Meriwether Lewis
• •'«* - _ ’a'.
Bom Just 160 Years Ago,
He Became a Soldier,
Explorer, Y outhf ul Gov
ernor and the “Lind
bergh of His Day.”
«
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
fK WAS born Just 100 years ago—
on August IS, 177-1.
He became a soldier at the age
of twenty and before he was twen
ty-three he held the rank of cap
tain.
At thirty he was the leader of
one of the most Important explor
ing expeditions In the history of
the United States and that exploit made him the
Idol of the nation, the Lindbergh of his day.
At thirty-three he was the governor of a ter
ritory of nearly a million square miles, a wilder
ness empire from which no less than 13 states
were to be formed later. v —
And when he died at the age of thirty-five
there had been crowded Into his brief career
more of adventure and high enterprise and
splendid achievement than In the lives of thou
sands of his contemporaries who attained twice
that age.
Meriwether Lewis was his name and It is so
Invariably bracketed with that of William Clark
that most Americans would not readily recog
nize either name standing alone. But, taken to
gether, the words "I/ewls and Clark" have In
stantaneous meaning for them. For they stand
for whnt one novelist has happily called “The
Magnificent Adventure”—an exploring expedition
lntq the vast Louisiana Purchase, a wilderness
Journey of more than 8,000 miles,, most of It
over trails never before trod by white men.
But there was more to the association of Meri
wether lewis and William Clark than the link
ing of their names In referring to their epic
trall-blazlng achievement. They were the Damon
and Pythias of American history. Theirs was a
friendship that began In boyhood and continued
to the day of Meriwether Lewis’ death; they
were comrades In arms In the Indian wars and
after their return from their western wayfaring
they were associated In civil posts of high re
sponsibility—Lewis as governor of Louisiana Ter
ritory and Clark as Indian agent, both with
headquarters at SL Louis. And even after the
brief career of the new governor ended with his
untimely death, the friendship of these two men
had Its living symbol In the person of the Indian
agent’s first-born, to whom he had given the
name of Meriwether Lewis Clark.
Lewis and Clark have been much written
about—but always together. Now for the first
time one of them is singled out for a “full-length
biography," In the book, “Meriwether Lewis of
Lewis and Clark," written by Charles Morrow
Wilson and published recently by the Thomas Y.
Crowell company of New York. In It he Is de
picted as a man of charming personality but a
tragic figure withal—a lonely, silent, brooding
man, frustrated In the one great love affair of
his life, torn with doubts as to whether or not
be was a failure and finally In a black moment
of despair ending that life which had so much
of promise In It
Lewis was born near Charlottesville In Albe
marle county, Virginia, the scion of one of the
most distinguished families of the state. One of
bis great-uncles, Fielding Lewis, married a sister
of Oeorge Washington and others of his family
were distinguished in the civil and military serv
ice of the state both before and after the Revo
lution. One of his uncles, Nlck'btas Lewis, a
noted Indian fighter, became young Meriwether's
guardian after the death of the boy's father and
was Influential In shaping his career, as was a
neighbor In Albemarle county, a red-haired,
freckled-faced, fiddle-playing lawyer named
Thomas Jefferson, who In a bankruptcy pro
ceeding saved the plantation of the widow Lewis
from being seized by creditors.
From the age of thirteen to eighteen Meri
wether was busy with his duties at a Latin
school In Williamsburg, then he returned home
to manage his mother's plantation. But from
his childhood he had been a hunter, a rover In
the forests and an adventurer. So when Presi
dent Washington called out the militia of Vir
ginia to help suppress the Whiskey Rebellion In
Pennsylvania, young Meriwether enlisted. This
brief military career gave him a taste for more.
Next he enlisted in the regular army and so
satisfactory had been hts record In the militia
that he was commissioned an ensign and ordered
to Philadelphia to serve on an ordnance detail
that was preparing munitions for a real war
that was looming over the western horizon.
