River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-05-28
10 THE POOR INDIAN.
Stories That Give an Insight into the Char
acter of the Red Man


The Indian is progressing. He is
fast becoming civilized. An Indian
shot and killed his squaw lats week.
and then blew his own brains out. He
did it within two miles of Fort Assam
boine. The Indian was known as
Bull.
1t is remarkable, writes Miles City,
Montana, correspondent of The Aeto
York Sun, what fascination the name
of Bull has for Indians. They use it
with every qualification Sitting,
Standing, and Running. The Indian
Bulls are proportionately as numerous
as the white Smiths. This particular
Bull, who does not seem to have been
provided with the usual descriptive
adjective, but to have been plain Bull,
was on his way to the fort, accompan-
led by his squaw. When near the fort
he drove her into the brush and shot
her dead. 1t is believed that the squaw
had some money which she declined to
turn over to the brave; hence the sud-
den and bloody act. After the murder
Bull went toward the fort. At hun
ter's camp near by he told an Indian
boy what he had done. Afterward he
started back toward the place where
the body of the murdered squaw lay.
A white scout in the employ of the
government happened to be in the
neIghborhood looking for some stray
horses. Bull, seeing him, supposed he
was coming to arrest him. He sat
down, put the muzzle of the gun to
his forehead. and blew his brains out.
Suicide is rare among the red men,
but | have known several instances
within the past eight or nine years.
A young squaw shot herself in the
heart in 1877, when she was held, with
her mother and other squaws, in tenn
porary captivity at Fort Keogh as a
hostage for the performance of GER
tain agreements by White Bulls band
of Cheyennes, to which she belonged.
She was one of the captives taken on
the eve of the fight at Wolf mountain,
Wyoming. A chief was deeply enam-
ored of her, and the first offers of this
band of Chevennes to surrender were
due, in some measure, to this tender
sentiment, and not wholly to the In
dian reyerses at Wolf mountain. Al
ter the Tongue river expedition had
returned to Fort Keogh and the cap
tives were safely lodged under guard.
truee-bearers were sent in by the tribe
to negotiate for the return of the cap
tives. Negotiations were reopened
for the surrender OF the Cheyennes. A
large party, headed by White Bull,
who was enwrapped in an old calico
American flag, was allowed to come
into the cantonment to have talk
They were also allowed to see and
talk with the captives. After the first
days council it was seen that the
Cheyennes were playing a diplomatic
game. The Cheyennes were allowed
to return to report to the rest of their
tribe still in the field. Their requests
that the squaws be allowed to accom-
pany them were firmly refused. The
warriors who feared a forcible deten-
ton, were much pleased when they
were allowed to return to their tribe.
During the previous night an ominous
stiffness reigned among them. They
were all camped in the center of the
parade ground. They evidently fear
ed treachery or bad faith. Next
morning the scene was changed.
They were feeling good. They sad
died their ponies and packed their
mules. The captives were allowed to
remain with their relatives during
these preDarations. The young squaw,
with face beaming with smiles, was
saddling her pony, and the young
buck, her iiance, was not far away.
She expected to 90 with the party, but
she was detained, with the other cap
tive squaws, as a hostage for the re-
turn of White Bull and his party in
twenty days. A very distinguished
young warrior, Buffalo Hump, also re-
manned a voluntary hostage. The
party moved out in the usual Indian
fashion, and promised their speedy re-
turn with the rest of their tribe.
The young squaw. when she found
she could not go with the band, was
deeply grieved. She could not be
made to believe that they would ever
return again. The sight of her depart
ing lover and her friends was more
than she could bear. The Indian
male or female-is a creature of i'm
pulse. She drew small pistol, which
She had in some way secreted in her
clothing, and shot herself through the
HCdIl. Az IuS dpPOAhsSd llLnC biiC
Chevnnes returned and surrendered.
Her lover came back with them, but
found his intended squaw dead and
buried on the brink of the Yellow
stone. For several days her mother
and relatives gave expression to their
grief in their usual savage way-gash-
inc their limbs with knives and let
ting their blood stream upon her
grave.
There were also four very determ-
ined suicides of Indians here in 1880
and 1881. The suicides were Chey-
ennes of the north. They had wound
ed a cavalry sergeant detached on sig
nal duty between Deadwood and Fort
Keogh and killed a rancher. They
were captured by detachment from
Fort Keogh, tnrned over to the civil
authorities here. and all four confined
in the same cell They considered
themselves as bad as hanged, and they
decided to save the government the
trouble of strangling them. They
could procure only one rope. The
first hanged himself. The other
three took him down, and the
second had his turn at the rope. He
made no botch OF the job. Then he
was taken down and the third hanged
himself. The third was taken down
by the fourth, and the last was found
hanging and dead by the jailer next
morning.