The Coolidge examiner., 1931-07-10
BY ELMO SCOTT WATSON

LII UZRECRWCZICZA-
BY ELMO SCOTT WATSON
(MONG the Old-timers of the West
" there was popular saying that that
4 part of the United States had three
" I great liars. Jim Bridger was one
" 4 Of them and Jim Beckwourth was
NJ the other two" In reality. this did
&N Il a great injustice to old Jim Brdger,
WYfY mountain man, scout and one of the
0 real pathfnders of the West. 1t is
true that he was a teller of tall yarns but most
OF them had a very substantial basis in fact.
His reputation for stretching the truth was
based upon his description of natural wonders
in the West, notably in what is now Yellowstone
National park, at a time when those wonders
were unknown even to the early explorers. So
when old Jim reported seeing these natural
marvels and was met with unbelief, perhaps
ne became little angry at the sceptics and in
revenge stretched the truth little more Then,
too, in his later years, when he was questioned
by the curious who had heard Of his reputation
as prevaricatOr, he took mischievous delight
In what became a recognized custom Of the
West, variously known as "stuing the tender
foot, or, "hazing the pilgrim"
But the case of Jim Beckwourth was very
different. His lies were not based upon de-
scriptions of natural wonders. They had mainly
to do with himself-his daredevil courage, his
great feats Of strength and endurance and his
pre-emnence in a race of fighting men as the
"hghteneSt of them all. So in reality the old
saying might well have been revised to read
There were. six great liars in the West and
Jim Beckwourth was all of them" Beckwourths S
reputation in this respect is based largely upon
a biography of him written by T. B. Bonner
and published in 1856
The immediate result of this book was an in
cident, recorded by a later historian, which Of
fers interesting sidelight on Jim Beckwourth's
right to the title of champion liar of the West
Out in the Sierras of California there came to
the mining camp where Beckwourth was well
known, the news that some one had written
book about him so the next time anybody from
the camp went to the city he was ordered to
bring back copy of this book 1t so happened
that the miner who filed this commission had
only slight knowledge of books SO he re-
turned with a copy. not of Bonner, but of the
Bible. That night some of the miners gathered
around the fire to hear one of their more lit
crate number read Beckwourth's story to them.
Opening the book at random, he chanced to be-
gin reading from Judges XIV wherein is told the
story of Samson. who caught three hundred
foxes and after tying frebrands to their tails
let them loose among the cOrnfields of the Phil
iStines. For a little while the bearded gold
washers listened attentivey. Then one of them
sprang TO his feet and halted the reader Thar,
that'l do :" he exclaimed I'D know that for
one of Jim BeckwOurth's damned lies any
where!"
Other historians, beginning with Francis
Parkman. made use of Bonner's book in their
writing covering the period in the history of the
West during which Beckwourth lived and la
bored so nightly. Some of them denounced
the book utterly unreliable and further
branded Beckwourth as the master prevaricator
of all time.
But whatever the character of Bonners book
and of BeckwOurth'S life story, both certainly
have some enduring qualities for only recently
a new edition of it has been reprinted by Alfred
A. Knopf, publisher of New York. This edi-
tiOn is one of the volumes in the SERIES "Ameri-
cana Deserta," edited by Bernard De Voto, and
Mr.. De Voto has done real service to histOri-
cal scholarship in giving us a new evaluation
of this classic of pioneer American life In his
introduction to the edition of Bonner's mar
rative he has attempted from the conflicting
testimony about Beckwourth by other historians
to arrive at some satisfactory conclusion as to
Just how much in Bonner's book may be be-
lieved and how much must be rejected
After examining all the evidence, here, in brief
Is his conclusion: 1T is therefore respectable
today to believe BeckwOurth when he is talking
about any subject but himself. A drastic mi-
taCl0n since Jim discusses OLner SUBJECTS only
through inadvertence The book does not often
stray from its objective, the delineatiOn of a
hero James P. Beckwourth takes the stage
and the whole West appropriately revolves
around him. He is wholly unreliable in three
matters: numbers, romance, and personal
grandeur. His imagination could transform
a score or two of Blackfeet horse raid into
a disciplined army three thousand strong max
ing a campaign for the destruction of Absa
roka (the Crow)." Mr.. De Voto then proceed:
TO show that pitched battles a large scale
between Indian tribes were so rare as to have
been almost non-existent and says 1.-The reader
will be safe, then, if he scales down Jims esti
mates by three-fourths"
AS to BeckwOurth the self advertised hero
Mr.. De voto says, Imagination eliminates, o