Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-06-02
A Baseless Scare.

The Indian scare which has prevailed
during the past ten days at Cascade,
Bradley Flat and in neighborhoods
bordering upon the Cheyenne river,
resulting in widespread CONSERVATION
and dismay, and general exodus Of the
terror stricken people from the localities
named now appears to have been pure
~ imaginary, "the baseless fabric Of
a vision" as nothing beyond the pres
ence of a few Indians, who had been
granted permission by their agent to
fish for time along the Cheyenne river,
has transpired to cause alarm. The FIVE
Indians which were at first reported as
having demonstrated hostile intentions,
were soon reinforced by an additional
forty-fve, and fifty was then the num-
ber of braves who were radiant with
red, and eager for the fray. Fifty was
not a formidable number, and not cal
culated to inspire inordinate fear, and
therefore did not have the sensational
effect desired, and FIVE hundred was
substituted, which number being aug
mented in transit, in accordance with
time honorcd, and well established
rules, soon reached five thousand, and
it is difficult TO determine the countless
number of rampant reds that rumor
would have reached had not the vision
ary phantom so soon been dispelled.
Among the number who sought refuge
in this place, not one had seen an In
dian; they were simply the victims Of
groundless reports Of the most eXtrava-
CANT character. well calculated to create
fear and dread in the minds Of isolated
settlers, and their hurried departure
from their homes to better protected
points was under the circumstances, but
natural, and should excite no surprise !;
for while reports of this character may
be accepted with grain Of allowance,
the man is simply foolhardy who ignores
them altogether and thus subjects his
family TO the chances, however remote,
Of being massacred by the red devils of
the reserve.
Probably no Indian scare that has
aver transpired in the history of this
region, of which there has been many,
has been created upon so shallow a
basis SO far as we have been able 10
determine, there has been no valid
cause for alarm, and nothing SO far as
we can learn, has transpired which
could by any means be construed as an
act Of hostility upon the part Of the In
dians, whose presence st the various
points in the valleys bordering upon the
Hills at intervals has been so common,
during the past few years, as to give no
reasonable cause for alarm. The prime
cause of dissatisfaction, and the desire
for an outbreak on the part Of the In
dams, is said to be the proposed opening
OF a portion of their reservation to settle
ment, which by reason Of the terms of
the cession, which contemplates the
consent of three -fourths Of the male
adults, would seem to be a shallow
preteXt upon which to take the warpath
Certain eastern contemporaries, who
are ever ready to do all they can in
the way of retarding Dakota's progress
may, and doubtless will enlarge upon
the dangers (?) to which we are thus
subjected, and may possibly, for time,
check immigration to the Black Hills,
by the publication Of erroneous reports
of serious depredations committed by
their much abused (?) red brethren on
the western frontier. We shall be
agreeably disappointed if this wholly
groundless scare is not accepted, and
circulated by the eastern press as being
fully warranted by the hostile demon:
strations ofthe Indians, and that no one
having any regard for his life, should
venture as far west as the Black Hills of
Dakota.