Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1885-09-26
INDIAN HORSE THIEVES.
Serious Phase OF the Indian Question.

A Billings, Montana, special tele-
gram, Sept. Ii, says: One phase of
the Indian question is fast becoming
very troublesome in Montana. Last
Thursday night some Piegans made
a raid upon Bobtail, a Crow Indian
camped near the Yellowstone, on the
reservation side, and stole four of his
best ponies. Bob being too much
afraid to make any resistance, they
got away with the ponies without
much trouble. The next day a lot Of
the same tribe, in broad daylight, sur
rounded and proceeded to drive away
a band of horses belonging to Sud
duth & Frat, whose ranch is near
Lavina, on the Musselshell, about
fifty miles north of here. Two men
from the ranch were just going quito
the band to bring in some horses for
shoeing, and came upon the Piegans
just as they had the band surrounded,
but the Indians were too many for
the whites, and drove them off and
started away with the horses. The
two men went back to camp, and all
hands turned out and pursued and
followed them 50 closely that the In
dians dropped out all but four. These
they got away with. A few miles
north the Indians came across a band
Of horses belonging to a Mr.. Wilcox,
and stole several of them. Last Sun
day they drove away ten head of
mares and colts from the ranch Of
the Dilworth Cattle company, which
is located near Clark's Fork, some
four or five miles from the Wyoming
line, and about sixty-fve miles south
Of this place. They started away
with the whole herd, but left the
poorest as they went until they had
dropped all but ten head. The same
party stole a lot from Nh. Dilworth
about a year ago, and he was put to
several hundred dollars expense in
hunting them, and finally found part
OF them on the Piegan reservation,
worn out, broken down, and practic-
ally valueless. Now to have the S d
thing repeated is a pretty serious loss,
to say the least. What makes it the
more serious to all these parties is the
fact that the fall roundup is just
commencing, and roundup cannot
be conducted without horses.
This is a serious phase of the In
dian question that demands immedi-
ate attention. So long as the country
was filled with game the Indians could
live on the products Of the chase, sup
plemented by the supplies of the gov
ernment, but now the country is be
coming settled and the game is no
longer to be found except in the fast
nesses Of the mountains. The buffa-
loes L practically extinct, and the
Indian is no longer able to procure
honestly anything for his subsistence,
except what is doled out to him at the
agency, and he must be content to
live a miserable, half-starved tramp,
or substitute the white mans cattle
and horses for the game he used to
depend upon. The reservations are
no longer Of any use to these wild
tribes, as they do not and a not use
them in any manner. It is the opin-
ion here that the time has come when
they should be forced to give up their
wandering, unsettled mode of life,
and be put upon a tract of land Of
suitable extent for their accommoda-
ton, and should be trained to call
that their home, and be shown how to
adopt the white mans method Of life.
The immense reservations should be
sold for their benefit, and the pro-
ceeds used to c%ivilize them. By. this
means the country would soon be set
tied up with people who would be
able to care for themselves, and this
horse-stealing and cow-killing would
be stopped.
TTJE nT,D n Jn0nv