Omaha daily bee., 1888-09-16
STORY OF AN INDIAN BRAVE.
What He Thought of the Treatment
Of White Men.
LOSS OF THE HUNTING GROUNDS
Trouble Between tn Whites and
Young-Man-Afra of. His.Horse
-Scalps and the Scalp
Dance.
LOSS OF THE HUNTING GROUNDS
A SiOuX Chiefs Story.

A Sioux Chiefs Story.
In reply to questions put by a Post
Dispatch correspondent, Red Shirt said
his Indian name was Ok-le-sa; that he
was forty-one years old and had been a
chief OF his tribe eleven years. When
asked about the traditions of the Sioux
he gave a brief outline of his tribes
history, which was interpreted as fol-
lows: The old men have told me that
many years ago the Lacotas Sioux
lived here by the side of tho great
waters. They fought with other tribes
who had many lodges and great war
riors, and long, long before the white
men came they were driven toward the
setting sun andmade their homes be-
yond the Smoky Water mississippi
river. How long ago this was do not
know; but | know it is true, for the old
men have told me- 50. After a while the
white men anne into our country. They
hunted buffalo and killed antelope upon
the plains. They zane into the camps
of the Lacotas and slept in their tepees.
They were we'll treated, for they were
welcome. BY and by more white men
came, and then they came thick. They
took the Lacotas' land and drove them
from their hunting grounds.
Then the hearts Of the Lacotas got
bad, for their brains were troubled.
They thought everything would be
taken from them, and their hearts were
broken. They thought 10 land would
be left for them to live upon, so they
began to fight. They took white mems
scalps and the white men's tepees, and
scalped their women and children.
They fought many years, but the white
men were too strong, If one Indian got
killed no Indian came in his place, but
the white men grew thicker all the
time. The Lacotas had no hope left, so
they had to quit fighting and submit to
the whites. There will be no more wars
between the white men and the LacOtas,
for the white men are many and the
Lacotas few"
Red Shirt then related how the trou-
bic began between the whites and his
uncle, the noted Sioux chief, Young
Observation-Disclosures He said
that about thirty-fve years ago an emf
grant train was crossing the plains a
short distance from Fort Laramie. One
/ of their steers became lame, and it was
left behind on the trail. In a short
while Il Sioux hunting party came upon
the abandoned steer and killed it. A
few days afterward a company OF SOL
diers from Fort Laramie came to the
Sioux camp on the North Platte to ar
rest the Indians who had killed the
steer.
The tribe refused to surrender them,
but offered TO pay for the steer. A long
wrangle followed, and finally the Off
Ger in m OF the troops made an
attempt to forcibly take the Indians
whom he wanted. He charged upon the
village; but had mi~scalculatcd the
strength OF the Sioux, for there
were many lodges behind a hill
close by which he had not seen.
The Indians fell upon the troops
on every side, and the entire company
of thirty-two men were killed and
scalped. The great Sioux chief, Con-
quering Bear, was killed in the fight,
and the interpreter, a Frenchman, was
also killed. That night the Indians
had a big scalp dance, and a long,
bloody war followed. Red Shirt was "a
boy at the time Of this massacre, but he
was an eye witness to the terrible fight.
Red Shirt next told some of his per-
sonal experiences while on the war
path, and spoke Of the men he had
killed with as much apparent satisfac-
tlOn as q hunter would EXHIBIT IN relat-
ing his exploits. His first fight with
the whites was Twenty-Five years ago,
and this vas his version how the trouble
came about.
A band OF Cheyennes attacked an en-
igrant train and, after killing all the
men, carried off a white woman captive.
In their wanderings over the plains
they me- Il party Of Sioux, TO whom the
woman was sold, the chiefs, Two Face
and Black Feet paying two horses for
her. Afterward a detachment Of sol,
diers from Fort Laramie came upon the
Sioux band, and, finding the woman in
their possession, accused them of muir
dering the em%igrants and carrying OIL
the woman
Two Face and Black Feet were triee
n hanged at Fort Laramie, and thd
balance OF the band to which they be
longed we're ordered to remove east OF
the Missouri river. They started our
under guard of two companies OF sol
diers, and got as far a the junction Of
Horse creek and the North Platte be
fore any trouble occurred. Here SOM
OF the Indians who were in irons com
planned Of being tired, and that theil
legs were swollen from the chaing o.
the iron bands. .
They asked to be allowed to ride In
n OF the wagons, but their reques
was refused. Then all OF the Indian!
got angry and secretly concocted q plar
to turn upon their guards at an unex
, pected moment. Just as the troop