St. Paul daily globe., 1888-07-29

the typical ''noble red man" of the
Misunderstanding times. BE was tall,
grave, and deliberate in his movements.
His chest was broad and deep, and
have seen him seize and average half
breed and throw him over a ten-foot
stockade, going quietly about his busi-
mess as if nothing had happened.
His shoulders were so broad that
he was known among the younger
squaws as Cushion Back" His eyes
were large, black and intelligent his
nose the characteristic Indian aqulline,
and his forearmS and wrists knotted
with muscles. He ''walked a king"
without eXaggeration. and was the de-
light of his stern fathers heat and the
pride of his people.
That such a man and such an athlete
should be stricken with consumption
was wonder of his tribe. The old
women in their tepees over their pipes
had already begun to prepare legends
of Spotted Tail, Jr.'S proweSs to be
handed down to their grandchildren.
He had
DONE THINGS
which no American Indian, in all prob
ability, ever did before OF will ever do
again. When only nineteen years of
age, Spotted Tail, Jr., is said to have
visited the chief cities of the East and
of the Pacific slope disguised as white
man, ''made up" so perfectly that his
own relatives didn't know him, and sue
cesSfully carrying out the object of his
extraordinary journey, which was un-
dertaken for his own information and
culture.
1t has been said that the American
Indians have produced no poets. Poeti-
cal as is the symbolism of their lam
guage, and romantic as are their ira
ditions. no red man has yet composed a
true consecutive poem. Since the
death of Spotted Tail, Jr., there is
reason to believe that the long-expected
has happened. He had no books eX-
cept the Bible, which he learned on his
dying bed to reverence. But that he
had and used writing materials, leather,
barbaric and modern, seems to be
proved by the discovery among his
effects of sustained composition in
the sign-language of his forefathers,
and one or two painful scrawls, which
in the hands of an expert may develop
into lyrics of a high form, from one of
Spotted Tail, Jr.'s sign-language COM
positions are given below.
Instead of lying
MOODILY WRAPPED
In his blankets or skins, sung over by
the hideouS croneS to whom the Ameri-
can Indians remitted their incantatory
rites, as his forefathers would have
done when they heard death call
them," Spotted Tail. Jr., lay peace
fully on his bed, receiving his friends,
babe good-by to his relatives, and as a
crowning act embraced Christianity.
During this last illness the agent here.
Col. l.. F. Spencer, who is, by the way.
a New Yorker, attended the dying man
and did all he could to relieve his suf-
ferings. G. p. Jordan, the post trader,
kept him supplied with all the delica-
cies which could be got hold of and
spared no pains to procure what he
thought the dying chief might relish.
Everybody liked Spotted Tail, Jr., and
the circumstances attending the depar.
ture from life were so extraordinary
that the interest of the whole Indian
nation was excited.
The old hags of the Sioux, on whom
devolved by the Indian religions the
duty of arranging chiefs funeral and
the barbaric and sometimes bloody Ger.
emonieS which attended it, had already
begun to confer over the wasting form
of this young chieftain. 1t began to be
rumored among the triDemen that 9
peculiarly splendid revival of the great
Sioux burial rites might be looked for
1t was said Spotted Tails favorite war
horse, gigantic brown stallion, of 6
nasty temper, but docile under his mas
ter's rein, would be slaughtered at the
grave, so that the equine spirit migh
accompany the chief into the land Of
the Great Spirit, and public expectation
was aroused to a high pitch.
The Indian agent, OF course. objected
to this. This is commercial age, an(
a good horse was not to be
THRILLED AWAY
for romantic reasons. In the meantime
C. p. Jordan, the post-trader, in whom
Spotted TaiLshowed great confidence
and who was made the executor of hi
estate, went to the dying man ant
earnestly protested against what woulC
seem to all his people as being delib
crate return to barbarism. 1t was rep
resented to him that if his father, th'
great Spotted Tail, were alive, he woult
disapprove of such a display. After
long pow-wow. Spotted Tail agreed Il
Idle like white man." and asked wha