Out in the Ohio valley the confederated tribes
men had soundly whipped General Harmar and
Inflicted upon General St. Clair one of the worst
defeats In the history of Indian warfare. So
General Wayne, the “Mad Anthony” of Stony
Point fame in the Revolution, had been sent to
chastise the Indians and in the summer of 1795
he led his well-drilled troops northward from
Fort Washington, near Cincinnati, to begin do
ing It.
In Wayne’s rifle corps was a young lieutenant
from Kentucky named William Clark who kept
a Journal of the expedition, distinguished mainly
by the fearful and wonderful spelling in it. But
in this Journal that summer was one significant
entry—“Lewis came tonight—am much pleased.”
And well might Billy Clark be “much pleased”
for this was his friend of boyhood days back in
Virginia—“Meme" Lewis.
Back in the forested hills of Albemarle county
the two had hunted together and In the closing
years of the Revolution they had played soldier
together. “When the war was ended and the
fighting men came home, Merne and Billy lis
tened to wondrous and romantic tales of rough
and-ready combat, of the grimness and gayety
of soldiering, and made sure vows to become
military men." But when Lewis was ten and
Clark fourteen their trails separated, for .Clark’s
family moved over the mountains Into the h}ue
grass country of Kentucky. Now, however, they
were together again, seeking the military glory
they had promised themselves as boys, little
realising that they would win even greater re
nown together on another expedition of • very
different sort.
LEWIS AND CLARK ON THE COLUMBIA
(Tablet on a Monument Near Portland, Ora.)
WILLIAM CLARK
"But they did share in the glory of Wayne’s
victory over the Indians at the Battle of Fallen
Timbers, a victory which smashed the power of
Little Turtle, the Miami leader, and his allies,
which led to the Treaty of Greenville and
brought peace, for a time at least, to the har
ried Ohio border. After that the two friends
separated again—Lewis, now a lieutenant, re
turning to Charlottesville on furlough and Clark,
damning army life and Its hardships, resigning
his commission and going back to the Kentucky
blue grass to be a country gentleman.
At Charlottesville Lewis found that his mother
had married again, to a certain John Marks, so
he abandoned his plan to resign from the army
and take over the management of her planta
tion again. In May, 1797, he was promoted to
captain and ordered to Fort Adams on the east
bank of the Mississippi near the present site
of Natchez, there to exercise Joint command
with a Captain Pierce. After a short stay there,
he was ordered back to Fort Washington, made
regimental paymaster and for the next two
years was busy riding through a lawless fron
tier country with his saddle-bags filled with
gold to pay ofT the troops at various posts In
the Middle West.
Then Thomas Jefferson became President and
there came the turning point In Meriwether
Lewis’ career. Jefferson offered him the position
of secretary and Lewis lost no time In resigning
from the army and accepting the offer. Among
those with whom he was thrown Into contact In
the National Capital, both In an official and In
a social way, was the vice president, Aaron Burr.
And Aaron Burr had a beautiful daughter, Theo
dosia, who had married a South Carolinian
named Alston.
Soon the President’s secretary and the vice
president's daughter were seen much together.
They danced together, they rode horseback to
gether almost every day and before long Lewis
was deeply In love with the beautiful Theo
dosia. It was his first experience with this emo
tion. True, there had been the beginnings of a
youthful romance between him and a cousin,
Maria Wood (a river In Montana bears her
name, given to It by Lewis during the famous
exploring expedition), but nothing had ever
come of that. And nothing came of his love for
Theodosia. “The petty Fates must have taken a
rather satanic delight In making Theodosia Burr
Alston, twenty-three and well married, the prin
cipal of the first and only great passion of Meri
wether Lewis' life. . . . When Merne Lewis
sought to give words to his sentiments, Theo
dosia was pleasantly frank. . . . she had a
reputation and a husband to keep. Therefore
the captain could remain a friend of the fam
ily’s. That ended It"
But if he couldn’t have the woman he loved,
there was another great experience awaiting
him. Thomas Jefferson had been eyeing the vast
country beyond the Mississippi for a number of
years and, even before considering the possi
bility of bringing It under the flag of the United
States, he was planning an exploring expedition
Into this wilderness of plains and mountains.
