CROW KILLER: The Saga of Liver Eating Johnson

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From the annals of the Mountain Men comes the checked (and double checked) biography of mountainous John Johnston (later Johnson) who is here presented as something more than a man with an insane lust for killing Indians, specifically Crow. For Johnson's Flathead Indian wife, The Swan, had been scalped and killed, with her unborn child, by members of that tribe and Johnson, in the era of private grudges, carried on a terrifying tradition with his individual stamp -- his victim had to know who killed him and that his killer was going to eat his liver. Johnson learned his trapping, hunting and trading lore from Old Hatcher, earned a reputation even before his vendetta, aided a Mrs. Morgan after the massacre of her family drove her crazy, and, when he found his murdered wife, made a rendezvous with his ""kittle of bones"" in its cache. This then follows a ferocious death trail, marked by endurance, escape and grim battle, vengeance too for old friends, and alliances with other Mountain Men against their Indian enemies. When the Crows helped the crazy Mrs. Morgan, he dropped his vendetta, joined them, and, after what must have been a strange tour in the Union Army, returned to find his free life disappearing. There was still some trapping, a term or two as a law officer (and his area was definitely safe), and a quiet death. Spectacular to repellent, this is a part of Western life as it must have been and, as such, is for the serious follower of this type of history.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1958

Categories: NONFICTION