Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-12-18
SITTING BULLS BELIEF.
''csl Ilnighty id not n,ls n an
A6sley Indian"
HIS DEATH WAS DESIRED.
Graphic Description Of his Capture
and Fall.

Standing Rock Agency, Dec. H..
"God Alntshty made me. God A.
mighty lid not make me an AGENCY
Indian, and I'n fight and I,II die
hgnhng before any white man
make me an agency Indian. yhs.
was the declaration mad. BY Sitting
bun to General Miles, and thu de.
/ tailed repcrn Of the great medicine
mane death which began arriving
al The agency yesterday gave to the
declaration the full force of a
prophecy. All the eye witnesses
agree as to the facts that, every
Circumstances cuusfdered, make
the final tragedy involving the ex.
termination Of probably the braIniest
inuian that ever lived, one of the
most rictcressce and Characteristic
inc'iers OF American history.
inat the government ssthorities.
civil as well as military, from Presi. |
dent Harr-on and General Miles
DOVE preferred the death OF the
famous old savage to his car.ure
wnole-skinned, few persons here.
Indian or white, have a doubt. 1t
was feis that Sitting Bulls presence |
anywhere even behind an iron door |
was a menace.
The expedition which started |
rom this agency for Sitting Bulls
lonely camp, forty miles distant,
TO take him. dead or alive, with
the chances ten TO one Of his
death, was no haphazard foray Of
semi-savage Indian police and
ili-advised army subordinates. There
is every reason to believe the
whole affair was q carefully planned
military maneaver, originating
with no less q person than General
Miles himself, sanctioned in the
War Department at Washington
and authorized before President
Harrison's cabinet. 1t is conceded
that the operation against Sitting
Bulls personality was suggested by
the ef-ctual quelling produced by
the removal of Medicine Arrow.
the great Cheyenne leader, when
the Cheyennes threatened an I'M
precedented uprising. The promise
10 ''die lighting" quoted above and
made by Sitting Bull personally TO
General Miles on tine occasion Of
their first meeting, had much to do
also in shaping the determination
for a sudden decisive assault. as
well as the old chiefs oft-expressed
wish to be remembered as the Last
Indian on the continent to give Up
his rife. -,
When General Miles left Chicago
heading in this direction II was the
beginning OF the end. Simultaneous
with the General stepping quietly
aboard the train at the big railroad
depot in Chicago, the expedition
which had been with equal quietude
under preparation st Fort Yates,
which forms part Of the agency, was
also ready to move. Almost at the
same moment that General Miles,
car glided out for the northwest, the
af mis- little command here,
like SO many automatons guided by
his will, silently took their depar-
ture and were quickly lost in the
inky blackness that enveloped the
stretching to the camp of
Sitting Bull on the banks of the
Grand River.
The van was led by men Of Sitting
Bulls own blood, superbly .
and accoutred, and every .
one wearing the bright brazen but
tons and Snowy blue cloth uniforms
of UncleS Sans service. This was
no mere coincidence. 1t was to be
part Of the great ohject-lesson to the
ghost dancers, and demonstration
OF the value of General Miles, new
method of solving the Indian prob
lem by turning the Indians by
wholesale into soldiers. One thing ,
is certain, the baad OF well-fed,
warmly clad, eopper-faced athletes
that led the way for the white SOL {
diery bent on n mission of utility
We're a striking contrast TO the a
starving, ragged, crazy wretches
that with such cunning
leader as Sitting Bull formed such {
menace in the Grand River camp.
Close behind the blue-coated Indian
hardy ponies, but taking !
4 slower pace on the frozen trail, |
anne Captain Fouchet's cavalry
The cavalry were en-
.umbered with two pieces OF modern
light artillery machine guns similar
10 those which SO speedily settled
he fate of Louis Riel's half-hreed
followers when his noted lieutenant :
4 .briel Dumont made n stand !;
.Cainst GeneIal Middleton in the ;,
British northwest outbreak. To the !,
-ear of Fouchet's cavalry, and at
lines taking q double-quick TO keep r.
warm, for the night was bitterly \
old, the infantry command o: Col.
Drum swung along In the darkness. \
A weary, difiicult march it was, too, +
he depressing monotouy broken r
At intervals by an infantryman's =
.urses as he stumbled over an obsta-
lie In the road orawkwardlyt ripped
against a nearly benumbrd COM
-aie. The distance and the capa- [
,ilities of the troops to Withstand
he fatigues Of such a journey had
,een figured out to q nicely, and p
when the first faint light Of dawn C
appeared. the expedition was with ,
n easy distance of its destination. =
The broken order Of triple SEP Y
iration Of forces had been carefully v
and the Indian police :
we're the first to sight the huddled =,
cluster Of ugly looking tepees on =
The river bank. Despite the early :,
hour. all We're astir in the village, ;,
where on every hand was evidence :,
that hurried exodus was contem- :;
plated. The ponies OF the police II
were pushed now for all they were a,
worth and before Sitting Bulls n
iazed adherents had half a chance =
b realize the situation a dozen OF =,
the police had pulled their painting =
- L l.Hs.I ~ rn..t