Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-11-21
INDIAN RELIGIOUS CRAZE.
A Young Lady Teacher of South Dakota
Writes . Graphic Accountability Can
Think of Nothing Elsc-Sitting HUH the
Guiding Spirit in the Whole Affair.


Writes . Graphic Accountability Can
Think of Nothing Elsc-sitting Bull the
Guiding Spirit in the Whole Affair.
DIES MONIES, Ia, Nov. 13.-Miss Lizzie
Goodin. a Des Moines young lady who occu-
pies position in an Indian school on the
Cheyenne river agency reservation, located
at Fort Bennett, South Dakota, in letter
to friend in this city gives u
graphic and interesting sccount of
the spread Of the religious craze
which within the past twelve months has
taken possession of tho Indian tribes Of the
northwest and to which the Indians on tho
southwest reservations are rapidly becoming
converts. Miss Goodin says that tho belief
that an!Almighty Messiah will soon appear
and deliver the continent to the Indians,
sending the whites back across the seas,
and restoring the conditions which existed
when the Mayflowcr landed, prevades all the
northern tribes. 1t is the all absorb
ing theme. The Indians talk of nothing
clse-think OF nothing else. The Indians,
almost without a single exception, believe
the story OF the appearance OF the Messiah
to Sitting Bull. the prophet and apostle of
the first religious revelation an American
Indian has ever protested. "Sitting Bull'
is a great chief and s.medicine man. and is
al powerful among some of the tribes.
They believe in his power and his in
fluence upon them is astonishing and he
maintains it by q species of mesmer-
Ism easily calculated to inspire
them with awe. Miss Goodin says tho
Cheyenne river Indians have all gone wild
or crazy of late over this religious craze.
One Of them recently claimed to have been
in a trance and seen the Holy Ghost and
convcrsed with Him and that it was revealed
to him the Indian) that the Messiah was
soon coming to wipe out all tho white
people from the face Of the earth, and
replenish the country with forests and wild
game. The result of this fanaticism is
that the Indians don't want to go to school,
to work, or do anything but dance the new
spirit dance, which they have recently in
stituted They have been dancing now for
more than month, day and night, not
withstanding there are $50 soldiers and a
large police force on the reservation to stop
them.
Sitting Bull is a shrewd and cunning In
dian. A Carlisle boy. who denounced tho
fraud and wished to investigate it for him.
self, appeared before him at one of the
dances and asked him to exhibit his pow
ers. Firstly. he has number of songs
he says he learned at the dance he
attended in the esprit land" These he
continuously chants. When the young man
appeared before him he began singing and
incidentally seized him by his left foot.
Immediately a sensation like an electric
shock passed over him, and all the lights
changed to green or purple hue. Then
Sitting Bull blew upon the crown of his
naked head and he became cold. He asked
the subject to put his arms about him, but
on attempting to do so his arms flew back
and dropped helpless at his side All
these experiments were made in the
presence of the assembled Indians
and the effect upon their ignor-
ant minds can be easily imagined. I'm
doubtedly Sitting Bull possesses mesmeric
powers to some degree, and finds the In
dams minds fertile field to work upon.
He surrounds this power with the story of
the Messiah and appeals to the Indian ha-
tired OF the white man to more easily inlu-
ence them. The whole story originated
with Sitting Bull, and the prophets of the
north are but his apostles. They have not
the power ascribed to him, and only arouse
the Indians by the excitement of the dance
and the story of the future which awaits
them. Sitting Bull is very ordinary look
ing man, q little below the me-
dunn in heighth and dresses in
customary logging and blankets. AS q re-
suit of this excitement the Indians abandon
their crops, and meet and discuss the SUBJ
ject the greater part of the time. The
older Indians are fully convinced of the
certainty of the prophecy. while the
younger and more progressive accept it out
of fear.
AS yet there has been no evidence of an
outbreak among the Indians. In fact Sit
ting Bull urges upon the Indians the neces-
sity of being peacable, saying Christ does
not wish the Indians to kill the whites, for
he will remove them across the ocean,