The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1875-09-24
THE BLACK HILLS.
The Grand Council to Negotiate for
Their Purchase-HOw the Indian Ring
Has Been Magnifying the Red Skins
Ideas OF Remuneration - They Now
Want Over a Hundred Millions for Their

Has Been Magnifying the Red Skins
Ideas OF Remuneration They Now
Want Over Hundred Millions for Their
Title.
[Cheyenne Correspondence of the Chicago Tribune. =.
The Sioux Indian Commission arrived
here, and will leave by special convey
ance tomorrow for Red Cloud Agency,
where the council will be held with the
dusky dead-beats now fattening upon
the bounty of the government. There
will be nearly 5000 of them present in
person, all of whom will be fed to gorge
during the pendency of the negotiations.
The work of the Commission promises
to be far more difficult than was first
supposed, from several reasons. The
! Indian ring has been discovered figuring
extensively i'll the matter among the In
dams, and the object is very plain. The
first reports from the Indians were to
the effect that but small price would
be asked for the ceding of the Black
Hills and Big Horn country, but that
tune has been changed since the agents
and understrappers of the ring have gone
through the tribes. Now, not less than
seven millions will be asked as bonus,
and to which an attempt will be made to
add the additional tax of full suit of
and child-yearly, and sustenance for
the same, for the period of fifty years.
This is certainly " cheeky" even for
the Indian Ring; but will make its de-
mand through the ones from whom it
steals and fattens with a vigor that is APP
palling to honest men and taxpayers
throughout the country. Notwithstand-
ing that certain great efforts have been
made to put an end to the wrong-doing
that has been going on at the various
posts, the same old work of addition,
division, and silence" moves right along
as of yore, and pockets that once were
as lean as the tabled kline now puff out
with the fatness of wealth, stolen in the
process of humanizing and civilizing the
Indian, whose untutored mind takes
only kindly to that which is closely akin
to the devilish. The ring-paid scIib-
blers and papers will slosh on the usual
amount of whitewash, but facts that l
have gathered on this matter will make
some good people rub the dust of blind
faith from their eyes, and quietly use ex-
pressive adjectives.
What have above given is the news
that comes TO me direct from several
agencies, and the laundering professions
of reform of these abuses are considered
by all not in the employ of the powerful
ring as entirely "too thin" to be
preached. The object, then, that the
ring has in prevailing upon the redskins
to hold ont for an enormous price is ap
parent The more annuities and goods
granted that it handles, the better for it;
and the longer the time agreed to, just
so much longer can the stealing silently
proceed. To aid in this matter, every
f" Indian man is heard constantly pratt
ing about the untold richness of the
mines-duplicating the reports of Prof.
Jenney three or four fold-all this TO get
up a breeze near the Commission that |
shall have its proper influence, and that !
in favor of n fat and flowing stream of
r1ch annuities. A treaty of the kind !
above named would foot up enormously,
estimated at present rates, and in the |
aggregate be not less than one hundred !
and ten millions!
No wonder that about all the interpre-
ters of the Sioux find it convenient Just |
now to go up to the Agency, ostensibly |
to see the grand pow-wow, but known i'll
private as workers among the easily |
preiudiced scalp-ifters for the Big Bo-
nanza treaty. How well the effort will |
succeed remains TO he seen; but | am of |
the opinion that the trouble with the |
hungry cormorants will be serious. They |
will strike a snag in the Commission of |
such dimensions that will either cause |
the adoption of n treaty fair alike for the |
people and the paupers, or defeat any |
of the character named as
particularly settled by the ring and, per.
haps, by the obstinacy of the Indians, a !
failure entirely.
There is danger of failure in MAX
ing u treaty, and, should that hap |
pen, troublesome times will be upon |
the country north of this. With many
among the tribes circulating all kinds of |
fabulous stories concerning the gold i'll
the Hills, and the elevation Of the ideas
of the Indian TO ring-mark, n disap. |
pointment would lead to fighting. Gen. !
Crook is of the opinion that the Sioux
desire Just that sort of ~ performance
and, furthermore, that good sound
drubbing is the only thing that will
make the insolent fellows keep their
proper station. In the spring not less
than 10000 miners will go into the Hills,
whether treaty is made or not, and the
efforts of the handful of troops now
scattered through that section would
prove entirely abortive in keeping them
out. Then it would be "nip and tuck"
between Che miners and the savages, and
the miners would hold their own, and
the Hills too.