Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-03-18
HUNGRY INDIANS.
Sufferings of the Chippewas Of
North Dakota
AS Seen and Described by
Bishop Stanley.

Ing IL 900, 600 Acres of Land from the
Tribe and Putting Them on Reserva,
tion Too Small for Their support.
Many Dying for Want of Food.
PHILADELPHIA, March l8.-Right Rev.
Rev. John Stanley, D. D., bishop of
North Dakota occupied the pulpit of the
cathedral here Sunday, and told pitiful
story Of the privations and sufferings of
the Chippewa Indians, occupying the
reservation at the extreme northern part
Of his diocese His object was to secure
assistance for their relief. With that
end in view he described most vividly
the condition of these Indians as wit
messed by himself during the recent cold
weather, when the thermometer marked
40 degrees below zero. He charged the
government with having stolen l1.000,-
900 acres of land this tribe possessed
when Dakota territory was divided be-
tween the Sioux and Chippewa Indians.
eleven million acres were stolen
boldly, and not one cent paid in return
for 1t, said his. Grace, land the owners
sent to the northern border of the State,
the coolest and bleakest spot in the
country, where two townships were
organized with 5000 acres of land. This
is filled with bad timber forests and
lakes, swamps and rocks On these
5000 acres were put $3.50 Indians, who
are trying to make their living. These
wards OF the United States are living
where 100 white men could scarcely
raise enough to keep them alive
His Grace then described a personal
visit to these townships, 'where," he
said, Il witnessed scenes that would
have disgraced Siberia l spent over
a week with these people, with the ther-
mometer registering 49, and sometimes
A, degrees below zero. The Indian
houses are log huts, constructed by the
Indians themselves, without flooring,
and with sheets and quilts covering the
windows and doorways. The cTevices
between the logs are filled with mud,
that cracks and falls out by the summer
heat and is blown out by the northern
winter blasts, SO that the occupants may
as well be sleeping outside. In these
huts it IS not infrequent to find six fam
lies living.
"Those 1,S3O Indians cannot make
their own living there. They have never
been supplied with proper agricultural
implements. Last spring the director of
the Catholic Indian bureau sent twenty
four plOws to these Indians, and with
these they managed to break 800 acres
OF this virgin soil. But there was no
rain, and to-day they are absolutely
destitute-no grain, no food, no clothing,
no money One thousand eight hun
dred and thirty Christians. $50 of
Gods Children-are living on the con-
IN tba Cf c+o
ton.
"While visiting these people | entered
the house of an old Indian. There was
no food in the house that day, but there
Were tears and desperation. A poor old
Indian woman had a puny, sickly child
in her arms. She wept for JOY when
she saw us, thinking God had sent relief
to her children. She showed me her
child. There was not pound of flesh
on its bones. | am sure that child is
dead. l am not easily moved, used as /
am to scenes Of misery in large cities,
but | could but Cry on that occasion. In
one corner of the room there was a bOy
6 years of age, another was crying at the
chimney place, trying to warm his
shivering form, while an old Indian was
knceling by the fireplace muttering,
probably vowing vengeance on the white
race.
"At another hovel a poor old man of
50 years of age was lying on the frozen
ground, dying of consumption; no one
near him but his poor old wife, who
knelt over him with a rosary in her
hands, praying for God to take her hus-
band. Night was setting in-no light,
no candle; no one to say kind word to
the poor old couple. And this in
Christian country, in the United States
of America; the land of the free, the
land of plenty.
I'm another hOvel | found the child
ren without clothing, gathered around
the fireplace plucking out the charred
sticks that they might roll in the warm
ashes.
THE United States appropriates S5,-
600 to these Indians, about S250 to each
one. This amount is spent in flour and
fat pork, and distributed among them.
The pork is sickening. myself would
not have believed the truth of this story
if | had not witnessed it. During the
eighteen months previous to the 1st of
January, 1890, out of 400 Indians, 100
died. During the month of January
twenty-seven died. These deaths are al
most invariably of starvation. The
women are almost universally clad IN
one garment, calico dress, to protect
them, and let it be said to their credit,
that not one woman was missing from
the little parish church on Sunday"
The reverend speaker closed by an APP
peal to the congregation to extend to
these poor people, their unfortunate
brethren, a portion of their substance for
their relief.