The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-06-27
From Tcpce 10 Tabernacle.

Concolt in az autobiography Is in
tolerabl' but the honest egoism OF a
se!f-hist r!an who has mere OF history
than of literary habit Is amusing. In
TdhdH. out Of SdrdDcrU Into Cirii.G-
ton 'Doran) JOSEPH Is. GRIrFIs tells
a story that is remarkable II entirely
tue and perhaps even more remark
able II 1t be to any extent fictional
with the retroactive Imagination "a
contributing editor. The author is
himself the Tahan of the title: son
of an 'oldtime frontiersman, who was
we'll known in Kit Carson and Buff
a!o Bill days as hunter, trapper. gold
seeker and under the nom de
guerre of California Joe: with an
Usage Indian mother. and brought up
by kiowa Indians. who captured him
when he was a very small boy. the
name was given him by his foster
parents. 1t means either Texas Man
or Fighting Man; when the autobi-
ographer, having left the Indians. be-
came an army scout. destrter and
then a tramp, he was known as Texas
Joe. After a series of adventures that
would have delighted a Smollett. a
kipling or an Oliver Optic he go,
religion was a Salvation Army OFF,
Ger in Canada, evangelist and pastor
or churches in New York and Rhode
Island. and is now apparently a hero
of h lecture platform. The truth of
his narrative is quite un~tuuivccally
vouched for, after interviews with
former friends of Chief Tahan in the
West. by Arthur C. Parker, State
n ynhunp1nutct ~ <ra.- Eot -.
ethnology in the State museum, Sec
rotary Of the Society Of American In
dams n editor Of its Journal.
There is nothing in the story that
strains credulity any more irreparablv
than the accepted INC sufficiently au-
thenticatcd records of life in the
Wild West OF forty to fifty years ago,
but the first and last chapters are IN
such contrast as to impose a pretty
heavy burden upon the intermediate
narrative: the recorder is So COM
pletely red ut the start and so
white" at the end that il is not EASY
for the "effete' reader in New York
OF 1915 to realize the picture of a
career with extremes so very extreme.
The eX-chief gives few dates. If he has
iiuu an D'IltldNlbI, II Is Some
II Possessed either of intimate ac-
quaintance with Indian character or
NJ an Imagination hat would he a
bonanza for the fictlon!st, The "sty'c''
OF this story Is unusual enough To
invite and justify some speculation as
To its enforming factors. There are
three Of them: the Indian training,
the rough plains experience and Tho
deferred but curiously back trailing
religious ~'civilization." The express
sion shooting holes in the night be-
longs to the property man. Another,
"a rut Is a grave with both ends
knocked out" is of Billy Sunday and
the army" The silence was like
that which must have been before
anything was" is an inky remark
But: AS | watched those horses,
noted their greyhound build and on.
trasied thee with I;uckskir. my heart
became n mudhole full # frogs and
II more than half expected a sho,
In the back, and 1t f,lt as If ants
were crawling up and down on it,
these are phrases with a filling. A
pair of camels, a beast then unknown
by name tn the writer. identified Ions
aftcrward at sight in n cir, MS parade
are seen in the desert of the South
west. running in fright. "swayinr
from side to side like mountains about
to topple Owe but undecided on which
side to fan We have met those
camels in Sunday specials The frs.
sight CT the "Gmcne ,~iorse" ny the
rcd riders Of the plains has been Otter
described. Tahan and his Indian
friends. Greeks with whom he was
visiting, saw it at MuskoGce, whittier
the band had gone to see the horse
racing at a fair. with roar and dash
and ~clattcr, hiss and shrek, the huge
monster came dishinG in. Its ca,
splitting war whoop startled us. 1t,
blazing eye. like n camp fire in tn,
middle OF It's forehead, astounded us
When it stopped and stood painting
and blowing its breath out in grca'
clouds We stood aloof with our blan'
kcts over N heads and talked Il
over
A dead village is discovered IL
n deep. rocky canyon: the people haC
been carried of in y postilonce: ~,
camp we sat huddled together in thu