The Holly chieftain., 1924-03-13
BY JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN

0y JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN
coMPEER-Ako RIVAL
O "OLD JIM" BRIDGER, TELLER Of
Tall Yarns"
They're classics still, these latter
T." \ Sir George Gore strnight-faced, read
~ "Munchausen's Tales"
Gt ! By Rocky Mountain campfres blaze.
FEaN/ Saic "Od Jim," scornful: "Passel O
A6 big lies!
VSSa8 That critters dogoned bad mistook.
&W An say Some things seen myself
'"A~ w'd read
More hifautn' In n book
Yelerstun cliff O. rock ye kin see thru;
Hull herd o. picked BUTLER in Salt Lake;
Gran Canyon, where the moon Is always full.
Wake-up GorgEecho comes back mex mornin';
Boilin' water runnln' from ice-co spring,
An Alum Crick what shrunk my pony's feet
They'd make man sit up and look"
You nay know much little or nothing about
James Ksidger You probably know considerable,
If you buong-
Out where the world is in the making
Where fswer hearts with despair are aching
Where there's more OF singing and less Of signing.
And a makes friends without half trying
That's whore tho West begins.
For tcat Is the West OF today as Arthur Chap
man has sung It, and there Bridger's name though
he has been dead these forty years and more. Is
still one to conjure with.
II you are student of Americana you know
that ths history Of the United States cannot be
tolG without the story OF Bridger and his fellow
explorers. trappers and fur-trade1 west of the
Mississippi
II you n "movie fnn," you may have seen
1.-The Covered Wagon" and know Bridger as pre-
sented In that motion picture production.
The immediate motive Of this article Ia the fact
that Mrs. Virginia Bridger Hahn Of Kansas City,
Kans, Bridger's only surviving child. has brought
suit for damages Of million dollars against "rfe
Covered Wagon" because Of its presentation of
her father. According to the petition In the suit,
1t is reported. the motion picture production de-
picts Brdger II heavy drnker and a person who
often became intoxicated and al living with. two
squaws. Mrs. Hahn charges that her parentnge
Is brought Into question; that her name is dis.
graced, and that she suffers great humiliation be-
her father is shown in several carousas.
She asserts that her father an upright. honor
able man, who was never known to drink to excess.
The purpose Of this article is not to try out Of
court the of Mrs. Hahn against the Famous
Players-Lasky corporation and the Paramount Pic
corporation Its sole purpose Is to show that
James Bridger drunken sober. Is American
Immortal-nnd why.
'"rhe Covered Wagon" is II picture based upon
q historical novel Of the same name by the late
Emerson Hough, American novelist and nature
writer 1t depicts the progress of caravan
the famous "Oregon Trail" AS whole 1t Is q
powerful and touching picture of the times-in
Portland the people In the theater in response
to some OF Its most stirring scenes
The Interpretation Of james Bridger presented
on the screen by Tuy Marshall is dlsconcertinc
and perplexing to say the east, to both hero-wor-
shipper and student of history. He drifts in from
the desert, shabby. uncouth rather mnudn and
quite grotesque, with predilection for hard liq-
uor and sQunws. His produest achievement seems
to be symbollzed In his ability to shoot tin cup
of liquor from the head Of boon companion after
a drinking-bout
james Brdger and his times must be seen In
perspective. The history Of the United States
west of the Mississippi begins with the Spanish
explorations of the Sixteenth century in the South
west The French Of the Seventeenth century at.
tempted to build an inland empire along the ST.
Lawrence, Great Lakes, Mississippi and the Gulf
of Mexico They lost the ST. Lawrence region to
the British The Revolution fixed the western
boundary of the American Colonies at the Msss-
sippi The French under Napoleon staged second
attempt at empire building, this time from New
Orleans and west of the Mississippi Napoleon
forced to choose between and colonization
elected to fight. So he sold to the United Stntes
for S15OO0.O0O the territory between the Msss-
sippl and the Rockies He planned to "kil two
birds with stone:" get the sinews Of war
and "plant thorn in the English breast"
So at the beginning Of the Nineteenth century