New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-24
that rainy day when the Of Free Traders
may make us even worse on than their English models
New York, Nov. 20, 1890. g. r. Z. ii.

THE SIOUX CRAZE AND TREE-WORSHlP.
PRIMITIVE NATURE OF MANY oBSERvANCEs IN
THE NEW MESSIAH CULr-HUMAN SAC.
RIFICEs LOGICAL NEcEs-
sITY OF THE RITES.
To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: VIII you allow mo to call attention to some
features of the present excitement among the Sioux
and related tribes in the Dakotas which should be
deemed of special interest. but arc likely to escape
attention except on the part OF experts In fokcusoms
and comparative religion II Is TO be hoped that pop
ular terror among the whites In the States where the
craze exists and In those near by may not become as
fanatical the revival Of primitive beliefs among the
Indians themselves since it is common fact of human
nature that the hatred of hereical opinion always
results in greater destruction of life than the heresy
ITSELF Up to the present time there has been morning
in the speeches Of the Indian fanatics themselves W
Indicate that they will fight unless their peculiar rites
are forcibly inerered WITH One Of the most notable
proofs Of this fact shown today IN your columns
by the address reported it is to be presumed Win ac
curacy, of the medicine man. Short bul He declares
Indeed, that the whites will be destroyed but py
divine interposton. lie expects the soldiers to fali
dead but this is to occur not by ordinary MEANS Out
through the virtue Of chant which he has taught MS
followers There Is not word OF the customary 'aih
concerning the wrongs Of the red man, or OF the de
mand for vengeance There is remarkable passage
In the discourse, which shows how slender inc
hold lis which he has upons his people, anu
how conscious he Is that II must be strengthened con-
tinually by revelations, and soon by maniless
and ndisputablc miracle. Only a short time ago IL
the burden OF the prophetic declarations that inc
destruction Of the white and the restoration OF
the Indian and the buffalo would come with the spring
ing OF tho grass and the budding OF the trees In the
spring Now Short Bull is obliged to revise ms IN
structons from the Deity He says
haV told fhoffh
two seasons, but since the whites interfering so
much, 1 will advance the time from what my Father
above told The time will be shorter. Therefore
you must not be afraid OF anything. some OF my
relatives have ears, ] will have them blown
away. Now there will be true tree sprout up, and
then all the members of your religion and the tribe
must gather together That will be 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 SILVER very hard. When
ever this thing will start the wind TO blow
We the ones who will then our fathers mocrs
and everybody. We, the tribe of Indians and the ones
who are living the sacred llfe'
That is much as to say 81 fixed the date OF
this event before, but / that many Of you are
becoming restless. You do not fully believe my
words. To convince you, the Deity whom we worship
will give the sign soon, that is at the end Of this
moon. Then tree shall put forth leaves as If spring
had come, and 1t will be no trick but q real true
will follow" palmer confession could hardly be
made by preacher that he obliged to meet
vigorous even though silent sceptcism among his
auditors This view OF the case is confirmed by the
stock argument of the Indians who have talked with
white the subject, which amounts substantially
to this, that if the white men believe that certain
miracles were once performed, why should not the
Indian believe that certain other miracles may
happen now; and, If those former wonders
actually occurred what is to prevent these
predicted wonders from occurring nowl That Is not
the attitude Of thoroughly crazed by fanaticsm
but of those who look at the matter coolly, with
philosophy which would probably lead them Alright If
il were not hampered by primitive beliefs Another
confirmation in the fact that General Brook meets
with success In converting to sceptcism many who
had been credulous. An additional confession Of
weakness on the part of Short Bull is the manner In
which he appeals to antique Indian folk lore concerning
the four corners Of the earth, important factor in
Indian opinions, but not brought into relation with
his purpose even by himself:
"Our Father in Heaven has placed mark at each
point Of the four winds. First, clay pipe, which
lies at the setting of the sun and represents the Sioux
tribe second, there is holy arrow lying at the
north which represents the Cheyenne tribe third, at
the rising Of the sum- there lies hail. representing the
Arapahoe tribe, and fourth there lies pipe and nice
feather at the SOUTH which represents the Crow tribe
My Father has shown me these things, therefore we
must continue the dance
l venture the assertion that even the indians saw
how unskiIfully this familiar fancy was forced to do
duty argument
ment must have been struck over and over again by
the recurrence of religious practices as ancient As
human nature itself but which the ordinary csea
things preserved, perhaps, In tale or In neigh
e5t"re of Ta hs eass nds to weaken the
statement that white men have had directing hand ana
lived hp
thought Of connecting new TsSn S %n
sd'lT smsf IN Europe 1Sp '' '
now, maniiestly furnishes almost the whole Of the
new ritual, as is shown In the predictions about t,e
coming of the leaves and the grass. and particularly
by the fact that tree cut down and planted anew Is
made the central object Of the dance. II Is as IL
shippers that the spirit of the tree will hasten tho
sign for which they are looking II Is signihcant
that the tree spirit is viewed by peoples. not
only dwelling in the tree but incarnate in some
of the spirit was killed and eaten. his flesh was
scattered and supposed to restore the fertility OF the
development of this present craze among the Sioux
and Cheyennes with scientific anxiety because he has
sacrifice, and perhaps with cannibasm, not cannlbal-
ism from appetite for human flesh, but from super,
ths morning in an interview with the wife Of Finley,
the post trader at the Pine Ridge agency:
into a trance and remain in this condition four days.
At the close of this period he was to come to life as
ne would be a buffalo. They were then to kill the
buffalo and every Indian who did not eat piece Of
him would become a dog. The man who to turn
into buffalo was perfectly willing, and suppose that
they have killed and ere So n by ts of
edge on the part of the person who informed Mrs.
Finley that the to be sacrificed as bunalo
RMS Interpretation may been put the matter
by queer effort OF Indian logic to suit itself t. the
IDEAS Of civilized people. More likely II ono could get
M fhe bottom of the matter and the thing Just as
the indians see II Themselves he would find that they
looked upon the proposed victim as the embodmeh. Oh
free shirt whose death indiSpen>ab 10 brlh
,bout those changes in vegetation and In animal ana
human life which they hope for. II the alleg;d Nc
Ian supposed to be Bannock Jim" is really the |
dune as well as the preacher Of his own divine claims
II he is really I'm earnest and the indians are 10. IA
npted i'm The course OF their fanatcism II would
not be AT all surprising TO find that he became sacr
fce with his own. willing consent, In the nope OF |
hrnginr about the miraculous transformation OF the