St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-21
NEARLY ALL ,BELIEVED 1T.
The Messiah Hallucination Cen
craI Among the Indians.

The Messiah Hallucination Gen
eraI Among the Indians.
CHICAGO, Nov. 20.-At army head
| quarters this afternoon Gen. Miles re-
! ceived letter dated Camp Poplar
| River, Mont, Nov. is, 1890, which came
from one of the army officers at that
! post, which contained considerable
matter of interest with reference to the
agitation among the Indians in the far
| Northwest, concerning the new Mes
siah. The army officer says: II ar
rived here last night at II o'clock, and
| expect to continue my journey west
ward tomorrow. Capt. Wheaton. COM
manding here, thinks that all the In
| dians on the reservation believe in the
| Messiah craze. He says that even the
more intelligent half-breeds believe
| in it. Some of the younger Indians
| have recently secured new WinchesterS,
where he does not know. The Indians
| here as whole are not we'll armed, but
| If they had money they could soon arm
| themselves. L had talk with Mir. SEQ
| bey, the Indian agent here, who also
| thinks that the belief in the Messiah is
| practically unanimous. He understands
| that one of the most prominent Indians
| in the tribe believes in it. There has
| been no very great excitement here yet
| upon the subject, nor" any religious
dances, but there is a deep and univer-
sal interest and belief that there will
| be astonishing supernatural manifesto
tiOns in their behalf before very long.
The agent says that at the time of tile
| trouble with the Gros VentleS three
years ago, although the Sioux were un-
friendly to the Crows, still there was
| universal sympathy with SwUrdbearer,
and disappointment when his super
| natural claims proved TO be false. On
the 22d OF October last one of Sitting
Bulls lieutenants, White Gut, and two
| other Sioux came here and preached
the new doctrine. They denounced the
schools, and told the Indians here to
provide themselves with arms and am
| munltlon, and meet the other Indians
| next Splng i'll the Black Hills country.
They were ordered off the reservation,
but instead OF going back to Sitting
Bull they went to Woody mountain,
| north of the British line, to carry the
| tidings to the remnants of OgallalaS and
Uncapapas that are still there. A loyal
Indian who lives sixteen miles away
| was at the agency to-day. and have just
had long talk with him. Whatever
he may have said to others. he
has no belief in the new craze.
| liz HuJo lldI OilllilS Has
been particularly "bad hearted" since
the death of his only surviving child
one year ago. He has lot of very ugly
Indians about him who encourage each
other, and they talk and powwow and
| keep up the excitement to such extent
| that there is danger of bloodShed before
things can be quieted. He says that if
the Indians with Sitting Bull should
start disturbance or outbreak, and
were not very quickly Quelled, party
of young warriors from here would very
| likely start across the country to Join
them. He agrees that the belief in the
| Messiah is practically unanimous.
There is no Intention Of committing any
outrages at present, but the Indians are
| hoping for something wonderful. There
are still fOrty-eight lodges of Ogallalas
and UncapapaS north of the boundary
line about Woody mountain. They have
no chief, but their principal spokes-
| man Is Brule-SiOuX named Black Bull.
There are about 800 of these Indians.
| Two of the 1nkpaduta Indians, who
were in the Custer affair in the Little
Big Horn, and four other indians con-
cerned i'll the Minnesota massacre of
1862 are at some distance east of Woody
mountain. north of Turtle mountain.
One of these warriors claims to have
| zen. CDSterS horse, medIum-SZed
sorrel, and it is believed that his claim
is genuine. The Inkpaduta massacre
was twenty-five years ago, and only
thirteen or fourteen warriors were en-
gagged III 1t. Two of them were killed,
and probably the two referred to are
the only survivors. Most of the warri-
orS at Woody mountain have been guilty
of some particularly barbarous act, and
were afraid to come i'll when the others
did. lie also says that the GrOS VentreS.
or the Fort Belknap reservation Indians,
are excited over the Messiah and are
more ugly than the Indians here. After
White Cuts visit small party of In
| dams started from here to visit Sitting
Bull, and also to find, if possible, the
new Messiah. On the way to Standing
Rock agency one of them, Yellow
Hawk, said lie had a revelation ordering
him to kill himself as test of faith,
with the promise that he should be
raised from the dead. He committed
suicide, accordingly, and the party went
on without him. When they reached
Standing Rock agency they found Yel-
low Hawk there, alive and we'll, having
been resurrected and assisted by the
great Messiah TO the agency in advance
OF his late companions. The party has
not returned, but this is the story they
sent back. In conversation with Gen.
Miles regarding the Importance of the
letter, the general referred to the fact
that in 1862. during the war of the re-
belliOn this Indian chef Inkaputa, who
is at the head of his band. was con-
cerned IN the massacre, which is mat
ter of history. where within the space
of ten days 500 persons were masSacred
in cold blood. The general has no hes
itancy in saying that he regards this In
dian InkaDuta, above referred to, as
one OF the most dangerous and blood
thirsty redskins in that part of the
country.
'One thing which is most satisfactory
to me-" said the general, ''is the fact
that the troops made the forced
march under cover of the night, and
reached their point of destination be-
fore the Indians had inaugurated hOstil-
lties, and the further fact that they are
, not committing any serious acts of tio-
; lence is favorable, and now they have
to attack our troops in our own position,
or else resort to breaking away from
; the reservation. In other words the
principal danger now is that the violent
element may break away and leave the
reservation. The appearance of Gen.
Brooke will have the effect, certainly,
OF sustaining the authority of the gov
ernment at those agencies, and give
protection to any of the loyal element
among the Indians. 1t will have the
tendency to separate the turbulent from
those who are friendly to the govern
J ment."