The Press., 1904-10-05
A LIFE OF TRAGEDY
CAREER or BOWIE, INVENTOR or
THE FAMOUS KNIFE.

| created 10 I'LL ccrIuln pace III tne
| affairs of their time. This has been
/ particularly true In American history.
| The man that in the storm and stress
of the period was most needed has al
ways come to the fore at the supreme
moment. If ever this was demonstrate
ed by circumstances 1t was in the early
history of the Texas republic, that
storm born state evoked from the rev.
| olution of 1896.
/ In his remarks concerning the early
history of Texas that President Nc
Kinley made on one Of his tours he re
ferred most felicitously, though brief
| ly, to the four men who under Proyi-
dence had been most prominent In the
early days, when the greatest state In
1 the Union in the matter of territory
was a young and struggling republic
Houston, Travis, Crockett and Bowie.
He spoke on classic ground. too. for it
| was at the Alamo, where he then
stood. that three of the four crowned
| with their lives their devotion to the
young state, whose foundations they
had laid deep with the seal OF their
blood.
OF this group of heroes, as worthy of
place in song or story as any who SO
calamity died under shield before Troy,
! the least known of them all and yet in
many respects the greatest was James
Bowie, famous only by reason of the
world renowned knife called by his
name A few words touching his an
cestry may not be out of place. He
was not from Maryland, as has been SO
often stated, but WAS born in Burke
county, Ga, In 1870. In 1902 his ia
Their emigrated to Louisiana.
That country was then still under
French domination. There had been
large tracts of land granted by. the
French crown in the territory named
for Louis XIV, and one of these, In
the parish of Catahoula, was acquired
by the elder Bowie. He was a man
of substance, owning nearly 100 slaves.
He soon had his estate well opened out
and was growing superb crops Of cot
ton and corn. His son James he sent
first to a famous private school at
Natchez, Miss, and afterward to the
Jesuit college then located at New
Orleans
James Bowie, in 1927, was challeng-
ed to a duel with Norris Wright. The
pocket pistols of that day were uncer-
tain 1t was long before the percus-
sion cap had been brought into COM
mon use, and the flintlock arm was the
only flrearm known. 1t was liable to
miss fire just when it ought not to.
Bowie determined to rely upon knife
he had caused to be made for just such
a contingency. He had taken a four
teen inch long file, such as was then
used to sharpen crosscut saws and
the upright saws used for turning out
planks from logs. He had the file
marks carefully ground of the file and
the smooth piece of steel skillfully re-
duced by the grindstone until 1t was
about the thickness and weight ne de
sired. Then he took 1t to a Spaniard
In New Orleans known as PEDRO, the
skilled cutler" man who had learned
his art in Toledo, where the finest
sword blades in all Spain were forged.
He tempered and finished the knife.
| fitted it with a crosspiece and haft.
When 1t was done, James Bowie had
| weapon eft to fight for a mans life
| with" as he said to Governor Wells.
1t was beautifully balanced, and the
artist had hollow ground it like a
razor, with double edge for three or
four inches from the point
The knife was fitted with q wooden
scabbard. covered with leather, and
was sharp enough to shave the hair
off the back of ones hand. This was
the original Bowie knife, though 1t
was somewhat modified subsequently
in shape. Bowie, while q student at
New Orleans, had studied other things
besides the humanities, as the dead
languages of Greece and Rome were
then called. By accident he found In
his fencing master a man who could
not only use the sword, but was a
master In the use of the cuchillo, the
Spanish fighting knife, a weapon not
unlike the bowie. Our young stu
dent entered enthusiastically into the
training and science of old Spain In
that nations once national weapon.
And so he was much better equipped
for the deadly fight that was so near
at hand.
Natchez island, where the fight was
to be, was midway between the Lou
isiana and Mississippi shores of the
great Father of Waters. Therefore 1t
was a favorite meeting place for gen
tlemen who had to adjust affairs that
might have u fatal ending, as the au-
thorities of neither state could inter
fere. 81 stayed all night with James
Bowie" said friend OF his, who died
In his nlnet,eth year. ION the night
before the fight was to take place /
never saw a man sleep more soundly
than he did nor eat better breakfast
the next morning."
1t was understood that each of the
principals should have but one friend,
and certainly not more than two, on
the ground. But Mr.. Wright had 1--WE
or six present The fight began with
the pistols. One of Bowie's missed
fire. while both of Wright's bullets
took effect upon his antagonist.
Thinking he had Bowie at his mercy,
Norris Wright sprang upon him. In
a moment Bowie had drawn his dead
ly knife. and, though two or three OF
Wright's friends were shooting at him
and hitting him. too, Bowie made one
awful slash at Wright's neck. The
keen steel hit into the very neck bone
The blood shot out over Bowie. and
Sorris Wright was dead before he
touched the ground
Seriously wounded himself, 1t was
for some time a very doubtful question
whether or not he would ever get wen.
But youth, temperate life and an ex-
ceilent constitution finally brought him
around, and in a year from that time
he killed General Grain with the same
knife he had used IN his first encoun-
ter. THE knife doesn't miss fire." he |
said to an intimate friend, Mr. Bynum |
of the parish of Rapides. 1.-The pistol /
does !" This of c0IIrSo waS long ho- |