The leader would have to be a daring man, a
resourceful man, one who knew life In the wil
derness. Such a man was his young secretary,
which Is one of the reasons why Meriwether
Lewis became his secretary.
Then came the opportunity to buy tms vast
territory from Napoleon, and Jefferson, "stretch
ing his powers under the Constitution until they
cracked” bought It for $15,000,000. The next
thing to do was to find out what he had bought
So the long-dreamed-of exploring expedition was
planned. Meriwether Lewis was placed In com
mand and, of course, the first man he turned to
to accompany him was William Clark.
The story of the Lewis and Clark expedition
Is too well known to need more than passing
mention here, even though It was the high-water
mark In the career of Meriwether Lewis. That
being the case, It seems strange to read one
entry In his Journal, that for August 18, 1806,
when tne two explorers were nearing their goal.
It said: “This day I completed my thirty-first
year and conceived that I had In all human prob
ability now existed about half the period which
I am to remain.... I had as yet done little . . .
to further the happiness of the human race, or
to advance the Information of the succeeding
generation. ... I resolved, in future, to redouble
my exertions and at least endeavor to promote
those two primary objects of human existence,
by giving them the aid of that portion of talents
which nature and fortune have bestowed upon
me; or In future, to live for mankind, as I
have heretofore lived for myeelf."
He could not foresee, of course, how the na
tion was to acclaim him and his Mend, Clark,
I when they returned to St Louis the next year
'f ^
MERIWETHER LEWIS
THOMAS JEFFERSON
and announced the successful completion of
their great Journey nor the honors which the
future held for him. He returned to Washing
ton to find himself the hero of the hour and to
be warmly welcomed by Jefferson who said: “He
Is now become close to me as an own son." r
The first honor which came to him was the
governorship of the vast territory which he had
explored. In 1807 he left Washington for St.
Louis to take over his new Job. It was not an
easy. one. There were conflicting land grants
to be passed upon, there was Jealousy and
bickering among the office-holders and all sorts
of quarrels and differences among the varied
population of the new country to be settled.
Within a year Meriwether Lewis was a sick and
weary man. He became more lonely and silent,
even towards his good friend, William Clark.
The old brooding fits of black despair settled
down upon him once more.
Then came another blow to his troubled spirit.
Petty officials In Washington questioned some of
his accounts and refused to pay them. Cut to
the quick by this Insinuation against his Integ
rity, he prepared to go to the Capital to defend
himself against his detractors. By this time he
was a very sick man Indeed. Clark and his
other friends tried to dissuade him from at
tempting the Journey but without success.
Accompanied by two servants, Pernea, a Cre
ole, and Jim, a negro, and by Maj. John Neely,
Indian agent for the Cherokees, he set ont on
horseback. In Tennessee his Illness became
worse but he Insisted upon pushing on. Then
one afternoon he and his companions became
separated In a severe rainstorm. Lewla sought
shelter In a wayside tavern, kept by a Mrs.
Orlner. What happened then Is told In the words
of Jefferson, writing In 1812, as follows: "Mrs.
Orlner, alarmed at the symptoms of derangement
she discovered, gave him up the house and re
tired to rest herself In an outhouse, the gov
ernor’s and Neely's servants lodging In another.
About three o'clock in the night he did the deed
which plunged his friends Into affliction and de
prived his country of one of her most valued
citizens, whose valor and Intelligence would
now have been employed In avenging the wrongs
of his country, and In emulating by land the
splendid deeds which have honored her arms on
the ocean ... To this melancholy close of the
life of one whom posterity will declare not to
have lived in vain, I have only to add that all
the facts I have stated are known either to
myself, or communicated by his family to others,
for whose truth I have no hesitation to make
myself responsible.”
There has been some dispute among histo
rians over the facts of Lewis’ death. One ver
sion of the tale has It that he was murdered
either by Grlner, Pernea the Creole, or Jim the
negro. But his biographer declares: “The weight
of testimony, both recorded and traditional. Is
overwhelming In support of the but slightly
varying accounts forwarded by John Neely,
Alexander Wilson and Thomas Jefferson,’’ wblcb
means Meriwether Lewis died by his own hand.
