Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-05-02

1t with q wealth of ready argument. His
blu was defeated, as was an important amend
ment of bis 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 a fundamental principle
and his willingness to fight for It. The cause was
lost, but 1t was a great cause"
Thus 1t may be seen that Davy Crockett was
something more than a "coonskin congressman
something more than a picturesque bear-hunter
from the wilds OF the West who, by some po-
litical accident, had a chance to participate in
shaping the beginnings of our democracy. But
II later Americans have failed to appreciate his
significance In that period, his own people ap-
parently were also blind to his true worth. Be
cause he dared oppose Jackson, who was then
rising on bis 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 an out-and-out
anti-Jackson man and an increasingly danger
GUS obstacle to Jackson's plan Of handing the
Presidency to Martin Van Buren, when "Old
Hickory should retire from the White House.
In the spring of 1884 Crockett started on his
tour of the eastern cities which became a YER
liable triumphal progress-to Baltimore. to Phil
a~delphia, to New York, up into New England,
then through Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky.
He made such an 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 a candidate for reelection. But
his enemies were busy. The full strength OF the
Jacksonian p~artisans In Tennessee was un-
leashed. Playing upon sectional prejudices. they
used his journey TO New England against him.
In a bitter campaign In which personalities out
weighed the real Issue at stake Crockett was de-
feated by q narrow margin.
Crockett had reached a turning point. In the
six or seven years just past his entire course
had been changed; he could hardly return to
hunting and farming. All his life he had
been on the move and he had repeatedly gone
from one frontier to another. He made a quick
decision. Tn going to Texas he said"
1t was his last journey. The end OF 1t la 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 a~fterward that
as he leveled and fired his famous sBetsey' he
sang luViuHkly 10 the meXlcdnSs won't Won
come into my bowerT 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. "Eyen 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
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-
first published In 1884, and his .Texas
Exploits and Adventures" first published in 1896.
In 1t Davy Crockett speaks from his unmarked
grave In the "Thermopylae of America" Out
from between the covers Of these two books
steps the typical American frontiersman. Davy
still goes ahead"
o by Western Newspaper Union-