The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-28
The Indians and the Elixir.
Fl-onl IL RaILimCre Nun-


According to a correspondent Of the Dem
yer Times at Ouray Indian agency, Utah,
the Brown-Sequard elixir is an cid and es-
taollshed remedy among the Ute Indians
III IS as common as milk, SAYS the CORE
spondent, and bas been In use among them
Tor centuries. Colorow, Shayenau, Douglas,
Yammen. Piah aud several other Indians
have testified TO the use of the method by
reaching an age equal to Bible patriarchs.
One OF the chiefs stated that the heap big
medicine" had been in use among the
Utes for more than two centuries, He
added tnat Colorow was more than 800
years old when lie died, and that more
than thousand goats, from which the In
dian elixir Is compounded, had contributed
TO the prolongation of his life. When asked
regarding the use Of sheep tissue he replied
that lit was all right when people were not
more than 60 or 40 years of age, but that
goat tissue carried more force with it, aud
mat goats were never unsound or I'M
healthy. be said that Ouray, VINO died in
1879, was a very old man. and that the
cause OF his death was the absence of the
elixir. Ouray was at all times credited
with having more than the ordi-
nary Indian intelligence and com
manded the respect of all white peo-
pie. Cohoe says that he acquired this
from hisassociaUions with Cortez in the six
teen century. Proceeding further, he said
that Ouray and SapOvOnarO were taken into
captivity by Oortez when he swept tnrough
the Wet Mountain valley, Colorado, during
the sixteenth century, and that they were
compelled to work in the mines Of the
Sangre de Christie range. Sapovonaro is now
the head chief of the Uncompahgres, and
the medicine man, Cohoe, says that he is
about 800 years old and l26 times a widower.
lie has always been the owner of large
locks OF goats. When asked how it h Ap-
pened that the lives of Ouray, Shayenau
Piah, Colorow and others had not been pro-
longed to greater point he truthfully
stated that Shavenau and Piah had died
violent deaths, but AS regarded the death of
Ouray, he said he did not die of heart dis
ease, as reported, but he went on trip to
visit the Southern Utes and took along
supply of elixir to last twenty DAYS.
Chlpeta, his faithful squaw, realizing the
Importance of the situation, at all times
guarded the medicine bag, bat her pony
was drowned while crossing a swollen
stream and the elixir foated down the
stream with the dead pony's car
cass, and before more could
be obtained Ouray shriveled and mum
mlhed in the presence of his friends
Colorew's death was due to a similar acci-
dent. The noble and truthful savage who
communicated those interesting facts con-
cuded his veracious narrative by saying
that the Indian elixir was often used in re-
juveuatlng broken-down horses, aud that
there was an old doctor in that vicinity who
bought up all the Old WORKOUT horses in
that vicinity, and after renewing them with
the elixir took them to Denver and sold
them readily as 2-year-old thoroughbreds.
This Is good story, and shows that Lo, the
poor Indian, with his untutored mind. is
not devoid of Imagination, and with very
little cultivation would make his marx in
New York or Chicago journalism.