1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: M ultimately, you're dealing with a person who, because of 2 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:11,639 Speaker 1: the circumstances of his birth, should not have had the 3 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: influence and impact that he did, and he did so 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:21,119 Speaker 1: because he refused to internalize all the messaging about who 5 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: he was from outside. This week on the Bargrease podcast 6 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: we're on our third and final episode in our series 7 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 1: on the extraordinary life of the former slave, confederate soldier, 8 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:37,479 Speaker 1: bear hunter and Mississippi Native Hulk Collier. Many believe he 9 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: deserves to sit in the saddle with the greats of 10 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:44,840 Speaker 1: American history, but his life is stacked deep in controversy, murder, 11 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: fortunes won and lost, an unrivaled adventure. We've tracked the 12 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: data points we have on hold, but like a boar 13 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: bear being pursued by hounds, he's difficult to course. This 14 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: episode is dedicated to his famous Ted bear hunt when 15 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 1: he guided President Theodore Roosevelt, and will discuss Holtz lasting legacy. 16 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: He lived in bold opposition to the trends of the age. 17 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:16,760 Speaker 1: He was a black man that overcame, endured and thrived 18 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: in the south in a dangerous period. But even in 19 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,399 Speaker 1: the midst of victory, his life leaves us with a 20 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 1: tragic aftertaste. The story of Holtz life exemplifies core bear grease. 21 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: It's the finest renderings, the choice meat of the ACORN, 22 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: the flash of the flashiest mule, the crescendo trill of 23 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: the barred owl. It's the Black Panther of all Black 24 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,680 Speaker 1: Panther Stories, and I'm honored to tell it to you. 25 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: I doubt you're gonna want to miss this one. And 26 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: we rides into camp and he've got the bar tied 27 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: in the back of his horse. He said, did the 28 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: President Kill that baron? He said no, but if he 29 00:01:55,560 --> 00:02:08,679 Speaker 1: had followed my instructions he would have. My name is 30 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: Clay Nukelem and this is the bear grease podcast, where 31 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search for insight and 32 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: unlikely places, and where we'll tell the story of Americans 33 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:25,239 Speaker 1: who lived their lives close to the land presented by 34 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: F hf gear, American made, purpose built hunting and fishing 35 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 1: gear that's designed to be as rugged as the places 36 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 1: we explore. He lived his life from day one all 37 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: the way through as somebody you took seriously. White men 38 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: sought him out in the deep South in that time 39 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 1: for shought him out not only white men but the 40 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: president United States, and I'll talk him on two hunts, 41 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 1: not just one. If there's one thing we've learned about 42 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: Hulk Collyer, it's that he was a man to be 43 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: taken seriously on this third and final episode. For any 44 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,520 Speaker 1: of you hillbillies who are just getting here, here's the summary. 45 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: Hulk Collyer was born a slave in Mississippi in eighteen 46 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,520 Speaker 1: forty six he fought in the confederate army. He killed 47 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 1: two white men and shot another one after the civil war, 48 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: but wasn't convicted. He worked as a cowboy in Texas. 49 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: He served as a deputy sheriff. He gambled like a sailor. 50 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: He never drank a drop of alcohol. He had three 51 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: wives and at least fourteen children, which I hadn't told 52 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: you yet. He had a baseball team named after him. 53 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: He was incredibly loyal to his friends and he had 54 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: close relationships with men of great power, and he spent 55 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 1: thirty six years as a professional bear hunter in the 56 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: Mississippi Delta. But his life wasn't all guns and roses. 57 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: The backdrop of his life was the systemic racism of 58 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: the day. Holt lived amid undeniable racial hierarchy, even though 59 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: many were trying to remedy the human tragedy of slavery 60 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: in its generational wake of destruction. I don't know how 61 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,080 Speaker 1: we got here, but this is just where we've been found, 62 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: in the midst of the dirty story of humanity, and 63 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: Holtz life is of great interest for examination and inspiration. 64 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: Man Do I love this story. So Holt has been 65 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: a professional market bear hunter since eighteen seventy. We learned 66 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,920 Speaker 1: that on episode two, selling meat to hungry labor markets 67 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: in the south. But in eighteen ninety he became a 68 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:47,600 Speaker 1: sport hunting outfitter. In nineteen o two Holt was fifty 69 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: six years old. Here's our old friend author, minor Ferris Buchanan, 70 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: who wrote the only book on Holt Collier, called Holt Collier, 71 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: and he's going to introduce us to the famous ninth 72 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,840 Speaker 1: Teeno to bear hunt with President Theodore Roosevelt. So he 73 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: starts out doing this and he does this for thirty 74 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 1: years until finally in the nineteen o two when Theodore 75 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 1: Roosevelt is wants to go on a on a Delta 76 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: hunt for a black bear through certain contacts of the 77 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: Illinois Central Railroad contact of Le Roy personally, where a 78 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,360 Speaker 1: persony recommends, so they finally get whole. Caryer is going 79 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: to lead this hunt. That's in addition to the hunting 80 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: experience he had prior to eighteen seventy. Had thirty or 81 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: two years of experience. He knew that Delta better than 82 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: anybody and what's hard for us today to envision was 83 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 1: the reputation that the south had for bear hunting with hound. 84 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:42,280 Speaker 1: The reason Theodore Roosevelt even knew about that this hunt 85 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: existed was because in the eighteen nineties there are many 86 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: magazines and publications that talked about southern hunting and Theodore 87 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: Roosevelt read them all and he wanted to go on 88 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,040 Speaker 1: a deep south black bear hunt more than anything morning. 89 00:05:57,040 --> 00:05:59,040 Speaker 1: He wanted to go to Africa, he wanted to go 90 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: on one of these hunts, sisting on it. So he 91 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: comes down in nineteen o two by train and they 92 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,359 Speaker 1: have a five day hunt. Who Ki you're when he 93 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: killed his first bear right outside of Greenville? He was 94 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,039 Speaker 1: ten years old. He shot it off of the back porch. 95 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: So that would have been eighteen fifty six. By nineteen 96 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 1: O two, when Theodore Roosevelt comes down here to hunt. 97 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,720 Speaker 1: Who can't find any beary in Washington county's got to 98 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:26,719 Speaker 1: go all the way down to Sharky County, fifty miles away. 99 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: He's got to go way out into the willerness on 100 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,920 Speaker 1: the Sunflower River, fourteen miles due east of the railroad track. 101 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: It's it's a very difficult place to get to and 102 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:40,119 Speaker 1: that's where the hunt took places. Century they had killed 103 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: out a lot of bears from the market hunting and 104 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: market hunting and by then, you know, the area had 105 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,720 Speaker 1: been settled. You had railroads in here by nineteen o two, 106 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: I think. I think recreational hunting had taken a lot 107 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: of as well. The early nineteen hundreds were a grim 108 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:02,160 Speaker 1: time for North American wildlife, and old Americanus wasn't exempt. 109 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: They were pushed to the remote interiors of their range. 110 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: Roosevelt was keen to the diminishing southern Black Bear in 111 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 1: this unique style of hunting and he wanted in before 112 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:17,320 Speaker 1: it was gone. Roosevelt had been on a transformative journey 113 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: on his ideology of wild places and wild beasts. In 114 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:24,000 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty three he went on a bison hunt in 115 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:29,040 Speaker 1: Montana and it was said, quote, that he danced enthusiastically 116 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: around the buffalo to celebrate his success. End of quote. 117 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:36,120 Speaker 1: This was after he'd killed a Buffalo, but on a 118 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 1: later bison hunt in eighteen eighty nine, when the herds 119 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 1: dwindled to extremely low numbers, he wrote. Quote. For several 120 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: minutes I watched the great beast as they grazed. Mixed 121 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: with eager excitement of the hunter was a certain half 122 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 1: melancholy feeling as I gazed on these bison, themselves part 123 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 1: of the last remnant of a doomed in nearly vanished race. 124 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: Few indeed are the men who now have, or evermore 125 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: shall have, the chance of seeing the mightiest of American 126 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 1: beasts and all his wild vigor, surrounded by the tremendous 127 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: desolation of his far off mountain home. End of quote. 128 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:22,120 Speaker 1: Roosevelt exemplified the irony of the hunter's heart. He was 129 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:26,280 Speaker 1: compelled to pursue and kill these animals, but a deeper 130 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: priority and conviction to save these beasts in their habitat arose. 