Omaha daily bee., 1889-06-23
THE DAY AT PINE RIDGE.
But Few Indians Come Forward to
Sign the Bill.
IRON HoRsEs ELOQUENT TALK,
"This Land is the Great Spirits Wife
and is My Mother-I Can
Not Sell Her Nor
Lkhsd Her"
10th to GIyo tp Their Land.

ZINE RIDGE, DdfS iva RushVllle, NeD.,)
June 22.-[Special Telegram to The BEE. =
This has been very unsatisfactory day in
Pine Ridge. But few signers have como
forward TO enroll themselves, though some
very diligent work has been done In a quiet
way TO secure the names Of as many as pos
sible. A number of conferences have been
held with individual Indians, and IN most
cases good seed was sown This has been
the new policy of the commission, to disinte-
CRATE the combined opposition by working
with the individual, not the band This was
the policy adopted at Rosebud, and was sue
cessfully carried out. 1t is probable that the
council of to-day will be the last general
council Of Indians held here, as the result Of
this council were so unfavorable in the effect
which it had upon the wavering ones.
The council met this afternoon with about
a hundred Indians present representing the
different bands of the agency. American
Horse opened the seance with a talk about
Indians beng allowed to furnish hay for the
agency instead Of 1t all beng done by con-
tract and the money circulated off the reser-
walton. He dsclaimed any intention of oc-
cupying the time of the convention. ''There
were representatives of the different bands
present. let them come forward and give
their reasons for their action"
Fire Thunder was the first to follow in q
speech in which he said that they had held q
council with General Crook the other day,
and he told them to make up their minds mt
once as he wanted to know how they felt,
and then he wanted them to 90 over to the
office and declare themselves for or against
the bill This they had done and made de-
csion against signing. "We all decided so
we do not wish to detain you here. You
may as well go to where there is more work
for you to don
No Flesh, warm supporter Of the
measure, then spoke rather lukewarmly in
behalf of the bill, stating some causes which
he had for complaint In the matter of boas
farmers, etc. He paid his respects to the
present system of camp schools and advo-
Gated single large boarding school instead.
Then began march which was dishearten-
ing to those wishing to obtain signatures.
Big Fad, an influential chief, then spoke
for his band, saying in substance the same
as did Fire Thunder. He SAID: "When our
children grow up and are educated, then you
can come here, and they will be better able
to treat with you"
High Wolf, Spotted Elk. Iron Horse. Fire
Lighting, No Water and White Cow Killer
followed in the same strain, saying their
decision was made and they could not
change.
Iron Horse saide "Listen to me. am an
Indian. This land is the Great Spirits
wife and IS my mother | cannot sell her nor
leave her.n
Speeches were made against the bill in long
winded talks evidently made against time to
prevent any action by those in sympathy
with the commission and their work.
Young Man Afraid of His Horses and
Little Wound talked atllength, but with no
new ideas. Charging Shield changed the
monotony of the run by favoring the bill, as
did Bear Nose, d young: Indian who, under
Crooks influence felt inclined to act for him
self and not allow the chiefs and old men to
control his actions. He had something to say
about Red Cloud and his bribe-taklng, openly
accusing him of taking, money to influence
his actions. He said he had been on the
fence watching thesy tall tree bend in the
winds, not knowing on which side it would
fall. Other short talks were INDUCED, when
the council broke up with a speech from
American Horse othe people. He spoke in
substance as follows:
Here you have all been talking, talking
like parcel of children, and what have
you said. have asked these commissioners
to tell us all about the bill and you sat
around here listening, but you are blind and
deaf. Your ears are full of dirt, you can not
hear Have you given single reason for
your action, not one; but you say you will
wait till your children are grown up. You
will be like our brothers in the Indian terri
tory who waited for their children to grow
and then they lost the opportunity, for the
white men made laws and took the land any
way.n
This speech checked in some measure the
bad moral effect which so many contrary
talks had upon this easily swayed people,
creatures of impulse as they are There are
now about four hundred signers and few
coming in About fifty signed yesterday.