Taken from the Republican Herald newspaper of Pottsville April 21 & 23 1979

Captain Jack Crawford lived a life tinged with adventure. Despite the lack of a formal education, he became highly literate and a man of myriad interests. And he won a measure of fame as a frontier post scout, an appellation he accepted with deep pride. Moreover, Captain Jack was free as the wind and not one to let grass grow under his feet. That is to say, he seldom ' lingered too long in one spot. "

He lived at various times in " at least four anthracite towns, Minersville, Centralia, Girardville, and Shenandoah, but a constant urge to wander led him to the West and Canada. He was a flamboyant figure with long flowing hair. He was handsome, vigorous, and endowed with an athletic physique. As a boy, he picked slate in a breaker. Then he drove mules in the mines and did other jobs at regional collieries. And he suffered the pain of war as a soldier. Aside from being a government scout who dabbled in poetry, Captain Jack toiled in a cotton mill, served as a special agent for the Justice Department and as a news courier and correspondent. He also tried his hand at gold and silver mining and ranching. Crawford also was a confidante of William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody and Wild Bill Hickok. And he almost became involved in the Indian skirmish in which Gen. George Custer and his men were wiped out.

Crawford’s father became a soldier in the Civil War. After working in a coal breaker and driving mules in the mines, Crawford left home to join his father in the 48^th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, just shy of his sixteenth birthday. Crawford was wounded at both Spotsylvania and Petersburg, Virginia.

In 1867 Crawford wound up in Girardville and was appointed postmaster, a position he held for two years. While in Girardville, he married a Centralia gal, Maria James. In 1869, he set forth on a journey to the West, but his stay out there was brief, and he came back to Girardville. In 1874, he decided to visit the Black Hills in South Dakota and Wyoming. A year later he was hired as a scout by Col. Ned Wynkoop, a Schuylkill County man. Crawford subsequently commanded the Black Hill Rangers and later became a correspondent for the Omaha (Neb.) Bee in the Black Hills.

Then, when the Sioux campaign began, he joined Gen. Crook and Gen. Custer and earned the nickname of "Captain Jack." It was during the Indian battles that Crawford was named to succeed William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody as chief of government scouts.

Most Americans groaned in horror when they heard the news that General George Custer and all of his 260 troops were overwhelmed and slain by Indians at Little Big Horn in Montana. On that tragic day-June 25, 1876-Captain Jack. Crawford was heading for Custer's headquarters to join in the pursuit of Chief Sitting Bull. But the Indians were not to be trapped by Custer and his men. And fortunately for Crawford, he didn't make it in time to participate in that battle.

After the massacre, Captain Jack participated in the campaign against the Apaches in New Mexico and took up ranching in that state. Later he travelled for a year with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, then roamed through California and other Pacific Coast States and eventually helped in the exploration of gold in the Klondike region of Canada's Yukon Territory.

Captain Jack also hung around for some time in the Black Hills at Deadwood, South Dakota, where, he wrote a lot of poetry and authored "A Book of Song and Story," dealing with mining life. During his stay in Deadwood, he was a companion of Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody) and Wild Bill Hickok, two of the most famed American frontiersmen. When some of his ventures didn't pan out too well, Crawford turned to the stage and produced a play "Fonda" which premiered in San Francisco and was presented in many theatres across the country. He also served as chief of scouts in New Mexico and lived at Port Craig. In 1892, he shifted to politicking for Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, in the presidential campaign.

As a special agent for the Justice Department, it was Crawford's job to track down white men who furnished liquor to the Indians. He attributed most of the troubles in the West to alcohol. Crawford recalled being a newspaper courier for the New York Herald during the turmoil in the Black Hills. He alluded to the time he rode 350 miles with dispatches of the Custer massacre.

Captain Jack delivered several lectures in the Shenandoah Ferguson Theatre and the Academy of Music in Pottsville, also at the Ashland Opera House in 1903. Regarding the Ashland visit, the Evening Herald noted that Crawford "blew into Ashland with all the vim and dash of the wild western breezes that are naturally associated with his name." On that occasion, Crawford was a guest of Dr. J.C. Biddle, superintendent of the Fountain Springs Hospital, and J. Irvin Steele, publisher of the Ashland Evening Telegram. Crawford visited the hospital, spoke to patients and as the Herald expressed it, he "strolled the ward scattering the sunshine of his presence.” Not much was heard of Captain Jack Crawford after that sentimental journey back to the coal regions. He died in March 1917 at his home in Woodhaven, Long Island, N.Y., far from the western frontier he loved and the hard coal region where he spent his youth.

Republican and Herald (Pottsville, Pennsylvania) Sat, Apr 21, 1979, Page 6 (Edited)

Republican and Herald (Pottsville, Pennsylvania) Mon, Apr 23, 1979, Page 4 (Edited)

Photo Credit: Captain Jack Crawford, 1881 Public domain

Bennett and Brown Photographers, Santa Fe, New Mexico