THRILLING TALES #3: John (Jeremiah, ‘liver eating’) Johnson: If you love Robert Redford (as Della does) you will love this old film (‘Jeremiah Johnson’ 1972, a classic!) Also see ‘Mountain Man’ by Vardis Fisher and ‘The Avenging Fury of the Plains’ Dennis J McLelland(both avail Amazon). ‘In 1847, his wife, a member of the Flathead American Indian tribe, was killed by a young Crow brave and his fellow hunters, which prompted Johnson to embark on a vendetta against the tribe. The legend says that he would cut out and eat the liver of each man killed.’ I particularly like this tale: ‘of being ambushed by a group of Blackfoot warriors in the dead of winter on a foray to sell whiskey to his Flathead kin, a trip that would have been over five hundred miles (805 kilometers). The Blackfoot planned to sell him to the Crow, his mortal enemies, for a handsome price. He was stripped to the waist, tied with leather thongs and put in a tepee with only one, very inexperienced guard. Johnson managed to break through the straps, then knocked out his young guard with a kick, took his knife and scalped him, then quickly cut off one of his legs (as you WOULD!) He made his escape into the woods, surviving by eating the Blackfoot’s leg, until he reached the cabin of Del Que, his trapping partner, a journey of about two hundred miles (322 Kilometers)’ WELL DONE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver-Eating_Johnson
