The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-05-04

ments. BE always sure you're right then go
ahead"
Having proved his ability as a local magis-
trate Crockett was next prevailed upon to be-
come a candidate for the Tennessee state legis-
lature. He was elected Next they sent him to
congress. And it is in regard to his career there
that this new biography brings out a part of the
significance of Davy Crockett in American his
tory that other biographers seem to have missed
Commenting on his role as the champion of the
settlers as against the spectators, In what was
then the West, Miss Rourke says:
Crockett achieved a homely craftsmanship.
His bill dealing with this question was carefully
thought out and well phrased and he supported
1t with a wealth of ready argument His
bill was defeated, as was an important amend
ment of his to another measure bearing on the
same question. None the less Crockett stands
head and shoulders above the average thinker
of his time, even above many in high places, be-
cause Of his grasp Of fundamental principle
and his willingness to fight for it The cause was
lost, but it was great cause"
Thus il may be seen that Davy Crockett was
something more than "coonskin congressman"
something more than picturesque bear-hunter
from the wids of the West who, by some po-
litical accident, had chance to participate in
shaping the beginnings of our democracy But
If later Americans have failed to appreciate his
parently were also blind to his true worth. Be
cause he dared oppose Jackson, who then
rising his high tide of popularity, on both the
land question and the Indian question, they de-
MED him reelection in 1881.
But two years later he was again elected and
more than before he became an outstanding fig
ure in congress He was now out-and-out
anti-Jackson man and an increasingly danger
Gus obstacle to Jackson's plan of handing the
Hickory" should retire from the White House.
In the spring of 1884 Crockett started on his
tour of the eastern cities which became YER
liable triumphal progress-to Baltimore, to Phil
adelphia, to New York, up into New England,
then through Pennsylvania Ohio and Kentucky.
He made such impression wherever he went
that there was even talk of running him for
President
Then came the anti-climax At the end of the
summer he was candidate for reelection. But
his enemies were busy The full strength of the
Jacksonian partisans in Tennessee was un-
leashed. Playing upon sectional prejudices. they
used his journey to New England against him.
In bitter campaign in which personalities out
weighed the real issue at stake Crockett was de-
feated by narrow margin.
Crockett had reached turning point. In the
six or seven years just past his entire course
had been changed; he could hardly return to
been the move and he had repeatedly gone
from one frontier to another He made quick
decision. I'm going to Texas he said"
1t was his last journey. The end of it is one
of the classics in American heroism In the epic
drama Of the Alamo, as elsewhere back along the
trail of his life, Davy Crockett held the center
of the stage. "In the wild confusion Crockett
seems to have been everywhere at once" writes
Miss Rourke. "a story was told afterward that
as he leveled and fired his famous Betsey' he
sang invitingly to the Mexicans: Won't you
come into my bowerr This would have been
like him; perhaps he was heard singing this
song in the earlier days of the siege But when
the final attack began there would have been
no time for song, nor could any tune have been
heard in the terrific din"
The Mexicans could kill Davy Crockett the
man, but they couldn't kill Davy Crockett the
hero, half man and half myth. "Stories about
Crockett are still told in Kentucky and Ten
nessee and in the Ozark mountains" says Miss
Rourke. Even now people in the Ozarks talk
about him as though he were still living just
over the next ridge"
The other day a newspaper book reviewer be-
gan an article thus: twice in two weeks Davy
Crockett crashes through. once in his own story,
once In this brilliant biography by Constance
Rourke." The reference to "his own story" Is to
the fact that Charles Scribner's Sons had issued
'The Adventures OF Davy Crockett: Told Mostly
by Himself" which includes Davy's Autobiog-
raphy." first published In 1884 and his Texas
Exploits and Adventures first published In 1896
In IL Davy Crockett speaks from his unmarked
grave In the -Thermopyiae Of America" Out
from between the covers Of these two books
Crockett still goes ahead
q Wesferu Newer. r-nion