'Cbe Conservative.
THE COSMOS.
[ Foil THE CONSEUVATIVK. ]
Proliflo complex of existing things ,
Forever working , ns with tireless zeal ,
Regardless of what men naniu woo or weal ,
Thy nugUHt drnnm ono prime lessen brings ;
From smallest bird that in thohedgerow singfl ,
From tiny motes that in the sunbeam reel ,
To Buns remote beyond thought's fleetest
wings ,
All , through the teeming fields spread out in
space ,
Whcr 'er a form or being may bo found ,
Or silimt , or when heralded with sound ,
All play their parts exactly and with grace.
No transient pageant this , nu > ro picture bright ,
But , living whole , bathed in eternal light.
EDWIN EMEH'SON.
Paris , Franco.
TWO EARLY Sl'ORTS.
Iti the summer of 1883 the first gentlemen -
men sportsmen who ever came west for
amusement , so far as the writer has
learned , crossed the plains and pene
trated the territory of the mountain
Indians , under the escort of one of
Sublette & Campbell's fur-trading par
ties. Everything was known and talked
over among the little world of trappers
and traders , and this expedition at
tracted a good deal of attention at the
time , as appears from the frequent
mention one sees of it in the literature
of the period. There were several of
the gentlemen , but the names of only
five have come down to us. These were
Captain Stuart , Doctor Harrison , Mr.
Edmund Christy of St. Louis , a Mr.
Brotherton , and Colonel C. A. Whar-
field of the U. S. army. Readers of
Irving's Bonneville may perhaps recall
this party , as it appears several times in
the course of that rather fanciful uarra
tive ; the smaller circle of readers who
know Jim Beckwourth's memoirs are
more likely to remember the encounter
between the redoubtable Jim and Cap
tain Stuart. Some further information
which has come to the writer's notice ,
regarding the leading members of the
party , may be of interest to THE CON
SERVATIVE'S readers.
Stuurt.
Irving , who got the most of his information
mation from Captain Bonneville himself ,
says nothing of Doctor Harrison , and
speaks of Captain Stuart ( he spells it
Stewart ) as "a gentleman of noble
connections , who was amusing himself
by a wandering tour in the Far West. "
The principal thing that he has to tell
of them is how they fell in with the
Crows , whom he calls vagabond free
booters , in September , 1888 , in the south
eastern part of what is now Montana.
The Crows welcomed their visitors , and
set about robbing them of everything
they possessed. "Captain Stewart be
haved with great spirit , " saya Irving ;
nevertheless the honest Crows stripped
the entire party to the bone , including
their guide and interpreter , the notable
Thomas Fitzpatriok "Broken Hand. "
Fitzpatriok , however , by employing
sufflcient eloquence and management ,
sncceded in prevailing upon them to
return their rifles and horses and the
most of their traps ; but as he departed
with his friends the repentant Orowo
made another sweep at them and nabbed
a number of their animals.
BeeUwourth ,
Curiously enough , we have the In
dians' own version of this affair from
the truthful Mr. Beckwourth , who was
then a chief among the Crows and had
just attained the highest possible honor ,
the title of Medicine Calf. He was
turning his chieftanoy to good account
and drawing a large salary from thb
American Fur Company for directing the
furs taken by his red children into that
company's trading-post. He speaks of
Stuart as an English officer ( he was
Scotch ) "who had figured conspicuously
under the Iron Duke ; " ( it was in fact
only 18 years since Waterloo ; ) and of
Harrison as "a son of the hero of
Tippecanoe. " He says further that ,
while camping a short time before among
the Oheyennes , they had taken part "for
the sport of shooting Indians" in a fight
between the warriors of that tribe and a
party of Crows , and had in fact them
selves shot the last survivor of the
Crows , a chief whom the Cheyennes
had difficulty in finishing ; and that they
were recognized to that effect by the
Crows , who were on the point of mur
dering them all before he knew any
thing about it. By taking prompt action
he averted this catastrophe , and he also ,
he says , found and restored all Fitz-
patrick's goods except some cloth , and all
his horses but five. Then he tells how
Captain Stuart ungratefully called him
a d d rascal , and was rebuked by Doc
tor Harrison and Colonel Wharfield ; how
he afterwards solicited his aid in recover
ing a valuable horse and undertook to
provide generously for him if he lost
standing with his employers thereby ;
and finally sought to shoot him , and
offered "a certain individual" a thous
and dollars to perform that service for
him.
Medicine Calf Jim had a poor opinion
of Captain Stuart , but of Doctor Harrison
risen he says that' 'if only for his noble
father's sake , I would have defended
him at the risk of my own life. "
Carnon.
Kit Carson , on the other hand is re
ported by his biographer , Peters , as
speaking in almost as warm terms of the
captain ; "for the goodness of his heart , "
he quotes him assaying , "andnumerous
rare qualities of mind , he will always be
remembered by those of the moun
taineers who had the honor of his
acquaintance. "
Now as to what is otherwise known
of them , Captain Sir William Stuart
was the owner of a large estate in
Perthshire , where he was living thirty
years later in a house filled with Indian
trophies and other curiosities. Ho was
at that time about seventy , broad-
shouldered and very active , though
gouty and irascible. Ho spent several
years in the wilds of America ; in the
summer of 1884 we find him accompany
ing Nathaniel J. Wyeth in the latter's
second journey west , and in October of
that year Wyeth gave him letters of
introduction to friends back in Yankee-
land. There is a tradition that ho wrote
a book about his adventures , but nobody
seems to have seen it.
HitrrlHoii.
As to Dr. Bnnjauiin Harrison , he was ,
as Beckwonrth understood , a son of
General William Henry Harrison , who
eight years after these events became
president of the United States. He was
also , therefore , uncle to his namesake
who became president in 1889. The
latter bears witness concerning him as
follows : "He died when I was a lad.
He was of a wild and adventurous dis
position , participated , I think , in the
Texas war of independence , and in a
good many other frontier scrapes , but I
have no particular knowledge of the
events of his life. "
This may be characterized as faint
praise.
Wyoth.
The recent publication of the corres
pondence and journals of "Captain"
Wyeth throws light on a great many
personalities of that period. Doctor
Harrison is one thus illuminated.
Wyeth was thrown with him a good
deal , and , for instance , carried some
things from him to his father the
general on his way east in the fall of
1833. This is what he has to say con
cerning him in a letter to William
Sublette in February , 1834 : "I place
little reliance on any information or any
reports through the Am. F. Co. especially
by Doct. Harrisons hands. "
This too is faint praise.
The root of the matter seems to appear
in a statement in the journal of Charles
Larpenteur , who mentions , in a list of
persons who started together from St.
Louis in May , 1833 , "Captain Stewart
from England , on a pleasure trip , and
old General Harrison's son , with the
view to break him from drinking whis
key. " But if the old general thought
he was sending him where there was
none of that commodity , he was de
ceived.
I judge , however , that the party broke
up with the beginning of the trapping
season that fall , Captain Stuart return
ing to St. Louis and Doctor Harrison
betaking himself to the depths of the
mountains ; for Wyeth speaks in one of
nis letters of his having "taken an outfit
from Fitzpatric & Co. of some few
horses and men for the trapping buis-
ness.
A. T. RICHARDSON.
