The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-02-27

The Heterogeneous Mass OF Humanity
That Assemblies to Witness the KILL
ing Feats of the PicturesqueIy-
ALFRED Warriors.
The manner Of issuing Government
-. heel y Indians occupying the various
rcscryatlons possesses something of
novel interest for those who see the pro-
coeting for the first time. 1t may be
fltai these distributions are not con-
Quoted in the same manner at all the
,ladian reservations, but the procedure
described in this sketch takes place reg
-ularEY every second week at the Pine
Ridge agency, a reservation in South
west Dakota which is occupied by about
eight thousand Indians of the Sioux and
Cheyenne tribes. large quantity of
beef and other food is necessary to sup
port so many persons. From two hundred
70 four hundred cattle are issued every
fortnight to these Indians On every
occasion of an issue of beef the In
dans have a grand holiday. For the
time being they seem to think far more
Of the excitement of catching their cat
tie than of the beef into which the cat
IT. will he turned.
At a recent distribution which at
tended four or five hundred dusky war
riors appeared. They were all mounted
on ponies dressed in buckskin shirts,
Iringed leggins and gay moccasins, and
decl1cd in the finery of colored beads
and wampnm.
o-ettntnerate all the artielesof adorn--
meut with which these curious beings
decorate their persons, and in which
their savage hearts delight would be
TO impossible. As the Indians sat
nnon their ponies in almost motionless
silence, awaiting the beginning OF the
$50 saort,- they presented an appearance at
once grotesque and barbarous.
One might have thought that instead
Of being bent upon hunting down a few
steers, these braves were to engage in a
hunt of great game. The actual bust
ness of the day was as different from a
buffalo hunt as one of the fashionable
organized fox-chases of this country is
unlike the exciting sport of following
the hounds i'll England.
Some of the costumes were savagely
magnificent. The chief garment would,
perhaps, be bead-covered shirt,
worked in great variety of colors and
picturesque figures. Its weight owing
IT'S 1ead-ef beads,=weuld perhaps be
fifteen or twenty pounds and to buy 1T
the relic hunter would have to pay as
many dollars. All these garments and
decorations were proudly worn by the
! young braves.
In their long, black, struggling hair
might be seen bits Of bright calico, rib
hons, strips of fur, strings of brass beads,
feathers, any thing that would glitter
ee make show. Those who were not
:. barcheaded wore the broad, white cow
hoy hat. Their beaded shirts and jack
. cts we're thrown open at the throats re-
vealing their dark breasts, or we're tied
about with gay handkerchief. Each
r+4lAFsras armed with rife revolver and
knife, which added to the savagery of
his appearance.
49, \. band of Indian policemen, distin-
gllishahle by their uniforms, rode. to and
fro With an indescrihable air of stoicism
andeimportance.. and at given signal
m1rshaled the mounted braves togeth-
=e47=feffHfhg them into twe-lines, which
t.sFtn at the entrance of the large cor
raj in which the cattle were confined,
and extended out upon the plain as far
, as he number of men would permit The
two lines faced each other, leaving
space tetween the horses heads through
which the doomed cattle were to pass
Whenliberated
While the warriors sat and waited the
Signal ofpursuit the young squaws rode
about in their gala dresses, two, or per-
haps even three. on one sorry-looking
lltio pony that looked as if itmight
LEAK down under its burden of chatter
: HIS giggling, gum-chewing loneliness.
The old dusky hays, wrapped in the
Inevitable blanket, and with the almost
inevitable papoose strapped on their
tltck wrangled and crowded each other,
Or 9adly. drove their rickety old wagons
about the grounds striving among them
- Ives to gain the advantageous posi-
lions for witnessing the sport about to
lakop place
" mtg spectators, too, were there in
f7''iitNb both men and women, who came
Nom miles around to view the savage
Sport. Military officers, their wives and
taa5lies, traders, settlers, travellers,
people in fact of all classes, had gath
W eft tilt NdTDdTOuS tOnDCoiSf anu
silks and diamonds squalor and rags,
fFAGtics, hags. education and refine
mAhi abject ignorance and untlmed
~sag1seey, mingled for time in one ex-
per,ant crowd.
y short speech in the indian tongue
announced the beginning of the dis
.tMhQilon. and then the names Of five or
NJ rcd men Holy skin, Six Feathers,
'ai Aieat and the like-wcre called,
~~'a'& 4 corresponding number of cattle
were Migrated and went rushing in al
Eight down between the lines Of mount
-, ~ a2sl. Who're Messrs. Holy Skin, Cut
--.Neati and The others of the first detach-
ID int4' pat spurs to their ponies, broke
from We ranks, and were OIL like the
Niha IN pursuit OF their prey.
no sooner were they gone than other
naiqe3 we're called, more cattle were re-
,eased, and the riders darted from the
= i44s-Ff Re arrows, and thus they few in
eNek succession until the plunging,
frightened cattle were all turned loose
upon The prairie, and the savage pur--
overs were dashing with yells and
sll9gts upon their mimic hunt. BY this
llA5.s1he scene had become barbarously
my,
lfaN hoy rodel Crouching close 70
!gee- @nies, their long hair fiyings
= oeseeshirts and gay ribbons Hap
la-2=---4h e air, their rides in position,
- : XII e4sMinl. MAle the be-
hs.t4eil s'4tfle dash-madly about IN 2