Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-09-28

Death Of Crazy Horse. the Great Indian
Chief

Death Of Crazy Horse. the Great Indian
Chief.
Crazy Horse, the famous Indian Chief
came to a tragic. death q few days ago
His tribe had enlisted as friendly Indians
to fight the Nez Psrces, in behalf Of thu
United States, but when the time came HI
refused to obey the order. Of General Cool
| to bring his men in. He was arrested b!
some friendly Indians, and brought tt
Camp Robinson, where the commanding
officer ordered his imprisonment. A letter
in the N. Y. ''Sun" says:
| Taking Crazy Horse by the hand. Capt
| Remington led him unreSistingly IRON
the Adjutants Office into the Guard house
followed by Little Big Man, now become
his chiefs worst enemy. The door Of the
prison room was reached in safety, when,
discovering his fate in the barred grating
Ut the high windows, the liberty-lovinR
savage suddenly planted his hands against
the upright casing, and with great force
| thrust himself hack among the guards,
whose cleaning bayonets instantly turned
against him. With great dxxterity he
drew concealed knife from the folds Of
his blanket, and snatched another from thu
belt of Little Big Man. turning with them
upon Capt. Kenningtn, who drew his sword
! and would have run him through but for
another Indian who interposed. Many of
them were dismOunted and were crOwding
around the guard house door, some pro-
testing vehemently against his confne-
ment, while others cody insisted upon
non-interference
Crazy Horse had advanced Nrecklessly
through the presented steel, the soldiers
fearing to fire, and gaining the entrance
he made a leap to gain the open air. But
he was erappled by Little Big Man. This
Indian, as his name implies, Is remarkable
both for his small stature ant great
strength; his double joints would secure
him distinction. as we'll as a co npetence,
full, was held in u wise, until freeing, his
right hand, he was observed to thrust
long, keen blade into the muscular arm of
his antagonist, who, avoiding the full force
of the blow by backward movement, re-
yersed the hands which contained the I'M
gerOuS 'eapOn, and once more grasplng
Crazy Horse as he made second leap for
his freedom, the point accidentally pierced
the quivering groin Of the chief, who sank
in doubled-up posture upon the ground
outside the door.
Instantly every Indian present-and
about fifty had gathered near-was observ
ed to load and cock his carbine and the
silence that enSued was broken only by
the dark figure writhing in agony on the
the gravelled earth, until and old Indian
Crazy Horses father, suddenly leaped from
his pony, and with bow and arrow in one
hand, and cooked revolver in the other,
advanced npOn Capt. Remington, He
was instantly hurled upon his back and
disarmed by the friendly Sioux. Reassur-
ed by this, the officers and guard approach
ed Crazy Horse to convey him to the guard
room, this time for medical attendance ::
but again their movement was arrested by
the click of cooking carbines. What could
they do? No interpreter was present, and
| they did not know friend from foe. In
motioned to the open Adjutant's office
they had just quit as a compromise be-
tween the cOntending parties, and into
this room they were permitted to carry the
PROSTATE chief: Some of them subsequently
desired to convey him to An adjoining viii
lage, but the request Col. Bradley refused
to grant and with the exception of
guard Of enlisted Indians, Touch the Cloud
and Crazy Horse, ST., the crowd dispersed.
Until now 1t had been feared that the
willy chief was only "possuming.,' but
/ "llcu HIS WOuuu llhu UtCA CXdLllUCu anu
dressed, DR.. Macgillycuddy, the assistant
the-Cloud, the old father of the dying chief,
and several officers remained until the end,
which approached slowly and painlessly
under :,ypodermie injections of opium or
morphine. He never rallied, and only once
spoke indlstinctly about bayonets, which,
unfortunately, created the impression in
the minds of the two Indian present that
he had been stabbed with a bayonet. DR..
Macgillycuddy showed them the cross Sec
ton Of a bayonet by thrusting it through
u sheet of paper, and also that of a kninte,
endeavoring to explain the different
wounds the two would cause, but, 1 fear,
with little success. The latter had origi.
nally been a butchers knife, and had been
ground or whetted down to very slender
and pointed blade. that appeared to cores
pond exactly with the wound. This was
50 small rs to be scarcely noticeable. He
bled internally.
AS death approached, the old man relat-
ed his sons deeds of prowess and Of war.
He was his last and only living child.
The old man appea: ed 80 much exhaust
ed by this discourse and his grief that the
Doctor kindly gave him drink of whis-
key, which he seemed to relish amazingly.
He rose and shook hands with all around,
expression of friendship. After a silence
of several minutes, he resumed: "Y GU gave
me to drink, and made my heart glad; but
thinking of my dead son, my heart grows
sad again. Give me another Whiskey
straight"
AT about In the morning, Crazy
Horses mother, withered old bag, who
was not yet aware of his death, was chal-
lenged by the outposts and admitted to the
room. Her outbursts of grief, in which
she was joined by her husband, seemed un.
controllable. They tore their gray hair,
and shrieked so as to alarm the garrison.
Finally they became quieter, and settledin
! a grooming manner on their knees, bend
ing over and caressing the PROSTATE and
llfeless form, both chanting, in an indes-
cribably weird manner, the now famous
Sioux death song. The deep cultural OF
the one blended wildly xith the shrill
treble of the other, and both were cracked
| by age. No one who witnessed or heard
| the old couple in their savage devotion can
forgot the sad scene, or the strangely i'm
pressive and mournfuldirge. Touch-the-
Cloud several times grunted, "Washte!"
| Good ~ And once, pointing to the corpse,
he said: ''That is only the tips (lodge): the
rest has gone to the Great Spirit in the
happy hunting grounds!'
At about the body was conveyed by
them in the post ambulance to the nearest
village, and learn that great excitement
prevailed: especially among the young
bucks. They propose to bury the dead
chief with much ceremony at Spotted Tail.
and many of the people are leaving for
that agency. All day the squaws have
, been mourning for miles around, and to
night number of dances are in progress.
1t is impossible to predict what effect the
death of this disting uished chief and re-
nowned warrior may produce upon the ma
ticn. Last night there we're several false
alarms at Camp Robinson, and the troops
are kept constantly under arms and on the
alert.
Many new years. indeed, you may see,
but happy ones you cannot see without