The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-11-18
INDIAN CURIOSiTIES.
Weapons. Which Are Manufactred
Merely to Sell to the Whites.
Paul (Minn.) Day.

A few leisure moments of a repre-
sentative of the day were improved
this forenoon in looking over the ar
ray Of Indian articles of warfare
toilet, luxury and general utility, ex
hibIted for sale in the show-window
of a popular business house in St
Paul. There were war-clubs, toma
hawks. bows and arrows, necklaces OF
elk's teeth and tears' claws, stone
pipes ard mOccasins of every descrip
ton, so arranged as to attract the at
tention Of the relic hunter.
"Where do you get those things p
inquired the day representative.
"Well," said the merchant, eve
get them from Indians, trappers,
post traders, and sometimes from
amateur travellers and adventures
who have started out on small means
and after ca hing St. Paul on their
way home from the west find it
necessary TO sell their relics in order,
sometimes, to obtain a meal. 1t is as
tonishing how many people 60 west,
thinking they will make a specula-
ton in procuring Indian toys and
telling them in st. Paul. These
people usually fnd it hard TO sell their
specimens at any price.
post traders and trappers often
come to ST Paul with specimens,
expecting to relize handsome profits,
but they are generally disappointed. l
remember trapper who came to my
store four or five years ago trying to
sell me rare specimen of Indian
workmanship. He stated that it was
made by one of an extinct tribe, and
the only relic left as a memento of
the race. | learned afterward that
he had tried to sell it to several deal
ers both in St. Paul end Minneapolis,
but had failed. He had started cut
asking the exorbitant sum of $500 for
the specimen, but had knocked off at
each successive store until the price
asked was only SO. / looked at the
man moment and listened to his
story about the rarity of the specimen,
ETC., and then said to him: MY
friend, that's a very pretty story
you're telling, but you see l shan't be
able to make any one swallow it, and
the fact is III have hard work to get
ten cents for the trinket"
"'Well, hang it, said he, give me
a drink of whisky and take the cussed
thing. TITS is the only house in the
Nor west that havn't tried to sell it
to, and I'm broke and dry as a pow
der horn. Take it along, stranger,
and gimme drink and quick, and
call the deal squaI.' l gave the man
a good flask of whisky and a cigar,
aud he wandered off apparently hap
py."
"Well, how much did you get for
the toy?"
"Oh, l happened to be in luck"
said he, with twinkle in his eve.
Gan English Lord came along, and /
told him the story l had learr-
ed from the trapper, and 1 think 1
got about $50 for the specimen"
'Do you sell many of these goods?"
"Yes. q good many; but nearly as
many to Americans as / do to
Europeans. Of course, Eastern peo-
pie buy them; but we have to be very
moderate in our prices in order to
sell to this class. We can get fancy
prices for the goods from Europeans,
and particularly from English and
Scotch people. During the summer
season our sales upon these goods to
Europeans mount up to thousands of
dollars, while the Americans they
scarcely reach into the hundreds"
'Are these goods genuine-that is,
made by Indians for their own user" !
"We!l, no. not all of them. A
large portion is made by the Indians
expressly to sell to white people. |
Such goods would never answer the |
purposes of an Indian"
Here the merchant showed the |
difference between practical toma-
hawk and a poetical one. The
Indians, half breeds and some of the |
frontier whites make many of these |
toys expressly to sell" said the doctor. |
"But then, you see, it's not necessary |
to mention that fact to foreigners. |
The cheats bring about as big price
as the genuine article.