The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-01-07
The White Indians.

An intelligent Indian recently, in re-
porting the marriage of an Indian oc-
toroon to white man. said: ''If this
process goes on, we will soon have the
whitest race OF Indians you ever did
scc." The accomplished daughter of
the old missionary, Dr. Robertson,
married full-blooded Creek. Her
sister has secured money at the East to
establish q seminary among the full
boods, and it has been 4 question
where the seminary could be located
to meet the object aimed at. Parties
stepping from the train at Vintia,
within the Cherokee nation, the only
railroad crossing in the Indian Terri
tory. commonly ask, "wherc are the
1ndiansP" On being told that those
they see about them are Indians, they
reply, mo. They arc not Indians;
these are white men.
By marrying an Indian maiden, the
white man secures all the rights of In
dian citizenship. The "headright" of
the girl helps the matrimonial con-
tract. 10 hunters for land, those look
ing for wide ranges for cattle or agri-
culture, the temptation is very strong
to take this short cut 10 get an extent
of soil they could never hope to secure
in any other way.
The encouragement given to the
whites on the part of manageable In
dian females is quite observable. They
think that by marrying white men they
gain socially, and have prospect for
an easier and bctter-cared-for life. And
| they think rightly. In all depressed
civilizations. women have hard time
of it. The Indian men do not like this
constant raiding through their land
and capturing the most attractive of
their race. whom they would WOO and
wed, but they cannot hell themselves,
and rctaliate by stealing the affections
of white girls and marrying them.
White girls entering an Indian reser-
walton arc very soon picked up; not so
often by fulI-b!ooded Indians, but af-
ter the process Of intcrnarriage has
commenced, not so seldom by half
| breeds, quadroons and octoroons.
White persons who marry into In
dian blood almost invariably remain
| on Indian soil. Tho white man, in de-
| tense of Indian ideas Of communal in
terests and indian questions, rs related
to the whites, becomes more intensely
Indian than the Indians themselves. |
think the iiercest defenders of the
tribal system are white men who by
marriage have become Indian citizens
and are making money out OF it. The
large crops on Indian lands are invar-
iabiy raised by white men. Four
ftlhs of the mechanics are white men,
brothcls-in-law TO tho Indians. So
on both sides the process of dilution OF
Indian blood goes on until it becomes
very thin, while Indian habits and In
dian characteristics still remain,
The common notion among Indians
is that Indian blood never runs out,
and that wherever the slightest trace
of it can be found, there the fulles,
rights of land and privilege follow.
For man who has onc-siXtecnth OF
ouc-thirty-second part of Indian blood,
the claim for his right as an Indian is
asserted as strongly as for the full
blood. A white man has married an
Indian girl, q light blonde, Of one.
thirty Indian blood. His chill.
dren will be one-sixty-f fourth Indian.
The family consists of five members.
On account of that one-thirty -secon d
Indian blood, that family of five. To-
Gated on the border of the India Il
land, is entitled, by equal division Of
the tribal land, to five times 995 acres
or 4, 975 acres. -MlWa1kee Sentinel.