131 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 1: In the end, Roosevelt's radical conservation ideology proved to be 132 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: an act of what some people have called American genius. 133 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,679 Speaker 1: Where an animal has cultural value to the common man 134 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 1: through hunting, that animal and his habitat will be preserved. 135 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: This has worked for the last hundred and twenty years 136 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,440 Speaker 1: and our prayer is that it will continue to work. 137 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: We all live in the wake of Teddy Roosevelt's boldness. 138 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: That's some deep watered a way through this Lee, but 139 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,680 Speaker 1: I bet you a possum tattoo that holds stories of 140 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: the Dwindlinge Mississippi Black bears fueled Roosevelt's desire to protect wildlife. 141 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: Here's Hankberd and our buddy from the past several episodes, 142 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:20,200 Speaker 1: telling us about Roosevelt arriving in Mississippi. It's real close 143 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,959 Speaker 1: to smedes landing where Roosevelt got off the train. This 144 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 1: was a secret trip. The first time they planned it, 145 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:30,600 Speaker 1: Roodovelt Fred was gonna turn into a picnic. So he 146 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:32,720 Speaker 1: he canceled the first trip and was able to put 147 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: together another one and came down on most the size 148 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: of them fishes. Eleanor Central Railroad train got off its 149 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,560 Speaker 1: smedes landing ready to hunt, ready to go, and there 150 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:47,080 Speaker 1: were newspaper reporters that were there that were not allowed 151 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: to go out to camp, which was ten fifteen miles inland. 152 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:53,559 Speaker 1: into the swamp. One or two of them was allowed 153 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: to go and there was about a whole carload of 154 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 1: secret service policeman protecting the president. But when he got 155 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:04,839 Speaker 1: down they got ready to go. Hold Tread No, no, no, no, 156 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:07,839 Speaker 1: I'M gonna be in one in charge of taking care 157 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 1: of the president. Rood of them said he's safer with 158 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 1: me than with all the policeman in Washington D C. 159 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:18,200 Speaker 1: So they all stayed at the landing. So it was 160 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 1: right close in. Roosevelt and Holt just took off into 161 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: the wilderness together. The first thing Rhodovelt said to hold 162 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 1: collier that he came over of that train and went 163 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:32,320 Speaker 1: straight to that black man and his hunting gear with 164 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:37,040 Speaker 1: his hand outstretched, and he said you must be holp. 165 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: I hears you as a great ball hunter, and they 166 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 1: shook hands and with the closest of friends from that 167 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:47,440 Speaker 1: point on. It was said quote. Were it not for 168 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 1: his highbrow and the distracting brilliance of his smile, Theodore 169 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:56,199 Speaker 1: Roosevelt would unquestionably be an ugly man. He had small ears, 170 00:10:56,320 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: heavy jowls, large wide spaced eyes of Pale and he 171 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:04,720 Speaker 1: wore rimless glasses. His most celebrated feature where his dazzling 172 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,680 Speaker 1: white teeth. Even an ugly president in nineteen o two 173 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: shaking a black man's hand wasn't normal. It might have 174 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:16,720 Speaker 1: been a savvy political move, but I believe Roosevelt was 175 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: just being a normal human honoring another human that he 176 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 1: respected because of the fruit of his life. Roosevelt would 177 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:27,439 Speaker 1: send Holt Christmas cards and personal letters multiple times over 178 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,439 Speaker 1: the years. He would later give hold a gun as 179 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: a gift. On the first night of their hunt, Roosevelt 180 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 1: instructed everyone to call him Colonel Roosevelt and dropped the president. 181 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: He was a socially progressive leader and he took some 182 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: heat from some sectors of the press for Hob nobbing 183 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:49,600 Speaker 1: with a former slave. Later in his presidency, Leroy Percy, 184 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:53,000 Speaker 1: who was on this hunt, would consult with Roosevelt at 185 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:57,200 Speaker 1: the White House about how Percy planned to effectively rebuild 186 00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:00,640 Speaker 1: the south and give social ladders to the black and 187 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:04,840 Speaker 1: vehemently opposed the rising power of the Clue Klux Klan. 188 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:07,960 Speaker 1: This gives you some insight into the kind of men 189 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: that Holt considered friends. This was more than a bear hunt, 190 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: though he was genuinely there to kill a bear. I 191 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 1: think Roosevelt wanted himself to be seen giving honor to 192 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,480 Speaker 1: a man of African descent. Here's minor with the details 193 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: of the hunt that would become known as the Teddy 194 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:32,160 Speaker 1: Bear Hunt. Roosevelt is gonna go fourteen miles out onto 195 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 1: the banks of the little sunflower river, where he's gonna 196 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:38,160 Speaker 1: stay for five days. President United States is gonna disappear, 197 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:41,480 Speaker 1: literally disappearing to the ozone for that length of time. 198 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: And the press, they want to go out there to 199 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:47,079 Speaker 1: be on the campsite with him, but they won't allow that. 200 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: In fact, they armed several black men to corn off 201 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:55,440 Speaker 1: this this hunt site and uh and they wanted to 202 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: go but they were denied, so they had to find 203 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:02,560 Speaker 1: a place to stay. So any newspaper report will have 204 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 1: to be sent out by Telegraph, and the press are 205 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:08,839 Speaker 1: allowed out to the hunt site. Certainly wants a day 206 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:11,880 Speaker 1: to get to interview people and Whatnot. We need to 207 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: understand the players on this hunt and the press is 208 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:18,360 Speaker 1: a major player. It's important to understand the role because 209 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 1: they would be communicating with the country eagerly watching their 210 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:27,679 Speaker 1: president every single day. A second player was Holt's favorite 211 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:33,440 Speaker 1: fice dog. Here's Hank introducing them to us. Holt's favorite 212 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,360 Speaker 1: dog was a little squirrel dog, a little fice dog 213 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:40,080 Speaker 1: named Jocko. Probably didn't weigh fifteen pounds. He could not 214 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:42,280 Speaker 1: run with the big dogs because he wasn't a big dog. 215 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:44,440 Speaker 1: He won't a trailing dog or anything like. Hey, here 216 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,680 Speaker 1: a little face dog, he let's quarrel dog, but hold 217 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 1: a door him and he played an integral part. And 218 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,080 Speaker 1: every bear whole killed with Jocko was around, and the 219 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 1: way that hold would do it. You don't just run 220 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:57,920 Speaker 1: into a bath that your big dogs are on with 221 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: a knife. That bad gonna red view. Well, when you're 222 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:06,720 Speaker 1: a bear, bade after your trailing dogs had bade the 223 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 1: bear and the bad turn around. The right buzz is 224 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:11,439 Speaker 1: as old now. We've been to fight this and the 225 00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: dogs catch dogs. Some album would go in and attack 226 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 1: the bear. That's when hope would turn jocko loose. Jocko 227 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: was carried on his saddle and a little burlap bag 228 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:25,280 Speaker 1: with a string tight around it with Jocko's head out 229 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,160 Speaker 1: and he would tied around the Saddle Horn. Jocko saw 230 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 1: all action. He knew what was going on and when 231 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 1: hope would turn Jocko loose and these are inhold words. 232 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:40,880 Speaker 1: Jocko will run in and Harry the bear. He would 233 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:43,000 Speaker 1: run around and bite the ball on one side and 234 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 1: the ball would turn over to that side and then 235 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: he'd run on the other side and bite the bar 236 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:52,440 Speaker 1: on the other side. And while Jocko was harrying the ball, 237 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 1: hope was running with a knife and stead him in 238 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,400 Speaker 1: the hut. Killer band. And that's what happened. That's how 239 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:02,600 Speaker 1: they hunted. Jocko's sounds like quite the companion. Killing the 240 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: bear with a knife wasn't just a macho feet but 241 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: it was an effective way to dispatch a bear without 242 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 1: accidentally shooting the dog, which is a real problem when 243 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 1: the bear is being made by dogs on the ground. 