Evening star., 1903-07-29
A TEXAS MONUMENT
To Those VI Who Fell at the
Alamo.
LADIES GOT. THE MONEY
JAMES BOWIE WAS ONE OF THAT
TRAGEDY's VICTIMS.
Something About the Man Who Gave
His Name to the Famous Knife
His Exciting Career.

His Name to the Famous Knife
His Exciting Career.
The ladies Of the state Of Texas. headed
by those Of San Antonio. are inaugurating
movement which does equal credit to
their patriotism and appreciation Of the
heroism OF those who made the state out
OF the former republic of Texas by their
genius and dauntless courage, when men
like Houston furnished her chief magis-
trates and Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston led
her gallant soldiers to victory One hun
dred thousand dollars have been subscribed
for the erection of monument to the men
who fought and died at the Alamo-men
like Crockett. Harding and Bowie. These
are among the names that will be inscrib
ed on this granite monument and Of those
who won at Alamo immortal fame none
is more deserving than James Bowie. There
at the Alamo. sick and alone, he died at
the end OF such Berserk rage, and a
deed that has handed his famous knife
down to immortal fame, for on that day
Bowie performed feat fit to rank with
the proudest deeds OF the dead days OF
romance and beauty
1t has often been asked what manner
OF man was James Bowie. The only man
the writer ever knew who had an intimate
personal acquaintance with him was ex-
Gov. James Madison Wells Of the parish
OF Rap1des. in Louisiana. whose house was
Bowie's home when the latter was in
Louisiana.
His Birthplace Uncertain
James Bowie" he said, whose ending
was Just such a one as he would have
chosen-for there were seven dead Mexi-
cans lying around him, each Of whom had
died from one stroke Of Bowie's awful
knffe-was born in 1700, either In Mary
land or Tennessee He was never quite
sure which Of these states was his birth
place.
The papers and family Bible. which
would have settled this question for good.
the Bowies was burned. either by the
Cherokees or Shawnees. who were fighting
for their ancient homes and hunting
grounds. In Kentucky and Tennessee, from
1870 to 1915. James Bowie's father was
man very like his son. OF ancient
Maryland family he came. and he owned a
fine homestead in his native state But
Stephen Bowie came Of that wild turkey
breed Of tameless wanderers-men who
were ever moving further south west
SO when his three sons were well-grown
take care Of himself and his own any
where Stephen Bowie sold his Maryland
estate and. taking ship at Baltimore, he
and his three sons sailed for Louisiana.
tate in Arkansas Of 1900 acres. that
pleased him. and there he and his twenty
five negro slaves settled down and opened
up a fine plantation. Rein Bowie soon
became fairly wealthy man and was re-
garded as a model citizen. If he achieved
no great fame, he did harm. but lived
under his vine and fig tree the life
of the old-time. patriarchal saint. dying
ripe old age.
stephen Bowie selected his estate in the
parish of Lafoundre, and on the bayou of
hat har mo q
sugar and rice planter of thrift. He died
in the 'fifties. just before the war.
A Fire in His Blood.
But James! There seemed to be a fire
in his blood. fever in his veins that would
not allow him to be still.' said Governor
Wells, his lifelong friend. James Bowie
never weighed more than $50 pounds in his
life and was only about five feet seven and
a half inches in height. But he was like
tempered steel. He never drank liquor. and
only at dinner most sparingly Of red wine.
His eyes in repose, were large. fine. well
opened and of dark steely blue-gray. But
in anger! Then his eyes would glow and
burn, as does the eye of the hunted panther
or leopard. Then he was the most danger
Gus looking man have ever seen. l never
saw the man who could gaze into the eyes
of james Bowie in anger and not have a
sense OF personal fear.
He was In Louisiana from about 1920 to
1880, trading in lands and importing negroes
from the West Indies. and sometimes he
would buy an entire cargo of negroes just
run in by some Spanish SLAYER from the
West Coast country of Africa. A cargo"
in those days meant 400 or 800 slaves The
newly Imported" negro when first taken
out of the hold Of a slave ship Is an awful
looking creature. just about one remove
from a wild bea, Two months after he
fell into the hands of humane planter you
would never know him. He had become fat
and sleek. for he was eating better food
Io l,o6 Lnn hof apI
made to wash himself in the bayou every
night before he eat his abundant supper Of
good, wholesome and we'll cooked food-fsh,
of which all negroes very fond, rice
we'll seasoned and corn bread. Three times
a week beef pork, whichever they like
best.
when Bowie had got his 'cargoes' of
negroes into good condition and clean they
would sell for from $3.50 to 5000 each for
men, Women about one-third less These
Spanish slavers were very brutal In fact,
Bowie hhd to kill one or two OF them to
compel as he said. the usual respect"
In those days, as later. there were many
men in the south who were opposed to the
slave trade. The Rev. I. Newland Moffitt,
a most distinguished divine preached a
very notable sermon against 1t. and had
weighty argument on the subject at Gov.
Wells table one day with James Bowie. rs
1T not better" said Bowie in conclusion,
that these poor creatures shall be decentiy
clothed. kept cleanly and by their labor
add something to the wealth Of the state
and the individual citizen, as they are now
doing than that they shall continue in their
degraded and barbarous condition hardly a
degree above the wild beasts they live
among constantly at war with one an
other. not adding one whit to the worlds
progress?" II had not received the ques-
ton in that light before said the Rev. Mr..
Moff1tt, very gravely. Il don't know but
that you are right" he said in conclusion,
to James Bowie.
Killing Of Col Grain.
After he killed COL Grain of Shreveport,
La on Natchez Island. In 1929, Bowie be-
came restless. He very much regretted
that Grain duel all his hfe," said Gov.
Wells one day, while talking of Bowie.
But you must remember the time and the
condition of things. Bowie could not have
acted in any other way than he did, and
stayed In the state. He would have in