David Crockett: His Life and AdventuresAbbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
History
David Crockett: His Life and Adventures
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Crockett, Davy, 1786-1836
"But when I looked back again my plate was gone, goose and all. So I
jist cast my eyes down to t'other end of the table, and sure enough I
seed a white man walking off with my plate. I says, 'Hello, mister,
bring back my plate.' He fetched it back in a hurry, as you may think.
And when he set it down before me, how do you think it was? Licked as
clean as my hand. If it wasn't, I wish I may be shot!
"Says he, 'What will you have, sir?' And says I, 'You may well say
that, after stealing my goose.' And he began to laugh. Then says I,
'Mister, laugh if you please; but I don't half-like sich tricks upon
travellers.' I then filled my plate with bacon and greens. And whenever
I looked up or down the table, I held on to my plate with my left hand.
"When we were all done eating, they cleared everything off the table,
and took away the table-cloth. And what do you think? There was another
cloth under it. If there wasn't, I wish I may be shot! Then I saw a man
coming along carrying a great glass thing, with a glass handle below,
something like a candlestick. It was stuck full of little glass cups,
with something in them that looked good to eat. Says I, 'Mister, bring
that thing here.' Thinks I, let's taste them first. They were mighty
sweet and good, so I took six of them. If I didn't, I wish I may be
shot!"
This humorous fabrication was copied into almost every paper in the
Union. The more respectable portion of Crockett's constituents were so
annoyed that their representative should be thus held up to the
contempt of the nation, that Crockett felt constrained to present a
reliable refutation of the story. He therefore obtained and published
certificates from three gentlemen, testifying to his good behavior at
the table. Hon. Mr. Verplanck, of New York, testified as follows:
"I dined at the President's, at the time alluded to, in company with
you, and I had, I recollect, a good deal of conversation with you. Your
behavior there was, I thought, perfectly becoming and proper. And I do
not recollect, or believe, that you said or did anything resembling the
newspaper-account."
Two other members of Congress were equally explicit in their testimony.
During Crockett's first two sessions in Congress he got along very
smoothly, cooperating generally with what was called the Jackson party.
In 1829 he was again reelected by an overwhelming majority. On the 4th
of March of this year, Andrew Jackson was inaugurated President of the
United States. It may be doubted whether there ever was a more honest,
conscientious man in Congress than David Crockett. His celebrated
motto, "Be sure that you are right, and then go ahead," seemed ever to
animate him. He could neither be menaced or bribed to support any
measure which he thought to be wrong. Ere long he found it necessary to
oppose some of Jackson's measures. We will let him tell the story in
his own truthful words:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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