Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1869-12-09
Tho Quaker Indian Policy.
WORK AMONG THE NEBRASKA TRIBES.
,NecOnH Arf;oIe

locCONN dTttCtt
We have already given some description
of the location, character, and condition of
the tribes at the Santee Sioux, Winnebago,
Omaha, and Great Ncmaha Agencies.
Directly West of the Great Nemaha Agen-
cy, and close to the Kansas line, is the
Agency of the Otoes and Missouris, where
Albert Green, of Media, Delaware County,
Pa, is in charge. There are here about 450
Indians. Their number has been consider
ably reduced by epidemic diseases caused by
living in their damp, filthy, and altogether
unwholesome, "dirt lodges" Forty eight
children, alone, arc reported to have
been swept off by this cause, last spring
The Indians upon this reservation are
probably lowest in the scale of civili-
zation, of all the tribes located in Nebraska
although these habits, especially in respect
to drunkenness, compare very favorably with
the Iowas, there being much less intemper-
ancc among them. They are, however, very
little enlightened, and adhere to their old
and barbarous customs. When warrior
dies they insist upon burying with him his
pony, which is strang.ed to death for the
purpose, his saddle and other accoutrements,
together with a supply of tobacco, coffee,
and other useful articles of this world, which
they imagine the dead brave can thus carry
with him to the next one.
During a recent visit of Superintendent
Janney, one of these burials was about to
take place, but finding him warmly opposed
to it, they suspended the ceremony until he
was called away, and then proceeded. In
answer to his efforts to persuade them of its
improperly, they said it was san old GUS
TOM among them, to which their fathers
had given approval.
This custom is scarcely practiccd among
the other tribes, though one instance has
become known to the Superintendent where
Winnebago chief was recently buried,
mounted on the back of live pony.
At the Otoe Agency, Samuel s. Ely, of
Bucks Co., Pa, and his wife, have just been
appointed to conduct manual labor schools.
The last of the six Agencies is that upon
the Pawnee reservation, near Columbus on
the Union Pacific Railroad, about ITO miles
from Omaha. Jacob M. Troth, of Virginia,
IS Agent, assisted by very competent and
efficient corps of farmers and mechanics,
&c. There are here about 2iOO Indians,
and the duties become, with so large num-
Der, of more onerous and difficult charac-
ter than at other Agencies. There is large
Manual Labor School, supported by an an
nual appropriation of $4,000, paid by the
U. S. Government, in pursuance of a former
treaty with the Pawnces. This school is
now in successful operation, under the charge
of most excellent and very remarkable
woman. Evira G Platt, as Principal, and
two assistants of each sex. The building is
large, imposing, and well arranged, and the
pupils. about scventy-fve in number, (Octo-
ber,) are boarded in it, They are all Paw
nees, and range in age from 10 and ~, to
maturity. Just before our visit to Nebraska,
one of the girl pupils had been married to
one of the Pawnees of the reservation. The
Knot was tied by the Quaker ceremony, and
It was stipulated that she was not to be
obliged to perform the severe drudgery to
which Indian women are usually compelled.
Mrs. Platt, the Principal of the school, is
truly extraordinary woman. For twenty
six years, most of her time, during the war,
she was for some time in the hospitals of our
army has been devoted to the work of i'm
| proving the condition of the Indians. She
has been for years laboring among the
Pawnees, profoundly impressed with con
viction that they had been unjustly treated,
and that they were both deserving and Gu pa
BILE of higher civilization. In all her
efforts, she had never received the cordial
and earnest aid which the cause, and her
own self sacrifice merited, while she had
still hoped and prayed for the time to come
when the exertions in behalf of the Indians
| would receive earnest sympathy and co-ope-
ration. She told friend, to whom she
spoke upon the subject, that for long time,
she had set apart certain hour on each
| Saturday Of the week, to invoke in prayer
the Divine aid to be extended to the regcn-
Grafton OF. these poor people, and in the
changed policy OF the Government she finds
answer to petitions such as her own.
The Pawnees have requested of Supern-
iendent Janney, that in their supplies of
goods for next year, $4,000 out of the Sl2,
600, to be expended, shall be applied to the
purchase of agricultural implements.
The Indians Of this Agency, and the Otoes,
and some of the Iowas, have not yet given
up their annual buffalo hunt, and they were
about to start upon it, when we visited Ne
hraska, in October. The buffaloes now
make one OF their chief grazing grounds,
along the neighborhood of the Republican
River, in Kansas, and the Pawnees have
only to move about hundred miles, and
the Otoes probably tifty,to reach the hunting
country. Albert Green, the Otoe Agent,
proposed to accompany the party as far as
the outpost settlements, just west of his
reservation, in order that no depreciation oil
other difficulty should result by the move
ment.
The Pawnees are exposed very much tt
the attacks of the rowing tribes of Kansas
especially the Sioux, with whom they hav,
been for long years at war. Friend JanneJ
has been directing his attention to the pos
! sibiliiy of reconciling this hereditary feud
but he finds no encouragement from thos'
protesting to be best acquainted with thu
trouble.
. Among the Pawnees there are sixteeI
chiefs, attached to four "bands." The hea,
I chief, Pe-tah la-shar, is a man of decide'
a strength of character, an the photograph o
Te-lah- wah-ler-shar, ''spirit chief, or 'sK,
{ chief" of the whole tribe, and LIST chief q
the Kit-ka-ha band, shows man of digni
fie and intelligent appearance, and cores
ponds with his character.
The names among this tribe are still nearl
all of the native character composed q
> many syllables, similar to the two aboy
s named, but generally longer. This fact
and the additional one, that they frequent
a change their names, entirely, make th
] labor of the Agent and Superintendent, i
: preparing triplicate pay-rolls, from whic
s. 10 pay their annuity money, an immens
I, task These pay rolls, indeed, can only b
:" made out, by taking careful census of th
a tribe, Immediately before the time of distr
!. buling the funds, the changes Of names be
ing so frequent, that the previous years ro
e have bocome quite useless. To the adoptio
< OF civilized names, therefore, considerab
N effort is being given, and in the School, a
IS the pupils are provided with shorter an
70 more convenient titles. We are told ihi
N N the leading men in the Indian work, in N
" braska, such as Samuel NJ. Janney. Benj'
min Hallowell, and others, have host
n, namesakes. as George Washington an
e. Thomas Jefferson used to have among Il
IN Southern colored people.