James Bowie
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
HE name *
as inseparably linked with
the history of the Ameri.
can frontier as are the
names of her
weapons ved
lowie knife” is
those ot
which pl
of the West—the
tucky rifie” (which,
dentally, should be
Pennsylvania rifle,”
it was first made in that
state), the Sharps huffalo gun,the Win.
chester and the Colt's six-shooter. It
figured in innumerable bloody affrays
“hken-
inci.
since
Western history. It was a Bowle knife
which Wild Bill Hickok
have wielded in the fight
him the “Wild Bill”
called “fight”
gang.” It
which Al Packer, a
his four companions whiie they were
snow-bound in Juan moun
tains of Colorado and won for himself
the dreadful title of the Juan
Man-Eater.” The Bowie knife has fig.
ured in tales of Jim Bridger and Jin
Baker, Kit Carson and C
and a dozen
some of the yarns authentic
no doubt, the produc
was said to
which
nickaame—the so-
the
Dowie
gave
with
was a knife
prospector,
with
killed
the San
“San
alifornia Joe
other border notableg—
seem that its histor
known, But attempt
well
to trace its origin
and see how far you get!
naze of conflicting testimony, only
fact emerges clear—that it
for of the Bowies. But
lesin, John or Jas As for
inventor of the Bowie knife, consider
this evidence:
one
es?
Read almost any encyclopedia and
you will find it described ns:
An American hunting dagger named
after its inventor, Col. James Bowle
In a melee near Natchez (1827) in which
glx men were killed and fifteen
wounded, the colonel dispatched an op-
ponent with a knife made out of a
blacksmith's rasp or big file: and this
knife he afterward had fashioned at
Philadelphia into the weapon
which his name is associated.
Edward 8. Ellis, one of
biographers of Davy Crockett, devotes
considerable space to Rezin and James
Bowie and
Respecting the invention
mous Bowie knife, an
friend of the Bowie family, in a note ts
the writer, under date of December,
1878, and written in New Orleans, says:
The knife was invented by Rezin P.,
brother of James, for the purpose of
hunting wild cattle on the plains of the
Opelousas. The first one was manufac-
tured by one cf his slaves at the pri-
vate blacksmith shop on his plantation.
It was never intended for any
use except that of a
knife, nor was it ever used otherwise
until in the duel at Natchez, when
James Bowie acted as second, and all
the seconds were drawn into the fight
of the fa-
intimate lady
other
simple hunting.
In May, 1836, the New York Star said
of this knife:
It was invented by Col
James Bowle
who was killed by
the Mexicans at the
capture of the Alamo. About 18 months
ago, three brothers amed Dowle, in
the state of Mississippl, had a deadly
conflict with seven other persons armed
with every species of weapon,
brothers being armed only with a large
knifa This weapon they handled with
such dexterity as to de
in their favor, although numbers
against them, and it has
called the “"Bowle-knife.”
The Red River Herald of Nachl-
toches, La., copied this article and in
June printed it with the “following :
This account is entirely
The first weapon of this description
was manufactured In the parish of
Rapides, in the state of Louisiana near
the plantation of Capt. Charles Mulhol.
land, on Bayou Boeuf, in 1820. This
knife was made according to the in
structions of Col. James Bowie, then
known by the appellation of “Big Jim”
the
ide the conflict
were
Bince been
inaccurate.
Hunt Big Treasure
Location of a great treasure, buried
500 years ugo with the coffin of the
first Ming emperor, may be traced fol
lowing the recent dikcovery of a mys
terious tunnel in a hill near Nanking,
China.
The tunnel is seven feet high and
three feet wide, and Is lined with
blocks of stone. The secret of the
horde of gold jewels and jade en-
tomwbed with the ruler has puzzled his
intended to ar
trees and of a hunt
colonel arried
ve or six years, when the
ct, yel fresh in the recol-
lections of mar }
pl n
state of Miss ppl, circumstance
A
n
ace
which at once gave it unrivaled
All the steel | the ct
Was mediately converted into tb
knives,
reg ation untry
y
Several years ago
Edition” of the Arkansas
appeared an article calles
History of the
biographical sketch
Black,”
of It inventor,
James written by Dan W
to 1001, who knew Blac)
30 years. This, In brief, is his story:
Black in New
1800), ran away from hon
of elg
apprenticed to a manuf
ver plate. After serving
and
emigrated to t}
was born
ticeship becoming
At tr 1s
trade he 1 West
ily coming to the town of Wash
where he found employ
ment with a hin
was a frontier town,
went armed, the favorite w
Ark.
cksmith, ington
a knife.