He was buried near the place where be died,
72 miles west of Nashville on the old Natchex
Trace. In 1849 the legislature of Tennessee
voted the sum of $900 to build a monument over
his grave and In 1929 the federal government
set aside a tract of 90 acres surrounding this
memorial as a national monument A splendid
memorial to him and his friend, William Clark,
stands on the campus of the University of Vir
ginia at Charlottesville and recent years have
also seen statues of both men erected near the
Missouri state capltol at Jefferson City. Numer
ous tablets and other memorials dot their trail
from the Mississippi to the Pacific and a tall
obelisk which stands near the town that bears
his name, Meriwether, Mont, Is known as the
“Lewis monument” commemorating the most
northerly point reached by the expedition. But
even without all these memorials the fame of
Meriwether Lewis and his friend, William Clark,
would be secure. “Lewis and Clark" is a famil
iar phrase on the American tongue and In the
American mind It is a perpetual symbol of those
who go forth to adventure, clad In the shining
armor of youth and high enterprise.
• hr Went! Uiwspeim Data*.
Howe About:
Silerius* Third Wife
Unsuitable Marriages
Cruelty of War
©. Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
By ED HOWE
IN HIS memoirs Silerlus tells
most of bis relations with bis
third wife, which he confesses were
on the whole more agreeable than
with the other four (Details as to
tils marriages are shadowy, as
though some of them were failures,
but he seems to hare been married
fire times, and It Is of his third he
speaks most In many references to
marriage, women and the family life
generally).
Silerlus had no fault to find with
this third woman, although he Is
very severe In reference to some
others of her sex. She seems to
have had no faults he did not re
gard as natural, and therefore to be
forgiven because of her many vir
tues.
Once Silerlus discovered his third
wife was Jealous of him, and was
astonished. “She knew at our mar
riage," he wrote, “that I had lived
the life of a goat Why should she
be JealousT It seemed to me un
reasonable that she was, since I
actually preferred her to all others
In an enormous competition. Wom
en live sheltered lives; possibly
there Is reason for Jealousy among
men, but If I were a woman, I do
not believe I would be Jealous of
a reasonably well-behaved husband.
This may be unfairness; I fre
quently find I am unfair after I have
striven to live as an honest man In
thought and action.”
WWW
A strange woman lately wrote me
a strange letter. At the age of
twenty-four she held a position in
which she gave satisfaction, and in
which there was every prospect of
promotion. In defiance of advice
from friends, and of her own judg
ment, she married. The husband
was a palpable third rater, and she
divorced him.
Again she secured a good posi
tion; again she married a man she
might have known was worthless.
This time her friends were disgust
ed, and she has joined the unem
ployed.
One of the strangest things I have
encountered In life Is the manner
In which many women rush Into un
suitable marriages. Everyone un
derstands why men are so crazy
about women, but I have never
been able to understand why women
am equally crazy about men. It
seems to me that were I young, and
a woman, I could consider marriage
with considerable patience, Intelli
gence and caution.
The red lantern signal Is usually
hong on unsuitable husbands and
wires, as It Is on dangerous bridges.
• • ■
An old German Is reported as say
ing: "When our sons mowed down
thousands of French, and won the
battle, we shouted and drank beer.
When the French killed our sons,
they cheered, and drank wine. When
my son marched away to fight, I
stood In the streets of this town and
cheered. A letter my son wrote
Just before he was killed said he
had lived In‘France two years, and
liked the French, and they liked
him." ... In addition to the un
necessary killing and hate, the
war Impoverished the world. . . .
Wouldn’t you think anyone conld
understand the moral of this in con
sidering the next wart
• • •
The habit men have of being arti
ficial, over-sentimental. Is very old.
As far back as Roman times, Sl
lerlus was weary of artificial things,
and wrote that they so bored him
that he dreaded to go on the streets.