244 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: This might be hard to understand, but in bear hunting 245 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: the dogs are of highest priority. Bear hunters to this 246 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 1: day would take a bullet for their dogs. Here's minor 247 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 1: telling us about the hunt the very first night. Roosevelt 248 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:33,520 Speaker 1: is all about whole car. He wants to know all 249 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:36,720 Speaker 1: about hold. He's served in because all these wonderful stories, 250 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:39,480 Speaker 1: and I think that's when when the hope confesses to 251 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 1: him that he had killed James, a king and a 252 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:45,320 Speaker 1: duel in the cane brake and then he wants about 253 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: know about the hunt in the morning. One of the 254 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 1: plans and that Roosevelt did not want to sit on 255 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: a stationary stand like deer hunters. Due today all the 256 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: articles that have been written about bear hunting were chasing 257 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: the bear on horseback, being entangled in the Briars, tooting 258 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:05,800 Speaker 1: the horns and calling and active through the swamps. He 259 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: wanted to be on the chase and uh his his hosts, however, 260 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: we're a great deal more timid than he was. They 261 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,120 Speaker 1: were afraid that they we don't want a president to 262 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: get hurt on one of our hunts. So the plan 263 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 1: was the very next morning was for hope, to put 264 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: Theodore Roosevelt on a stationary stand, which was basically sitting 265 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:31,400 Speaker 1: on a log. So the fellow who accompanied Theodore Roosevelt 266 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:35,000 Speaker 1: to sit on that log was a guy named Huger foot. 267 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: And they're sitting out there and there's a log, there's 268 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:41,640 Speaker 1: a slew of water, small pond. Immediately on the other 269 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 1: side of this slough is a stand of cane and 270 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 1: there's a game trail right across from the log where 271 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: it's obvious jaguars come through their cats dogs, whatever is 272 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:57,280 Speaker 1: out there, wolves, bear come through that and they come 273 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:01,520 Speaker 1: to the slough to drink. Well, he puts Roosevelt and 274 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: hear your foot on this log and give them specific 275 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,440 Speaker 1: instructions not to go anywhere. He and his dogs are 276 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:10,240 Speaker 1: gonna chase a bear. First they got to pick up 277 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:11,959 Speaker 1: the cent of a bear, then they got to follow 278 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 1: the bed and then they gotta so they here hold 279 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:17,840 Speaker 1: and he tells them they'll stay right where you are. 280 00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:20,800 Speaker 1: I'M gonna TRACK A bear. I'm gonna Chase the bear 281 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: and he's gonna come right out of that game trail 282 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: hold and they can't and I'm gonna bring him back 283 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: to this slough. That's exactly what he does. It just 284 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:33,320 Speaker 1: takes a lot longer to do than they anticipated. They 285 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 1: sit there on that log and they hear when caryer 286 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:38,159 Speaker 1: picks up the trail of the bear. They hear the 287 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 1: dogs and they hear them go up north and then 288 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: they hear the bear and the dogs go south and 289 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:46,760 Speaker 1: then they hear him go back North again. They can't 290 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:49,160 Speaker 1: see them, but they know they're in the distance, maybe 291 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,119 Speaker 1: a quarter of a mile away, maybe half, somewhere between 292 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,359 Speaker 1: them and the little Sunflyer River holsting everything, you can't 293 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,679 Speaker 1: keep that bear from getting to the little Sunflyer River. 294 00:17:57,760 --> 00:17:59,480 Speaker 1: Doesn't want to cross the river, don't want to drink 295 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 1: from the river, and then he goes all the way 296 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:06,200 Speaker 1: south until it's so far away Huger Foot says that 297 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:09,600 Speaker 1: bear must have crossed the Yazoo River. They actually think 298 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,480 Speaker 1: the bed has gotten away from hope and about that 299 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:17,399 Speaker 1: time they're getting hungry. They put out on that stand 300 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:21,080 Speaker 1: about eight o'clock in the morning. It is now new. 301 00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:24,280 Speaker 1: They're hungry and Holt told him not to leave, but 302 00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: they left. They ride back into camp to get a 303 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,440 Speaker 1: sandwich or something to eat and as luck would have it, 304 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:33,280 Speaker 1: about the time they leave that stand, hope turns that 305 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:37,720 Speaker 1: bear around and about the time Roosevelt is eating a sandwich, 306 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 1: holts got that bear heading right to him and he's 307 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,920 Speaker 1: behind that bear, I don't know, a hundred yards, two 308 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:49,840 Speaker 1: hundred yards, and instinctively hope knows where he is and 309 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: he instinctively he knows that bear is popping his head 310 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: out into that Slough about it right now, and he 311 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:58,919 Speaker 1: does not hear a gunshot and he immediately senses what 312 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,640 Speaker 1: has happened. The president leaves the stand early to head 313 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:06,639 Speaker 1: back for lunch. I believe Roosevelt was a tough hunter 314 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:08,399 Speaker 1: and he might have stayed there if it weren't for 315 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:12,360 Speaker 1: his host. Roosevelt had pleaded that the hunt numbers stay small. 316 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:16,399 Speaker 1: He had written to his friend John Parker. Quote. In short, 317 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: my experience is that to try to combine a hunt 318 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:24,320 Speaker 1: and a picnic generally means a poor picnic and always 319 00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:28,440 Speaker 1: means a spoiled hunt. Every additional man on a hunt 320 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 1: tends to hurt it. Of course, I am only going 321 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:34,399 Speaker 1: because I want to hunt and do see that I 322 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:39,200 Speaker 1: get the first bear without fail. End of quote. Roosevelt 323 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:41,920 Speaker 1: was adamant that he be the first one that killed 324 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,400 Speaker 1: a bear and he wanted to keep the hunt small. Anyway, 325 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: it really didn't turn out that way and it turned 326 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: into more of a picnic and the president would forever 327 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:56,760 Speaker 1: regret it. Here's hank talking about Holtz log. Well, when 328 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:00,320 Speaker 1: that Bab broke out right at that log where the 329 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:04,000 Speaker 1: president was supposed to be sitting, and the president wasn't there, 330 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:09,159 Speaker 1: it perturbed hope pretty bad. Well, the dogs were on 331 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,840 Speaker 1: the bear and the bar started mauling the dogs and 332 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:16,480 Speaker 1: Holt had been told that the president kills the first bear. 333 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:20,720 Speaker 1: No one kills the bear before president does, or the colonel, 334 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:24,520 Speaker 1: as President Roosevelt asked to be called, when the bear 335 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 1: was killing his dogs, and Holt knew he had to 336 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:32,960 Speaker 1: do something, so he turned jocko loose. And when Jocko 337 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:36,359 Speaker 1: ran into Mali, the baries nine and grabbed little jocko 338 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:41,840 Speaker 1: and was mauling Jocko. And that is why hope clubbed 339 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,240 Speaker 1: his gun and ran in, because if he were to 340 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:48,640 Speaker 1: shoot the bear he might kill Jocko, his favorite dog. 341 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: He clubbed his gun and ran in screaming ball, let 342 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: go my dog, ball, let go my dog, and he 343 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 1: swung in an arc and hit the bear at the 344 00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 1: base of the skull and basically cracked the score, stunned 345 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 1: to the bear. The bad drop jocko loose. He had 346 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:09,040 Speaker 1: already killed Jocko and fell back into the water. I 347 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 1: hated to do that to you. I Tell my children 348 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: that owning a dog is basically planning for a sad funeral. 349 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:20,360 Speaker 1: They will die and it will be sad. So Jocko 350 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: is now dead and he wouldn't be if the president 351 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:27,240 Speaker 1: had been there. And Holt ain't happy. Let's step back 352 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:31,200 Speaker 1: in time. Two minutes to win. Holt had just clubbed 353 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:33,480 Speaker 1: the bear with his rifle, and I want to say 354 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: that this bear story was told this way by Holt, 355 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 1: as recorded by the press. This wasn't an exaggerated story 356 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,160 Speaker 1: told a hundred years later by people who didn't know him. 357 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:46,680 Speaker 1: And this bear was an older boar, weighing two D 358 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:48,760 Speaker 1: and thirty five pounds and was said to be bone 359 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:52,000 Speaker 1: skinny and he was six ft seven inches nose to tell. 360 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:58,600 Speaker 1: That's a really good bear. Here's minor and the bear 361 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:02,040 Speaker 1: stands up. Acording to Holt, I was looking straight up 362 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:05,320 Speaker 1: at him. He's at least two FT taller than me 363 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:07,280 Speaker 1: and I had the gun in my hand but I 364 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: couldn't shoot it because the barrel was bent. So he 365 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: retreated back to his horse and got his, quote unquote, 366 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,040 Speaker 1: Texas rope that he had been carrying with him all 367 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:21,560 Speaker 1: these years and he lasts sowed that bear and pulled it, 368 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,960 Speaker 1: took all the slack out on a willow tree and 369 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:28,320 Speaker 1: had him, had the bear tethered. We know it broke 370 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:30,879 Speaker 1: his skull, cracked the skull, because we still have the 371 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:37,879 Speaker 1: skull the Smithsonian Institution and uh, it's been examined, it's 372 00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: got a crack and UH. At any rate, caller ties 373 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:43,720 Speaker 1: his bear to a tree. It ain't going anywhere because 374 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:47,159 Speaker 1: he's he's tied real close with Real, real short line, 375 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:50,440 Speaker 1: and he sends a couple of men to the camp 376 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:54,159 Speaker 1: go find the president getting well. About that time, you 377 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,760 Speaker 1: know pretty quickly the president comes riding up with Huger 378 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:00,359 Speaker 1: Foot and all the other hunters are all gathered there 379 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:05,080 Speaker 1: and they say, Mr President, shoot, shoot that bear. Turn 380 00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:08,959 Speaker 1: to that tree and Roosevelt thanks about it for a second. 