The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-09-18

eyes
"Time and again. 1t is famous
rock. Every boat that passes up or
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.
II have heard the story" he said
thoughtfully, "but none OF the pale
faces have It right"
"How do you know"
81 was there at the time and do
know"
Then is the tradition not trueP"
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. IL
was young brave then, only boy,
but have forgotten nothing"
'sYou say the whites do not have the
story of the girl correctly preserved, so
the truth of the Lovers LeapP"
"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 go in peace
with the Chippewa she would go 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 squaw, so he
went down to Pepin lake in q canoe
covered with a tree top and by the
shadows of the night.
"Winona answered Little Coon's call
when he cried out like 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 60 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 go to the trader. Little
Coon asked her to fee with him, but
she said no, for then both horself and
lover would be trailed to certain death
for the Dakota warriors hated the
Chippewa 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
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
like the cooling of dove, but his words
touched not her heart. Then she arose
and ran towards the high hill. The
trader was afraid he would lose her,
for she had told that she would rather
die than be his squaw and he ran after
her, but it was like the turtle after the
gazelle.
"Winona went with quick feet to the
top of the bluff and Seco cried out like
the 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
chanting the death song. She bowed
herself to the earth, wrapped her
blanket about her breast and with q
wild cry sprang out into the dark air OF
the night.
1.-THE braves drew near the place
where the young squaw had stood and
they 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 squaw away forever, they said,
and they turned sadly back to their
lodges"
.sAnd they never found the body Of
the girl?" asked.
The white-haired old warrior shook
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, a new thought entering my head
suddenly.
1T went away with Little Coon. but
he did not carry it. Winona was moi
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:
/ LA