In the Roman Forum,, when a young
man need fine eloquence to make
false promises, Sllerlus walked
wearily away, and retired to his
study. The last year of his life he
spent In writing his memoirs, and
In the second volume (page 182) I
find tnls observation:
“Writing men have so tired the
people with unnatural things, I have
concluded I may better please by
being natural and simple In writ
ing my recollections. * I may thus
at least put down what one man
actually thought and experienced
during a long life; men have be
come so untruthful In seeking truth
that my method may, Indeed, prove
to bo something new, and better rec
ommend my work.”
This seems to have been a mis
taken opinion. Although 811erlus
wrote with great simplicity and
frankness, Marcus Aurelius, s con
temporary writing with so much la
bor and obscurity (bat critics now
say he Is not understandable, Is
more popular. The natural use of
writing would seem to be to truth
fully record credits and debits, la
books of history as well as In ac
count books, but somehow ws have
decided otherwise,
The woman hare various organi
sations Intended to Improve' the
condition of their sex; a very com
mendable work, if well attended to.
... I often wonder they do not
Induce the managers of telephone
companies to conduct schools to
teach women manners and efficien
cy. I have never known a telephone
girl not above the average In
these respects; and they are un
trained girls taught In schools con
T/iieeAsian Cities
Milking a Rubber Tree Near Singapore.
Pr«par*d by National Qooyraphlc BocUty,
Waahlcifton, D. C.—WNU Wrvlci.
UREE cities of Aria that
have figured prominently In
former England-to-Australia
flights will be on the route of the
London-Melbourne race which will
take place In October. They are
Baghdad, Allahabad and Singapore.
Baghdad Is near the Persian fron
tier, hard by the traditional site of
old Eden, man's birthplace. Here on
the classic soil of Babylon, Nineveh,
and Opls once flourished the pick of
the human race; here was the cen
ter of the world’s wealth, power,
and civilization. And back to this
ancient region modern men are turn
ing, to reclaim Its lost areas, open
Its mines and oil deposits—to re
store the Garden of Edenl
From the deck of a Tigris steam
er Baghdad looms up boldly. Its
splendid skyline of domes and min
arets reminding one of some “mid
way” of World’s fair memory. An
odd pontoon bridge connects the two
parts of the city, separated by the
yellow Tigris. On the west bank
is the old town, enclosed by date
and orange groves. From here the
new Baghdad-Mosul railway starts
on Its long run across the trackless
desert. East of the river, on the
Persian side, is "new” Baghdad;
with Its governmenf"~6ifices, bar;
racks, consulates, prisons, etc.
Beyond, as far as the eye can
reach In every direction, stretches
the vast, flat, treeless, empty plain
of Mesopotamia—a region once
more populous than Belgium.
To Mgo native” one must paddle
ashore from the steamer In a
'‘goofah,” a queer, coraclellke craft
In use here since Jonah's day. A
goofah la woven from willows about
6 feet In diameter, la perfectly cir
cular and basket-shaped, and Is
coated outside with bitumen. Some
say Moses was cut adrift In one of
these goofahs.
Another strange craft at Baghdad
Is the “kelek," a Kurdish Invention.
The "kelek” is a raft made of In
flated goatskins, held together by
poles and covered with a platform
of straw mats. These keleks come
down to the city In hundreds, from
Mosul, bringing wool, grain and
skins.
Not the Baghdad of All Baba.
A great wall encircles Baghdad.
Flat-roofed, huddled Moorish houses,
many almost windowless and each
surrounding Its own open court, are
a‘distinct feature of the older parts
of the city. Oh these flat roofs
Arabs spend the summer nights with
tom-toms, flutes, water-pipes, and
dancing women. Facing the river,
removed from the Arab town, are
built the Imposing foreign consul
ates, mercantile offices, and the
sumptuous homes of rich Jews, Ar
menians, Greeks and Syrians, the
men who made New Baghdad.
But the Baghdad of All Baba’s
day, with the splendor of Aladdin's
enchanted age, la gone forever. The
palaces, the mosques, and minarets
are mostly in rains. Even the tomb
of lovely Lady* Zobetdo, favorite
wife of Harun-al-Rashld, Is tum
bled down and decaying. R la Into
modern monuments to New Baghdad
—Into roads, bridges,- public build
ings, Irrigation works, army organ
isation, dredging the Tigris, eta.—
that the prominent citizens put their
money.
