The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-01-13
LIFE ON THE PLAINS.

written by an officer of the army stationed at
Fort Sill Indian Territory, under date of
Dec 11th. 1870, will be of Interest,"
We are having 'norther, but imagine
YOU are az much in the dark concerning the
significance of the expression as / was the
first time l heard it. To fully appreciate
what norther is, you should be dropped on
a good, wide, level prairie, twenty or thirty
miles from any eminence, trees, or what
might act as shelter; time, reveile; en- route,
north. In this situation you would fully ap-
preciate what norther is in about fifteen
seconds. Owing to the difficulties to be sur
mounted in the way of time, distance, gravi-
tation, and the approaching holidays, | am
afraid you will have to be left in Philadel-
phia and with the combined energy of inf
mite faith, boundless Imagination, and mex
haustible credulity, produce mental picture
that may possibly portray the idea.
The prevailing winds of this country are
southerly-generally southeast-and bring us
the warm breezes of the Gulf. Consequently
we wear the same clothing the year round,
provided it is summer clothing. The day
will be as pleasant as your beautiful June
weather, about sunset, but just as the great
illuminator is giving farewell touch of gold
to the tops of the purpled mountains, while
the smokeless prairie fire, away off against
the sky, makes one swear by Shadrach,
Meschach, and Abednego, and everything is
as quiet as though the sun was going down
never to rise again, there will be little
leaden cloud, perhaps, off in the northwest.
Should you see such a cloud, and be away
from shelter, it is time you were ascertain
ing what sort of stock you ride, and how
many more observations the bottom of your
flask will stand. If you happen to be
'home," not O moment should be lost by
your Especial artist in transferring the wood
pile from behind your house to the interior,
for long ere it ought to be dark, a norther
will be rattling down with a madness as if it
had a million furies behind, lashing it on
with hail and sleet Northers are not the
north, laden with the snow-hakes; fall
ing so softly and putting their
victim into a cheerful, dreamy sleep as they
chose him as their sacrifice. They are the
furious north winds, rebellious brothers of
Boreas, conquered and expatriated-driven
from home never to return till they have
washed out their sin in the vapor baths of
gulf or ocean. You can imagine what tenn
per they are in, and how remorselessly cruel
they are to any unfortunate whose life or hap
piness may be at their mercy. They do not
numb: they hurt, that is the word-"hurt"
Just like toothache hurts, with no undulations
of pain-granting once in awhile
an imaginary repIieve. AS for
defending oneself against them,
it is perfectly impossible, except behind
fortifcation wall Of eighteen inches, and a
roaring FIRE constantly replenished with fuel.
Buffalo robes, blankets, clothing, or anything
that offers passive resistance is of no avail
Their only redeeming feature is their shor5
life for they seldom live more than three
days. But you will never know what a
s'norther' is till you encounter one, and 1
can only mention as an addition to my wishes
for many returns to you of Christmas, and
~
may also rest in profound ignorance of the
''norther.'
see Commissioner Parker has been giving
our neighbors, the Kiowas and Camanches,
quite an unfattering testimonial in his late
report What pity to treat the ''poor In
dian" 80! Some people ungenerously call
them ''poor beggars, in tone of pity that
modulates itself into contempt. eff they are
poor, is not that their misfortune? And whose
fault but the white mans, driving away their
buffalo with his steam. horses9" Beggars!
They will never beg, if good opportunity
offers to steal. Not petty sneak -thieving, but
wholesale or highway robbery. Yhey are
accused of killing people, too. Once on
a time the contemporaries of J.. Fennimore
Cooper might have been so addicted, but
now they never do anything else than
murder. They are as vile and cowardly
as they are mean and villainous- lookin &.
They don't even profess to be friendly to the
Texans, and they claim Texas to be out of the
union still. In fact, they go so far as to syy
it never was in, and numbering any one
found unprotected in Teaas is perfectly legi-
innate slaughter ''Heap scalps-good medi-
cine A cheap bullets applied internally
would be much better medicine. In the win
ter, when grass has become hay, their ponies
have 10 be foraged, and they are ''good
Indians, living up to their treaties so far as
to eat all the rations the Government will
give them or they can beg, forage their
stock, and restrain from hostilities that are
not les G6diTes dhonneur. In the spring, when
grass is good, and their ponies can take them
where game can be found, they
are OFF like the wind, till they're on you like
q whirlwind. To give you an idea of their
method in conducting private vendettas,
will relate case that has occurred lately.
Satank, one of the Kiowa chiefs, lost a son
in fight with Captain Mcclellan last spring
three hundred and fifty Indians against
sixty soldiers In order to assuage the pater-
nal grief incident to such a calamity, last
summer, at the head of some twenty of his
tribe, he attacked a maiLstage going to Texas,
killed two men, and one Of the mules; the
other mule and the mail were captured. Ae-
cording to the custom among some of the
redskins, he brought his captures here. The
mail sans enclosures was given up, and the
mule taken away from him. He got his
mad up at this, also his back, and
made big talk" of what he's
have to do to concilitate the
shades of his departed son and the mule. he
told up here, over in the store, only last Fri
day, how he did it, exhibiting one of three
scalps he and his band had taken of three
men they had killed down in Texas
Last night news was brought by messenger
from that State of how this murder was ac