\ -
the temper of their steel.
customed to make them
a pa
oxir
lesired
ttern of the ex
by the cu
1 £5 to 852
were plated
4
mpered steel
sqarel >
according to
Amen
gave lack an
ronishing
it to be made w
lowing 60 or 50 days,
call for it Blac
cording to Bowie's pattern
Bowie well and had a high
of him as a man of good
as of unflinching courage
never made a knife which su
own taste in point of shape and con.
cluded this would be a good opportun-
ity to do so
Consequently, after
knife ordered by Bowie, he made an.
other, and when Bowie returned Black
them to him and ex-
plained the difference, at the same time
giving him his choice at the same
price. Bowle promptly selected Black's
pattern.
Shortly after this Bowie became
volved in a difficulty with
peradoes who assaulted him with
kniven He killed them all with the
knife Black had made After this,
when anyone ordered a knife from
Black, he would order it to be made
like Bowie's, which finally was short.
ened ‘make me a Bowie-knife.”
Thus this famous weapon acquired its
name, Bowie himself was not a me
chanic of any kind He was killed in
the Alamo with Davy Crockett, and the
legend runs that his body was sur.
rounded by dead Mexicans whom be
had killed with that same knife.
Other men made knives In those days
and they are still being made, but no
one has ever made the “"Bowie-knife"
except James Black Its chiefert value
was in its temper. Black undoubtedly
possessed the Damascus
him mysteriously
with him in the same way.
came to
desiring hin the fol
when he we 1
K made the knife ac.
He
Knew
taste an we
He
nw iat
completing
in.
three den.
into
and
Such is one story of the Invention of
the Bowie knife, which sounds au.
thentie. jut, says another story, the
real inventor of the knife was Jesse
Cliffs, a blacksmith employed by the
elder Resin Bowie (father of the three
Jowie boys). Some time after the
invention of the knife James engaged
in an altercation with Maj, Norris
Wright which resulted In Wright shoot-
ing at James. The latter was saved
when a silver dollar In his pocket de
flected the bullet. Drawing his own
pistol, James aimed at Wright but the
trigger snapped. His father then gave
James the knife, saying, “This will
never snap.” It was this circumstance
that led James Bowle always to carry
torians and treasure seekers for cen.
turles. When the emperor died, Nan.
king, his capital, had 13 gates.
Through all these coffins were borne
simultaneously and 13 tombs were
erected at as many different places,
according to records, In order to baffle
enemies nnd ghouls
Mouse Brought Death
Frightened at a mouse, Mrs. John
Shillan stepped back into a threshing
mill at Garlieston, Scotland, recently,
and was killed,
A Knife
used by
Kit Carson
the knife on his person thereafter,
There ig still another story of the
origin of the Bowie knife—and another
inventor of it! This story names as
the father of the weapon a Tennessean
named John Sowell, who fought with
Jackson in the War of 1812 then
moved to Missourl and finally settied
in 1X. eing a
his trade
told by
Texns,
began pl
the stor
in Gonzales,
blacksmith, he
there, Then,
Sowell descendants
tinues:
James
between
cut a
i and in
ped at §
patterr
passing
owell's sh
asked Bowie |
fe a name
Mrmative and
the
a
name it in hor
it the ‘Bowie
“Who inven
Eruption of Volcanoes
Ascribed to the Tides
Not all active vol
id Mount
over pot,
AnOes erupt, as
a bolled-
y explode, shooting dust
Etna recently, like
Mn
es into the The non-
i nseribed
ex
by volcanologists to the fact that its
logive character of E
nllows steam and gas bubbles to
escape readils : |
anoes ti
Planned to Put Girdle
of Green About London
John Loudoun, a famous la
ardener who
ndscape
lived a centuy 0, Was
of a scheme a per-
around Lon.
don. In Loudoun proposed to
tree-planted boulevard round
was to
His
road—then known 2s
continue this
manent “green
metropolis len
Euston
New road-—and through
Marylebone, across Hyde park and via
Slonne street to the river, over Vaux
hall bridge, and then by way of Ken.
nington, Camberwell and Deptford to
Greenwich park, where it was to re
cross the Thames on a
and return Ly the City
New road. A beginning
made, but the cost of
proved too great, and the only portion
carried out comprised the imposing
turnings off Edgware road known as
Oxford and Cambridge terraces.
high viaduet
road back to
1
was actually
the
Then the Trouble Began
Bertie Baxter had but recently
come engaged to a young woman who
in three short years had ma
break the hearts of all the
in Bruxton.
