Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-12-12

He made good as scout and was re-
garded as a capable and trustworthy
! person, possessed of a good many of
the attributes Of leadership. When the
war was over, Davy went back to
pioneering. This time he chose as his
| field what was known as the Chero-
kee Purchase, a wild and lawless
country in what was then the far west
a country only recently opened to
| white men. He throve, and though the
| country had no laws, Crockett was
made a judge. Also he was colonel
of militia and a great man in those
parts. He had a ready gift for story
telling, and his neighbors chose him
to represent them in the legislature.
This new domain of Crockett's was
on the Mississippi river, right across
from the New Madrid district in Mis-
souri,, and 1t was great land for
black bears, which were found in the
canebrakes. Crockett reveled in it.
One year he killed los bears, and once
he shot three in a half hour. Tales Of
| Ills pIOWGSS q iiuitCA opASuu ofSA
Tennessee and even the people back
east, who weren't as proficient then as
they have afterwards become, heard
] Of Davy Crockett. Largely because
he was an eminent hunter, the people
of his district sent him to congress.
Certainly Davy Crockett must have
stirred up Washington bit. He start
ed east in regular frontier costume
moccasins, leather shirt and all. At
Raleigh, N. c., he met a stranger.
Here is Crockett's account Of the con-
versation:
"Said he, Hurrah for Adams!' and
said I, Hurrah for hell and praise
your own country! And he said,
Who are you? Said I, I'm that same
Davy Crockett, fresh from the back
woods, half man, half alligator; can
wade the Mississippi, leap the Ohio
ride streak Of lightning, slide down
a honey locust and not get scratched
I can whip my weight in wild cats,
hug q bear to close for comfort, and
eat any man opposed to Jackson"
However, he changed his mind af-
terward about Jackson. Crockett was
as independent as Old Hickory HIM
self, and he soon clashed with him on
a number Of subjects. In 1884 the
! Tennessee woodsman made a trip
through the east, speaking at Phila-
delphia, New York and Boston, and
there was some talk, which Crockett
seems to have taken seriously, Of run
ming him for the presidency. 1t was,
of course, the merest chatter, for Davy
Crockett, for all his virtues, was in no
way fitted to be president of the Unit
ed States. He had much native
shrewdness, undoubted courage and
his integrity was above question, but
he did not know enough about gov
erning or about national questions to
be possible presidential timber.
However, the big cities Of the east
received him with enthusiasm. Great
crowds turned out to hear him speak
he was the guest Of the city Of Bos-
ton for a week, and Philadelphia gave
him a silver mounted rife, which the
back woodsman christened Betsy and
with which he gave exhibitions OF
: shooting, hitting a quarter of dollar
at fifty yards without difficulty. He
said he believed he'd be able to shoot
, the gun when he'd gotten accustomed
, to It.
| Then Crockett went back to Ten
nessee and was defeated for congress
) in his own district. His defeat was g
real humiliation to him, and he al
: once made up his mind to remedy
what seemed to him a calamity by
, going further west.
/ 1t was just at the time Texas was
| winning its independence from Mexi'
co, and the future Lone Star State
was the best place in America for ex'
! citement. 1t was the last frontier II
, those days, and by all odds the mos
l eventful one. So Crockett went t.
Texas.
There is a curious old volume which
! purports to be an autobiography of the
famous hunter which tells many fan