The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1878-11-30
10! THE POOR INDIAN,
WIZ HE TAKES UP ARMS AGAINST
THE GOVERNATENT

W ~~~ ~AA< A"AASc Nk [f1GM AGdxHbI
THE GOVERNMENT.
aoyt Before Ghe Baptist Ministers.
Religious Rascals as Indian Agents.
lH'om the NeU YoM HeraM.l
During the past summer the Rev.
Wayland Hoyt, D. D., of strong
Place Baptist church, Brooklyn,
took his vacation with General Miles
in the Indian country. He was
absent so long among the hostiles
that some Of his friends hero feared
Tor his safety. He, however, re-
turned safe and sound, full of en- ,
thusiasm for the aborigines and con-
demnation for the government and
the agents, who break faith and rob
them numerically. He gave the
results of his intercourse with the
rad mon in u very interesting ad-
dress Of over an hour long yesterday
to his ministerial b:eSlren in thcir
conference. He began by saying
that thsre are 3oJ,00) Inlians on
Western reservation, ani tnen de :
scribei somewhat in d st lii their re-
ligious, soci.l, tribal anl personal
peculiarities. Tleir religious be-
Iiefs or superstitions very lurgely
control their conduct in war. They
believe that if thoy die in daylight
they will be forever in the happy
hunting ground; if in the nj ,oulighs,
they expect to bo foleve,' in such
light, but if they die in the darkness
they remain forevermore in that
condition. Hence, DR.. Hoyt says,
Indians will never surprise camp
either of wEite men or of hostile
Indians in the night time.
CAUSES OK INDIAN WARS.
The causes of Indian wars are,
according to DR.. Hoyt, threefold.
First, the non -fulfillment of treaties
by our government. Nothing could
be worse, he thinks, than our treat
ment of those savage tribes. For
instance, the government tells q
tribe that they shall have q certain
tract of country and be protected in
the peaceable possession of it: But
after they have removed thither a
band of miners go out prospecting
for gold. If they succeed q little
town soon springs up. If it be in
The Indians territory feuds and re-
prisals and war soon follow for, as
DR.. Hoyt stated, the Indians trail
does not frighten away game, but
the white mans does. The white
men build wagon roads in every di-
rection and game is shy of all such
trails. The he;Doctor described how tho
Nez Perces Indian war originated.
The tribe was more than half civi.
1'zed. They were largely herdors
and many of them we're wealthy.
One man who was captured was
worth 100000. The government,
having given them the country, de-
manded their removal. They re-
fused and took the warpath instead.
And DR.. Hoyt believed no white man
except coward would have acted
differently. He believed they were
justified in their resistance. And.
II you look at the moral right of it,
the Indians were in the right.
RELIGIOUS RoaURs.
A second cause of war is the
frauds of agents. The agent gets q
salary Of $1,000 or $4,000 a year,
and he holds his position by very
precarious tenure. But through bis
hands pass $4,000 or 100000 an
nually. Do you wonder then, asked
the Doctor of his audience, that
only from FIVE to twenty five per
cent. of this money gets to the In
dians. And it is oftener five than
twenty-five per cent The majority
of those agents are villains who,
under the cloak of religion, secure
agencies that they may steal and
enrich themselves before they are
removed. General Miles has seen.
Indians roofing around agencies to
gather up refuse enough to keep
them from starving. The honest
agents are few. The Bannock
Indian war was brought on, the