Modern Baghdad Is In safe hands
now; no dissipated royalty guards
Its gates. Sober, clear-headed men,
drilled In the best schools of mod
ern Europe, able to hold their own
anywhere, administer Its affairs. As
late as 1830 the Tigris overflowed Its
banks, swept through Baghdad, and
drowned 15,000 people In one night.
Allahabad Attracts Millions.
Normally, Allahabad, India. Is a
city of 175,000 people. It Ues In
the Y-shaped region between the
Jumna and Ganges rivers, at the
meeting place of the two streams.
It Is this location that draws huge
crowds to the town annually; and,
at twelve-year Intervals, tremen
. dons hordes. Both the Jumna and
the Ganges era sacred streaam, and
their meeting place la doubly sa
cred. The mystical Indian mind
finds still a third reason for holi
ness: It Is believed by the pilgrims
that the Saraswatl, a river which Is
swallowed up by the sands south
west of Punjab, emerges at the
Junction point of the Jumna and
Gages.
Both the Ganges and the Jumna
are coffee-colored streams, heavily
laden with silt At low water In
late winter a large expanse of dusty
sand Is exposed below the Allaha
bad fort which stands on the bluff
overlooking the confluence. It Is on
this beach that the millions of pil
grims assembled recently.
The Indian police have their
hands full during the great re
ligious fair, or Kumbh Mela. All
vehicles are excluded from the
river plain, and all efforts concen
trated on maintaining order among
the multitude of men, women and
children that move about In the
dust slip on the wet clay near the
stream banks, and attain merit by
bathing In the murky waters.
A torrid sun beats down, and to
screen Its rays little shelters of
rushes have been erected on the
sands. Under these sit all manner
of people wearing a minimum of
clothing. Among them are holy men,
their bodies smeared with gray
coats of ashes. Groups of Idols are
set up that the faithful may con
tribute coins. Among the crowds
go men carrying water skins, sprin
kling the water In an effort to lay
the dust that millions of bare feet
stir up. — ~
The Kumbh Mela Is a mecca for
moneymakers, and the principal
thoroughfare Is lined with mat-shed
shops for the sale of sacrificial
brassware, tiny brass Idols, holy ber
ries made Into dark necklaces, and
shining brass bottles, zoned with
mellow-tinted copper. In which holy
water can be taken to remote parts
of India by credulous people. Here
and there one finds men with small
furnaces full of heated pitch, seal
ing the watfer vessels so that not
an atom of holiness can escape.
Allahabad Is old. In the en
closure of the fort Is a pillar erect
ed to Asoka. the great Buddhist
king, during the Third century, B.
C. It may have been moved to the
spot taken, however, so it la not con
clusive evidence that a town ex
isted on the site of Allahabad dur
ing Asoka's reign. The first town
known to history on this site was
Prayag, about which a Chinese
traveler wrote in 1700 A. D. The Hin
dus still call the town Prayag, “the
place of sacrifice." it received the
name by which it is now known to
the world from Its Mohammedan
conquerors in 1575.
Singapore a Great Free Port.
Singapore is an Island 27 miles
long by 14 wide and Just misses be
ing the southernmost point of the
continent of Asia by a half mile
water channel. It is at the funnel
point of the Strait of Malacca which
extends between the Malay penin
sula and the Island of Sumatra, the
great water highroad between India
and China.
Little more than a hundred years
ago the Island, owned by the sul
tan of Johore on the nearby main
land, was a deserted Jungle save for
a little Osblng village. Ships In the
China trade passed It by as they
passed many another jungle shore;
the only ports of call In that region
of the world were those of the
Dutch Islands of Sumatra and Java.
But these ports took a big toll In
fees, and Sir Stamford Raines, an
official of the Blasf India company,
began to dream of a free British
port that would facilitate trade.
In 1819 be obtained the seemingly
worthless Island of Singapore for
his company for a small fee. De
velopments soon proved him a
prophet, for within two years the
little trading center be established
had a population of 10,000. It was
1822 before the British government
consented to take an Interest la
the place.