381 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:12,280 Speaker 1: He knows those reporters are gonna be coming into camp 382 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,080 Speaker 1: that evening and they're gonna want and if the word 383 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:17,119 Speaker 1: goes out that he shot a bear that was tied 384 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: to a tree, it would be devastated. He just he 385 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:24,480 Speaker 1: just wouldn't stand for so he refused to shoot the bear. 386 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:28,920 Speaker 1: The skull of that bear is in the Smithsonian Institution 387 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:32,679 Speaker 1: in Washington D C, with the cracked skull. Now that 388 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: is wild. I want to say a word of defense 389 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:44,879 Speaker 1: for my brother Teddy Roosevelt. No doubt he calculated the 390 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 1: press in not killing the tied bear, but Roosevelt played 391 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: a vital role in articulating the ideas of fair chase 392 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: developed by his Boone and Crockett Club. Here's their definition 393 00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:00,240 Speaker 1: of fair chase. Quote. Fair Chase is the ethic old, 394 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: sportsmanlike and lawful pursuit and taking of any free ranging 395 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:07,720 Speaker 1: wild game animal in a manner that does not give 396 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:12,200 Speaker 1: the hunter an improper or unfair advantage over the game animal. 397 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: End of quote. Shooting a tied bear is not fair chase. Now, 398 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:22,639 Speaker 1: on the other hand, using dogs, however, is emphatically fair chase. 399 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:26,719 Speaker 1: It's hard to kill game using dogs. I'm just saying, 400 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:31,639 Speaker 1: don't be knocking hunting with hounds. Hunting with dogs is 401 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: so foundational to the human experience that saying it's ethically 402 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,959 Speaker 1: wrong is like knocking the legs off the chair that 403 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:45,080 Speaker 1: you're sitting in. My, Oh my, I'm now climbing off 404 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:49,160 Speaker 1: my soapbox and walking back over to our story. Here's 405 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:54,600 Speaker 1: minor John Parker was on this hunt. Now, John is 406 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,920 Speaker 1: an interesting fella. He was from Louisiana. He born and 407 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,280 Speaker 1: raised in Mississippi, but he later became him governor of Louisiana. 408 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:05,399 Speaker 1: Was Theodore Roosevelt's vice president's candidate when he ran the 409 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:09,800 Speaker 1: second time as a bull Moose candidate. And Uh, he 410 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:12,080 Speaker 1: was a scrappy fellow. He wrote he didn't stay on 411 00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:13,960 Speaker 1: the stand. He rolled behind a halt the whole time. 412 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:18,560 Speaker 1: So they, Mr President, killed this bear and, uh, he 413 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:20,919 Speaker 1: refused to do it, just absolutely refused to do it. 414 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,040 Speaker 1: John Parkers to them, says he'd volunteer and he wanted 415 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,040 Speaker 1: to kill a bear in the old fashioned way, the 416 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: old hunter's way, where he lands the bear with a knife, 417 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 1: stabbed the bear of the knife. And the way it's described, 418 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,399 Speaker 1: and everything I've read, is you stand on one side 419 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:35,919 Speaker 1: of the bear and you stab the bear in the 420 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: chest or in the hard cavity from the other side, 421 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: on the opposite side, because the bear is gonna gonna 422 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: if he if he has an opportunity to strike or bite, 423 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,119 Speaker 1: he's gonna bite where that whether from the direction of 424 00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:50,000 Speaker 1: the pain from the so you need to be standing 425 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,480 Speaker 1: on the opposite side of the bear. Well, Roosevelt happens 426 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: to be carrying this dagger. It was more like an 427 00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 1: Arkansas toothpick. Toss it down to John Park and said here, 428 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:02,840 Speaker 1: use this. Well, Parker, hit a rib or something just 429 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,720 Speaker 1: made the bear mad. This is hopetelling the story and 430 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:09,040 Speaker 1: he and he really resented it because now the bear 431 00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: was mad enough, now he's mad or even madder, and 432 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:13,240 Speaker 1: that wholes the one is going to have to dispatch 433 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:16,159 Speaker 1: the bear, which he does, and that's pretty much the 434 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:18,400 Speaker 1: end of it. Hope puts the bear on the back 435 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:22,159 Speaker 1: of his horse, rising the camp, Roosevelt and park and 436 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:24,720 Speaker 1: the rest of him going. Now they don't have the dogs, 437 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: they don't they're not hunting, but now they're hunting anything 438 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,000 Speaker 1: and they just boys in the wood, so to speak. 439 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 1: But the hope goes back into camp. And when he 440 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:34,480 Speaker 1: rides into camp and he's got his bear tied to 441 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:36,840 Speaker 1: the back of his horse, he said, did the President 442 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:38,720 Speaker 1: Kill that bear? And he says no, but if he 443 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: had followed my instructions he would have. He says it's 444 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 1: to the press. He says it's to the press and 445 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,240 Speaker 1: he didn't realize what he was saying. Well, I know, 446 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:49,920 Speaker 1: and the press ran with it and it was all 447 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,560 Speaker 1: it was on the front page and every newspaper Coast 448 00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:56,200 Speaker 1: to coast that not only had the president failed to 449 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 1: get his trophy bear, he had done it by failing 450 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:02,160 Speaker 1: to follow the structures of this lowly guide who don't 451 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,119 Speaker 1: even know how to read write. So whole care in 452 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:07,840 Speaker 1: nineteen o two. As I say, it becomes the first 453 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:12,840 Speaker 1: man of sportsman of African descent to have national recognition. 454 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:17,920 Speaker 1: And that's before Jack Johnson Holt didn't know what he'd done, 455 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,280 Speaker 1: but he'd leaked the details that would forever etch him 456 00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:25,159 Speaker 1: into history, because the press ran with the story of 457 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:30,440 Speaker 1: the tide bearer. Well, it got so much news coverage 458 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 1: that it wasn't just the news coverage. Clifford Berryman, who 459 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: was a well known cartoonist, picks up this event and 460 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:42,159 Speaker 1: he does a cartoon about it and it's called drawing 461 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,680 Speaker 1: the line in Mississippi and it's it's drawn up in 462 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 1: the Washington Post on November six nineteen O two. I've 463 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:50,400 Speaker 1: talked to a lot of historians, I've read a lot 464 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,400 Speaker 1: of articles about this and nobody can come up with 465 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:57,120 Speaker 1: the definite with the explanation for this title. But at 466 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,400 Speaker 1: this point in time there's been a debate every year 467 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: in the United States Congress for an anti lynching legislation 468 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,639 Speaker 1: and it never passes. Now look at that car too 469 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:10,880 Speaker 1: and tell me if you can see how that would 470 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:15,520 Speaker 1: be material to an anti lynching. So the picture is 471 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 1: is a man with a bear roped around the neck 472 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,439 Speaker 1: looks like white man with a black bear and a 473 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:25,119 Speaker 1: rope around his neck, and then the president of the 474 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:28,679 Speaker 1: line in Mississippi, and president has his back turned to 475 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,400 Speaker 1: that with his hand out. So is that saying that 476 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:35,119 Speaker 1: Roosevelt never passed the law? What would that be? What 477 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 1: I'm saying is there's some misconceptions here. First of all, 478 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:41,800 Speaker 1: the man with a rope around the bear's neck is white. 479 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,040 Speaker 1: This would have been a whole care. It should have 480 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:45,800 Speaker 1: been a black man. What if that wouldn't have fit 481 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,440 Speaker 1: the narrative of Anti Lynching? Let's and as whole. And then, basically, 482 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,000 Speaker 1: Theodore Roosevelt said I'm drawing the line in Mississippi. I 483 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,680 Speaker 1: I tend to think that this as anti lynching connotations around. 484 00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: Be that as it may, Clifford Barman continues to use 485 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,320 Speaker 1: the teddy bear air in his car. Anytime he has 486 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 1: something about Roosevelt, he puts a bear and he puts 487 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: a little bears as a comic relief in a in 488 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:12,160 Speaker 1: a political cartoon. Before the Teddy Bear, the comic relief 489 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 1: in any Theater Roosevelt cartoon would have been a raccoon. 