The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-07-08
"'Maiden Rock?"

lOChs OOSsb lhhI lehSoNo HOA
down the river contains people who
gaze upon the great bluff and think of
Winona. who killed herself for love by
leaping from its crest to the stony base
below. All the pilots tell the story
over and over again Of the tragic end
of the pretty Indian girl.
The old man shook his head slowly.
''I have heard the story" he said
thoughtfuIly, ''bat none of the pale
faces have it right
Show do you know?"
81 was there at the time and do
know"
Then is the tradition not true?"
1.-The brave girl did leap from the
high rock"
"You must be very old"
Better than one hundred summers, )"
he answered, rubbing his thin hand
across his deeply furrowed brow. II
was young brave then, onl y a boy,
but Ihaye forgotten nothing"
You say the whites do not have the
story of the girl correctly preserved. so
will you tell it to ME, that | may know
the truth of the Lover Leap?"
YES" the old Indian said and laid
aside his pipe.
"Winona was the daughter of Da-
kota chief and as bright and lovely as
the fairest flower of the prairie. Many
of the Dakota braves loved the pretty
little squaw and SO did one pale face
trader called Seco, who had trading
post two rifle shots below the bluff.
The trader offered the chief much
money and beads for Winona, and the
chief said the squaw should 60 to the
tepee of SecO and be his. Winona hated
the trader and loved a young Chippewa
brave named Little Coon, and she said
in her heart if she could not 90 in peace
with the Chippewa she would 60 to her
death.
Just at that time the Dakotas and
Chippewas went to war and it was no
longer safe for Little Coon to visit the
home of Winona. He could not stay
away from the pretty sguaw. so he
went down to Pepin lake in a canoe
covered with a tree top and by the
shadows of the night.
"WinOna answered Little CoOn's call
when he cried out like a little duck.
One night she told her lover that the
chief had sold her to the Prairie
Chicken, or Seco, the trader, and that
her father had said on the next night |
she must go to the tepee of the pale
face to be his squaw. She moaned |
pitifully and said she would throw her.
self to death from the high bluff before |
she would 90 to the trader. Little |
Coon asked her to flee with him, but !
she said no, for then both herself and |
lover would be trailed to certain death !
for the Dakota warriors hated the !
braves. They talked long
and laid plan to deceive the chief and
her people.
Little Coon hid himself near the
bluff all the next day. When night
came the chief took Winona to the t
traders post and left her there. The
Squaw was sad, but said not word to
Seco. She sat and gazed at the stars
for long time. Seco talked to her
ike the cooling of dove. but his words
touched not her heart. Then she arose
and ran towards the high hill. The
raider was afraid he would lose her,
or she mad told that she would rather
lie than be his squaw and he ran after
Ter, but it was like the turtle after the
yazelle.
''Winona went with quick feet to the
OPP of the bluff and Seco cried out like
he wild cat and the Dakota chief and
braves, who were camped up there,
heard him. They ran quick. Winona
saw them and went to the very brink
the death song. She bowed
herself to the earth, wrapped her
blanket about her breast and with a
wild cry sprang out into the dark air of
the night
THE braves drew near the place
where the young squaw had stood and
hey heard the sound of heavy fall.
They looked down into the blackness,
but could see nothing four trees deep.
but splash of water was heard and
they knew Winona was no more. They
went with quick feet to the Pepin lake,
but the moving water had carried the
dead sJuaw away forever, they said,
and they turned sadly back to their
lodges"
And they never found the body of
the girl?" l asked.
The white-haired old warrior shock
his head. |
They did not find the body because
it was not left beneath the high hill and
it never went down into the lake.
The lover carried it away" | sug-
gested, new thought entering my head
at went away with Little Coon, but
he did not carry it. Winona was not
killed"
The idea was absurd. A human |
being could not descend, under full /
power of gravitation, hundreds of feet,
and amid broken rocks, without caus-
ing instant death. The red hermit di-
vined my thoughts and he said:
Il have told you that the lovers
planned to deceive the Dakotas, and
they did. Winona secreted a long,
rawhide rope under her shawl and
dropped it where her lover was secreted
without stopping to speak, as had been
planned. When darkness came Little
Coon went to the top of the bluff and
making a moose on one end of the long
rope, he laid the circle at the edge of
the rock. put the thong around pro-
jecting point of stone. and lowered the
end to the earth below, and then went
down to await the coming of Winona.
when he heard the death song from
the young squaws lips, he grasped the
rope firmly. WinOna wound her shawl
around her breast and then put the moose
around her body under her arms, and
was ready for the leap. A wild cry
rang out and Little Coon. who was a
very stout young brave, held tightly
and let the little squaw down. /
''At the same time he pushed with
his foot a large, round stone from its