Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1878-12-21
The Oldest Mas.

Rev. DR.. A. W. Miller, pastor of the
First Presbyterian church al Charlotte,
returned tvo weeks ego. - vas scaled
at the time. fro0 his ten weeks evan
gelistic visit in the mountains Of West
ern North Carolina A student Of nat
ure a. veil - Of books. . gentleman
vho never tires of studying and learn
ing Of all within his reach thaa II quaint,
curious. interesting and valuable, he
could never retura from that wild coun-
try without bringing With him much Of
interest that he had seen and heard ol
during his association With the people
Of that Attractive and remarkable SEC
ton Of the State. One OF the things
which he brings home with him from
this last trip is photograph. and the
photograph has . history and the his.
tory is one OF singular interest. The
picture is that of Chez So uiah Yah, q
Cherokee chief. Who lives in Graham
county, four miles from Robbinsville,
the county seat The creature il oss
hss,irei aud forty years Of age-prob-
ably the oldest human being in the
United States.
DIR. Miller learned OF the people Who
knew him that Chee-SquiAh- Yah is a
cruel old savage who has treasured mp
twenty five scalps. many Of them those
OF whites, woman, children and even
infants. The other Indians say these
are TO be buried with him-according
to Indian doctrine ''the more scalps
the more honor and happiness in the
spirit laad" - but he says that he
twas here always and will never die. "
As he has outlived everybody, 30 he
thinks he will continue to outlive ev-
erybody. The old Indian hatred Of the
white man, which grew up with him,
he still cherishes, and it makes him
averse to having any dealings with the
whites, except to scalp him, which he
would do had lie the power. But, In.
dian-like, he loves money, and the 9TH
er Indians persuade him to sit for his
picture, at the request of the whites,
who paid him for it. The likeness was
taken in Robbinsville, which distin-
guished place comprises court house,
hotel, five dwellings, two stores and q
photograph gallery.
The photograph of the Indian is of
course an ill-taken one, but it conveys
an idea of Chee-Squiah-Yah. It shows
q decrepit specimen of the aborigines;
q creature with gray hair, sheet or
blanket around him, his hands in his
lap, his lower limbs incased in leggins,
his feet half bare, his under lip hang.
ing down. his mouth half open and his
body bent forward. A walking-cane
leans against one leg as he sits in the
chair and there is an unmistakable ex-
preston of villainy and ferocity in the
face, which extends over the entire get
up of the red.man.
We thank DR.. Miller for having in.
troduced us to this child of the forest.
It is interesting to know of him, and
one can not help looking and looking
at the photograph of the ugly wretch.
He may "never die" as he thinks, but
if not all signs will fail; he looks now
as if on his last legs; and while it may
seem that a human being who could
outwit death for q century and two
score years, might still violate custom
and go on living indefinitely, we must
not forget to refer to the case of Hog
Back, another Cherokee, who lived to
see the SHOWS and feel the blasts of one
hundred and fifty years, and died with
the weight OF century and half upon
his shoulders.-Charlotte, IN. C.) Oh
SerCe,',