490 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: Raccoon Barman started the teddy bear. When did he actually 491 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: call it the teddy bear. The Teddy Bear didn't pick 492 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 1: up the name until it became a toy, so it 493 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 1: was later. So well, it was very soon after this 494 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:31,959 Speaker 1: Barriman made the bear comic relief and political cartoons about Roosevelt, 495 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:36,080 Speaker 1: and later it would be commercialized and turned into a 496 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:39,280 Speaker 1: children's toy called the TAP. And they're multiple things happening 497 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:42,240 Speaker 1: at this point in time. So you got Barman doing it, 498 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 1: you got other cartoonists start doing it. But soon after 499 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:50,680 Speaker 1: this happened a toymaker in New York besides he wants 500 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:52,560 Speaker 1: to make a toy and he wants to call it 501 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:56,400 Speaker 1: the teddy bear. Well, the legend is that he contacted 502 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:59,160 Speaker 1: Roosevelt and said we want to call it Teddy's bear 503 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:02,120 Speaker 1: and it thosevelt gave him permission to do that. None 504 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:06,280 Speaker 1: of that correspondence has ever been found. That's the story 505 00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:09,080 Speaker 1: of the Teddy Bear and a hundred and twenty years later, 506 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:12,360 Speaker 1: the name for a small stuffed bear is as strong 507 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: as ever. And when you get down to its roots, 508 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:20,320 Speaker 1: the great nerve and Ingenuity of Holt Collier created it. 509 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:24,880 Speaker 1: Here's how the nineteen o two hunt ended, because they 510 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,280 Speaker 1: kept hunting. And again they hunt all over the place 511 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,720 Speaker 1: that they ride and ranged for long distances and they 512 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:34,080 Speaker 1: killed three bear on this hunt, none of which are 513 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:37,520 Speaker 1: killed by Roosevelt. But in the community hunt like this 514 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 1: would have been considered anybody that gets the big game. 515 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: It's considered a success for everybody. But Roosevelt didn't pick 516 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,160 Speaker 1: up them and so he resented it. But he says, 517 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:49,800 Speaker 1: I'm coming back to the south next year and we're 518 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,440 Speaker 1: gonna get us a trophy bear. Well, it ended up 519 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:57,960 Speaker 1: being five years. Roosevelt would return in nineteen o seven. However, 520 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: a lot happened on this five a hunt. Holt confessed 521 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,280 Speaker 1: to killing james a king and he told Roosevelt how 522 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,520 Speaker 1: many kids he had. Remember, I was gonna surprise you 523 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:11,719 Speaker 1: with the details of this. Here it is, and Roosevelt 524 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:13,880 Speaker 1: actually wrote this in a letter to a buddy about 525 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:17,760 Speaker 1: halt collier. But Roosevelt asked Collier if he had any 526 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:21,560 Speaker 1: children and halt started counting on his fingers and said 527 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:29,040 Speaker 1: I've got fourteen children. Roosevelt acted astonished and Holt said no, sir, no, sir, 528 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:33,000 Speaker 1: all of them ain't my wives. She had to and 529 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:37,560 Speaker 1: the balance I got just frolican around. End of quote. 530 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:42,440 Speaker 1: Here's another interesting look into halt from the recordings of 531 00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:46,720 Speaker 1: the hunt. Judge Jacob Dixon, who was there, wrote of 532 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: the conversations around the campfire. He said, quote. Every night 533 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:54,840 Speaker 1: we set up later around the fire, black and white, 534 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 1: a large company of us, and were regaled with hunting 535 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:02,120 Speaker 1: and fishing stories illustrate native of the days before, during 536 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,040 Speaker 1: and after the civil war, with the exception of the 537 00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:08,880 Speaker 1: famous Robert Eager Bobo Callier, had killed more bear than 538 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,560 Speaker 1: any man in that country. He was a good rack 539 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:15,480 Speaker 1: and tour in a quaint, homely sportsmanlike way and by 540 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:21,160 Speaker 1: his vivid and intense descriptions, aroused and sustained unflagging interest. 541 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:26,000 Speaker 1: End of quote. Holt was a magnetic yet humble man. 542 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:30,000 Speaker 1: Here's the short version of Roosevelt's second bear hunt in 543 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:34,040 Speaker 1: the delta in nineteen o seven. It involves another famous 544 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:38,080 Speaker 1: bear hunter and it wasn't until nineteen o seven. First 545 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:40,840 Speaker 1: of all, this hunt, the second hunt. His host was 546 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,280 Speaker 1: John Parker down in Louisiana and he arrived there on 547 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:47,440 Speaker 1: a riverboat and this was a fourteen day hunt. And 548 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:49,840 Speaker 1: then by a whole car, and Roosevelt insists on having 549 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:51,440 Speaker 1: a whole car. You're on this hunt. The whole car 550 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:56,360 Speaker 1: you's Ad Roosevelt's specific invitation. But Ben Lilly, who's pretty 551 00:32:56,360 --> 00:33:00,040 Speaker 1: famous outdoors, when at the time John Parker gets in 552 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,000 Speaker 1: Lily to be the leader of this hunt in nine 553 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 1: seven and famous bear hunter with hounds, famous bear hunter, 554 00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:10,720 Speaker 1: you know, goofy old coot accorded to Roosevelt and a 555 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:15,520 Speaker 1: religious fanatic. And somehow the metcalfs from Greenville come down 556 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:17,640 Speaker 1: the met cast and hope were real close, they were 557 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,880 Speaker 1: real tight. Long Story Short, after two days they decided 558 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:25,000 Speaker 1: there aren't any bear in the area and they moved 559 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:28,040 Speaker 1: to a place called Bear Lake. They go down to 560 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:31,280 Speaker 1: bear lake and they hunt for twelve more days. Roosevelt 561 00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:33,360 Speaker 1: never gets his bear. Being literally stays in charge of 562 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:37,320 Speaker 1: the hunt the whole time until finally metcalts and whole 563 00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:41,440 Speaker 1: carriers are talking to the side and the met casts 564 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:43,960 Speaker 1: are convinced that Roosevelt just needs to put whole carry 565 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,040 Speaker 1: in charge of his hunt he'll have a bear. So 566 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:48,080 Speaker 1: they go over there and they make that suggestion to 567 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:51,720 Speaker 1: him and roosevelts bites and he says, okay, Mr Lily, 568 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but we're gonna put we're gonna give hold. 569 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:56,240 Speaker 1: I'm only here for one more day and we're gonna 570 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: let Holt have his chance. So they put Holt in 571 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,440 Speaker 1: charge arch the next day, the very next morning, and 572 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:04,880 Speaker 1: hold it's really kind of funny when you think about it. 573 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 1: He looks at the President says, you're gonna ride with me. 574 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 1: You know, child. They've been putting him on a stand 575 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:13,160 Speaker 1: all these days. He says you're gonna ride with me. 576 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:15,719 Speaker 1: You know, child, you can handle this. And so he 577 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:18,440 Speaker 1: did and he got finally, he got to hunt in 578 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:21,320 Speaker 1: the true hunter fashion that he wanted to, by following 579 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:24,640 Speaker 1: the dogs, chasing the bear on horseback. And sure enough 580 00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:26,840 Speaker 1: they got a trophy bear, a larger bear than the 581 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:29,399 Speaker 1: one that they had killed in the night two. That's 582 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,480 Speaker 1: why you have that card from Roosevelt to Holt saying 583 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:35,920 Speaker 1: thank you. So he very finally, finally, he got his 584 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 1: bear and Holt was the hero. The whole was the hero. 585 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 1: Ben Lily was an incredible and eccentric hunter who deserves 586 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:48,200 Speaker 1: his own burglary series, but this time Holt and the 587 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:52,640 Speaker 1: metcalfs hit the home run. Roosevelt would say, quote, he'd 588 00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 1: never met a man so indifferent to fatigue and hardship 589 00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:00,960 Speaker 1: as Ben Lily. Here's what Roosevelt would lay to write about. 590 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,680 Speaker 1: Ben Lilly quote. The morning he joined us in camp 591 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:07,680 Speaker 1: he had come on foot through the thick woods, followed 592 00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:10,960 Speaker 1: by his two dogs, and he had neither eaten nor 593 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:13,839 Speaker 1: drunk for twenty four hours, for he did not like 594 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:17,080 Speaker 1: to drink the swamp water. It had rained hard throughout 595 00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:20,040 Speaker 1: the night and he had no shelter, no rubber coat, 596 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,200 Speaker 1: nothing but the clothes he was wearing, and the ground 597 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:25,279 Speaker 1: was too wet for him to lie on. So he 598 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,720 Speaker 1: perched in a crooked tree in the beating rain, much 599 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:31,120 Speaker 1: as if he had been a wild Turkey. But he 600 00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:33,720 Speaker 1: was not in the least tired when he struck camp, 601 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,680 Speaker 1: and though he slept an hour after breakfast, it was 602 00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:40,080 Speaker 1: chiefly because he had nothing else to do. Inasmuch as 603 00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:44,120 Speaker 1: it was Sunday, on which day he never hunted nor labored, 604 00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:46,960 Speaker 1: he could run through the woods like a buck. Was 605 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 1: Far more enduring and quite as indifferent to whether. Though 606 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:54,040 Speaker 1: he was over fifty years old, he had trapped and 607 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,480 Speaker 1: hunted throughout almost all the half century of his life, 608 00:35:57,800 --> 00:35:59,919 Speaker 1: and on the trail of game he was as sure 609 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:04,120 Speaker 1: as his own hounds. His observations are wild creatures were 610 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:08,719 Speaker 1: singularly close and accurate. He was particularly fond of the 611 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:11,640 Speaker 1: chase of the bear, which he followed by himself with 612 00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:14,000 Speaker 1: one or two dogs. Often he would be on the 613 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:16,680 Speaker 1: trail of his quarry for days at a time, lying 614 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:21,680 Speaker 1: down to sleep wherever night overtook him. End of quote. 615 00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:26,360 Speaker 1: I now want to read you what Roosevelt wrote about 616 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:31,040 Speaker 1: Hulk Collyer and the metcalf brothers. This is from miners 617 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:35,080 Speaker 1: book quote. Late in the evening of the same day, 618 00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,960 Speaker 1: we were joined by two gentlemen to whom we owed 619 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:41,520 Speaker 1: the success of our hunt. They were Messrs Clive and Harley, 620 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:45,600 Speaker 1: metcalf planners from Mississippi, men in the prime of their life, 621 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:50,880 Speaker 1: thorough woodsman and hunters, Skilled Marksman and utterly fearless horsemen. 622 00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 1: For a quarter of a century they had hunted bear 623 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:56,640 Speaker 1: and deer with horse and Hound and were masters of 624 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:59,800 Speaker 1: the art. They brought with him their pack of bear hounds. 