The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-01-30
VALIANT CHIEF JOSEPH.


VALIANT CHIEF JOSEPH.
o. nsvislh Cfv1iizatisn to TsII u TIE
wrongs of His Race
Joseph, the noted Nez Perre chief,
anne from The Dzlles Sunday morning
He decided to come to Portland any
way and make sure Of seeing General
Gibbon
Chief Joseph Is q remarkably fine
specimen Of man. He is fully six feet
In his moccasins and weighs about two
hundred pounds. He wears . neatly
fitting suit Of navy blue, with United
States brass buttons ornamentng the
scat A light blue silk handkerchief
of n az
flannel shirt was the only bit Of bright
color about him His features are very
fine, and denote decided character; his
forehead is broad and high. slightly
sloping from pair Of heavy beetiing
eyebrows, above pair or piercing black
eyes. His hair, black and straight, is
fine for an Indians, and is
glossy without bears grease He wears
it brushed high from his forehead, the
long ends being worked into two short
braidss which In frent OF each ear
His hands and feet are small and we'll
shaped; OF the former he is very proud,
and spends much time in manicuring
them. His skin is OF light copper
color, and in the sunlight takes on a
beautiful reddish hue. He is certainly
very prepossessing Indian.
In the course OF a conversation held
through Mr.. Chapman the old chief said:
~ am about forty-nine years old, and
live on the Colville reservation with Ill
of my band. am very sorry did not
see Senator Dawes. | wanted to ask
him to give US school on the Nespelem.
Our young boys must learn to read and
write.
sszssI can not talk or understand En-
glish; don't know why, but can't get
it through my ears. want to, but be-
cause ] did not learn when | was young
I have to sit here in this room and am
not able to understand word you say.
II am very anxious to GO. my people
to HEe-in houses, and they want to Hive
that way also. My people are not lazy,
but they don't know how to work, and
there is no one to teach them or show
them how"
The chief spoke freely of the trouble
he had had with the late Indian agent at
the reservation.
For two years,n"h he said, 1--WE have
had logs cut by our young men lying by
the Government mill, waiting for them
to be sawed into lumber, SO that we could
build houses, but the agent would do
nothing for us.
"This thing Of feeding, feeding all the
time is not the way to help us. We want
to learn to work and how to live. Give
us chance and a start and we will get
along.
81 am going nov to see my great friend
General Gibbon. / will tell YOU shat ]
want to live like the white man, but
can not work with my fingers unless
have some one to show me how Mr..
Cole, the new agent, seems to take some
interest in us. He has already begun to
cut some of our logs"
Chief Joseph again reverted TO the
governments Indian policy.
rive were all right in 1885, he said,
when we were in our own country, and
all we asked was to be let alone. Then
we were told the reservation system was
the best thing for u.s. and again we
were driven from them, and are now
told, when there are few Of us left, that
we must each take 100 acres of land,
work it, and are not even taught how!
"My people are all dying off, and it is
the fault Of the agents who do not show
us how, to live. When went to the In
dian Territory my band numbered over
thousand. and look at them nown
81 Chief Joseph's companion and inter
prefer was Mr.. Joseph r. Chapman, who
probably knows more about Indians than
any other man in this country and was
for many years an Indian scout and
fighter. Mr.. Chapman was good enough
to explain the real cause Of the trouble
that drove Joseph on the war-path.
The interpreter, Whitman, told the In
dams that General Howard said If they
were not all back on the reservation in
thirty days with their stock the soldiers
would drive them back and take what
stock was left without the line. AT
least that is the way Joseph understood
him.
General Howard, however, did NOT
mean to take their stock; he would have
given them time to get all their
horses.
The Indians tried hard to get their
stock across Snake river, and lost more
than half of it, and were even then not
in time; SO they became disheartened
and took to the mountains, where a
council was held and war declared, Jo-
seph himself being off on hunting trip
on the day they came to the decision,
but of course agreed to it.-Portland
Oregonian.