At a
who was
his
ged to
young men
certain tea-dance
always telling
what a wonderful girl took
a companion aside and mentioned the
fact that the latest his af.
finity was a new type of lipstick.
“Oh, yes,” nodded
cently ; “kind of orange flavored, isn't
it¥"—London Answers,
her flance,
his friends
she was,
whim of
the other
nno-
Perplexing
M. Poiret, the famous Parisian de.
signer of women's wearing apparel,
had been established in his New York
brunch only a few weeks when he
went to an American friend in de
spair,
“Zis language of yours,” he walled,
“1 shall nevaire, nevalre master it.
Tell me, tell me, my dear friend, how
it Is zat w'en ze gown does not Ot, ze
patron has a fit”
Houses for the Soul
Make yourselves nests of pleasant
thoughts, None of us yet know, for
none’of bs have been taught dn early
youth, what fairy palaces we may
build of beautiful thought-proof
against all adversity. Bright fancies,
satisfied memories, noble histories,
fulthful sayings, treasure house of
precious and restful thoughts which
care cannot disturb, nor pain make
gloomy, nor poverty take away from
us—houses bullt without bands, for
our souls to live In.-~John Ruskin.
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New Issue
$4,250,000
Western Newspaper Union
(A Delaware Corporation)
Fifteen-Year 6 % Convertible Gold Debentures
Dated August 1, 1929 Due August 1, 1944
Interest payable Februsry 1 and August jom for normal Federa! income tax not excending 2° The Com-
» soe 10 tefund hedders
pany ill agree 4 ie
t any Sate in me ay pol exoerdie
gang € per ann : Peron ae
t Indenture. Redermal
sed interest. C
fassac busetis ned exter i and wee
{imme 8% a whole or in pa
sterchangeable den
Hasover Bank and
Debentures in
a my
eT
registerabe a2 10 prin Lentral i rasiee
mn)
be
Debentures will be convertible, ot the option of the holder, of any time prior to maturity, or up to five dey
prior to earlier redemption, inte Common Stock ot the rete of 40 shares for each $1,000 principe] smount.
7.. President of the Company, summarizes from his letter to us as foliows
BUSINESS
Western Newspaper Union, successor to a company of the same name and a business founded
in 1865, serves more than 10,000 daily and weekly cc : ntaining fully
36 key cities of the United States from Californi
supplies these newspapers with ready printed inside
pages or with columns of
articles selected by the
prepares cuts and copy
large volume of commercial printing, ) their entirety
various magazines and trade journals and is responsible for the mechanical production of
many of the feature services of The Associated Press.
FINANCIAL
uring the past 20 ye: rofit vion, after all charges includ-
uring past 2 h
ing depreciation, but ) annually, and in no
single year were such net profits
Net profits after depreciation, but before Federal taxes, for the past 4 years, as certified by
Messrs. Arthur Andersen & Co., after eliminating operations of the paper mill, which is
being sold coincident with this financing and after other adjustments arising from the
reorganization as stated in their certificate, were as follows:
essnss $741,336
955,383
571,249
765,825
1928..
1920. connsnssnnnsnssnnnne
1927 csvvvnennnns .
FREER RL EA REE R AREA
ser nnn
EEE
Such net profits as above have averaged about $758,448 annually, and for the year ended
December 31, 1928, amounted to $765,825, equivalent to more than 3 times the annual
Debenture interest requirement
After deducting from such net profits in 1928 Debenture interest requirements, Federal
Taxes (parent company) at 12% and Preferred Stock dividends, the balance amounted to
over $352,000, or about $2.35 per share on the 150,000 shares of Common Stock to be
presently outstanding.
The net assets of the Company, available for these Debentures, based on the balance sheet,
as at April 30, 1929, adjusted to give effect to the present financing, including the sale of
the paper mill, were in excess of $8,500,000.
MANAGEMENT
Since the death in 1916 of the former owner, George A. Joslyn, his widow and other heirs
have owned the majority of the Common Stock of Western Newspaper Union, control of
which is now being acquired by the executives who have been responsible for its successful
operation during the past 13 years.
All legal details will be parved upon by Mess. Tenney, Hoarding, Sher
nh Rogers of Chocago and by Mersrs, White & Case of New York,
F.A. Willard & Co. Ames, Emerich & Co., Inc.
New York Philadelphia Chicago New York
1 od ae accurate the information and statements contained In the above mentioned letter and summary,
Bs BN or misstatements jr said letter or summary shall give rise to any right or claim against us,
July, 1929.