625 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:04,160 Speaker 1: Only one, however, being a thoroughly staunch and seasoned veteran. 626 00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,200 Speaker 1: The pack was under the immediate control of a Negro Hunter, 627 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:12,520 Speaker 1: Holt Collier, in his own ways as remarkable a character 628 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:15,279 Speaker 1: as Ben Lily. He was a man of sixty and 629 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:18,640 Speaker 1: could neither read nor write, but had all the dignity 630 00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:22,160 Speaker 1: of an African chief and for a half century had 631 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:25,360 Speaker 1: been a bear hunter, having killed or assisted in killing 632 00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:28,720 Speaker 1: over three thousand bears. He had been born a slave 633 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:32,080 Speaker 1: on the hinds plantation his father and the old man 634 00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:35,239 Speaker 1: when he was born, having been the body servant and 635 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:38,040 Speaker 1: Cook of Old General Hinds, as he called him, when 636 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:41,839 Speaker 1: the latter fought under Jackson at New Orleans. When ten 637 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:44,720 Speaker 1: years old, Holt had been taken on the horse behind 638 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:47,480 Speaker 1: his young master, the hinds of that day on a 639 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:50,279 Speaker 1: bear hunt when he killed his first bear. In the 640 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:52,759 Speaker 1: civil war, he had not only followed his master to 641 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:56,040 Speaker 1: battle as his body servant, but acted under him as 642 00:37:56,120 --> 00:37:59,680 Speaker 1: a sharpshooter against the union soldiers. After the war. He 643 00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:01,640 Speaker 1: can you need, to stay with his master into the 644 00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:04,959 Speaker 1: latter died and had then been adopted by the met 645 00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:07,440 Speaker 1: cast and he felt that he had brought them up 646 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:10,640 Speaker 1: and treated them with the mixture of affection and grumbling 647 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:14,399 Speaker 1: respect which an old nurse shows towards the lad who 648 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:17,920 Speaker 1: has ceased. Being a child, the two metcalfs and Holt 649 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:22,319 Speaker 1: understood one another thoroughly and understood their hounds and the 650 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:26,920 Speaker 1: game their hounds followed almost as thoroughly. End of quote. 651 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:30,359 Speaker 1: We haven't said a lot about the metcalfs, but they 652 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:34,240 Speaker 1: were as close of friends as Holt ever had. Here's 653 00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:37,680 Speaker 1: minor with the icing on the cake of the presidential 654 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:42,240 Speaker 1: bear hunts. So it was clear that Roosevelt had a 655 00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:46,000 Speaker 1: ton of respect for the Holt Collier. He corresponded with him, 656 00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:49,080 Speaker 1: he ended up giving him a gift. This is a 657 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:51,640 Speaker 1: great immage and and I know that your listeners can't 658 00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:55,480 Speaker 1: see the images, but there's a photograph here in the 659 00:38:55,560 --> 00:39:00,720 Speaker 1: in January nineteen o eight Roosevelt sent to whole collier 660 00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:06,239 Speaker 1: model winchester as a gift and he sent one to 661 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:08,880 Speaker 1: clive metcalf and he sent one to Harley met calf, 662 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,480 Speaker 1: who were both on that hunt. Yeah, so there's a picture. 663 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:14,719 Speaker 1: There's there's four men hold collier in the middle. They're 664 00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:18,279 Speaker 1: all holding guns. There's two little kids holding guns. There 665 00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:21,719 Speaker 1: is a live black bear at the feet cup, but 666 00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:28,200 Speaker 1: there's also presumably bare dogs standing around unleashed. Those boys 667 00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:32,360 Speaker 1: are being raised properly. I Love I love that picture 668 00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:35,239 Speaker 1: is taken in the front yard of the House that 669 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:37,799 Speaker 1: I met Jane Weathers and she's one of the first 670 00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:40,000 Speaker 1: people play interviews. She was ninety five years old, I 671 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:42,920 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, and she she's one who felt in a 672 00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:46,399 Speaker 1: lot of she knew hold. She was a young woman, 673 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:48,520 Speaker 1: not a child. She's a young woman when she knew 674 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:50,920 Speaker 1: hold as an older man and she was there when 675 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:55,000 Speaker 1: that picture was taken. But that bare cub. She tells 676 00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:57,799 Speaker 1: me she remembers when Holk caught that cub. I'm gonna 677 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:01,200 Speaker 1: give you the full circle here. The book kinds holp 678 00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:04,080 Speaker 1: caught that cub and brought it into those boys as 679 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:07,080 Speaker 1: a pit because that cold grow bigger, grew bigger and 680 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:09,640 Speaker 1: bigger and they cage and they couldn't cage it anymore. 681 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,760 Speaker 1: So when they got to be too big to manage, 682 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:16,920 Speaker 1: they contacted the Memphis Zoo and said we've got a 683 00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:19,680 Speaker 1: bear for you and it became the first bear at 684 00:40:19,719 --> 00:40:22,719 Speaker 1: the Memphis Zoo. The bear same barriers in it. For 685 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,160 Speaker 1: my little daughter asked me where the teddy bear camera. 686 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:31,640 Speaker 1: Now that's some good stuff. Old Miner walked us right 687 00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:36,120 Speaker 1: into a great full circle ending to shade minor Ferris 688 00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:40,560 Speaker 1: Buchanan to Shay. If you remember miner's curiosity about the 689 00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:45,000 Speaker 1: teddy bear all started at the Memphis Zoo. In here's 690 00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:49,160 Speaker 1: some clean up details. Two of the presidential guns are 691 00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:53,759 Speaker 1: known about, but the whereabouts of Holtz Gunn are unknown. 692 00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:58,240 Speaker 1: On another interesting note, in December nineteen O A, Theodore 693 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:01,640 Speaker 1: Roosevelt invited many of us friends across the country to 694 00:41:01,719 --> 00:41:05,200 Speaker 1: the White House for a presidential wild game dinner and 695 00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:11,880 Speaker 1: Hult Collier was invited, but he politely declined. Also, Holt 696 00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:16,799 Speaker 1: was later invited to Africa with Roosevelt, but he also declined. 697 00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:21,479 Speaker 1: And just clean up stuff, Holt killed his last bear 698 00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:30,480 Speaker 1: in nineteen eleven at the age of sixty six. Now 699 00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:34,560 Speaker 1: we're going to move into the final chapter of Holt's life. 700 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:38,080 Speaker 1: When hold was an elderly man, he had a house 701 00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:40,560 Speaker 1: in town and hold was slowing down. The money was 702 00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:43,640 Speaker 1: not coming in because of the hunting ground trunk, but 703 00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:45,520 Speaker 1: he he made a lot of money and I pointed 704 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:47,279 Speaker 1: out in the book that he would he would have 705 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:49,560 Speaker 1: after a hunting season he'd have thousand dollars in his 706 00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:52,440 Speaker 1: pocket cash. Well, most white people didn't have that kind 707 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:54,440 Speaker 1: of money. So he was well known to make a 708 00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:56,640 Speaker 1: lot of money and at some point in time one 709 00:41:56,680 --> 00:41:59,640 Speaker 1: of the met cafs he he aligned himself with the 710 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,239 Speaker 1: Prom in a medcalf family. He helped them out a lot. 711 00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:05,920 Speaker 1: They helped him out a lot. But somebody talked him 712 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:08,600 Speaker 1: intus when he had a handful of money, said you 713 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:11,080 Speaker 1: need to buy a piece of land or buy a house. 714 00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:14,400 Speaker 1: Built a house, and so he did in town. It's 715 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:19,959 Speaker 1: still there. Here's Hank with more about Holtz House in Greenville, Mississippi. 716 00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:24,840 Speaker 1: Holt's house in Greenville on Broadway Street is quite unique 717 00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:29,400 Speaker 1: in that it is in an area where mostly black 718 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:34,840 Speaker 1: workers lived and worked, one far from Mr Percy's house 719 00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:37,560 Speaker 1: and is on the way to the medcalf house side 720 00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:41,560 Speaker 1: in the country at newstead planation. It's the only house 721 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:45,200 Speaker 1: in that area that's a two store house and there's 722 00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:47,399 Speaker 1: a reason for that. The whole knew what that river 723 00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:50,160 Speaker 1: could do and he'd seen it do it too many times. 724 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:52,520 Speaker 1: So when he built his house he made sure that 725 00:42:52,560 --> 00:42:55,000 Speaker 1: he had a second store on his house and it's 726 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,000 Speaker 1: still standing up there really, so holds house is still there. 727 00:42:58,239 --> 00:43:01,239 Speaker 1: Hold House is still there. There is a story that 728 00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:05,080 Speaker 1: I have no reason not to believe that it's true. 729 00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:09,200 Speaker 1: The Metcalf Boys, which I'm sure you they hunted. They 730 00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:12,399 Speaker 1: hunted with him they hunted together and they were big 731 00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:16,360 Speaker 1: owners into the, shall I say, the Commercial National Bank, 732 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:20,600 Speaker 1: which is now hold didn't drink, but holt would go 733 00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:23,479 Speaker 1: across the river and bring whiskey back over here and 734 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:26,359 Speaker 1: see to it that his friends had it whenever they 735 00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:28,799 Speaker 1: wanted it. And he might have. He might have bootlegged 736 00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:31,280 Speaker 1: a little bit on the side, you know, selling, selling 737 00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:33,759 Speaker 1: that whiskey. And the story goes that he had just 738 00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:37,759 Speaker 1: put a new roof on his house, Cyprus, shake shingle roof, 739 00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:40,560 Speaker 1: and the metcalf bars were on the back up on 740 00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:43,239 Speaker 1: the way back up north to metcalf MISSSIPPI, where new 741 00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:47,759 Speaker 1: stead plantation was, and they stopped by Holts House, possibly 742 00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:50,160 Speaker 1: to have a little nil, and they noticed that he 743 00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:52,520 Speaker 1: had a new shingle roof on his house and one 744 00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:54,840 Speaker 1: of the met caves. I asked him where you gotta? 