The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-11-04
ABORIGINAL SOCIABLES,
A Sioux. San Dance I'm All Its Untam,
Brutality, and a Ditto Dog supper
n Sensational Plan.

I
and its brutality is such that one onl,
cares to see it once, and would thel
gladly forget its hellish orgies. For sew
eral days the Sioux, Cheyennes, anC
Arapahoes have been making grand ar
engagements for this dance, and yester
day came the finale. For "a hours pre-
vlous a general dance and singing haC
been going on at the camp, FIVE mile.
above here; at times as MANY as 2OC
warriors were in the happy circle, while
three big drums gave out noise enough
to start three or four pandemoniums
with the not very musical voices of ,
large number of squaws thrown in t.
add an additional feature of the horri
bic. The object of the 81 sun dance" i.
to test the courage of the young war
riors to endure physical pain, under the
most trying circumstances, the one en-
during most coming out with the bar
barrie honors. At 10 O'Clock, seventeen
young warriors, stripped entirely naked
save limited breech-clout, came into
the circle and were operated upon
This operation was performed by {
Medicine Man, horribly rugged out. The
tlrst one to come up was a magnificent
looking fellow from the Cheyennes, al
bone and muscle, and in glorious health
The Medicine Man first cut four gashes
about three inches long, on the Shout.
ders, near the point. With a smooth
stick of hard wood he made a hole I'm.
derneath the Sits he had cut, each tax.
ing in an inch or more in width, and
through which hole he passed buffalo
thong, and tied it tightly. Then the
breast was served in the same manner,
after which one thong was fastened to a
fOurteen-foot pole. To the other thong
was tied large beef head-a long-horn-
ed Texan, with about ten feet of thong
between the back and the head. The
young warrior then jumped into a live
ly dance, singing song of some sort in
keeping with the performance, jerk
ing that bull head around so fast that
at times it was four or five feet
above the ground - all the time
pulling as best he could at the thong
fastened to the pole by jumping and
swinging upon it. At times the flesh on
the back and breast seemed to stretch
out about eight or ten inches, and when
let up would close down with a pop.
The ropes in the breast fastenings were
the first to break one breaking at the
top of the cut, the other at the lower
end. The top one hung down full four
inches, and this the Medicine Man cut
of deXterOusly. 1t was put through
an incarnation, when the bloody, sweaty
warrior was put through race of about
forty yards with that bull head hanging
to his back. At one bound the horns
stuck well in the ground, and with a
vigorous pull the thongs broke, and a
warrior was made. He was terrible
looking object, and so nearly exhausted
that he had to be helped away During
the last half of his torture he uttered not
a word, nor did he open his mouth, nor
even vince. His wounds were washed
and bound up, presents made to him of
horses and robes, and he recognized as
a brave man. There were sixteen more
of like nature, save that
no other ones took the double ties on
back and breast. Thirteen were tied
BY the back, the others by the breast.
The fat fellows got away with the bust
ness very quickly, but the lean, lank, !
and more muscular fellows had long
md tough jobs with it. One fellow, |
in frantic effort and falling |
Inder the heels of my horse, resulted in |
peeled head for the Indian as well as |
sore back. | confess that | only re-
named to see two of the victims 90 |
through the ordeal, gaining from my |
companion, a half-breed Interpreter, |
he statistics concerning the fat and lean |
elbows who had enough Indian in them
o stomach the whole of the bloody |
brutality. The warriors who went |
trough the ordeal were all from the
>orth-those who have but little to do
nth the whites, and that little mostly
4 the way of scalps and horse stealing.
he more civilized fellows have learned
etter than to make such COMPOUNDED
Dols of themselves.
On Saturday friendly Indian who
ad conferred the pleasure upon me of
mOking cigars quite generously, invit-
d me to come to his tepee up the
anyon, that night, as he was going to
ave feast, and he desired that Colonel
eauvais and Captain Ashby, of the
reaty Commission, should also come.
word is the name of the entertaining
arty, and the ''invite," while not pre-
'nted on salver, nor even printed or
ritten on tinted paper, was accepted
ltirely for the novelty and not for the
oiled dog. We were bid to come
lrly, and at shutdown were at Swords
lnvaS mansion. A multitude of chill
rem, with double number of dogs,
us in truly aboriginal fashion.
word Immediately designated to his
Iuaw the particular dog that was his
loice for the pot. The same was /,
lught and tied by short rope to
axe, and the female event for' the
y with a club. Striking at the head.
e missed and hit him on the nose. He
ed his objections to that sort of treat
ent, and raised a fearful howl. This
ought out three other squaws with
lbS and dozen dogs, and from that |
it was NIP and tuck" with the dogs f
id squaws in getting punishment in on a
at tied dog. Finally the clubs beat t
e out of it, and it was ready for the f
xt step. 1t was thrown on a quick t
ush fire, which singed off all the hair. i
he squaws scraped it well, took out a
e entrails, cut the carcass to pieces, t
It it in a large camp-kettle, and a
it ga bilin' A" So far there had Il
en- lots of fun for the visitors. In ii
out two hours the dog was pro- f,
unced done, and the feast ready. e
me twenty prominent Indians had t,
en- invited in-and they never 90 back t;
feast. Each one of the visitors O
IS seated on robe between two In II
ms, and each man was furnished with ii
lan. Two Indian soldiers were de- o
led to "dish out" the dog, and am o.
nfident that they did so. To Colonel o.
auvais, who is of st. Louis, was given d.
whole head, which sat in his dish, Or
inning at him ike-well, there is Ie
thing so much on the grin as dogs ii
ld boiled. Possibly your readers to
lnot obtain an adequate idea of such al
light save only in one way-boil tv
g's head, set it in a pan and gaze at in
y the light of pine knot! / posi- to
ely decline to state what your cor st
pondent received in his dish, but
DtaIO Shlu who - f,.o,,,