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Show 3J6 AU'fOBIOGRAPHY OF I stood at bay, with my huge bowie-knife drawn, momentarily hesitating whether to give the Crow warhoop or not, when Sheriff Buzby laid l~a~ds o~ me, and requested me to be quiet. Although bmhng ~1th rage, I respected the officer's presence, and the assassins marched off to the body of the theatre. I followed them to the door, and defied them to descend to the street with me; but the sheriff becoming angry, and threatening me with the calaboose, I straightway left the theatre. I stood upon the steps, and a friend corning up, I borrowed a well-loaded pistol of him, and moved slowly away, thinking that five men would surely never allow themselves to be cowed by one man. Shortly after, I perceived the whole party approaching, and, stepping back on the side-walk in front of a high wall, I waited their coming up. On they came, swaggering along, assuming the appearance of intoxication, and talking with drunken incoherency. When they had approached near enough to suit me, I ordered them to halt, and cross over to the other side of the street. '' Who are you?" inquired one of them. "I am he whom you are after, Jim Beckwourth; and if you advance one step farther, I will blow the tops of your heads off." " You are drunk, ar'n 't you ? " said one of the party. " No, I am not drunk," I replied; " I never drink any thing to make a dog of me like yourselves." I stood during this short colloquy in the middle of the side-walk, with my pistol ready cocked in one hand and my huge bowie-knife in the other ; one step forward would have been fatal to any one of them. " Oh, he's drunk," said one; "let's cross over to the other side." And all five actually did pass over, which, JAMES P. BECKWOURTH. 387 if any of them is still living and has any regard for truth, he must admit to this day. I then proceeded home. :1\1: y sister had been informed of the rencounter, and on my return home I found her frightened almost to death ; for Forsyth (one of the party) had long been the terror of St. Louis, having badly maimed many men, and the information that he was after me led her to the conclusion that I would surely be killed. A few days after I met two of the party (Forsyth and Kinney), when Forsyth accost.ed me, "Your name is Beckwourth, I believe?" I answered, '' That is my name." " I understand that you have been circulating the report that I attempted to assassinate you?" "I have told that you and your gang have been endeavoring to murder me," I replied, '' and I repeat it here." "I will teach you to repeat such tales about me," he said, fiercely, and drew his knife, which he called his Arkansas tooth-pick, from his pocket. The knife I had provided myself with againsf any emergency was too large to carry about me conveniently, so I carried it at my back, having the handle within reach of my finger and thumb. Seeing his motion, I whipped it out in a second. ~' Now," said I, " you miserable ruffian, draw your . kmfe and come on ! I will not leave a piece of you big enough to choke a dog." "Come," interposed Kinney, "let us not make blackguards of ourselves; let us be going." And they actually did pass on without drawing a weapon. I was much pleased that this happened in a public part of the city, and in open day ; for the bully, whom |
