The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-18
AN INDIAN FIGHTER.
Talk With tRe Man Who Brought
Hoo,1t Sitting Bulls Surrender.
Eb.o,,l The CbicuqO Times.

From the Chicago Times.
Edward II. Allison, in his buckskin
-,1+bas and his old white lop-rim hat, is one
- the most interesting men ever met. l
lily find that the men who have national
a,,+otions by their exploits on the plains
among the Indians dwindle and
sbriveled and become stupidity undressing
'-bon one comes near enough to them to see
That they really are But tins is not true
NJ Allison. The more one sees of HIM
o. Ct, more interested one becomes in him. 1t
lno ba who. single-handed, brought about
was snrrender of Sitting Bull after the mass
tilo of Cen Custer and his troops, and the
&C. in,, If this exploit gave Mr.. Allison a ma
s;O+ name. but after all that was only one
~ his exploits and by no means the most in
teresting Of them. - 49,
~ whose head has been filled with false
. DjS of Indian fighting and of life on
lbo Great Americans plains-I wish that
t LIZ. such boy could hear MIR. Allison talk
en on hour. He is far more entertaining
tIon the dime novelist, and what is better
So makes true pictures, which, while they
nrtertain. are full of good meaning and
,roft TO those who hear them. He is an
ifdeal "Indian fighter" but Is very far from
tbot particular and false set up by the cheap
vunnnv.a-liners who never saw plain or an
{udion hut who write miserable stuff about
thor, both by the mile. 1t is a gentleman
.rbn nhabits those buckskln clothes of Ed
',ord r Allison-an intelligent a hearty,
true gentleman and scholar.
Nv Allison was born in Michigan in 1S47,
and spent the first fifteen years of his life
On his fathers farm. Then, though yet SO
,yonng. he passed the examination standing
as high as ninety. and was matricuIaued at
Ann Arbor University.
soon after this he enlisted for the war,
ont of which he became after three years,
at the age Of 49, fitted as the army Is likely
\ co ct one of his years, for something more
active and exciting than the old farm life
in Michigan. In 1866 he accordingly went
West and became government dispatch
bearer Ever since that time he has lived
mon the plains, suffered its hardships,
harmed its lessons, and now he has come out,
after twenty-five years of it, an intelligent
rantlenan with a broad understanding not
onlv of Indians, their languages and their
characteristics, but of the Indian queS-
tjon. IN all its phases, from that viewed by
tbe statesman to that imagined by the am
bitious voungster who sticks his mothers
bread-knife in his belt and starts to exter-
inmate the race of red men.
Mr. Allison has not merely learned the
Sioux language; he has mastered it. He
speaks dozen or more lingos, or dialects,
Int he saws the Sioux is the language of the
American Indian, and of the 100000 In
dams in all the country the Sioux nation
comprises One-siXth.
"fhere is" said he, ''only one language
that is employed by all our Western In
dams. 1t is the sign language"
Then Mr. Allison gave me an example of
this tongue" An Indian is hungry. He
motions with one hand toward his open
mouth as if he was throwing
food into it, and then makes
negative gesture away from his
mouth The translation literally is: II
have eaten-not.n OF course he has not
eaten; he is hungry. If he is very hungry
the gesture toward his mouth is greater in
extent-that is, he motions toward his
mouth and continues the gesture clear along
down his stomach; he is empty all the way
down. so to speak. Now he wants to say
he has looked for game.
This is said by pointing his two first
fingers away from his eyes, the back of his
hand being in front of his nose. If he was
to say he had to look long for the game he
points in several directions and for some
time with these finger eyes, To tell of
mounting his pony and riding away, he
straddles two fingers of one hand over the
forefnger of the other and makes a gallop-
ing motion with the hand. To say that he
levels his gun at the game he holds his arms
as if holding a gun. Slapping one palm
upon the other means that he fired thesgun,
and slapping the back of one hand on the
palm Of the other means that he brought
down the game. If he missed the mark he
makes the same gesture, but adds the mega
tive flourish to it-"he brought down the
game-not." So he goes through every
thing he has to say, and Mr.. Allison tells
me that every Indian in the West knows
| this language perfectly.
Mr.. Allison held the position of dispatch
Bearer TOR some time, and then became a
mail carrier, riding on horseback and tax
ing the mails on pack mule from old Fort
hce IN Dakota for hundreds of miles in all
directions througha country swarming with
hostile Indians He always had with him
an escort Of Indians friendly to him, but
they had many a battle with the hostiles
during the three years he continued in the
service.
1T was hard to get more than 800 yards
outside the fort palisade." said he, without
having an arrow shot at you.
-, by the way" he continued, 81 should
ike TO say word for the Indians who were
specially friendly in those days, such as
putcner Tor 'Cut-'Em Up,' as some call
llm because he carved his enemies to
pieces: These Indians and some others
we're friendly to the government through
tlleK and thin, and were wounded in many
qatIleS they had for the governments sake.
mink they deserve to be pensioned But
I9Ways happened that the government
lal done the most for the hostile Indians,
while the friendly ones have been left to
LOOK out for themselves
III lo'2 Mir. Allison was in Charles Mix
county, IN Southern Dakota, where he had
eIloarked IN business for himself and
where he was chairman of the first elected
county board. He speaks very bitterly of
, Ie treatment he and the other pioneers of
s ~av county received at the hands of the
ADMINISTRATION M at Washington.
NJ O~t before the county was disorganized
t sr' Al Allison was elected to represent it in
S9 paKota Legislature, but he never did
no. ne mad his certificate of election, but