The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-07-13
THE SAVAGE SIOUX.

THE SAVAGE SlOUA.
The Tartars who Killed Custer-Who
They Are and Where They Came
From.
George Alfred Townsend in the Philadel
phia Times.
The Sioux. who are supposed to have
original, dwelt between Lake Superior
aud HudSous Bay, and became hardy
and strong in that cold, bracing climate
were pushed westward about two hundred
wears ago by branch of the great Al
gonquin family, the Chippeways, who
had the advantage of firearms. We
found them, twenty years ago, occupying
the trans-Mi.sissippi region aid living on
the high plains from Wisconsin to the
Rocky Mountains, covering five times as
much ground as the State OF Pennsylva.
mia, with 1000 lodges, 10000 inmates and
5000 warriors. When Sibey fought
them in 1868 at Stony Lake, he wrote:
"No such concentration of force has ever
been made by the savages OF the Amer.
can continent. The remnant of
the Minnesota band had Joined the Dako
tas of the plains and formed an enormous
camp of 10000 souls
THE SIOUX AS A MAN.
A man can study, in the adaptation o:
the Sioux to his destiny, something re-
Gently Dsrwinian. He used to eat fish,
corn, beans and meal when he lived
Eastward. He padded canoe, shot
only bows and arrows, and went a-foot
Driven to the plains within the past CEN
fury, he now eats game, reptiles. elk meat,
wolf and bear and no vegetables at all;
he rides wild pony, handles a rifle or u
revolver, adopts tactics, fights infantry
and has become u worse demon than ever.
In reality, the Sioux is the only great
Indian since the decay OF the lroquois.
He has more natural intelligence than
any wild nation we know of, but it Is
branded with wickedness. If he ever
had any moral nature it is extinct, He
is "a humorist and n trifer, yet tiend. He
combines the natures OF the ape, the wolf
and the hyena, and laughs and sssassl-
mates. prowls and is good-natured, eats
carrion and braves soldiery. His life is II
monstrous foxiness. A bsll-player and
licentious, he loves murder rs an employ
ment. When Goethe drew the merry
demon in Mephistopheles he drew the
Sioux raised in development, the scholas-
tic Dakota. No worse creation roams
the earth, in jungle or desert. He has no
affection for his wife, and whips and tor
lures her with an amiable and sweet
ferocity, Hardly ever in earnest, he Will
fight and kill. Though treacherous as
snake, he does not lose his audacity and
cool bravery. With every noble motive
destroyed his whole animality is heroic,
and he teaches his son TO scalp aud be
cruel with kindling raillery that is yet
scarcely affection. He does not respect
and has no institutions, not
even chiefs. Perpetual revolution goes
on in the Dakota Confederacy against
the head men, but the Daketas are al
ways banded together; their nationality
is like Mexican's, paramount, yet its
domestic operation Is treachery and re-
volt. Their property is something to
move with, entirely ponies, of which each
man has half dozen or more. Their
ponies are transportation, currency, capi-
tai, independence, the price OF matrimo-
ny, the gift of chivalry, their cradle and
their grave. When agreat Sioux dies he
kills his horses. He buys wives with
horses. He and the wild horse, under the
wonderful prescience Of God, meet in
equal rugged depravity, the one original.
ing in the tropics, the other IN the boreal
zone, and their union is the Centaur, the
winged murderer. the mounted Cain.
THE SIOUX CoNsTITUTIoNALLY
The look at Sioux is horse-headed
man, with long acquiline nose, a short,
square chin, large lips, face broad across
the cheeks, low, compact forehead, eyes
full of the humor of ferocity, and fine,
large body of great muscular develop
ment and length in every limb He has
more individuality than any Indian of
the country, and equal understanding
with any. Whoever has seen Red Cloud
and Spotted Tail, with their associates,
has not failed to mark their sententious
speech, the quick apprehension and tlcxi-
hility of some parts OF their countenances,
their apparent versatility and love of fun,
and vet their want OF stability and prin
,iple. They have no humility nor bash.
iulncss, are rapscious and yet sElitiess,
and they belong TO the same kind at DEM
,cracy Ms our gsm.ns or rowdles, lighting
Zach other and making common cause
against the police and the law. They are
lesthens even among Indians, for they
!u no believe in one Great Spirit. They
ere polytheists. and hold that the stronger
gods eXterminste the inf. rior. The chief
god Of all they represent AS an OK; the
made the earth, the worms peo-
ped II. and these worms grew up Ia be
Sioux. When they lind the bones Of the
they think them the remains of
} tntay hec, or the oN-goi Heynks, an
,ih,r Sioux god, Is paradox who laughs
\ hen in grief, lies when truthiuily NOV
ii, and goes Rsked IN winter and warmly
lad in summer. This character they de-
,uc- from their own, They are handles.
,,ulidcnce men, fs;terccs and haters of
property rights Ii lhey want pony
rom a man who bsS two and ca"uot beg
II steal it, they stab one. They have
like the ASsInihoines and
)sqges, and complex md a.'xib!" verb.
rhc Only organization they Key ups
uniting regulations rs !" the division OF
IN animal run down by serer1l hunters,
.snd they value only 10 rosm over.
they are polygamists.
Governor Hendricks on kesumP-
sion.