Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-08-26


his present position was among the first made
under the present Quaker, or peace policy. He
is well-to-do farmer from Iowa, q successful
man OF business, and as far as can learn among
those best acquainted with him, stands like the
CheYalier Bayard, sens peJT ct sans Tepr0che.
At a great sacrifice to ais personal affairs he
accepted the position rendered him, and, hang
ing up his agricultural implements and his hoe,
he came out 10 Fort Sill full of philanthropy
towards his red brethren, and resolved to raise
them in the scale of humanity. The worthy
Friend has been trying his hand at this business
for three years, and he now does not hesitate TO
confess himself fairly beat. From non-resis-
tant, Friend Tatum has become fierce belliger-
emit Nothing else than the military" he ex-
claims "can deal with these Kiowas, and they
require to be led by man thoroughly in earn
est Notwithstanding his excellent admins
tratve qualities, his early enthusiasm in behalf
of the red man and his Cromwellian irmness in
the cause of right, this agency is an admitted
failure; his Indians are in open revolt against
the government, and he is in constant danger of
| his life.
One of the causes of this open rupture has
| been the refusal oil Agent Tatum to sell powder
| and lead to the Kiowas. Several violent de-
| mands have been made upon him for these arti-
ces accompanied with menace and intimida-
| ton; and on one occasion number of painted
warriors, with their chief, Lone Vol, at their
head, laid the choice before the unyieding agent
| of dealing out ammunition to them or having
| his throat cut and his agency sacked. he re.
sisted the demand with unbending hrmness, ana
| when Lone Wolf laid hls hand on the agents
| breast to see if his heart beat with increased
| pulsation, he found that muscular organ uneN-
| cited He thereupOn declared the white chief
| brave man, and drew his men OF without doing
/ mischief. His arrest of Satanic and his two
brother chiefs is probably within the recollection
| of the reader and this browning offence has so
| incensed the Kiowas that they have drawn no
rations since March, preierring to trust TO mas
| sacre and spoliation as a means of living.
| If A person wishes to gain clear insight into
Indian character let him watch the issue of ra-
/ tiOns at this tent for an hour or two. There are
one thousand Indians on the ground, and these
| sons of the forest and the plain are abundanty
| provided for at their respective agencies, where
| weekly 1ations are served out to them. But as
| they have shown the good will to attend the
| council and use their influence in behalf of
| peace the assistant superintendent has ordered
| rations distributed to them on the ground as a
| reward for their good conduct This unwonted
| harvest the unsOphisticated red man devotes his
| talents to make the most of. His squaw draws
| rations in the morning, and he repeats the oper-
| alton at night. He is constantly wanting to-
| baccO, baking powder, soap, and other sundries
| not that these articles are OF any use to him,
| but because he cannot resist tine opportunity to
| dead beat. AT every meal our table is Swarmed
| with voracious Indians, whose taste for canned
| fruits and other delicacies cannot be satlated.
| was amused with an exhibition of native
| enterprise which met my eye one evening.
| number of COmancheS, Just arrived, made de-
| maud for rationS Sugar and coffee were dealt
out to them with great liberaty and bag of
| -four, containing ninety-eight pounds, was given
TO the chief for distribution among his people
| The bag remained outside the tent, where the
| eommisSary clerk had put It, for an hour or
| TWO, and at last several Comanche warriors
| came over to study the situation, They mo-
| toned to our cooks TO carry the bag over to
| their lodges, but these obduratc individuals
| fatty refused. A squaw came up and they di-
| rccted her to carry it away. She essayed to
raise 1t to her shoulders, but found it too heavy.
| After struggling with her burden for while,
two or three painted warriors placed it on her
| shoulder, and the poor, degraded creature stag
| gered OFF with her load, while these gay cava
| Tiers remained behind TO watch their chances at
| the white captains table,
| We have daily trouble and dissatisfaction in
| the distribution of beef to this small host, The
| assistant superintendent sends down daily an
| order to the agency for the number of beeves
required, generally from fifteen to twenty. De-
tails are made from the tribes in succession of
number of men to drive up these cattle. The
instant the animals appear in sight of the camp,
at least 100 Indians spring to horse
| and dashing headlong at the small drove, STAN
pede the animals in all directions, and lively
| hunt of two or three hours ensues. Some
| beeyes are killed five miles from camp, some
| hide themselves in the bush to die and in the
| scramble that eDsues for the Carcasses that re
main, many lodges fail to get Il supply. To
| avoid this confusion, Mr.. Beede called the chiefs
| together and instructed them to hold their young
| men in check while the interpreters shot the
| bceves, and the distribution was made accord
ing to the ration table. But have discovered
| that while the chiefs have some power to lead
| their men into evil, when they seek TO use their
| influence to some good end it is not recognized.
