Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1916-02-24

%cahontas. Upon that point he had the
best OF opportunity to tell a thrilling
tale in his book The True Relation"
written in Virginia and published in
England in 1908. Among his thrilling
experiences he there describes a little
excursion to the Chickallominy. where
he falls in with hostile Indians. be-
comes the target for 20 or 80 arrows.
and is captured by 200 men only because
he gets mired in a swamp. Being
brought before their Indian king. al
though Smith knows not a word
OF MS tribes language. the
captain says. Il presented him
with a ompass dali, describing by
my best meanes the use thereof, where
at he so amazedly admired. as he suf-
fered me to proceed in a discourse OF
the r~oundness of the earth. the course
OF the sunne, income, starres and PLAN
nets" Eventually he is brought be-
fore their emperor" the great Opechan
Conough, commonly called Powflatan.
Efforts are mad to kill him by Indians
whose relatives he has slain. but the
guards save him. In due course of
time. after describing to him the ter
ritories of Europe which We're subject
to our great king whose subject | was,
the lnnumerable multitude Of his ships,
| have him to understand the noyes of
trumpets and terrible manner of fight
ing" Smith is then sent home with
wv AtSAAs oAiS Ia NE lie al iliNl
knapsacke." while the other two were
"loded with bread"
Elsewhere in the book he mentions
the Princess ~Pocahontas, daughter of
P~owhatan. This lady was only a girl
perhaps IL years old-and another con-
temporary, strachey, tells curious tales
of the maiden's fondness for turning
cartwheels through the streets of
Jamestown. About the time Pocahon-
tas married John Rolfe and went to
England Q616), Smith published a little
book. in which he says:
After some six weeks elsewhere he
makes it four weeks) fatting amongst
these salvage countries. at the minute
of my execution, she hazarded the beat
ing OFT Of her own braines to save
mine"
Then. in 1924, Smith published an
other book. the General Historic. in
which his m seems suddenly to
have numbered. for he rewrites his
narrative. adds 100 to his earlier emu
meration of 200 anniversaries; addi-
tions,lly remembers that the Indians
brought out q bag of gunpowder which
they proposed TO plant next spring;
and is brought before P~oWhatan. With
many new details he describes tina po-
t%entate. and at last comes to the most
exciting scene in the drama. You can
see it all! The dusky emperor, r. c.;
Princess Pocahontas. l.. c.: the hero,
p6loIe III lOolllSfllS. DOIlQ, DQl I'M
daunted. his eyes flashing defiance.
"a long consultation was held. but
the conclusion was two great stones
We're brought before Powhatan; then,
as many as could, layd hands on him,
dragged him to them. and thereon layd
his head. and being ready with their
clubs to beat out his braines. Poca-
hontas. the kings dearest daughter,
when no entreaty could prevaille. got
his head in her ar1nes. and layd her
owne upon his to save him from DEATH;
whereat the emperour was contented he
, should live"
NO sympathetic person would ask
why the eye witness and the chief per-
son in this wondrous episode should
have neglected for eight years to put
it into his publications.; or why it
should have taken him 16 years moro
to recall the affecting details. Profess
sor Edward Claiming impales John
Smith on the barbed sentence. 1.-The
utter nnreliahilitv of Smiths account.
entirely apart from the P~ocahontas
story" Blu WHY not be more trustful?
Who knew more about his own
adventures than John Smith? Why
brand as a falsehood a tale which
has entertained millions of young
Americans? The proof is somewhat in
~ferential- 1t seems certain that Smith
was a captive; and, if he was con-
demned to be Drained instead of boiled.
what more natural than that Pocahon-
tas should have interposed her tender
person between the uplifted club and
the former favorite of Charatza Trag-
abigzanda? John Smith is a fact. Po-
%cahontas is a fact. and we believe some
of the things that John Smith tells us
about Pocahontas. Why make distinc-
tons? Perhaps he was only overcome
by the familiar journalistic desire to
sell his books: and he may lave been
the inventor of the process of savine
something especially dreadful for the S
p. m. edition. which is sold on the
streets at 4:30.