Friday, April 18, 2008

The above fragments are all that remains from a packet of letters found amongst the personal effects of “Gimpy” John Dawson, a colleague of the famous “Gassy Jack”. The letters are believed to represent a series of correspondences between Dawson and an unknown story teller of the Musqueum tribe. It is unclear who the actual author is, but it would appear to be the latter, although this has never been verified. Dawson was for a number of years Gassy Jack’s right hand man and appears to have been a close confidant. It has always been assumed that the letters related a series of Indian tales and legends and that perhaps Dawson and Jack were looking to publish a book on Indian lore. These re-tellings of Native stories were popular with visiting Europeans eager to be thrilled by an exotic and primitive culture that they assumed to be disappearing before their very eyes. It is very likely that Dawson may have indeed been engaged in preparing such a book, although no record can be found of its completion.

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