| Thus, when the next herd of cattle was drawn
| up for slaughter, the same hasty game OF STAN
| complaints were as numerous as ever. One day
| the Gap-er-r-Ker band OF Comanches were sent
| for beef; they came into camp with five of the
| number missing, and it was found that they
| had traded these to the Caddoes for water
| melons. The next day these enterprising Co.
mancheS stole the five missing animals from
| the CaddOes and, bringing them into camp
| offered them for sale TO the commssary clerk for
| 80 per head.
| To have the care of such people who re cog
| nize no moral law, whose faculties seem per-
| Yerted to evil, and who lie as dead weight upon
| the agents hands, is one of the most perplexing
| duties that can well be conceived. Yet the men
| who are appointed to agencies seem TO be ami
mated with implicit faith in the red mau; they
resolutely shut their eyes TO the fact that he de-
| velops no useful qualities, and they labor to eff
| feet his amelioration with a conStancy that is
| really worthy of a better cause. Agent OAR
| lington, of the Cheyenne and ArapahOe agency,
| has recently died-died in harness. He was an
| old gentleman in comfortable circumstances
| past TO- and warm philanthropist A reg.
ious conviction impelled him to devote the re-
mainder Of an active life to the cause Of the In
| dian. He was appointed to the above agency
| For two years he dedicated his entire energies
| to caring for the ArapohOe and Cheyenne In
| dams, and in the endeaYor to develop in their
| minds some desire for usefulness and some faint
perception of moral law. But he might as well
| have tried to make the north fork Of the Cana
| dian, which was his reservation, flow up stream
While am writing, $50 lodges Of the Arapahoes
| are engaged making medicine to secure a sue
| cessful buffalo hunt, and the immortality pra:-
| tsed at this festival puts the Saturnalia of the
| ancients TO shame. These stubborn truths
/ proved too much for Agent Darlington's enthu-
| siaSm, and few months before his death he
| confessed to one or two OF his most intimate
friends that his belief in the success of the pres
ent peace policy was seriously impaired. His
| place has been filed by Agent Miles, young
| man from Indiana, who has Just brought his
| wife and interesting family to this moral Col
| gotba, or place of skulls, confident in the hope
| of eleyating the Indian.
| | write these letters on the porch at the agency
| building, TO enjoy the benefit of TIE southern
| breeze. Some wagons will leave here for Wlch-
| ita, Kan, in few days, and in one of these |
shall tahe my departure for home. There is
deep well at no great DISTANCE from the house.
and occasionally an Indian buck will come to
draw water. 1t is amusing 10 see these prOmis-
| Ing red brothers. They will wait half an hour
| for some woman or child to come on a similar
| GRAND, and then they will beg of such person
| to draw water for them. Useful work is degrad-
| ing, and sullies their native dignity.
| constant occupant of our tent on the coun
| ell ground was Big Cow, an Arapahoe chief
| He stood six feet six inches, and weighed 1875
| pounds. His shiftlessness and vagrancy have
| passed into proyerb, and he would carry the
| medal in any lazy-nan's club thar ever aas
| started. heavy thunder shower fell one night,
| and drowned him out of the place here he was
| sleeping. He gathered up his immense bulk,
| and snugly enscOnced himself between the beds
occupied by the assistant superintendent and
| your reporter. During breakfast he slept
| soundly. and when the meal was over, one of
the cooks threw him piece of bread baked in
| the ashes. The ArapahQe seized the bread aud
ate it, and then rolled over and slept till dinner
| time.
This "big Injun," this .fdDs Achdtes flor he is
| warm in his attachment 10 the white racel,
| made the engine room OF the saw mill his LOAF
| ing place last winter, The engineer suggested
| TO Big Cow TO work for him as the white men
/ did, and he would pay him $50 month and
rations. Big Cow, il seems, is not affected by
| the prevailing aboriginal notion Of the degra-
| daton of labor, and, tempted by the offer of
| such liberal pay, he presented himself for work
| the next morning. lie was set to carrying
boards as fast as the saws ripped them, and lay
| ing them in piles. He worked steadily for the
| first day, but the next day refused to leave his
| bed. The unusual eXertion had so fatgucd his
| muapular efat bo ln una all