745 00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:57,279 Speaker 1: Is that what he needed to he had to have 746 00:43:57,400 --> 00:43:59,480 Speaker 1: that new roof on. Where did you get all the 747 00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:01,399 Speaker 1: money for that that? I went down to your bang 748 00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:05,200 Speaker 1: bar that money. Your bankle owed me the money and uh, 749 00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:07,560 Speaker 1: I think it was. Asked how much was still old 750 00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:10,719 Speaker 1: on that roof and hope probably told him and he 751 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:13,080 Speaker 1: asked him to bring one of the over shingles in there, 752 00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:16,000 Speaker 1: and he did and he wrote on that jingle with 753 00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:19,640 Speaker 1: his knife, paid in full and signed it. Take this 754 00:44:19,719 --> 00:44:22,279 Speaker 1: down to the bank and that I got a roof 755 00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:27,080 Speaker 1: pace is essentially a check. The metcalf family were significant 756 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:30,960 Speaker 1: players in Holt's life. If you could pick ninety years 757 00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:33,480 Speaker 1: to be alive on planet earth, it would be hard 758 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:36,120 Speaker 1: to argue that the nineties that halt was here, that 759 00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:41,160 Speaker 1: he probably didn't see more change than any human generation ever. 760 00:44:42,920 --> 00:44:45,800 Speaker 1: It's really interesting to me when you think about the 761 00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:49,719 Speaker 1: span of human life and that we're all put on 762 00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:52,200 Speaker 1: earth for like a certain time period. From this date 763 00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:55,719 Speaker 1: to this date, being born in eighteen forty six and 764 00:44:55,719 --> 00:44:59,480 Speaker 1: passing away in nineteen thirty six is an incredible span 765 00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:04,480 Speaker 1: in in terms of social development, technology, all the things 766 00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:07,880 Speaker 1: that happened. I mean going from, you know, pre civil 767 00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:11,480 Speaker 1: war all the way to the to the nineteen thirties 768 00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:13,640 Speaker 1: here in America. I mean it's a pretty incredible I 769 00:45:13,680 --> 00:45:16,440 Speaker 1: mean you could you go back and say from seventeen 770 00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:20,040 Speaker 1: thirty six to eighteen forty six, I mean life was 771 00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:23,319 Speaker 1: about the same and then, you know, even past that. 772 00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:25,799 Speaker 1: But like that period of time was pretty wild. I 773 00:45:25,880 --> 00:45:27,480 Speaker 1: make the point at the very end of the book, 774 00:45:27,960 --> 00:45:30,920 Speaker 1: at that very point, that hold was born and raised 775 00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:34,000 Speaker 1: at a time when horsepower was the only power there was. 776 00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:36,640 Speaker 1: In Ninety six when he died, you know, they were 777 00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:39,759 Speaker 1: Hitler was in charge in in Germany and World War 778 00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:42,880 Speaker 1: Two was on, even World War Two and nuclear age 779 00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:45,560 Speaker 1: was right around the corner. He lived in an amazing 780 00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:48,279 Speaker 1: and he put a lot of life in his ninety years. 781 00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:50,239 Speaker 1: I'll give you that. You know, it's amazing he lived 782 00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:53,280 Speaker 1: ninety years. So, as I started this book knowing nothing 783 00:45:53,320 --> 00:45:57,040 Speaker 1: about the whole collier other than just his small amounts 784 00:45:57,080 --> 00:46:00,279 Speaker 1: about his reputation, you know, I'm reading and he's twenty 785 00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:02,880 Speaker 1: years old and then he's thirty four years old and 786 00:46:02,920 --> 00:46:05,880 Speaker 1: then he's fifty six years old and I'm kind of 787 00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:08,080 Speaker 1: looking at the amount of pages left in the book 788 00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:11,000 Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, this guy, there's no way that he's 789 00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:13,759 Speaker 1: gonna be an old man, like he's gonna die at 790 00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:18,520 Speaker 1: age sixty and man, I was shocked and thrilled when 791 00:46:18,680 --> 00:46:21,120 Speaker 1: you see that he lived to be ninety, which is 792 00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:24,360 Speaker 1: is such an incredible thing. Daniel Boone, one of my 793 00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:27,360 Speaker 1: favorite characters in American history, lived to be eighty six 794 00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:30,879 Speaker 1: and part of the reason he was so famous was 795 00:46:31,480 --> 00:46:34,640 Speaker 1: he just most of his contemporaries died when they were fifty. 796 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:37,760 Speaker 1: You know, he just had a long span of life, 797 00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:39,719 Speaker 1: and I mean I see that and and hold he 798 00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:44,480 Speaker 1: he covered a lot of ground. I want to move 799 00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:47,919 Speaker 1: to an interesting part of whole legacy, and it has 800 00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:51,880 Speaker 1: to do with the famed American author William Faulkner, who 801 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:56,280 Speaker 1: was a Nobel Prize laureate and widely considered the greatest 802 00:46:56,520 --> 00:46:59,239 Speaker 1: southern writer of all time. He was born in eight 803 00:46:59,480 --> 00:47:02,919 Speaker 1: nineties seven and died in nineteen sixty two, which would 804 00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:06,640 Speaker 1: have been prime time for Holt's regional legacy to be known. 805 00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:09,200 Speaker 1: And Faulkner was from and spent most of his life 806 00:47:09,239 --> 00:47:14,319 Speaker 1: in Mississippi. Faulkner is known for his quote characterization of 807 00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:19,920 Speaker 1: southern characters, including fiercely intelligent people who are dwelling behind 808 00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:24,640 Speaker 1: the facades of good old boys and simpletons. Minor has 809 00:47:24,719 --> 00:47:29,480 Speaker 1: something to say about this. You know, his immediate legacy 810 00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:31,840 Speaker 1: that I think about as a William Faulkner's story. But 811 00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:36,000 Speaker 1: there's no question that the SAM father's character in several 812 00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:40,080 Speaker 1: of the faulkner books, particularly the bear go down Moses 813 00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:43,680 Speaker 1: who Kaya was the inspiration for Sam Father, no question 814 00:47:43,719 --> 00:47:47,879 Speaker 1: in my mind about it. Faulkner's second home was Greenville, Mississippi. 815 00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:54,560 Speaker 1: Here's the excerpt from William Faulkner's the bear. Let's see 816 00:47:54,600 --> 00:47:58,640 Speaker 1: if you can make the connection. The old man of 817 00:47:58,719 --> 00:48:02,120 Speaker 1: seventy who had been in Egro for two generations now 818 00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:05,799 Speaker 1: but whose face and bearing were still those of the 819 00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:10,040 Speaker 1: chickasaw chief who had been his father, and he was glad. 820 00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:13,160 Speaker 1: He was old. He had no children, no people, none 821 00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:15,839 Speaker 1: of his blood anywhere above earth that he would ever 822 00:48:15,920 --> 00:48:19,279 Speaker 1: meet again. And even if he were to, he could 823 00:48:19,320 --> 00:48:22,720 Speaker 1: not have touched it spoken to it because for seventy 824 00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:25,840 Speaker 1: years now he had to be a Negro. It was 825 00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:29,239 Speaker 1: almost over now and he was glad, but still the 826 00:48:29,239 --> 00:48:34,000 Speaker 1: woods would be his mistress and his wife. End of quote. 827 00:48:35,080 --> 00:48:39,360 Speaker 1: This is from Miner's book halt Collier. Quote. Pete Johnson, 828 00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:42,520 Speaker 1: one of the neighborhood children who knew callier for many 829 00:48:42,600 --> 00:48:44,839 Speaker 1: years and who often drove him when the old man 830 00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:49,520 Speaker 1: was too feeble to walk, described Holt's complexion as dark olive, 831 00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:53,640 Speaker 1: similar to that of a native American Indian, and similarly, 832 00:48:53,960 --> 00:48:58,720 Speaker 1: Harris Dixon referred to collier as a yellow man. Johnson 833 00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:01,800 Speaker 1: strongly believed that hulk all your had native American blood 834 00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:05,160 Speaker 1: and that his lineage would be obvious to a careful observer. 835 00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:08,920 Speaker 1: The reader can draw his or her own conclusions by 836 00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:13,080 Speaker 1: studying the von Dresser portrait rendered in Nineteen thirty five. 837 00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:17,040 Speaker 1: Collier's bloodline, of course, cannot be confirmed and it seems 838 00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:20,600 Speaker 1: of little consequence and the research of Collier's life, until 839 00:49:20,640 --> 00:49:23,360 Speaker 1: a reference is found in the regimental history of the 840 00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:27,600 Speaker 1: Ninth Texas Cavalry of an Indian boy riding with Captain 841 00:49:27,680 --> 00:49:32,160 Speaker 1: Perry Evans Company, who raced horses in the company's popular 842 00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:37,520 Speaker 1: equestrian contests. End of quote. It's clear to see where 843 00:49:37,560 --> 00:49:41,720 Speaker 1: minor is getting that this Sam father's character of Faulkner's 844 00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:45,560 Speaker 1: is based upon halt Collyer. I now want to read 845 00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:48,840 Speaker 1: another excerpt from Miner's book, and it's about the latter 846 00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:53,600 Speaker 1: years of Holtz life, and it's pretty sad. Quote. In 847 00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:56,600 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty eight, largely because of the flood and the 848 00:49:56,600 --> 00:50:01,279 Speaker 1: economic disruptions it caused, many African Americans began leaving Washington 849 00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:05,360 Speaker 1: County for better opportunities in the north. Callier saw many 850 00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:08,080 Speaker 1: of his people leave the area. From the effects of 851 00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:10,760 Speaker 1: the flood, the storm and the loss of his friends, 852 00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:14,960 Speaker 1: callier fell into a state of despair from which he 853 00:50:15,080 --> 00:50:19,440 Speaker 1: never completely recovered. His wife, Frances, earned a meager income 854 00:50:19,480 --> 00:50:22,480 Speaker 1: as a housekeeper, but holt was too feeble to provide 855 00:50:22,520 --> 00:50:26,799 Speaker 1: any income other than his pension of two hundred dollars annually. 