The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-03-26

paralyzed husband. Clumps of Indians,
six and seven i'm the groups-making
the fatal number l3-gathered In the
neighborhoOd of the deceased and
held dark council as to the cause of
death. Finally, a verdict was reached
and without n dissenting voice the in
| nocent but unfortunate squaw was on
yicted of having killed him. They
| charged that she had dispatched a
number of Indians through the agency
of a bottle of poison that she kept
| about her. to which she had only to
| speak and the deadly contents would
assume the form of n rattlesnake that
would speed away and take up its abode
i'm the person against whom she held
malice. Once e%nsconced, it made rapid
tours through the body from head to
! feet. and soon laid the temple low, after
which IL again transformed itself into
a white powder and returned to the
bottle.
They at once decided that the squaw
must he sacrificed and they began
, casting about for an eXecutiOner. The
lot fell To Joe Buck, a highly re-
spected and promising young Indian,
| decidedly the most intelligent and best
educated of his tribe. Reaching the
| squaw's "wick-i-up" he assaulted her
with stones and felled her to the earth,
| then beat out her brains, which oozed
through the top of the smashed skull.
| To make sure of the CHASTITY work he
! drew his knife and cut her throat from
ear to ear. This murderous tragedy
was perpetrated in the presence of her
| p~aralyzed husband. who was unable to
offer the slightest resistance. Her body
was rolled in a blanket and left with
| him. over which he screamed and raved
until the agent had her buried. Joe
returned and was enthusiastically ap-
| plauded. The tribe argued that
! through this human sacrifice their
medicine man would triumph over
death, and not only be restored to
life, but be endowed with health and
youth. Upon what grounds they
founded this belief it is difficult to m
derstand. since this cruel and lawless
custom has been in practice among
them from time immemorial, and
they. of course, have never known a
single instance where the dead came
back TO life. The ceremonies which
marked their strange attempt 10 Drl1g
the medecine man back to life are thus
described by the correspondent:
Under the direction OF the master Of cere-
monies, captain 'eofs'' y huniDrf ol sinhMs
seated themselves on ine groohu lfohisenonsiy
I....a and .t.np. 40. ms IN fafftt k.Efnf.ff.luS .uul,
mere ana ihefe :" as 10 FORM sriiflicies' eacn
containing respectively ihe NUMBERS SIX anu
seven. From inem III, In'essahi wall went up
wiie from outside oi 'ne cioWd iohr otiier
s'ilaws were sia,iohfn 's'anuihe' NJ me tour
cifuiiGh points, WHO J"hhc" III tne waning anu
III the same tlihe SLOWLY removed ihrir garments
"mr y! unr, un'n mas ,nru.h ~, a"nos N nuu.;
10 tear their garments into shrcds and wind
them into balls, which they carefully deposited
III me sage nrnsn.
MI sr l"' NM, .sIS wai,ins so III ,.i y , s' ~ ~. ~. a,r
and talking in a low tone. apparently to himself.
when suddenly, breaking on at a tangent he rode
nnrriedly 70 ,ns no,,n ABOUT u hundred Sarns'
Nsr",.. Startling tones villa, seemed IN h" a ncr'
empiory order, in obedience to which, the In
dian men, headed by Captain sam, chief Of the
nn",n"nen' NV n NV "na .aa mnsp', !. i n.n, !,
and uus,r,, 10 The Ton Of the wagon body and
s'f' lfE''' '" ~ ~ - ~ 10y '''
seating themselves thereon. they screamed and
Yelled, ana threw Their ninos WILLY INTO lhc AR
mn,u seemingly they had worked ih,msrIye,
into AN infnria,ied frenzy. Al Of n sudden n
dcatl.like silence rcigned for about ten or fifteen
,a,,.' ~, mm no, NM, naprl un,.s ' h.s,n. nv. oar"sn "n,
talked To il in pleading tones, concerning temp.
oral matters, and implored il 10 return to life.
hlsins from ,h.,r h'ar,,hg l"s.arn, ,nry s'ooa
w,i'e,i "a frw minutes for signs Of resussi,a,ian'
When none rame. they rent the air with three
simultaneous whoops and all Of them leaped
n., \, a., nao "a,i in, M SiN r ,na " s,n", S IN |"
titndc that indicated prayer.
Considerable more rigmarole of n
similar nature was INDUCED i'm. in.
Guiding the firing of twelve rifle shots
over the corpse. This was the final
invocation, and when nothing came of
il the body was lowered into the
.. M. l.l h.l al,tl..,. ..l