Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-11-28
One OF Sitting Bulls Lieutenants
Visits Them and Starts the
Messiah Craze.
Thay We're Ordered off the Reserva.
ton, and Then Went North to
the Woody Mountains,
Where Live Some Notorious Out
{ Throars Who Were in the Custer
and Minnesota M~assacres.
Indian Affairs in Montana.

CHICAGO, Nov. 20-At the army head
quarters this afternoon, Gen. Miles received
a letter dated Camp Poplar river, Mont,
Nov. IL, 1890, which came from one of the
army officers at that post, which contained
considerable matter of interest with refer
ence to the agitation among the Indians in
the far northwest concerning the new
Messiah" The army officer says: "Cap-
tain Wheaton, commanding here, thinks all
the Indians on the reservation believe in
the messiah craze. He says even more in.
telligent half breeds believe in it. Some of
the younger Indians have recently procur-
ed new Winchesters,-where, he does not
know. The Indians here, as a whole, are
not we'll armed, but if they had money they
could soon arm themselves" l had a talk
with Scobay, the Indian agent here, who
also thinks the belief in the messiah is
practically unanimous. There has been
no very great excitement here yet upon
the subject, nor any religious dances, but
there is a. deep and universal interest and
belief that there will be astonishing super
natural manifestations in their behalf be-
oAS ~ AohSs VII AAu VI ldoU OCGDUCI,
n of Sitting Bulls lieutenants, White
Gut, and two other SiOuxs, came here and
preached a new doctrine. They denounced
schools and told Indians here to provide
themselves with arms n ammunition and
meet other Indians next spring in the
Black Hills country. They were ordered
off of the reservation but instead of going
back to Sitting Bull, they went to
Woody mountain, north of the British line,
to carry tidlngs to the remnants of the
Ogalallas and Uncapopas that are still
there: A loyal Indian says that there are
still 4S lodges of Ogalallas and Uncapopas
north of the boundary line, about Woody
mountain. They have no chief, but their
principal spokesman is a Brule Sioux
named Black Bull. There are about 300
of these Indians. Two of the Jnkpaducah
Indians who were in the Custer affair in
the Little Big Horn and four other Indians
concerned in the Minnesota massacre of
1862 are at some distance east of WOODY
mountain, north of Turtle mountain. One
OF the warriors claims to have
GEN. %CUsTER's HORSE,
a medium sized sorrel, and it is believed
his claim is genuine. The I%nkpaducah
massacre was rs years ago and only Is or
ID warriors were engaged in it. Two of
them were killed and probably the two re-
terred to are the only survivors. Most of
the warriors at Woody mountain have
been guilty OF some particularly barbarous
act and We're afraid to come in when the
others did. He also says the Gros Ventres
or Fort 8elknap reservation Indians are
excited over the messiah and are more
ugly than the Indians here. After White
Cuts visit a small party Of Indians start
ed from here to visit Sitting Bull, and also
to find, if possible, the new messiah. On
the way to the Standing Rock agency, one
Of them, Yellow Hawk, said he had a rev.
elatlon ordering him to kill himself as a
test of faith, with the promise that he
should be raised from the dead.
HE COMMITTED SUICIDE,
accordingly, and the party went on with
out him. When they reached Standing
Rock agency they found Yellow Hawk
there, alive and we'll, having been resur-
rected and assisted by the Great Messiah
to the agency in advance of his late com.
panions. The party has not yet returned,
bnt this is the story they sent back"
THE GENERALS OPINION.
In conversation with General Miles re-
garding the Importance of the letter, the
general referred to the fact that in 1862,
during the war of the rebellion, this Indian
chief, lnkpaducah, who is at the head of a
band, was concerned in the massacre,
which is a matter of history, when within
a space of ten days 800 persons were mas
sacred in cold blood. The general has no
hesitancy in saying he regards this In
dian, l~nkpaducah, above referred to, as one
OF the most dangerous and ~bloodthirsty
redskins in that part OF the country.
"One thing which is most satisfactory to
me-" said the general, sis the fact that the
troops, which made a forced march under
cover of night, had reached their point of
destination before the Indians had inaugu-
rated hostilities; and the further fact that
they are not committing any serious
have to attack our troops in our own posi-
ton, or else resort to breaking away from
the reservation. In other words, the prin-
cipal danger now is that the violent ele-
ment may break away and leave the reser-
walton. The appearance of General
Brooke will have tile effect, certainly, of
sustaining the authority Of the government
at those agencies and give protection to
any OF the loyal. element among the In
dams. 1t will have a tendency to separate
tho ftrrhI,l are fro-, I,o~~ -.