The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1888-07-27
Loln ~ o.ve Up Thr.n LANDS.
Great Assemblage of Sioux Braves at
standing Rock Agency Dusky Orators
Advise Rejection of the Treaty for the
Opening of Their Reservation

Standing Rock Agency - Dusky Orators
Advise Rejection of the Treaty for the
Opening of Their Reservation.
| STANDING Rock AGENCY, DIT, July IS
| All is excitement on the Sioux Reservation.
Never since the granting OF the great tract
| OF land to the Indians at the close of the
Sioux war have the Indians been so thor
| oughly awakened or the white settlers so
| deeply interested 1t has been supposed
| by great majority of the reading people
that the Sioux Reservation, containing
| 1000 600 acres of land, was opened for
| settlement by the recent act of Congress
but the clause making it necessary to Sc
| cure the consent of three fourths of the
Indians may keep the land from the public
! domain for many years. The commission
| appointed by President Cleveland to con-
| fer with the Indians arrived here yester-
day and will hold conference with tho
| Sioux chiefs and 5000 of their followers
Without regard to the merits of the
proposition made by the Government
and with NO definite understanding of
| the proposed treaty, the tribes gathered
here oppose the opening of the reserva-
| ton. Mondays council was kept secret
| from the whites. The Indians selected
Chiefs Gall, John Grass, Mad Bear, Big
Head and Running Antelope for their ora
tors at the conference.
John Grass, the Chief Justice of the
Sioux court was the first to speak.
He advised the Indians to be careful
IN what they say to the commission,
and, no matter what is said, to make
no decision until mature considera-
ton. He said; 1.-THE treaties made before
by the whites have been broken by them.
L think these men sent out by the Great
Father to make this treaty about our land
have come for some purpose. The Gov
eminent will support US for twenty-five
| years, and after that time we will have to
pay taxes and will be poor
Chief Gall followed. Gall is the hand
| soonest and most commanding Indian of
the tribe and as field General led all the
brilliant maneuvers during the Custer
campaign for which Sitting Bull was
gwen credit. He is unquestionably the
| finest living Indian orator and his speech
is pronounced by the Interpreters to be the
most eloquent ever delivered on the reser-
walton. Among other things he said, in
abiding to the arrival of the commission
ers and the proposed new treaty:
1--WE should listen to the whites and learn
what they care to offer, and then we should
without foolish speaking think what we are
willing to give. When L was at Fort ce
| many years ago there was treaty made
with us. In this treaty the whites made
great promises. They told us that we would
have many cattle and that our horses would
cover the plains. 1 returned in q few wears
and learned that we were again deceived.
They did not keep their word ard we were as
fools. When they made that treaty they told
us that our lands went north to the river of the
Cannon Ball. Now they tell us it goes no fur
Their toward the great north light than the
| Cedar Creek Again deceived When
the commissioners have come out they have
made us many big promises They would
not tell US what the Great Father said, but
would talk to please the Indian heart. We
believed them, but We have lost much of our
lands and our children have been hungry.
In the past 1 have not complained.
believed the Great Father was honest
and have acted with good heart, but unless
this treaty with us is fair and are told the
truth my heart will not be good. We can not
accept land apart (meaning saVeralty) We
want grazing lands. Our reservations have
been growing smaller and smaller, and
soon we will be without a hunt
| ing ground. Our buffaoes have been
| killed by the whites, and now they want our
land They come, hear, with two papers
one to take our lands and one to keep them;
they tell US we must sign the other and
our names Will be counted. This is the first
time ever knew that an Indian can be maGs
to sign paper against his will
After speeches by Running Antelope,
High Bear and others and the reading of
the proposed treaty. which was printed in
the Sioux language Mad Bear addressed
the circle, and called upon all opposed to
living consent to the treaty to rise. Every
indian in the circle sprang to his feet with
a whoop.
The commission consists of Captain
Pratt, of Carlisle, Pa, Rev. G. d. Cleve-
land, of Dakota and Judge Wright, of
Tennessee, the latter being prominently
mentioned for Commissioner of Indian
Affairs. They are men of extensive ex-
perience among the Indians, and it is
thought that they will be able to show
the Directing warriors that the pro-
rosed treaty, if accepted, will prove a last
ing berefit to their race. The treaty aims
to open one-half of the reservation, or about
II ZOO, 600 of acres, to settlement, and to ad
vance 81, 900, 600 for the purchase of farm
implements and stock for the Indians, who
| are to select farms Immediately upon
the ratification OF the treaty. The land to
be settled will be sold to actual settlers at
fifty cents an acre, and it is estimated that
the funds thus raised will be over s., 600, 900
which shall be placed at interest to the
credit of the Sioux Nation. 1t is the most
important step toward the development of
the Northwest taken for years,
as it means the immed ate build
ing of the Chicago, Milwaukee &
St Paul and the Chicago 81 Northwestern
roads to the Black Hills