The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-01-17
Massacre OF the Fugitive Cheyennes-Is
There To BE No End OF Such Butch-

''Man lnhuman1ty TO man is very OH
story, but the most revolving features Of
military homicide in recent times are ex-
hibited in the dealings of civilized nations
with inferior races. All Christendom was
shocked by narratives of the barbarities
practised by English troops in the
great Sepoy mutiny some twenty years
ago. To ram living men into the mouths
of cannon and shoot them off into space
may have been necessary severity ; but
what shall we say of the want of fore
sight and precaution which permitted
affairs to get into the state which
of inspiring terror? The recent mas
sacre of the fugitive Cheyennes at
Fort Robinson may not have been blamable
under the circumstances, but it was an
objectionable blunder which opened the
way for the existence of such a state of cir
cumstances. Before commenting on these
shocking scenes let us make brief review
OF their history.
The pathetic despatch from Fort Robin
son which we print this morning must
stir the sympathies and melt the hearts OF
the most obdurate and contemptuous enc
mics of the Indian savages. The touching
picture of distress which is spread out
before us in the long, narrow apart
ment of the barracks in which the
wounded captives are confined is fitted to
excite the pity of the hardest and toughest
men whose hearts have not ceased to throb
with any humane impulse. In spite OF
their dusky complexion squaws IRE
none the less women, and the sad
variety Of woe exhibited in that comfortless
room in the Fort Robinson barracks proves
that in all races woman is true to her own
nature and that the varnish of civilization
IS no necessary accompaniment OF feminine
sensibilities. The gray haired old squaw
who lay in the agonies of death pierced
with half dozen bullets would have
been an affecting spectacle. even if she had
lain there alone in the throes of dissolu-
ton. But she served as the dark back
ground of more pathetic scenes. The
younger and orphaned squaws. some Of
them mere children, who displayed the
native gentleness of their sex in trying
the deepest fountains of sympathy in the
hearts of such of their civilized sisters as
may read the description. The sorrow
of the daughter OF the Indian chief, not
without beauty, whom the soldiers have
named the ''Ppincess," is an affecting
part of the picture, but perhaps the
most touching incident of all is
that of the child squaw who had formed a
doll of bloody blanket and was swaying
her little body back and forth, as in an at
tempt to lull this doll to sleep. Such a
scene rivals the most affecting things in
fiction. for fiction never painted the gentler
sensibilities of the female or childish heart
on darker canvas of massacre and horror
When We 90 back of this scene to the ap-
palling history Of the preceding three or
four days we find that the Indian warriors
were as remarkable for intrepidity as
were the squaws for devoted fidelity.
In oil the extant narratives. of what is
called heroism there are no examples OF
more death-deiying courage than was
displayed by these resolute braves in
their desperate attempt to regain their lib
erty. We do not dispute the necessity OF
subduing and controlling them, but the
high elements of character which they
have exhibited make it matter OF
regret that we cannot utilize these
qualities by turning them into a
different channel. While we are affecting
SO much interest in the welfare of the negro
race it is a pity that we cannot do something
for the substantial good of the Indians in
stead OF shooting them down like wild
beasts for manifesting the instincts which
lie ut the foundation Of human liberty.
1t may be that slaughter and determination
are marked out for them by destiny; but,
considering that they are the original pos
SCISSORS OF the soil and that we are intruders
on their long occupation, it would be just
and humane to give this truly heroic
race chance Tor its lite. Had a
band of negroes been thus massacred
in a desperate struggle for liberty
the sky would have been rent with humani-
tartan clamors but the Indians, aside
iron, their claim as the first occupants, are
manlier race than the negroes. We have
uuty W uiSCuuIyc W uotH races,
but as yet the national conscience
has not been awakened respecting the
Indians as it has been toward the
negroes. 1t is time to put an end to these
sickening tales of slaughter which form the
staple of our Indian history, and to SUBJ
stitute q wise, firm, comprehensive, fore
casting and paternal policy for the race
which we are driving out of their original
possessions and are provoking to desperate
resistance by our laundering management.
The late massacre became necessary from
the moment when tho Cheyenne prisoners
attempted to escape, but there was no
necessity for permitting the attempt.
This is not merely the opinion OF
civilians at distance, but the opinion
of General Crook himself, who lays