856 00:50:27,320 --> 00:50:31,400 Speaker 1: He had for years collected corn chucks from the area plantations, 857 00:50:31,440 --> 00:50:34,760 Speaker 1: which he sold to a stable. He also collected dried 858 00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:38,000 Speaker 1: bones which he sold as fertilizer, and on occasion he 859 00:50:38,040 --> 00:50:40,719 Speaker 1: would train and sell a hunting dog. One dog he 860 00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:43,560 Speaker 1: sold to John and Nathan Adams for thirty dollars and 861 00:50:43,640 --> 00:50:46,560 Speaker 1: it would not hunt. When the boys returned, the dog 862 00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:50,279 Speaker 1: hold explained that his ears had to be twisted with 863 00:50:50,400 --> 00:50:54,320 Speaker 1: pliers and he would then take to the briars. Callier 864 00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:58,560 Speaker 1: also made a little money during prohibition by supplying Arkansas 865 00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:02,120 Speaker 1: Corn Whiskey to his friends who did not want to 866 00:51:02,160 --> 00:51:07,160 Speaker 1: deal with bootleggers across the river. Holt, Collier's confederate servants 867 00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:11,719 Speaker 1: pension was successfully renewed in nineteen sixteen. In the ninety eight, 868 00:51:11,800 --> 00:51:14,600 Speaker 1: Collier was approved for a pension from the state of Mississippi, 869 00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:18,680 Speaker 1: not as a servant, but as a confederate soldier. No 870 00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:21,640 Speaker 1: longer was the award based on Holt Service for his 871 00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:25,880 Speaker 1: former master. He was recognized as a combatant for his 872 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:29,840 Speaker 1: service in the ninth Texas Calvary. He is the only 873 00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:35,040 Speaker 1: known African American classified as a combatant by any of 874 00:51:35,120 --> 00:51:41,120 Speaker 1: the former confederate states. End of quote. It's sad for 875 00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:43,839 Speaker 1: me to see a man like Holt having a rough 876 00:51:44,040 --> 00:51:47,920 Speaker 1: ending to his life and to become depressed. That's really 877 00:51:48,000 --> 00:51:51,800 Speaker 1: sad after we know all that we know about him. 878 00:51:51,880 --> 00:51:54,759 Speaker 1: It's well documented that many African Americans were in the 879 00:51:54,760 --> 00:51:58,080 Speaker 1: confederate army, but at the time of this research Holt 880 00:51:58,120 --> 00:52:02,719 Speaker 1: was the only African American classified as a combatant. The 881 00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:05,760 Speaker 1: others in the confederate army were doing stuff other than fighting. 882 00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:10,279 Speaker 1: It's complicated because others did fight but they weren't officially 883 00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:13,800 Speaker 1: registered as combatants. I just want to make that clear. 884 00:52:14,680 --> 00:52:17,799 Speaker 1: The philosophical premise of the confederacy was that if the 885 00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:19,759 Speaker 1: blacks were good enough to fight, they were good enough 886 00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:23,399 Speaker 1: to be independent people who deserved civil rights. So they 887 00:52:23,400 --> 00:52:30,400 Speaker 1: were denied official classification as combatants. But Somehow Holt slipped 888 00:52:30,480 --> 00:52:33,839 Speaker 1: through the cracks and he had a knack for doing that. 889 00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:40,240 Speaker 1: Holt died in nineteen thirty six at the age of ninety. 890 00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:43,759 Speaker 1: His third wife, Frances, had died at the age of 891 00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:47,879 Speaker 1: forty four, five years before him, in nineteen thirty one, 892 00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:51,800 Speaker 1: of an aneurysm. The last several years of his life, 893 00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:57,280 Speaker 1: Holt almost went blind. Death is rarely noble and sadly 894 00:52:57,600 --> 00:53:01,040 Speaker 1: it was not noble for wholt Collier. He died a 895 00:53:01,120 --> 00:53:07,160 Speaker 1: poor man and was buried in an unmarked grave in Greenville, Mississippi. 896 00:53:07,960 --> 00:53:10,240 Speaker 1: James a king had that big monum when I showed 897 00:53:10,239 --> 00:53:12,640 Speaker 1: you a picture of from the day he was buried 898 00:53:13,200 --> 00:53:18,040 Speaker 1: totally in a unmarked grave. died in nineteen thirty six. 899 00:53:18,360 --> 00:53:20,920 Speaker 1: He's like he was in an unmarked grave for sixty 900 00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:23,440 Speaker 1: year until we put this too, we put this headstone. 901 00:53:23,440 --> 00:53:26,920 Speaker 1: So what year was that had? Two Thousand Four. Wow. 902 00:53:26,960 --> 00:53:29,440 Speaker 1: Do you feel like that was a result of this 903 00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:33,440 Speaker 1: book and bringing some attention to him? Absolutely it is. 904 00:53:33,480 --> 00:53:36,200 Speaker 1: Now we've we've, we've breaked it. It's a monument. Now 905 00:53:36,360 --> 00:53:40,759 Speaker 1: we it's it's in an enclosed gate. Many people in 906 00:53:40,800 --> 00:53:44,520 Speaker 1: groups were involved in getting Holtz headstone and turning his 907 00:53:44,640 --> 00:53:47,440 Speaker 1: grave into a monument, but two of the men that 908 00:53:47,480 --> 00:53:50,800 Speaker 1: can be given a lot of credit are Hank Berdine 909 00:53:51,239 --> 00:53:55,960 Speaker 1: and minor Ferris Buchanan. There is something else I haven't 910 00:53:56,000 --> 00:53:59,920 Speaker 1: told you. I'll let hank tell you. James Come in 911 00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:04,920 Speaker 1: with Wildlife Mississippi Center, Thad Cochrane, and decided to do 912 00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:09,160 Speaker 1: something with these wildlife refuges around here and pull them 913 00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:13,720 Speaker 1: all into one complex called the Theodore Roosevelt Wildlife Refuge system, 914 00:54:13,880 --> 00:54:16,399 Speaker 1: and they had several thousand acres that had just come 915 00:54:16,760 --> 00:54:20,400 Speaker 1: into the system that they named the whole call your 916 00:54:20,680 --> 00:54:23,680 Speaker 1: wildlife refuge, which is right out number twelve highway over 917 00:54:23,760 --> 00:54:26,319 Speaker 1: here there's some farm land that had been cleared but 918 00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:29,000 Speaker 1: had gone back into tree been planted back into trees 919 00:54:29,040 --> 00:54:32,080 Speaker 1: and it's coming back on pretty strong now. It is 920 00:54:32,160 --> 00:54:37,400 Speaker 1: the only refuge in the entire United States refuge, federal 921 00:54:37,480 --> 00:54:41,720 Speaker 1: refuge system that's named after a man of African descent. 922 00:54:42,360 --> 00:54:47,080 Speaker 1: Mhm To me that's pretty strong. Uh. We've got a 923 00:54:47,160 --> 00:54:49,560 Speaker 1: lot of famous black people done a lot of wonderful 924 00:54:49,600 --> 00:54:53,719 Speaker 1: and famous things, but there's only one that has a 925 00:54:53,760 --> 00:54:57,360 Speaker 1: wildlife refuge, of federal wildlife refuge named after him, and 926 00:54:57,400 --> 00:55:01,840 Speaker 1: that's whole cart, the whole call National Wildlife Refuge was 927 00:55:01,960 --> 00:55:06,000 Speaker 1: established in two thousand four, two years after miner's book 928 00:55:06,080 --> 00:55:08,640 Speaker 1: was published. The refuge is open to the public for 929 00:55:08,719 --> 00:55:14,040 Speaker 1: hunting and outdoor recreation. Here's minor asking a question that 930 00:55:14,160 --> 00:55:18,080 Speaker 1: I had from the beginning, and the answer is not flashy. 931 00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:20,719 Speaker 1: Everybody always wants to know whine in the movie been 932 00:55:20,719 --> 00:55:23,200 Speaker 1: made about this guy, and this will given an example 933 00:55:23,200 --> 00:55:26,799 Speaker 1: of why. It's just nobody in Hollywood wants to put 934 00:55:26,800 --> 00:55:30,520 Speaker 1: a black man riding with a confederate outfit. It's so 935 00:55:30,640 --> 00:55:34,920 Speaker 1: politically incorrect. That's all I can come up with. I 936 00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:37,720 Speaker 1: mean there's so many. This is such a wonderful story 937 00:55:37,760 --> 00:55:40,920 Speaker 1: for the big screen. I mean, if you had to 938 00:55:40,920 --> 00:55:44,480 Speaker 1: put all the great characters in American history out there, 939 00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:47,600 Speaker 1: I put him right up there with the best of them. 940 00:55:47,800 --> 00:55:52,239 Speaker 1: Holt never really fit into anyone's mold. Jonathan Wilkins is 941 00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:55,279 Speaker 1: an African American hunter and guide from the Delta. He 942 00:55:55,440 --> 00:55:58,759 Speaker 1: is a Holt Collier Aficionado who helped give us some 943 00:55:58,880 --> 00:56:02,480 Speaker 1: insight into life in part one and two. I wanted 944 00:56:02,520 --> 00:56:06,359 Speaker 1: to end this series by asking him how WHOLP Call 945 00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:11,000 Speaker 1: Your story had inspired him personally. Here's what he said, 946 00:56:11,760 --> 00:56:14,120 Speaker 1: you know. So for me, what it would inspire is 947 00:56:14,760 --> 00:56:19,840 Speaker 1: trying to live a life with as few blockades as possible, 948 00:56:20,320 --> 00:56:25,480 Speaker 1: trying to fully realize myself. You know, ultimately you're dealing 949 00:56:25,480 --> 00:56:29,000 Speaker 1: with a person who, because of the circumstances of his birth, 950 00:56:29,280 --> 00:56:32,719 Speaker 1: should not have had the influence and impact that he did, 951 00:56:33,360 --> 00:56:38,600 Speaker 1: and he did so because he refused to internalize all 952 00:56:38,640 --> 00:56:42,879 Speaker 1: the messaging about who he was from outside. Right, and 953 00:56:42,920 --> 00:56:45,560 Speaker 1: that had to be from a very young age. Right, 954 00:56:45,600 --> 00:56:48,520 Speaker 1: for a ten year old child to have the hood spa, 955 00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:53,600 Speaker 1: to go out into this American southern jungle and kill 956 00:56:53,640 --> 00:56:57,120 Speaker 1: a bear with a rudimentary weapon and then get to 957 00:56:57,200 --> 00:57:02,040 Speaker 1: the point where he's credited with killing three housing black bears, 958 00:57:02,080 --> 00:57:07,200 Speaker 1: that's a person who doesn't allow external limitations to dictate 959 00:57:07,200 --> 00:57:09,680 Speaker 1: what their life can be. For him to be able 960 00:57:09,680 --> 00:57:13,000 Speaker 1: to stand on equal footing with one of the most 961 00:57:13,040 --> 00:57:17,320 Speaker 1: influential political figures in the history of this country and 962 00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:21,200 Speaker 1: instruct him and, you know, probably scold him. Man, I 963 00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:23,760 Speaker 1: told you to be sitting right here and you couldn't 964 00:57:23,760 --> 00:57:26,920 Speaker 1: wait for a sandwich and you got my dogs killed. 965 00:57:27,200 --> 00:57:30,640 Speaker 1: You know like that's a person who doesn't let external 966 00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:34,720 Speaker 1: limitations dictate the quality and the substance of their life 967 00:57:35,040 --> 00:57:38,560 Speaker 1: and it's not. It's this isn't like a this isn't 968 00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:41,960 Speaker 1: a pull yourself up by your bootstraps trope because, like 969 00:57:42,040 --> 00:57:45,240 Speaker 1: we keep using the word extraordinary, right, this is a 970 00:57:45,240 --> 00:57:48,960 Speaker 1: guy who is beyond the Pale. But you know, as 971 00:57:49,040 --> 00:57:52,280 Speaker 1: human beings we look towards the extraordinary, we look towards 972 00:57:52,360 --> 00:57:56,960 Speaker 1: the outliers to find inspiration for the fact that almost 973 00:57:57,000 --> 00:58:00,120 Speaker 1: everybody is ordinary, but to realize that we all have 974 00:58:00,160 --> 00:58:03,200 Speaker 1: the ability to be extraordinary at some time or in 975 00:58:03,280 --> 00:58:10,600 Speaker 1: some place or in some instance. William Faulkner wrote of 976 00:58:10,640 --> 00:58:15,560 Speaker 1: the fictional character Sam father's quote like an old lion 977 00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:19,160 Speaker 1: or bear in a cage. He was born in a 978 00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:22,160 Speaker 1: cage and he has been in it his whole life. 979 00:58:22,560 --> 00:58:27,440 Speaker 1: He knows nothing else. By external measures, Holt seemed to 980 00:58:27,520 --> 00:58:31,040 Speaker 1: thrive in the postbellum south and will never know his 981 00:58:31,200 --> 00:58:35,439 Speaker 1: deep motivations, his regrets and the shackles that the race 982 00:58:35,520 --> 00:58:40,040 Speaker 1: barriers placed on his life. Media Cherry picked the highlights 983 00:58:40,520 --> 00:58:44,760 Speaker 1: that America was interested in at the time, and that's 984 00:58:44,760 --> 00:58:48,480 Speaker 1: how the game works, and those interviews are the primary 985 00:58:48,560 --> 00:58:52,520 Speaker 1: source for the material that we have. What I'm trying 986 00:58:52,560 --> 00:58:54,640 Speaker 1: to say is that this story is a lot more 987 00:58:54,720 --> 00:58:59,000 Speaker 1: complicated than just a guy who seemingly had this adventurous 988 00:58:59,000 --> 00:59:04,600 Speaker 1: and wildlife. His life was filled with tragedy and I 989 00:59:04,600 --> 00:59:08,640 Speaker 1: don't know. I just want to tell his story. I'll 990 00:59:08,760 --> 00:59:13,360 Speaker 1: end this whole series with minor's words from his book. Quote. 991 00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:17,600 Speaker 1: Holt Collier is entitled to a place in the history 992 00:59:17,640 --> 00:59:22,040 Speaker 1: and heritage of the United States alongside the many courageous 993 00:59:22,080 --> 00:59:26,720 Speaker 1: pioneers and hunters of fame and legend. His Service to 994 00:59:26,760 --> 00:59:30,160 Speaker 1: the confederacy will no doubt be debated by those of 995 00:59:30,240 --> 00:59:34,480 Speaker 1: both races who prefer not to believe it. His contribution 996 00:59:34,520 --> 00:59:37,240 Speaker 1: as a pioneer to the opening of the Mississippi Delta 997 00:59:37,280 --> 00:59:40,800 Speaker 1: wilderness cannot be ignored. He is a central figure in 998 00:59:40,840 --> 00:59:45,880 Speaker 1: the story of the Teddy Bear. His courage, tenacity, honesty, 999 00:59:46,120 --> 00:59:52,840 Speaker 1: integrity and independence should be an inspiration to all Americans. 1000 00:59:55,520 --> 00:59:58,680 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to bear grease. I've 1001 00:59:58,680 --> 01:00:02,760 Speaker 1: been deeply moved by the story of Hulk Collier. You 1002 01:00:02,760 --> 01:00:06,880 Speaker 1: can buy Minor Ferris Buchanan's book Hulk Collier at Hulk 1003 01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:10,280 Speaker 1: Collier Dot Com and be sure to check out all 1004 01:00:10,480 --> 01:00:14,560 Speaker 1: of our bear grease merchant on the meat eator DOT COM. 1005 01:00:14,600 --> 01:00:17,640 Speaker 1: And do me a favor by sharing this series with 1006 01:00:17,680 --> 01:00:21,920 Speaker 1: a friend this week. Long live the beast and long 1007 01:00:22,080 --> 01:00:26,200 Speaker 1: live the legacy of our brother, hulk callier.