The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1890-11-05
EXPECT THEIR MESSIAH.
INDIANS WAITING FOR THEIR
PROMISED DELlVERER.
They Expect that All the Whites Will Bs
Killed and the Earth Given Over to the
Red Men - sitting Hull stirring Ur
Trouble Among the sioux.
Washington dispatch.l

the "Indlan millennium" craze is fast
increasing. The greatest excitement
oyer the matter exists among the Sitting
Bull faction of the Sioux, and they
promise that the millennium will come
next spring when the grass begins &c
grow, and that the white man will be
annihilated and the Indian restored &c
his former power and prestige.
This superstition, Agent James Nc.
Laughlin states, Is derived from the
more southern Sioux, and is no doubt
the same craze that has been agitating
the Shoshones i'm Wyoming and the
Cheyennes and Arapahoes in the
Indian Territory. Sitting Bull APP
pears TO be the high priest
and leading apostle of this latest
Indian absurdity, and he is the chief
mischief maker at the agency. Other
Indians prominent in the matter are
Circlng Bear, Black Bird and Circling
Hawk, OF the Standing Rock Agency;
Spotted Elk, of the Cheyenne River
Agency; and Crow Dog and Low Dog, Of
the Rosebud Agency. Sitting Bulls in
nuence as a disturbing element seems to
have grown worse during the last year,
and this is partly accounted for, the
Agent intimates, by the presence of a
woman from Brooklyn, Mrs. c. Weldon,
who vent TO the agency in June, 1889,
announcing herself as a member of Dr.
| T. \. BANDS society, the Indian De-
| Tense Association. She with DIR. Bland,
bitterly opposed the ratification OF the
| sale OF the surplus lands OF the Sioux
| Reservation by the Indians, and that
| gave the Sioux Commissioners at tho
time q great deal of trouble. Mrs.
| Weldon, the Agent reports, bestowed
| numerous presents upon Sitting Bull
ard after her departure she kept up /.
correspondence with him until last
| spring, when she again returned and To-
| Gated outside of the reservation and
about twenty-five miles from the agency.
Sitting Bull has been a frequent visitor
to her house, and is reported 10 have
grown more nsolent and worthless every
visit, Mrs. Welden's gifts enabling him
to give frequent feasts to the Indians,
| thus perpetuating old customs and en-
grating upon their supersttious nature
this additional absurdity of the new
Messiah" and the "return of the ghosts. 4"
Concerning the new craze Of the In
! dams, Agent Mclaughlin, in a letter TO
Commissioner Morgan, says:
They are told by some members OF the
! Sioux tribe, who have lately developed into
medicine men, that the Great Spirit has
| promised them that their punishment by
| the dominant race has been sufficient, and
! that their numbers now having become SO
! decimated will be re-enforced by all In
| dams that are dead; that the dead are all
returning to reinhabit this earth, which be-
| longs TO the Indians; that they are driving
| back with them as they return immense
| herds of buffalo and great herds OF wild
| horses TO be had for the catching; that the
! Great Spirit promises them that the white
h.
| future, and every attempt at such will be a
| failure, and that the gunpowder now on
| hand Will be useless against Indians. as il
will not throw "a bullet with sufficient force
| to pass through the skin OF an Indian; that
! the Great Spirit had deserted the Indians
! Tor a long period, but is now with them and
| against the whites, and will cover tile earth
with thirty feet or additional soil. well sod
! led and timbered, under which the whites
! will be smothered, and any whites who may
| escape this great catastrophe will become
| small fishes i'm the rivers OF the country.
| But I'm order to bring about this happy re-
suit the Indians must do their part, and be-
! come believers and thoroughly organize.
| 1t would seem impossible that any person
40 matter how ignorant, could be brought
to believe such absurd nonsense, but as a
matter of fact q great many Indians OF this
| agency actually believe II, and since this
| new doctrine has been engrafted here from
! he southern Sioux agencies the infection
| has been wonderful and so pernicious that
& now includes some OF the Indians who
were formerly numbered with the progress
| I've and more intelligent, and many OF our
! very best Indians appear daZed and unde-
cided when talking OF 1t, tseir inherent
superstitions having been thoroughly
| arous ID.
Agent Mclaughlin gives Sitting Bull
very bad reputation, saying:
sitting Bull is IA polygamist libertine.
/ habitual liar. active obstructiOnst, and a
great obstacle in the way OF the civiliza-
| ton OF these people, and he Is SO totally do
void OF any OF the nobler traits OF charac-
| ter and so welded TO the old Indian ways
aud superstitlons that It is doubtful IL any
| change for the better will ever come to him
lt his present age of Sc years. He has
| Ocen n disturbing element here since his
return from confinement as n military pris-
)ner in the spring OF 1883, but
| has been growing gradually worse
the last year, which Is partly to be
accounted for by the presence OF
a lady from Brooklyn named Mrs.
| ~ G. Weldon, who came in June. 1850. an
nouRcing herself as member OF DIR. Bland 3
/ society, the Indian Defense Association,
| and opposed to the Indians ratify ing the act
Of March 81, 1889, demanding of me permits
] sion TO pass through the Sioux Reservation
! to Cheyenne River Agency and TO take Sit
| ting Bull with her. The Sioux Commission
ers being then engaged negotiating with the
| indians at the southern Sioux agencies, L.
~ a matter OF course, refused to permit her
sither ~ pass through the reservation or To
| allow Sitting Bull TO accompany her. aud
compelled her To cross the Missouri River at
| this point and travel over the public roads
| outside OF the Indian Reservation, i'm conse-
| luence OF which she was very hostile to-
wards me, and wrote several letters TO diff
| ierent parties in condemnation OF my course
| Of action. While here she bestowed numer-
ous presents upon Sitting Bull, considerable
being money, which had a demoralizing eff
! feet upon him, initiating him with his i'm
| portance.
Notwithstanding the prohibtory or
| ders of the agent the "ghost dances" are
| frequently held and the excitement over
the expected millennium is spreading.
These dances are characterized by the
agent as "demoralizing, indecent AMI
disgusting, and under their influence,
the Indians act in the silly manner Of
men intoxicated.
The officials OF the Indian Bureau here
ook upon the situation as seri Gus,
Personal Notes.
Mr. CLEVELAND during his visit Ia