theme. His
poem, why | Wear the Badge" was
written al the home of Corporal Tanner.
A grandson of the noted corporal had
asked the veteran why he wore his
Grand Army badge and why he called
Capt. Jack and others comrades. Cor
pOral Tanner had taken the child on his
lap and explained the meaning. Capt.
Crawford said: II told the CORPORAL |
would not go to the post that night, and
l wrote that poem then and read it at
a. IN. to the assembled guests" He
sang his parody on Marching Through
Georgia" He said Gen. Sherman told
him the song ought to have been the
original Marching Through Georgia"
| because il was more true to real life.
| His song, There Are Little Ones Pray
ing for Me-" was written when on
scout into Mexico to find the Indian
chief Victoria. He received a letter
from his wife in Pennsylvania when on
| the scout saying his two children would
| pray for him, and he wrote the poem by
the light of the moon in the mountains
OF Mexico. He also recited his poem
descriptive Of his race with Tom Ste
venS. Stevens was making tour of the
world on bicycle. He met him OH the
| plains and ran a race with him on a
broncho, in which the broncho was
wagered against the bicycle. He turned
over his brOnchO after he lost the bet,
and it was given by Stevens TO Col.
| Pope. This recital drew forth round
| after round of applause.
Rafting JOe's Prayer from deck
Of cards, in which each card represented
| Biblical character, showed the wonder
full versatility of the untutored mind,
and as Beecher said of it's a most lnno-
Gently sacrilegiouS poem. His deScrip-
ton Of Pony BilP5 conversion and a
| synopsis of a sermon by him after he
became the cowboy preacher was
eral other OF his poetic productions,
and gave sketches of how he was
received in Boston and other Eastern
places by people of literary pretensions
and culture that indicated his dislike
for the way the wild and fuzzy West is
regarded by the downeaster. He gave
running account of his scouting eXpe-
! dition with Buffalo Bill. Lieut.. Schwatka
and others after the Custer massacre,
and of his acting as courier to carry the
dispatches for the New York Herald to
Laramie, for which he got $500 and an
expense account of S222.75 Oh the trip.
He spoke very rapidly during the entire
evening and carried his audience along
with him, and was interrupted Frequent
ly with applause.