New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1883-08-08
Indian Fanaticism.

AS showing the character OF the saw
age Apache, the remarkable events fol-
lowing the appearance at Fort Apache,
last summer, of a big medicine-man now
possesses peculiar interest. His name
was Knock-e- ti-klinny. Presenting HIM
self to Gen. Carr, he explained that he
came here at the request of his friends;
that he was doctor and could bring the
dead to life; that they came out of the
ground by degrees; that some chiefs
were already out as far as the knees,
and would soon be alive again, and that
they had told him they would come
when the corn was ripe.
elbow do you communicate with your
dead friends?'' Gen. Carr asked.
s'They take the shape of bear, and
/ see them and talk with them at night
I leave food for them in the empty
lodges. They do not want to come till
the corn is ripe and there is plenty to
cat for all of us. =
He then said he intended to hold
dances near the post and asked that the
Indian soldiers (the scouts) might be
present. Gen. Carr told him that they
might 90 provided there was to be no
whisky on the ground. The medicine
man withdrew and the next night the
first of his dances was held. For the
first few nights the Indians did not take
a great deal of interest in the medicine
mans lamentations, but finally nearly
all came under the spell, and the scenes
then nightly enacted at the dances were
of the most fanatical order. In the
course of Il few weeks the savages seem
ed to grow tired of the ceremonies and
became impatient for results. They
called on the wild-eyed medicine-man
to make good his word and bring TIE
dead to life. The corn was ripe, and
the ears were bursting on the stalk.
Where were the friends? The medicine
man having been cornered, did just what
many white man, similarly placed, has
done. He took q new track. The dead
would not return, he said, so long as the
pale face remained. The whites must
go. Imbued with this religious convic-
ton, the war spirit was aroused. At
this juncture it SO happened that a small
detachment of troops was ordered away
from the fort. The medicine-man point
ed to the big comet and said it was good
medicine. The rest of the whites would
soon follow. Gen Carr, alarmed at the
attitude of the savages, sent for rein
forcements. In the meantime the medi-
cine-man wentto Cibicu, forty five miles
to the southwest. and continued his in
carnations. A detachment of troops,
accompanied by a number Of Indian
soldiers (scouts), was sent out to watch
the redskins. The scouts, who were
Apaches, betrayed the command treach-
erously and the whole body narrowly es-
capped massacre As it was, the officer
in command was killed. Gen. Carr,
hearing of the disloyalty of the In
dian soldiers, made forced march to
the scene of the troubles, and after
short engagement succeeded in captur-
ing the medicine-man, averting the inn
pending massacre and holding the now
thoroughly warlike savages in subjec-
ton. After his arrest, Knock-e-ti-klin-
ny told the scouts whom he had beguiled
that the soldiers could not destroy him.
If they killed him or any of his follow
ers, he and they would return to life on
the third day, even though their enemies
cut their bodies into pieces. This trouble
some son of the forest, having well-nigh
precipitated big Indian war, came to
a violent death few days later at the
hands of a soldier. As he failed to put
in an appearance at the end of three
days, or three weeks, the reds conclud-
ed he was a fraud, and when other
medicine-men undertook to carry on
the resurrection ceremonies it was found
that the tribe had lost interest in the
matter.