The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1889-08-01

produce no change. At night the,
held a private council, and unit
nearly daylight could hear thei
unearthly chanting and whoopine
Allow DEPRESSION. | hav
thought many times during the fey
days all these Indians haYe teei
here how completely disenchantini
their appearance would be to thosl
romantic ones who have pictured
the buck as noble" and the squawi
as beautiful" can not think
that Adonis himself could lool
noble in pair of dirty cotton leg,
gins and a dirtier shirt worn out.
side, and ] am sure that Venus
with red and yellow streaks across
her face, and her legs wrapped with
pieces Of a government blanket, end
smelling like that octagonal build
ing which used to ornament ~ the
court house yard is not very beau
tiful object.
On Thursday morning General
Crook announced his intention OF
atfording all who wished to do SO
ar opportunity 10 sign the treaty.
1t was pretty we'll known that
threats had been made to hurt, II
not kill, the first man who should
dare to put his fingers TO the pen,
and the Agent had taken proper
precautiopsto preserve order. Tie
council room was packed at an early
hour and a deep, suppressed excite
.nent pervaded the throng. The
of the measure began a dis
play of their usual tactics when
General Crook shut them off and
said that che secretary of the com
mission was now ready, and that
all who wanted to sign this bill
could do so. The moment the in
made this known couple
Of hostiles leaped into the space
near the table where the commits
sioners were seated, one of them
brandishing club. In twinkling
they were grabbed by police and
the one with the club was in the
lookup before he could give a Sec
ond whoop. Great excitement pre-.
vailed for a few minutes, but it soon
subsidized and the signing began.
During the day about one hundred
and twenty-five signatures were OBJ
tanned, not quite one-fourth of the
required number
There is much to remind one OF a
political convention in all this
thing. There is the same wire
pulling, the same "chinnipg" ofvot-
ers, the same placing Of soap"
where it win do most good-only
in this case the soap is beef, Only
the drinking and lighting are miss
ing. These two thousand or more
Indians have been at the Agency
nearly two weeks, and there has
not been the least disorder. What
there would be if they could get
whisky can only be imagined. The
is one of the strongest
temperance lectures conceivable.
The Agency has been thronged
with visitors during the past eight
or ten days, and We, to whom the
Indian and his ways have ceased
to be a novelty, find much amuse-
ment in them. Some are from the
East, and as their conception OF Ia
dians were formed from reading
such books as "Pawnee Pete, the
Rearing Ranger of the Rockies, or
Missouri Moll, the Pet of the Prai-
RES, it Is a study to watch their
faces as crowd Of breach-clout
bucks and blanketed squaws saun-
ters past, foul-smelling and sullen.
These visitors were treated to a
very remarkable sight Friday after
noon-a regular "Omaha" dance
As long as | have been here I have
never, until this time, witnessed one
of these dances. The Agent dis
courages them as much as possible,
as not being altogether in the line
of civilization, and while they had
several near the Agency, | did not
attend any of them, as it did not
seem consistent with my position.
But the grand ball of Friday after
noon was given at the request of
General Crook, and attended by the
Commission and various dignita-
ries from abroad. The indians
have various kinds Of saltatory ex-
ercises-the sun dance, grass dance,
war dance and Omaha dance. The
one they favored US with was the
latter. The exercises are usually
held at night, but this time they
gave US an afternoon performance,
and as they danced in the council
building with the mercury away up
in the nineties, it was a very per-
spirGtion provoking exhibition.
The entertainment began with a
procession from the undressing
"rooms" down in the bottoms OPP
posite my house, across the prairie
to the pavilion, and Unjust say
that the first appearance Of heathen
as they reached the top of the bluff
was little startling, to say the
least Of it. Excepting their orna-
ments the entire Clothing worn
was a breeeh-clout, and q scant one
at that. Do you know what 4
breech-cloutis? Well, it's a diaper.
Their bodies were thickly covered
with paint of all coIora, and feath-
ers, bracelets aud anklefs and sleigh
bells were used in profusion. I'm
agine A procession like this march
ing through the streets of Louisa
Arriving at the pavilion the big
drum was placed en- the ground in
the center aud six or eight bucks,
l. q 4 4