St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-21
NEARLY ALL BELIEVED 1T.
The Messiah Hallucination Gen
eraI Among the Indians.

Inc heSS1an HaIiuclnatIOn Gen
eral Among the Indians.
CHICAGO, Nov. 20.-At army head
quarters this afternoon Gen. Miles re-
ceived letter dated Camp Poplar
River, Mont, Nov. IS, 1890, which came
from one of the army officers at that
post, which contained considerable
matter of interest with reference to the
agitation among the Indians in the far
Northwest, concerning the new Mes
siah. The army officer says: II ar
rived here last night at IL o'clock, and
expect to continue my journey west
ward tomorrow. Capt. Wheaton. COM
| handing here, thinks that all the In
dianS Oh the reservation believe in the
Messiah craze. He says that even the
more intelligent half-breeds believe
in it. Some of the younger Indians
have recently secured new Winchesters.
where he does not know. The Indians
| here as whole are not we'll armed, but
if they had money they could soon arm
themselves. had talk with Mir. SEQ
hey, the Indian agent here, who also
thinks that the belief in the Messiah is
practically unanimous. He understands
that one of the most prominent Indians
| in the tribe believes in it. There has
been no very great excitement here yet
| upon the subject, nor" any religious
! dances, but there is deep and uniVer-
| sal interest and belief that there will
| be astonishing supernatural manifesto
tons in their behalf before very long.
| The agent says that at the time of tile
trouble with the Gros Ventles three
years ago, although the Sioux were IN
friendly to the Crows, still there was
| universal sympathy with SwUrdbearer,
GlSAnn0lnrmEnt
natural claims proved 10 be false. On
the 22d Oh October last one of Sitting
Bulls lieutenants, White Gut, and two
| other Sioux came here and preached
| the new doctrine. They denounced the
schools, and told the Indians here to
provide themselves with arms and am
munition, and meet the other Indians
next sping ill the Black Hills country.
| They were ordered Off the reservation,
| but instead OF going back to Sitting
| Bull they went to Woody mountain,
| north of the British line, to carry the
| tidings to the remnants of Ogallalas and
| Uncapapas that are still there. A loyal
Indian who lives sixteen miles away
| was at the agency to-day. and have just
had a long talk with him. Whatever
he may have said to others, he
has no belief i'll the new craze.
He says that Sitting Bull has
been particularly "bad hearted" since
the death of his only surviving child
one year ago. He has lot of very ugly
| Indians about him who encourage each
other, and they talk and powwow and
| keep up the excitement to such extent
| that there is danger of bloOdShed before
things can be quieted. He says that if
| the Indians with Sitting Bull should
| start disturbance or outbreak, and
| were not very quickly quelled, party
| OF young warriors from here would very
| likely start across the country to join
| them. He agrees that the belief in the
| Messiah is practically unanimous.
| There is no intention of committing any
| Outrages at present, but the Indians are
hoping for something wonderful. There
| are still fOrty-eight lodges of OgallalaS
and Uncapapas north of the boundary
line about Woody mountain. They have
no chief, but their principal SpokeS-
| man Is q Brule-SiOuX named Black Bull.
| There are about 800 of these Indians.
| Two of the Inkpaduta Indians, who
| were in the Custer affair in the Little
Big Horn, and four other Indians con-
cerned i'll the Minnesota massacre of
1862 are at some distance east of Woody
mountain. north of Turtle mountain
One of these warriors claims to have
| Gen. CDSter'S horse, medIum-SiZed
Sorrel, and it is believed that his claim
Is genuine. The Inkpaduta massacre
was twenty-five years ago, and only
thirteen or fourteen warriors were en-
gagged i'll it. Two of them were killed,
and probably the two referred to are
the only survivors. Most of the warri-
ors at Woody mountain have been guilty
of some particularly barbarous act, and
were afraid to come in when the others
did. lie also says that the Gros Ventres,
| 10 I'm In
are excited over the Messiah and are
more ugly than the Indians here. After
White Cuts visit small party of In
dianS started from here to visit Sitting
Bull, and also to find, if possible, the
new Messiah. On the way to Standing
Rock agency one of them, Yellow
Hawk, said lie had n revelation ordering
him to kill himself as test of faith,
with the promise that he should be
raised from the dead. He committed
suicide, accordingly, and the party went
on without him. When they reached
Standing Rock agency they found Vel
low Hawk there, alive and we'll, having
been reSurrected and assisted by the
great Messiah TO the agency in advance
of his late companions. The party has
not returned, but this is the story they
sent back. In conversation with Gen.
Miles regarding the Importance of the
! l6tteT, the general referred TO the TACT
that in 1862. during the war of the re-
belion this Indian chef InKaputa. who
is at the head of his band. was con-
cerned IN the massacre, which is mat
ter of history. where within the space
| of ten days 500 persons were massacred
in cold blood. The general has no hes
itancy in saying that he regards this In
dian InkaDuta, above referred to, as
one OF the most dangerous and blood
thirsty redskins in that part of the
country.
"One thing which is most satisfactory
to me- said the general, lis the fact
that the troops made the forced
march under cover of the night, and
reached their point of destination be-
fore the Indians had inaugurated hOstil-
tiles. and the further fact that they are
not committing any serious acts of tio-
lence is favorable, and now they have
to attack our troops in our own position,
or else resort to breaking away from
the reservation. In other words the
principal danger now is that the violent
element may break away and leave the
reservation. The appearance of Gen.
Brooke will have the effect, certainly,
of sustaining the authority of the gov
eminent at those agencies, and give
protection to any of the loyal element
among the Indians. 1t will have the
tendency to separate the turbulent from
those who are friendly to the govern.
! ment."