The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-11-04

Crawford is now interesting himself
in the free reading rooms and libraries
along the Santa Fe railroad. and leaves
this evening on train No. for Chilli
cothe. ILL., where tomorrow night he
speaks for the reading room benefit
fund of the company
Crawford has a. personality so inter
esting that one sits and listens to his
recounting a vivid bit of personal his
tory in connection with his frontier life,
or hears him recite pathetic poem of
his own composition. without noting
the passing of time. He has appeared
before notable gatherings of people on
two continents and is regarded every
where as nothing less than a genius. AT
dinners and clubs he reciteS off-hand
without any apparent preparation, po-
ems full of wit and pertinent to the oc-
casion.
Crawford is of Scotch parentage-his
real name is John Wallace Crawford.
He came to America when child and
while a boy was employed in the an
thracite coal mines of PENNSYLVANIA.
That is what makes him retain such
warm feeling for the men of that great
district; and it is why he has been Civ
ing his time, talent and money for their
assistance in the recent struggle against
the barons. At the outbreak of the civil
war he entered the union army, some
how-after he had been rejected on ac
count OF his youth. He was wounded.
and while lying in hospital at Phila-
delphia he received the first rudiments
of education. a Sister OF Charity took
an interest in him and taught him to
read and write After being released
from the hospital he struck out west.
1t was on the western frontier that he
first became famous as a pIainsman.
He entered the service of the govern
ment as a scout and was under Gen.
Crook in the Sitting Bull campaign,
finally becoming chief of scouts. After
ward he was with the United States
army in the campaign against the
Apache Indians of New Mexico. Craw
ford was made custodian of the post at
Fort Craig. It was afterward aban-
doned by the army but the old adobe
buildings stood for years afterward, and
! here the poet-ScCut spent much of his
time for several years He lived in
tent, and was a ranchman and miner
enjoying the free, wild life of that coun-
try so picturesquely beautiful in its
In 1898. at the time of the Klondike
gold excitement, he left the states and
went to Alaska, remaining there two
winters Then he returned, and much
of the time since he has spent wander
ing about this continent and in Europe
| He is a man of quick nervous DISPOSE
ton and talks with a vivacity that keeps
an audience under a spell In the political
campaign of 1898 he delivered more than
200 speeches for Mckinley. and was one
of the notification committee which wait
ed upon the late martyred president to in
form him of his nomination by the nation
/ al republican convention w nile 1t is the
/ life of Crawford that would furnish the
most stirring incidents, he shows a dis
like to conversation concerning his attain
ments as a frontiersman. There are so
many things" said he in conversation
with State Journal reporter today. that
are written about so-called frontier ex-
periences that would make the genuine
frontiersman blush, who knows anything
about that kind of life. So I do not care
to pay any attention to that phase of my
/ life just now. Sometimes I go and see
these blood-and-th thunder productions and
l feel just like getting up the stage
and throwing them off and telling them
what a shame it all is l find it is just
this sort of stuff that is filling our western
penitentiaries with the brightest and best
young men of the country. And all be-
cause these writers present such things in
way that has nothing but a bad lesson.
AS travel over the country I am glad
to go into the prisons and talk with the
young men behind the bars for hours at
time. 1t is the greatest pleasure of ny
life to be doing something for those who
are really in need. The rich men of the
country are continually giving libraries
and the like for the learned and the rich:
but want to do something that will help
the unlearned: the waif in the street And
that is why / am In this business right