Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1872-07-12
FIVE YEARS A sQUAW.
Kew the &sHnance WAS Fake n
Gu: OF = Yankee Sch0eF-
RsaEns.

Gu: OF = Yankee Sch0eE-
EsaTn5,
The steamer Fort n lie arrived al
This city yesterday morning, after
! three months trip to Fort Benton and
! the mountains. Among her miscellG-
ncous cargo of robes, furs, peltries and
I Nebraska corn was female named
| Miss Amanda Barber, nee Squatting
| Bear, who, in a Sit of fanatical ro-
nance, offered herself in 1867 as a vol
/ untaTy missionary TO the Brule Sioux,
4 then occupying the territory betweeD
I the Cheyenne river and The Big Horn
1 Mountains, Dakotah Territory.
I Miss Barber created quite a scnsa-
! ton in the Eastern States 10y her mar
riage with young Indian named
Squatting Bear, who accompanied a
party of Sioux to Washington in 1867
Miss Barber was at tina me clerk in
one OF the Departments at Washing
I ton, in a position secured for her hy
Gen. Butler, before the impeachment
iiascO. According 10 her own state
mcnt, made yesterday to our reporter,
sue was firmly impressed with the
/ ideaiity and perfection of the red mem
/ ofthe plains. She had read every
| thing relating TO the Indian tribes,
| from the reports Of the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs dcwn to the latest
dime novel. In fit of enthusiasm
of temporary insanity, she offered her
self to and became the wife of Squat
ting Bear, junior chief in the Lone
Horn band of BFulc Sioux, and with
him and his party returned to the
YaHktOn agency, where she was duly
initiated into her new life as white
squaw. Her romantic ideas Of Indian
life seem to have received q terrible
shock since her Introduction to her
new home and relations, and though
she underworld 10 fulfill her mission as
a teacher and missionary To the best
of her ability, her progress appears to
have been rs slow as the progress. of
civilization on the plains. She states
that her first great surprise was being
required to mount upon a wild, Vi
ciOus pony, and travel without saddle
or attention over the country from the
Missouri to the White Earth river,
distance of several bundled miles
Her inability 10 make the journey
provoked miTth among her husbands
companions and finally CXaspeTated
Sguatting Bear until he bound her witt
a rope to the pony's back and led the
animal himself, on the westward trail
She was stillm surprised to find her
husband possessed of two other wives,
one vicious, dirty squaw of forty
years of age, the other Il girl of scarce
~ fourteen years. Her life IN his
wigwam, or tccpcC, was not as bright
and happy as she expected it would
be. Her husbands absence was taken
advantage Of by her rivals to compel
her to perform tie vilest drudgery,
such as gathering wood, cooking
meat, and scrlping robes for the tan
ming process, but during Squat;iug
Bears presence at home Miss Barber
appears to have been better treated
Her husband, in a violent fit of las
sion, killed his oldest squaw during
the first year she was with the tribe, |
when without warming or notice she |
was hurried off to the main camp of |
the Rules three days journey towards |
the mountain, and from thence she |
accompanied the tribe on lis annual |
buffalo hunt, where she became sick !
from exposure and fatigue. She was |
left at n temporary drying camp at |
RaWhide river, where she attempted to |
escape by walking to Fort Fetterman, |
a distance of sixty miles. For this at |
tempt she was beaten until nearly dead |
and then sold by her husband for three T.
ponies to a Cheyenne chief, who spOr- !
ted the expressive sOhriquet of Coo |
Goose, or BacOnsidcs. She was taken |
North in 1870, and has remained with |
the Cheyennes ever since, until her
escape this spring, when she made Der
at and claimed Tie pTOtec-
ton of the authorities at Fort Benton.
Miss BARRIERS experience would 30
doubt make story more thrilling han
that of the ESCAPED Num- She is a
woman rather plain in appearance,
skin tawuy and black, eyes small,
dark and expressive, voice rather mas
in fact, just such a women
as Mrs. Colonel Anthony or Tennie
Claim would choose for Il second in /
Miss Barber converscd
with our reporter without the least
and answered any question
asked of her. She SAYS that, so far as
the romance of Indian life is concerns
ell, she found none of it. Her efforts
TO teach and reform the young Indian
children were treated with iudifler-
ence and contempt. She learned /
the Sioux language easily, but the
Cheyenne dialect was harder to ac
quire. She has a much higher opin-
ion of the ChCyenncs than of the Sioux.
The latter tribe, she says, are TO blame
for nearly all thieving and numbering
done in the white settlements. She
found it necessary 10 paint and color
like the rest of the triOe while she was
with them, and twice witnessed the
or execution Of white men,
once a soldier belonging to the Thir-
ty-second United States Infantry,
who had been taken while out hunt
ing, who was burnt and scalped; the
others were two teamsters, brought
from Fort Mcpherson. All three were
burnt at n place called "Saddler'S
Hill" in the Nebraska bad Lands"
Miss Barber has poor opinion of
Grants Quaker policy, which he says
is perfect farce, and is so regarded
by the Indians. She asserts that
there will be no peace while men in
trude into the buffalo range or tempt
The cupidity of the Indians by brings
ing stock and valuables out into expos
I'd frontier settlements. The Indians
have the greatest contempt for the
white mans's judgment and the effica-
oy Of the soldiers. :
Miss Barber left the steamer Fon- !
.enelle at this port, and after few
hours rest started on her way to the
home other friends at Milford, Mas
achUsetts.-hdaS0s CITY Times.