New-York tribune., 1902-10-26

DANIEL, ,Ho0NE BY Ruben Gold Thwaites. l4fe
& Co -''''' ~ ~ -''- - All II ''--
Mr.. Thwaitcs has told with conmeadable brev-
lty and effective treatment If picturesque Incl
dent the story Of an American pioneer who was
well fitted for varied and exciting experiences
banlel Boone familiar with the savages
Ifom the time of his poyhood. The son Of a
weaver and blacksmith in d pioneer outpost Of
Philadelphia. his education was no very eIab-
orate affair. Yet ht had more than was usually
given to the rough frontiersman. The sister-in-
law who taught him the three RS was giving
nm part Of the equipment that marked him for
prcterment in his later manhood. The hunter
came out in Boone early. certainly by his tenth
year. He was apt to neglect the cattle he was
set to watch, in the interest of game. Before his
father gave him a rifle al the age Of twelve he
was keen shot with a small sapling. weighted
at the end with snarl of roots. When in 1850
the BoOnes showed the family characteristics
by hndlnS two removals, made in the neighbor-
mood now between Philadelphia and Reading,
insufficient to relieve them from the pressure
Of settlement. and made off in wagons for the
famed valley of the Yadkin, in North Carolina,
young Daniel gave his assigned duties perfume
tory attention, and spent his time shooting IN
the mountains.
He may have gone with Washington's expedi-
year following, he accompanied Braddock's i!
fated column as WAGNER and blacksmith. and
fell in with John Finley, the friend who excited
him with stories of Kentucky. Shortly after his
return he married Rebccca Ryan, the seventeen
year-old daughter of a neighbor, who remained
his devoted wife. and, far a woman could
keep pace with such a Nimrod, his steadfast
companion into old age. In the years following
he often busy against the Indians. aiding il.
the defence Of Fort Dobbs in the widespread
carnage of 1850. and accompanying The retalia-
tory columns under Byrd in l1Gl. Cherokees
and Catawbas did not make his only hunting,
however, as was attested by the inscrip-
tion in the bark of a tree standing un-
til recently in the Iadkin-'D. Boon
ciled y PAR on this tree year 11GO-'
In few years he taking his young son
James along with him ON hunting trips. train
ing him in the skill of a woodsman by day, and
at night, when they camped in the open shell
tering him from the driving snow in MS arms.
as they slept with their feet to the fire.
The rowing fever took Boone at this time 70
Florida. where, though he scorned alligators as
game. he bought a house and lot in Pensacola,
He was only dssuaded from moving there ty
his wife. In 1861 he made a hunting excursion
into Kentucky. and in 1863, with Finley and
party, satisfied his long cherished ambition by a
trip along the kentucky River In December
Of this year he was captured by a party of
Shawnees, whose treaty rights he was violating,
and who warned him TO desist when set free.
He had no idea, however, that an Indian had
any rights, and set aNout making good the i"ss
of the skins his captors had confiscated. IN
Lord DunmOre's war with the Mingoes and other
tribes he won the rank OF captain, and was fire.
quently mentioned in the military correspond
ence In 1915 he joined the Transylvania Com
pany to open Kentucky to settlement and wac
identified with the venture throughout the Rev"-
luton, laying out towns-thouGh losing al his