, 1872-12-19

7 TRIBUNE: THURSDAY
an Indian Agent, and Baptist missionary. The
fact Of the society leaked out, it is said, from
the discovery that every member Of it wore a
pin under his hunting shirt, which he could
anow to fellow-mem6er as the proof Of frar
ternity. It is charged, and believed, that the
Pins were in the habit Of meeting together and
appointing obnoxious persons to be killed, and
bal1oting for tho assassin. ThiB society was
Cherokee Nation.
THE CHEROKEE LANGUAGE AND PRESS.
' N1r. Boudinot, you made some reference to
the fact TINT your brother edited the only news
paper in tie Indian country. How is that
Answer: "The paper is called the Cherokse
Advocate, and it crcu1ates probably 1000 copies.
Ny brother is named William Penn Boudinot,
for that is favorite prenomen amongst the In
dams all through the Territory. Tho type is
made in Philadelphia, and my brother is proba-
bly, as able man az the Cherokees have pro-
duced. The characters are Cherokee, and are
78 in number. They were invented BY an
extraordinary genius BY the name ct George
Guess, or Sequoyah. He was man without cnl-
ture, who ono day saw person in Georgia writ
ing letter, and he asked what the man Was do
ing. They told him that the man was talking on
paper; and that tho Great Father at Washing
tou CttJ coWu take Enat paper hHu uteIpIet IL.
Guess said that he did not seq why an Indian
should not talk on paper as well as a white man,
and he shut himself up in his wigwam for about
two weeks, and everybody thought he WAS crazy,
while al the time he YVES inyenting Cher
okee alphabet. They we're syllable characters as
learned, and there ia scarcely 8 grown Cherokee
who does not read the system. The delegates
who come to Washington every winter. write
home what is passing, 80 that onr people are
froy,t f1- gx,F,u Cr1A6 r. ~,
Ventor Of our symbols, grew frightened at the
effect OF his own invention he saw everybody
reading and tho old savage habits broken up,
which he had not designed, for he VAS not
phllanthropist, but merely man with q pro-
digious faculty Of invention. It is tradition, 7
believe, that he wandered off to Mexico and
died, but his widow received 3 pension from the
Cherokees.
BoUDMoT's GRIEVANCE.
:" You are the gentleman, Mr.. Boudinot whose
tobacco factory WAS broken up by The Internal
Revenue officers z"
eyes, sir. lost almost everything had in
the world the Supervisor Of Revenue reported
me- to Washington I had previously made in
Indian country, and was told on all sides that
the Revenue laws did not reach that morgan
lied region. After they broke me up. took the
case to the Supreme Court, AID hnd it argued
there, but the Court decided against me. The
factory had melted the Indians to raise tobacco,
and greatly cheapenedi it as an article Of con-
sumption to them"
- AN INDUSTRIOUS PAnESTAoE.
care you the aon Of the celebrated Cherokee
orator, Elias Boudinot."
able inauence,-one Of the leading Cherokees.
He had no name originally for all the names
We get in savage state are applied for some
little resemblance, real or apparent. NY father
and bis cousin, John Ridge, son Of old Major
Ridge, were sent by the missionaries to school
at Cornwall, Conn. The celebrated Elias Boudi-
NOT, OF New Jersey, saw my father at the
school, and became attached to him,
That is why my name is Boudinot. Both John
Ridge and Elias Boudinot married Yankee girls
at Cornwall. Ridge married Miss Northrop,
and my father married a daughter OF Benjamin
Gould. our family CONNECTION n1st n;s Waa strong
man Of great vigor and influence; and my faith
er's brother, Stand Watie,-who was afterwards.
= Brigadier General in the Confederate army
vas one Of tho boldest men over known among
from school to Georgia, and started
tbore, .'"e called the cherosee PkGnir'
at the Town OF Neweclota, in about 1898 or 30.
Ross had become tho Chief of the tribe. The
Ridges and Rondinots, in courae Of time, made
formidable party amongst the Cherokees, and
got the Jealousy Of John Ross and his party"
THE GREAT EEUD.
s'As this is q new matter to mo and to tie
public at large, wish you would tell me- how
the waz between the Ridges and the Rosses
broke out?''
"About 1884 OF 's5, great troubles broke out
between the Cherokees md the white people Of
Georgia. The United States Government
made two or three efforts to interpose,
by the Courts and the military authority,
but it was powerless to accomplish
anything. AL the land and property Of the
1,n. f4A+
one time. The people were loath to leaTe, for
they loved the country; but the coolheaded
men saW that it was necessary and inevitable.
Elias Boudinot and Major Ridge urged John
advantageous treaty for the sale Of our lands.
Ross demanded the sum OF $20, 900, 900, which it
was plain he could not get. As Ross dallied
about it, and hostiities we're breaking out be-
tween our people and tho Georgiang.. Major
Ridge and my father took the responsibility Of
making the treaty, and they received for the
Cherokees S5 000 900 for theirlands and property
John Ross got the contract to remove the Ma
ton, and, instead OF enforcing the terms Of the
treaty,-which wero $4,000, 600, expenses of
transportation, and the full cost OF Subsistence
for one year,-both transportation and subsis-
tence we're substracted from the five millions,
and John Ross made at least half . million by
removing the people. They went in all sorts Of
steamers; and . good deal Of inevitable suffer-
ing happened az they proceeded. Ross was o
man OF remarkable ability and influence, and he
threw upon Major Ridge, Doudinot, and our
party, ali tho responsibility for this suffering.
We we're charged with having sold out to the
Georgians, and the deepest luminosity existed"
THE MURDERS uNFpRqoTTEN.
"This led to the murder Of your father, be-
Ieve, Mr. Boudinot?"
"Yes, sir; it led to series Of murders, and
civil war which, for many years, tore Ut. the
Cherokee Nation; and the discord produced by
it continues to this day. The chief victims wero
Major Ridge; his son, John Ridge; and my
father, Elias Boudinot. ALI these we're MUIR
dered, at different plnces, on the same day, tho
22d OF June, 1889.
MURDER OF JOHN RIDGE.
"John Ridge was sleeping BY the side Of his
wife, when. before daylight, the door OF his
cabin was burst open, and q number Of men
rushed in, dragged him from his cot to the door,
and stabbed hum tTenty-nine times. He vas
aged 36 and his home vas at Honey Creek, near
the corner Of the State Of Missouri.
MURDER OF MAJOR RIDGE.
=" About 10 o'clock on that day, old Major