Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-01-27
CAPTAIN LEWIS
KILLED HIMSELF
EPIC HERO OF NORTHWEST SHOT
HIMSELF AT HOHENWALD,
TENNESSEE
Mystery Surrounds Death of Famous
Explorer, But President Jefferson Ac-
cepted Suicide Theory; Was Victim
of Acute Attack of HyperchrOndia.

The name Meriwether Lewis Is
one of lasting Iuster in the Amer1-
can hall of fame. The glory OF
Lewis Is perpetuated In the mighty
mountains of the vast region he
penetrated and Ii did not really
need the monument which marks
the place Of his death at HOhen-
valid, Tenn. But the monument
was erected in 1S4S by state appro-
priatiOn and several years ago tne
national government at last real
lied the eminent fitness of such
measure, made provision for the
purchase Of so acres OF land
around the monument, and the
maintenance of a memorial park
there.
Erected on the site of Lewis death,
the monument recalls certain aspects
of the mans life not generally known
and incongTuOuS in view of his epoch
al achievements as an explorer. It re-
calls the story Of man who, with
the maSterful strength and resource
fllIneSs of an epic hero, conducted a
victorious war against the wilderness
only to lose in the battle with himself.
How Lewis died, historians do not
agree. But they do agree that 1t was
not in harmony with his life. 1t was
not the death of an epic hero and it
violated the unities Of great tragedy
He died from pistol shot at a
public house, Grinders Strand, by
name, located ON the Nachez Trace, a
military road. Stories OF the last scene
conflict and probably always VIII.
President Jefferson accepted the re-
port that he killed himself.
was Made Governor
AS a reward for his great labors for
4nsv
made governor of Louisiana by PreSt-
dent Jefferson in 1907 When he ar
rived at st. Louis he found problems
of a new sort confronting him The
country was torn by jealousies and
feudS and there was no harmony
among the government officials sub
ordinate to him. 1t was situation
demanding more than the intrepidity
of a man willing to gamble his life
against the ferocity Of nature in re-
gion not yet subjected to the shackles
of civilization.
AS he tried to cope with the new
problems new enemy appeared. From
his early youth he had been neuras-
thenic. The exact nature OF his neuroS1S
Is not known. 1t was congenital and
had brought woe to members of his
immediate family. His own father had
been neurotic.
winnie every Ingenuity 1lG pucSCooC0
had been employed toward circum-
venting the enemies that crossed his
path through the wilderness, this all
ment had been held in allegiance. His
robust fight against the mountains, the
whirling torrents, disease, starvation
and hostile Indians that blocked his
path in the northwest had made him
forget that he was the victim Of
strange mental abnormality that made
him a man apart.
MaIady ReappeArs
His sedentary and mentally torment
ing life at st. Louis brought back the
neurosis imbedded In his brain. He was
in the throeS Of an acute attack of
hyperchrondia or melancholia when he
was called to Washington. He proceed
ed to Chickasaw Bluffs, where he ar
rived on the 18th of September. 1909,
with q view Of continuing his journey
by water.
His friend Jefferson describes the
ensuing events: mfr. Nicely, agent of
the United States with the ChickasaW
Indians, arriving there two days after,
found him extremely tndispoSed, and
betraying at times some symptoms of
q arrangement of mind.
"The rumors of a war with England,
and apprehensions that he might lose
the papers he was bringing on, among
which were the vouchers Of his public
accounts and the journals and papers
of his western expedition, induced him