The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-06-05
THE CHIEFS HORSE.


How a Young Lad Had His Curl
esity Fully 9ratffed.
For three or four years, when was q
boy, had a great desire to live with the
Indians. Not that really wished to be.
come an Indian; but I had heard stories
about Indians, andI thought it would be
grand sport TO hunt deer with bow and
arrows, hurl a tomahawk and paddle a
bark canoe over foresight lakes and
rivers.
AS compared with the drudgery OF
work at home on my fathers farm in
Pennsylvania, this free, wild life seemed
very attractive. If only could go and
live with some old Indian chief-live
with him In his lodge and go.hunting or
on the war-path with him--I thought
that / should be perfectly happy.
A great many boys have had similar
foolish dreams-and even some few
girls! Two young ladies have, within
the last twenty-five years, gone so far
as to marry Indian chiefs and live In In
dian villages, and this they did purely
from choice, having been drawn TO it by
the deceitful stories read in the low
story papers. Deceitful, for in both
Gases these unfortunate girls led
wretched lives, and embraced the first
good opportunity to get back to their
civilized homes. " - =
Stripped OF all romance, life in an In
,..tr. To \ o,I
existence. Filth, squalor, bad food and
degrading associations are invariably
found there The Indian at home is
taciturn, stolid and morose, often ma
Hcious and cruel; withal he is super
stitious to degree almost incredible to
a civilized person.
/ make these statements from personal
knowledge, for itchanced that my boy
ish wish to visit an Indian village was
) gratified, and that / nearly lost my life
there from SO trivial thing as merely
patting the old chiefs horse. It came
about in the following manner:
Atthe age of fifteen it became neces-
sary that should leave my home and go
and live with my paternal Uncle Ed
ward, who had recently settled in the
then new town Of Lawrence, Kansas.
arrived there the next day after Guam
trell's raid, and l found that my uncle,
in whose new store was to be employed,
had been burned out of both house and
store. In fact, he had lost all his prop
erty, and had escaped the massacre, he
and Aunt Cynthia, only by hiding in a
bushy hollow near the town, where they
completed their atrocious work and had
ridden away.
] had boys longings to see stirring
scenes and military movements. As
listened to the oft-repeated tale how the
raiders had swooped down upon the
peaceful town at daybreak, spreading
devastation everywhere, l regretted
that had not arrived in time to witness
the exciting spectacle.
While looking about the ruins of the
town, fell in with an Indian boy who
had come over from his reservation,
some miles away, to view the scene of
destruction. Manatowa was quite wild
enough in his appearance to suit the
most romantic fancy. He wore scarlet
blanket and buckskin leggins. He was
adorned with feathers and bedaubed
with paint. He was also begrimed with
smut, for, with the avarice of his race,
he had been stirring up the ashes of the
confagration, seeking such articles of
plumber as the flames had notconsumed.
He had picked up a little English and
was able to respond to my questions.
Strange as it may seem, was quite
m n n Ia f,l1y xys.i,pe, rod II; N
and on learning that the Sank and Fox
Indians had not been ON the war-path
since the days of Black Hawk, I pro-
posed to Manatowa tomake trip with
him to his reservation.
Elbow go? Own pony?" Manatowa
asked. / did not own pony, and my
uncle's horse had been stolen by the
raiders 1t seemed at first that my pro-
ject must be given up; but Manatowa
proposed plan by which it might be
carried out, considerably to his adj
vantage.
me bring two pony" he said. ''One
carry home tings, pick up; pay money,
ride"
"But how shall get back to Law
rence?' inquired.
PAY money, ride back; me come too"
was Manatowa's crafty response.
/ had but little money left from the
expenses Of my journey westward, with
little present prospect of getting more;
but so strong was my desire to go with
the young redslzin that l was not long
deciding to make a trade with him.
His price for pony hire was exorbitant
ten dollars-but finally we made bar
gain for four dollars
My uncle had gone to, Leavenworth to
make arrangements for reopening his
business. My aunt, who had a we'll
founded dread of being left behind and
running the risk Of experiencing an
other raid accompanied him. Hence /
was left to exercise my free-will in anus
ing myself as ! could.
When the ponies were led out by
ManatowasI found that the one which
:. had hirdd WAS loaded down with worth
less articles Of plumber, such as frying
pans, stove-lids, empty jugs and old tin
ware, tied together with strings. and
dangling from the, scrubby little beast,
producing altogether "a very eomical eff
feet. In the midst Of this load mounted,
having by good deal ofsFeontrivance
cleared space on the pony's back
Our journey to the reservation was
slow and tedious; for when I tried to
make the pony trot, the tin-ware banged
and ratified so noisily that was forced to
let the creature relapse into walk. A
plaring summer sun shone down, upon
us for hours as we plodded on over the
open prairie, and am sure that nothing