St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-22
BETTER LET THEM DANCE.
A Sure Way of Killing Off BelIig-
erent Indians.


KANSAS CITY, Mo-, Nov. 2l.-Mrs
James A. Finley, wife of Ex-Council-
man Finley. of this city, now post
master and post trader at Pine Ridge
agency, is in this city. Mrs. Finley left
the agency a few days ago by direction
of her husband, who sent her here for
safety. In an interview to-day she de-
scribed the ghost dances. She said these
dances have been in progress for some
time. The first the agent learned of
them was last August, when crowd of
Indians left the reservation to hold, as
they said, council. and when the
police found them they were engaged
in the dance. Since then they
have been holding them regu-
larry. "One ghost dance that l saw
was participated in by $50 Indians. In
preparing for the dance they cut the
tallest tree that they can find, and, hav-
RE, set it up in the ground. Under this
tree four of the head men stand. The
others form in circle, and begin to go
around and around the tree. They be-
gin to dance OH Friday afternoon. 1t is
kept up Saturday and Sunday until sun
down. During all this time they do not
eat or drink. They keep going round
in one direction until they become so
dizzy that they can scarcely stand. then
turn and go into the other direction,
and keep it up till they swoon from ex
haustiOn. This is what they strive to
do. for while they are in 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 tine same story about the two
mountains that are to belch 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 animals. Some get down
on all fours and bob about like buffa-
loeS. When they cannot lose their
senses from exhaustion they butt their
heads together, beat them upon the
ground, and do anything to become in
sensible, so that they may be ushered
into the presence of the new Christ.
One poor Indian, when he recovered his
senses. said that Christ had told him he
must return to earth because he had
not brought with him his wife
and child. His child had died
TWO years before, and the
way the poor fellow cried was the most
heatrending thing ever saw. At the
end of the dance they have a great
feast, the revel lasting all Sunday night.
They kill several steers and eat
them raw, drink and gorge themselves
to make up for their fast. The arrival
OF the troops there will make the In
dians much worse, and they will surely
light. They have said all along that
nothing should break up the ghost
dances, even if they were all killed.
But then if they are allowed to continue
L think they will go craZV SO that thew
will take to the warpath anyway. They
are all we'll armed. and have plenty of
ammunition. At last Fridays dance
one of the braves was to go into
trance, and remain in this condition
four days. At the close of this
period he was to come to life
as buffalo-he would still have the
form of man, but he would be buf-
falo. They were then to kill the buff
falO, and every Indian VINO did not eat
piece of him would become a dog. The
man who was to turn into buffalo was
perfectly willing, and l suppose they
have killed and eaten him by this time.
1t the government just lets them alone
there will be 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 on creek about five
mules south of Wounded Knee, and
dancing with all their arms. Every In
dian has about four war clubs made out
of round stones twisted in raw hide.
They throw these around during the
dance, Strew the ground with them, and
beat their heads against them. The
agent with his Indian police cannot
control them, and it was necessary to
have the troops on the grOund'