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Show c^?"AA->2Adi IPSE '^A>"^fl^A^f !*>_£*>*- ?» - **^ „ k£s, . -u -.-,-„ ijESyrf Set A'^vjA, Lv^t.'s^?'-" • C5K By F. W. HODGE I HAVE BEEN TEMPTED FOR A GOOD while to jot down what knowledge I could gather concerning old Dan, or Uncle Dan, as Dan DuBois was -. popularly called, for I regard this colorful oldtimer as worthy of a place in the annals of the Southwest by reason of his robuU character, the part he played in frontier history, and the fact that his like will never appear on the scene again. Little authentic information regarding our subject is of record. His intimates would hobnob with him, but so far as I have been able to learn, only very "few of these have survived, and none of them, with one exception, ever openly made a note about him The exception was the late Evon Z. Vogt, then editor of the C^llup Independent^ who on t h e friendliest terms spent an evening with Dan, while * census enumerator J n 1070 - during which he took occasion to jot down a few personal notes. This was the mistake of Voce's editorial life, for even had he not been a newspaper man, Dan would never have permitted him to walk away with any information in writing that he may have revealed. When Vogt turned to go, Dan commanded, "Young man, give me.that book!" Vogt obeyed. The notebook immediately jedjhe_open fire. On another occasion, it has been reported, Zane Gray went to Gallup, "his special mission being to spend a few days with our old-time citizen for the purpose of getting a little data on the life of the veteran trader with the view of writing.a book in which he will portray a number of the pioneer characters of the community." We may imagine how far Gray got with Dan, even if he reached within interviewing distance of him, which seems to be open to doubt. The same experience, it is said, was suffered by Harold Bed Wright. As Dan's daughter, Mrs. Amelia Garduno, recently informed me regarding her father, "about fifty years ago you could have gotten a lot of information from some of the old-timers in Gallup, but now they are all dead, and the younger generation haven't even heard of him." There is little wonder, then, that there is such a paucity of information concerning the life of Dan DuBois; the little that can be rescued and woven into a fabric that does not seem too threadbare is due more or less to tradition, to the memory of Dan's few surviving relatives, especially his daughters (of whom more anon) and of a few friends who chanced to pass the word along, and to my own recollections of Dan, whom I claimed as a good and faithful friend. - Ordinarily one perhaps should open a biographic sketch by giving a word regarding . "S£:i£>- |
