The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-03-16
zee REAL pAVY CRooKETT.
Neither Wholly a Baokwoodsman Nor
dude in store Clothes.
From the ST. Louis Republic.


stead of being the rough backwoodsman
of tradition, he was really a "well-
dressed, polished gentleman"
The assertion is not wholly true, but
there is some ground for it, since Crock
EFT, after his service in congress and his
tour inthe east did aspire to the reputa-
ton of gentleman, and did make at
tempts as a political satirist in emulation
of the then celebrated Mai. Jack Down
ing. He published several books which
attracted wide attention, but, although
his account of his eastern trip and his
burlesque life of Van Buren, have some
value as showing the spirit of politics in
his time, they are worthless otherwise
while his autobiography has in it so much
both Of originality and interest that it is
certain to be read as long as there are any
who are interested in the primitive life
of the United States.
Crockett wore his store clothes" when
he had his portrait taken to serve as a
frOntiSpiece for his books. He wore them
in Washington and on his visit to Boston,
but when he went back to West Tennes-
see he put on his cOonskin cap, which was
his strong point in the politics of the dis
trict. West Tennessee was good deal
further west than Western Kansas is
now, and when Crockett was elected to
congress the sections which prided them
selves on their superior culture took much
the same interest in him that they do now
in the Hon. Jeremiah Simpson of Kansas.
Doubtless in process of time some icono-
clast will attempt to unsettle history and
prove to our great-great grandchildren
that Mr.. Simpson is man Of the most
studied refinement in dress, who has al
ways made a point of wearing socks.
Whatever may be the success of that at
tempt, it is certain that Crockett's coon
skin cap and deerskin suit are authentic
and no fiction Ii is also certain that in
connection with a flask and a faculty of
story telling they elected him to congress.
The histories of the United States in
use in the schools thirty years ago had a
picture of Crockett in the angle of the
Alamo, with bowie-knife in his hand
and large pile of dead Mexicans in front
of him. According to the text which ac-
companied the picture, he was killed only
after a desperate resistance, but it has
been since asserted that he was one of six
who surrendered and We're afterWard
butchered in cold blood by order of Santa
Anna Except that two or more MeXi
cans were killed for every defender of the
fortress, what took place in ana in front
of the Alamo on the day it was stormed
will never be known with certainty, and
it has never been proved that Crockett
surrendered. The original version is more
satisfactory, and those who prefer it are
free to hold to it.
Crockett left Tennessee for Texas for
the same reason he attempted literature
because he had ventured to oppose him
self TO the overwhelming popularity OF
Andrew jackson. After his visit to Bos-
ton, where they made great deal Of him
as the only Tennesseean who dared to
stand up for Sound finance" against
Jackson, Crockett mad greatly enlarged
ideas of his own Importance; and when
he found that he could not induce West
Tennessee to endorse him as greater
statesman than jackson, he went to Texas
and ended his career at the Alamo.
His father, an Irish soldier of the Rev
olution, kept tavern on the road from
Abingdon to Knoxville. He attempted to
give his son such an education as could
be had in the log school houses of the
mountains, but David ran away and hired
himself to teamsters, who carried freight
between Baltimore and the western set
Elements. In this way he travelled
through Virginia ahd Maryland, and be-
fore he was of age acquired a knowledge
of the world greatly superior to that of
the average baekwoodsman. Neverthe-
less it was not until he was nearly grown
and had already made up his mind to
marry that he learned his letters.
He had only six months of regular
schooling, but in one way and another he
afterward picked up enough from books
to enable him to risk French phrase oc-
casiOnally in his political writing, pub
lished at the time he had set up as a
rival of Andrew Jackson, and was anxi-
Gus to convince the east that he was
something more than Crockett, the bear
hunter.
At that period % his career he ceases
to be interesting because of the unfortu-
nate facility with which he had adopted
the hackneyed style of the average poll
tician he met at Washington, but before
Washington society and Boston fattery
spoiled him he really deserved his ma
tional reputation as one of the most in
teresting and original characters in
American politics.
During the Greek war he was ninety
day man, and as he had the faculty of
recognizing every one he had on seen
and a good many he had never se@ at all,
the militiamen elected him colonel, and
it was by this title that he always liked
best to be known, even when he was a
member of congress.
In his electloneering methods Crockett
greatly resembled Lincoln, as is not at all
strange. since these methods were very
general in the backwoods, and Southern
illinois when Lincoln was young politi-
clan was at about the same stage Of de-
velopment as The western district of Ten
nessee when Crockett ran for congress.
He was popular with the bnckwoodsmen
not only because he lived in a canebrake
and was a genuine bear hunter, but be-
cause he either knew or appeared to know
every one he met, and had a great fund
of anecdotes on which he was always
ready TO draw.
But he did not trust to stories alone 1t
is related that, when campaigning. he
carried a twist of tobacco in one pocket
and bottle of whisky in the other.
When trying to get a vote he would first
offer the voter the bottle. The voter
would necessarily remove his "quid"
while drinking from the bottle, and
Crockett would then offer him fresh
chew from the twist in the other pocket.
II was by such methods. reinforcing his
natural gifts, that he grew so popular as
to imagine himself a match even for An
drew jackson.
Crockett had no money for electioneer-
ing purposes. Money was almost un.
known in the west at the time. There
was some little in St. Louis, the hr a l.
quarters Of the western fur trade, and
Mexican silver eked out by wild cat notes
=. Al. I'm.