The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1890-11-28
THE INDIANS MESSIAH
They Expect His Coming. and-Say He
Will Help Them Bury Every Paleface
Under the Sod.
THEIR GHOST DANCE.
iKnnsns City Specially


Mrs. James \. Finley, wife of cx-Coun
Gilman Finley, of Kansas City. now post
master and post trader at Pine Ridge
agency. is again in the city named Mrs
Finley left the agency few days ago by
direction of her husband, who sent her to
Kansas City for safety. In an interview
she described the ghost dances as follows:
"Onc ghost dance that saw was purtici
pated in by $50 Indians. In preparing
for the dance they cut the tallcSt tree they
can find, and, having dragged it toa level
piece of prairie. set it up in the ground.
Under this tree four OF the head men
stand. The others form i'll circle, and
begin to 90 around and around the tree.
They begin the dance on Friday after
noon. 1t is kept up Saturday and Sunday
until shutdown. During all this time they
do not eat or drink. They keep going
round in one direction until they can
scarcely stand, then turn and 30 in the
other direction. and keep it up ill they
swoon from exhaustion. This is what
they strive to do. for while they are in Il
swoon they think they see and talk with
the new Christ
"When they regain consciousness they
tell their experiences to the four wise men
under the tree. All their tales end with
the same story about the two mountains
that are to bclch forth mud and bury the
white man, and the return of good old
Indian times. They lose all of their senses
in the dance. They think they are ami
mails. Some get down on all tours and
bob about like hulalocs. When they cam
"A.
butt their heads together, beat them upon
the ground, and do anything to become
inscnsihc, so that they may be ushe;cd
into the presence of the now Christ. One
poor Indian, when he had recovered his
senses, said that Christ had told him he
must return to earth because he had mol
brought with him his wife and child His
child had died two years before. and the
way the poor fellow cried was the most
hcartrcndng thing I ever saw. At the
end Of the dance they have Il grand feast.
the rcvel lasting all Sunday night. They
kill several steers and eat them raw. They
drink and gorge themselves TO make up
for their fast"
At last Friday dance one of the braves
was to 90 into trance and remain in this
condition four days. At the close of this
period he was to come to life as a buffalo.
He would still have the form of Il man, but
he would be buffalo. They were then
to kill the buffalo and every Indian who
did not eat piece of him would become
dog. The man who was to turn into a
buffalo was perfectly willing, and suppose
they have killed and eaten him by this
time.
If the government just lets them alone
there will he no need of troops; they will
kill themselves dancing. Seven or eight
Of them died as a result of one dance near
Wounded Knee They are now dancing
Wounded Knee and dancing with all their
arms. Every Indian has about four clubs.
made out Of round stones twisted in raw
hide They throw these around during
the dance, strcw the ground with them.
and beat their heads against them. The
agent with his Indian police cannot con-
troll them, and it was necessary to have
the troops on the ground.
THE SERMON OF Az INDIAN PROPHET.
General Miles is in receipt of II telegram
dated Rosebud Indian agency, South
Dakota. in which the officer making the
official report from that agency has the
following interesting communication
which he made to his superior officer
He SAYS:
I'm advance of my forma! report send
YOU the sermon OF Short Bull, the so-called
prophet of the Messiah, at this agency.
delivered by him at Red Leaf camp.
MY Friends and Relatives: | will soon
start the thing in running order. ! have
told YOU that this would come to pass in
two seasons, but since the whites are in
tcrfering so much | will advance the time
from what my Father above told me. The
time will he shorter. Therefore YOU must
not he afraid of ANYTHING. Some of my
relatives have no ears, so will have them
blown away. Now, there will be Il tree
sprout up, and then all the members of
YOUR religion and the tribe must gather
together That will he the place where We
will see our relatives. But before This
time we must dance the balance of the
moon, at the end of which time the earth
will shivcr very hard. Whenever this
thing occurs will start the wind to blow.
We are the ones who will then see our
fathers, mothers and everybody. We. the
tribe of Indians. and the ones who are
living the sacred life. God, our Father.
himself has told and commanded and
shown me to do these things Our Father
in heaven has placed mark At each point
of the four winds First, Il clay pipe, which
lies at the setting Of the sun and repre-
scnts the Sioux tribe: second, there Is a
holy arrow lying at the north, which rep
rcscnts the Cheyenne tribe; third, AT the
rising of the sun. there lies hail, repre-
senting the Arapahoc tribe; and fourth
there lies Il pipe and nice feather at the
south, which represents the Crow tribe.
Nv Father has shown me these thing.
Therefore We must continue the dance.
There NAV soldiers surround ypu, bat pay
no attention to them. If the soldiers sur
whom have put holy spirits. will sing a
song which have taught YOU and some OF
them will drop dead. Then the rest will
start to run, but they will sink into the
earth and YOU can do what YOU desire for
them.
Now. YOU must know this-ihat all the
soldiers and that race will be dead. There
will be onlv 800 Of them left living on
the earth. Ny friends and relatives. this
is straight and true. Now. we must gather
at Pass Creek when the tree * sprouting
Then We will 90 among our dead relatives
You must not take any earthly things
with YOU. There women and men must
disrobc themselves. Ny Father above
has told us to do this, and we must do as
he saws You must not be afraid OF any
thing The guns are the only thing that
We are afraid of. but they belong TO oul