The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-12-27
THE REAL HAIR-RAISERS.
WHY THE RED MAN DESIRES THE
TOP OF PEOPLES READS.

Differs With Different Tribes-Story
of Man Who Was Scalped and
Lives to Tell the Story.
From the San Francisco Examiner.
It is the fall of 1878. The Cheyennes.
dissatisfied with their place in the Indian
Territory, have broken into small bands
and are breaking for their old home IN the
north. Two companies of United States cav
airy are in pursuit, but the Indians out
number the soldiers, and when the troops
get too close they turn and fight like cor
nered wildcats.
Every day the soldiers find fresh evil
dences of the ferocity of the savages they
are pursuing. Every village along their
path has been devasted. The mutilated
bodies of men lie in the streets-four or five
in every town.
Finally the troops reach the village or
Mennonites. There they find twenty-seven
dead men aud boys, almost the entire male
population of the town. The Indians were
less merclful 60 the women. A fate worse
than death was theirs. Several of them are
found naked and stark mad wandering on
the prairie.
There are other marauding bands of In
dams in the country, but the work of the
Cheyenne is unmistakable.
The bodies are not scalped. This is the
Cheyennes' way OF expressing contempt for
those he kills. There is no glory IN carry
ing the scalp of a man who will not fight.
One of the articles of the faith of the sect
that constitutes the population of the vii
lage is adherence of war and all manner
of bloodshed. There was not a firearm in
the village when the 200 Indians swept
through it.
L.
horse lying on the prairie. Near him is a
cowboys hat; by it lie two or three empty
rifle cartridges. There was q fight here. A
hundred yards further on are more shells.
and the grass is spotted with blood
Fifty yards further they fad the body of
a cowboy. About him are more shells
pistol cartridges this time.
The cowboys long hair is gone Here
was an adversary whom there was some
glory in killing. To the soldiers familiar
with life and death on the plains there is no
mystery about what they see on the prairie
there.
The cowboy met the Indians and rode for
his life away from them. But among all
those who pursued some must have had
horses swifter than the cowboys pony. He.
tried to keep them back with his rifle, but
the Cheyennes are not towards So the
unequal race was run, the Indians firing as
they pursued. They shot his horse, and he
tried to make a fort of the animals body.
Maybe he kept them off for a tlme-the
empty shells would indicate as much. Then
they began to circle out around him to take
him from the rear. His fort was no longer
tenable, and he ran again.
Where the second shells and the blood
stained grass were found bullet reached
him, and he went down, still fighting. He
must have recovered enough to make one
other effort. Another shot reached him as
he sank from exhaustion. and he fought on
TO the end with his six shooter.
That is why they took his scalp.
Just the hair on top of the dead COWBOYS
head was gone. The scalping knife cut
around just below the line of the hair on
the forehead. Then the knife circled his
head, taking in that portion of the scalp
where the hair divides behind.
That is the way they scalp white man.
Had their victim been Sioux or a Kiowa
they would not have taken SO much. But a
white man does not distinguish his scalplock.
The scalplock consists of the axis of the
scalp. Just that spot where the hair that
you brush to the front and to the sides Joins
that which you brush back toward the neck.
Nearly all the Indians take great trouble
with the scalplock. They let the hair grow
longer there THAI anywhere else and braid
It as carefully as Chinaman does his queue
Frequently they braid strings of buckskin
or rabbt-skin in it and ornament it with
bits OF glass or bright metal. Death to one
OF these Indians, provided he does not lose
his scalplOck, means little. He is never dis
honored while this wisp of hair is still
attached to his skull.
In the earlier days of Indian fighting a
whole tribe would hold dance of rejoicing
If they found their dead after battle un-
scalped Some of the western tribes have a
belief that accounts for the consideration
with which the scalplock is regarded. 1t is
that the spirit of the dead Indian is lifted I'D
10 the happy hunting-grounds by his scalp
lock- and without this appendage he can
never reach the Indian paradise.
So these Indians will do ANYTHING to pre-
vent their scalps from ornanenting the belt
or tepee of an enemy. There are numerous
instances of warriors who, finding them
selves cut Oft from all hopes of escape, have
ridden over precipices and gone down sing
ing song of triumph; because the enemy
could not get their hair.
1 his IS also the reason that the Indians
always carry of their dead and hide their
bodies where they can never be found
The manner of scalping varies little
among different tribes. The Sioux take a
smaller piece of the scalp than most others,
but even this depends entirely on the
amount of time they have for the opera
ton.
They are not, however, as particular as
the Cheyennes and as to the character of
Ihe man from whose head the hair comes.
Their habit is to scalp every man, woman
or child that they kill
But the Indians ere a strange people, and
no rule is invariable. For instance, when
tney wiped out Clusters command the
Chief with yellow" hair was not touched.
1hey took his epaulets and belt, but that
was all, while many of the soldiers were
hacked and mutilated frightfully.
And yet Custer had been their most con-
slant enemy. and had fought as long as
There was breath in his body.
During the devastating march of the
Cheyennes northward a couple of Can't.
woods troopers were killed. They buried
them near where they fell. After the Indian
trouble was over the soldiers went out after
the bodies of their comrades. They found
That the Indians had dug them up and
scalped them.
~, The process of scalping is very simple
The Indian simply holds the hair on the top
OF the head in the left hand. Two semi
circular cuts are made, and then good
pun tears the scalp off.
In Stockton street saloon a dusty hand
1ul Of hair is nailed to the wall It is the
scalp Of Running Devil, Comanche. 1t is
over twenty years since the little braid was
torn from the Comanche's head by a scout, /
ana the scalp is shrunken and looks like
leather that has long been exposed to the
sun.