occurred the day before.
He stated that this was the first time since his return from New Mexico
that he had allowed himself to drink whiskey, and when the whiskey was
in him he had 'nary sense.'"

Among the many men who have distinguished themselves as mountaineers,
traders, and Indian fighters along the line of the Old Trail, was one
who eventually became the head chief of one of the most numerous
and valorous tribes of North American savages--James P. Beckwourth.
Estimates of him vary considerably. Francis Parkman, the historian, who
I think never saw him and writes merely from hearsay, says: "He is a
ruffian of the worst class; bloody and treacherous, without honor or
honesty; such, at least, is the character he bears on the great plains.
Yet in his case the standard rules of character fail; for though he will
stab a man in his slumber, he will also do the most desperate and daring
acts."

I never saw Beckwourth, but I have heard of him from those of my
mountaineer friends who knew him intimately; I think that he died long
before Parkman made his tour to the Rocky Mountains. Colonel Boone, the
Bents, Carson, Maxwell, and others ascribed to him no such traits as
those given by Parkman, and as to his honesty, it is an unquestioned
fact that Beckwourth was the most honest trader among the Indians of all
who were then engaged in the business. As Kit Carson and Colonel Boone
were the only Indian agents whom I ever knew or heard of that dealt
honestly with the various tribes, as they were always ready to
acknowledge, and the withdrawal of the former by the government was the
cause of a great war, so also Beckwourth was an honest Indian trader.

He was a born leader of men, and was known from the Yellowstone to the
Rio Grande, from Santa Fe to Independence, and in St. Louis. From the
latter town he ran away when a boy with a party of trappers, and himself
became one of the most successful of that hardy class. The woman who
bore him had played in her childhood beneath the palm trees of Africa;
his father was a native of France, and went to the banks of the wild
Mississippi of his own free will, but probably also from reasons of
political interest to his government.

In person Beckwourth was of medium height and great muscular power,
quick of apprehension, and with courage of the highest order. Probably
no man ever met with more personal adventures involving danger to life,
even among the mountaineers and trappers who ea