The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-11-26

BLACK. lne narrative was WIilten
by Dan w. Jones, former Governor
of Arkansas, and scion of one OF
the oldest and most respected families
of that State. 1t was written origi-
nally as chapter for novel of south
western life, Aaron Clark written
by the late Colonel J. N. Smithee, a
veteran journalist of Little Rock,
who, weary of life and its ills, sent a
bullet crashing through his brain
while his fellow townsmen were cele-
brating the nations natal day, 1902.
Here is Ex-Governor Jones' story Of
the origin of the Bowie Knife:
'James Black was born in village
in the State of New Jersey, May I,
1900. His mother having di e d
when he was quite young, his father
married woman with whom James
could not agree. AT the early age of
eight years he ran away from home
and went to Philadelphia, where he
was apprenticed to manufacturer of
silver plated ware named Henderson,
an act subsequently approved by
James father. At the time of being
apprenticed James did not know his
age, aud judging from his size he
was placed in the indenture at eleven
years. Some years afterward, upon
a visit to his old home, after his
fathers death, he discovered his true
age in the family Bible, but did not
disclose the fact to his master. Con-
sequently his apprenticeship expired
in 1919, when he was only eighteen
instead of twenty one years old.
"On returning to Washington he
opened blacksmith shop and soon
had all the work he could do. At
that time Washington was frontier
settlement, and nearly all the men
went armed, the weapon most relied
upon being the knife. All kinds of
characters went there, the most des
perate of desperadoes as well as men
of gentle mold, but all understood
that each man must look out for him
self. Finding the demand for knives
was SO great, Black applied himself
largely to manufacturing them, and
especially to tempering the steel of
which they were made. 1t soon be-
came known that his knives were the
best that could be obtained, and his
reputation spread far and wide. The
shape of the knife was according to
the taste of person ordering it, it be-
ing the custom for each man to fur
nish the pattern, made of wood or
pasteboard, of the exact size and
shape of the knife desired. Blacks
experience as silver platter during
his apprenticeship enabled him to
plate his knives, either with silver or
gold, as required by the purchaser,
which gave them an additional charm
and higher price. 1t was his rule,
after tempering and shaping knife
and before polishing it, to cut very
hard wood with it. generally an old
hickory ak handle, that had been
used for long time and had become
quite tough aud hard. This he
would do for half an hour, and then
if the knife did not easily shave the
hair from his arm he would cast it
aside. His knives ranged in price
from SIS to $50 each, the price vary
ing according to the quantity of gold
or silver used in plating, the SIS knife
having no plating at all; but the
temper of each was the same, each
being submitted to the severe test
mentioned above.
"About 1888 or 1884, perhaps lit
tie earlier, James Bowie went to
Washington and gave Black an order
for a knife, furnishing pattern and
desiring it to be made within the next
sixty or ninety days, when he would
call for it. Black made the knife ac-
cording to Bowie's pattern. He
knew Bowie intimately and had
high estimation of him as a man of
good taste as we'll as of unhinching
courage. He had never made knife
that suited his own taste in point of
shape and concluded this to be a good
opportunity to do so. Consequently
after completing the knife ordered by
Bowie he made another, and when
Bowie returned he showed both to
him and explained the difference be-
tween them, at the same time giving
him his choice at the same price.
Bowie promptly selected Blacks pat
tern. Shortly after this Bowie be-
came involved in a difficulty with
three desperadoes, who assaulted him
with knives. He killed them all
with the knife Black had made.
After this when any one ordered
knife from Black, instead of furnish
ing pattern as formerly, he would
order it to be made like Bowels,
which was finally shortened into
make me bowie knife. Thus this
famous weapon acquired its name.
Bowie, himself, was not mechanic
of any kind. He was killed in the
Alamo with Davy Crockett, surroun-
ded by dead Mexicans, whom he had
slain with that same knife.
"Other men made knives in those
days, and they are still being made,
but no one has made the bowie knife
except James Black. Its chief value
was in its temper. Black undoubt-
edly possessed the Damascus secret.
1t came to him mysteriously, and it
died in the same way.
"He often told me that no one taught
him the secret and that it was impos-
sible for him to tell how he acquired
it. His apprenticeship only gave
him experience in plating iron and
steel, notin working in them. Large
offers were made to him for the secret,
but he refused them all. He was
stealthily watched in order that his
process might be discovered, but his
reputation for courage was such that
no one approached him to closely
after being at once warned to desist."