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JIM BOWIE'S LESSER-KNOWN ENCOUNTERS By Matt Cook
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As a
relatively new knife enthusiast, I have spent a lot of time on various
internet sites learning about as well as acquiring knives. The internet is
such a vast resource that wandering around on it can lead to some
interesting surprises. I came across one such surprise recently, in the form of an original June 3, 1875 Crawford County Bulletin from Denison, Iowa. In this newspaper was an article that included a correspondent's recollection of a story he had heard about the legendary Colonel James Bowie. I found the account delightful both for its writing style and as an insight into one of the most famous knife-carriers in history. Here is the text of that story: "I remember a story I heard forty or fifty years ago. A stagecoach was going along an Arkansas road. On the back seat were three women; on the middle one, two men tall and muscular; while the forward seat held only a small man wrapped up completely in a blanket. After a time one of the powerful men in the middle seat lit a cigar and smoked. The smoke went full in the face of one of the young women, who was both young and beautiful. "She sickened, and then requested the man to stop smoking. This aroused the ruffian in him and he declared, ‘I have paid my fare; it is customary to smoke, and I will smoke as much as I have a mind to.’ Accordingly, he took out a fresh cigar, and started the smoke-cloud again. The woman could only add that ‘Smokers ought not to forget to be gentlemen.’ This suggestion excited the man's rage to a white heat. "At this point the small man on the front seat laid aside his blanket, put his left hand on the knee of the enraged ruffian, in order to withdraw his attention from the woman himself, while with his right hand, he drew a bowie-knife from its case between his shoulder blades. Pointing the weapon at the heart of the brute, and looking him square in the eyes, the little man quickly said: ‘I am Col. James Bowie, and, unless you throw that cigar away in one minute, I will put this knife into your heart as true as there is a God.’ "The ruffian comprehended in an instant with whom he had to deal, and threw his cigar out of the window without saying a word, Co. Bowie replaced his weapon, drew his blanket about him, and relapsed into a condition of apparent indifference."
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