St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-11-13
Helpless Women and Mere
Children Sacrificed on the
Altar Of Lust.
The Lowest Animal Passions
Of a Mob Rage Without
Restraint.
Even Uncle Sans Soldiers En-
gage in the Wholesale Deg
radiation of Women.
Special to the Globe.


NEW YORK, Nov. 12.-Mrs. VOORHEES,,
a well-known lady of this city. has re-
Gently returned from an extended tour
through the great Northwest. To
World reporter she related some of the
experiences of her travels. II have
journed over $4,000 miles by land and
Water," she said, ''but the incidents of
lhe trip have been, dare say, much
like those of other tourists who follow
the same route. What has impressed
me most profoundly and filed me with
a horror which grows with the recollec-
ton of it is the awful condition of the
Indian woman in Alaska. Travellers
hint vaguely at this evil. official reports
allude briefly and apologetically to it,
but the great world is ignorant of it's ex-
istence. If people realized that in the
wilds of its Alaskan territory this civ
iliZed, refined, advanced nineteenth
century United State holds perfect in
ferno of crime and torture, where help
less women and mere children are
being sacrificed and gradually eXter-
minated, surely some remedy might be
found. In all that country there is no
law-there can be no reStraint-and the
lowest animal passions of the rough
miners, trapperS, hunters, soldiers and
sailors rage unchecked. The Indian
woman is considered the lawful spoil of
these men. They steal them if they
can; if not, they buy them from their
parents for knife. a jug of rum or a
string of beads. If these considerations
do not weigh, then they make the old
people drunk and carry off the girl A
miner will come and dicker for child
of fourteen and bear her off Shrieking
with terror. She becomes the
SLAVE OF THE WHOLE CAMP,
and is finally sent back to her people to
die. A lady with whom l talked of
these horrors of Sltka told me of case
which had come under her own per-
Sonal observation, as she could EOuch
for its truth in every revolving particu-
lar. This lady, by the way, is the first
white woman whe ever went to Alaska.
Of course there have been some Rus
sian women there before, but / mean
the first woman from our country or
Well, she knew of Il little
girl having been carried off forcibly by
some soldiers, and one day, a few
months after, an Indian woman came to
her, exhibiting signs of great grief, and
begged The white mother, as she. called
this lady, to 90 and look at her daugh-
ter, who was dying. The lady went to
ground, Il mass of rags. filth and cOrrup-
tion. She had been returned to her
people by her captOrS. to whom she was
no longer useful. Such horror is felt by
the Indians at the sight of any one af-
tiicted as she was, that they avoid the
victim as though she We're plague
stricken. In the ease of this poor child,
who was only fifteen years of age, they
had built stOckade about the place
where she lay. completely lncloSing
her. A small aperture had been left on
the side close to the ground, through
which food and water were thrust to
her. The white mother crawled
through this hole to reach the sufferer.
and did what was in her power fox the
wretched young creature. One ear was
entirely gone, and the girls face horri-
bly, disfigured. Because she had been
KIDNAPPED BY SOLDIERS,
the brave white lady sent word to the
garrison that they must give medical
aid. A physician came, through whose
efforts the chlld'S life was saved. This
girl now keeps vigilant watch over the
young Indian children in her vicinity.
She is pupil in the school. When |
arrived at Tacoma called on Mrs. Nc
Farlane, the lady in charge of the mis-
sionary school. | spent Saturday and
Sunday with her. and l learned some
very startling facts regarding the life of
the people in that neighborhood /
knew something about the Indians be-
fore, but what learned from her was
new revelation. Mrs. McFarlane is a
Vlrginian. She went out as a mission
ing ever since. She has started
three schools for Indian chill
dren, and is regarded with the
greatest esteem by all classes.
could not repeat the details of the
dreadful story she told me of the bar
barOus life in that neighborhood. 1t is
really unspeakable. The story I have
just repeated is mild instance of the
brutality which seems the birthright of
these poor little SquawS. Some of the
criminal practices prevailing came
within my own observation. We were
at Juneau on the 4tl of July and cele-
bration was arranged. 1t was intended
as a patriotic demonstration on the part
of the whites. and there was an Indian
dance. Now it is unlawful to sell
liquor to an Indian there, but, as l have
already said, the law does not prevail.
So the first move was to ply the Indians
with rum until they were stupidity
drunk. Then the white men carried
them outside like logs, flung them on
the ground in their sudden sleep and
RETURNED FOR THE WOMEN,
when there ensued scene that is be-
yond description. No beastly orgie ever
conceived could surpass it. You
couldn't print the story. Alaskan hor-
rors are more dreadful than the pine
wood atrocities. They are worse than
anything known in modern times"
''Do none of the Indian exhibit desire
hieS was asked. ''Seldom, and if they
did, what would it avail? Soldiers are
kept there at the expense of the govern
ment to prevent their rising" "What do
they dO?' ''They work in the mines,
hunt and fish, that is, when they don't
drink themselves to death. There was
a case not long ago of a whole tribe
perishing in one winter from rum. They
had sold all the furs and skins which
they had in their possession for
liquor, and when those who had
survived the Immediate effects of their
potations had to meet the bitter
weather without clothing, they froze to
death. 1t is common law among the
Indians that they must not dispose of a
daughter without the consent of the
mother squaw, and as the mothet
usually has an instinct at least which
prompts her to protect her offspring
from the white man, the only way to
deal with her is by drink. The squaws
are as given to liquor as the males, SO
the white man seeking little maiden
hrinuS nnAuuh drinlr for fatiaar and