The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1891-12-05
OEETAH, THE INDIAN BRIDE.
How n Young Indian Girl Saved an Army
Post Out West.

Oeetah lived in a wild place,
rightly named "Malheur," which
means misfortune.
Oeetah's father, years before, had
been mortally wounded in battle. In
his last moments he had given the
child, then ; years old, to his
brother, Egan, the new Piute chief.
It was this battle that ended the old
Piute war. The white men, as they
finally do in every struggle with the
red, had conquered.
The new chieftain had gathered
the struggling remnants OF his tribe.
He addressed them with bitter calm
mes:
The white men take my land; they
drive off my ponies; they XII my
children My brother takes the war.
path Many suns tha red men and
the white men fight. Many soldiers,
many braves, die. The war chief,
my brother, is slain. The young
men are buried by the creeks.
Egan fights no more.
So, from the borders OF Nevada
the poor, half clad Indians were
mounted on their wornout ponies
and marched off to the "Malheur,"
and the Indian reservation was be-
gun.
At Malheur, where 1 first saw
Oeetah, size was living in her uncle's
lodge. 1t was ten years since her
ride on the mouse-colored pony, SO
that she was now I3 She was short
and fat and had chubby cheeks.
Her hair and eyes-weli, they were
Indian hair and eyes-hair straight,
black and shiny, eyes dark, deep
and shy. The stern Egan smiled
npon her, and the young braves
treated her with marked attention
and respect. | found she could read
little, sew and cook.
About three years after she was
married to a young chief of the
Nevada Piutes. | had seen him on
my visit to Malheur bright fellow,
who cut his hair short and dressed
like a young white farmer. His
"Boston" name was Leigh. His
sister Sarah was often with the
Malheur Plutes, a girl of great in
telligence and character she acted
as interpreter, and taught the other
girls many things. Leigh, too,
could read and write little.
Oeetah went to Nevada with
Leigh, bue she often made the long
journey. pony-back, to visit her
uncle at Malheur. She was with
Egan when another frightful Indian
war broke out. 1t began between
some Shoshones and white men in
Idaho, about a hundred miles east
Of Boise City.
After the first conflict the Sho-
shones rushed on toward the West,
robbing and killing white people all
along, and always gathering num-
bers from the Indian tribes they
passed, until finally they arrived at
the Malheur
That afternoon Egan was asleep
in his lodge. At the door the Too
at-the old medicine man-was sit
ting on a box chanting his wild
prophecies to the women who were
seated on the ground.
Some were tending their babies,
some making "manta dresses" others
doing bead embroidery on deer skin
coats and moccaslns. Oeetah sat
nearest the old medicine man, finish
ing a pair of moccasins for her hus
band, and listening intently to the
weird chanting Of the old Indian
Time nears. The Indians will rise
from the dead, sweep all white men
from the land.
Let the Too-at say how many
suns! said Oeetah.
Oh, the Too-at knows; the Too-at
will tell by and by.
While the dreamer talked Oeetah
sat thinking. She dreaded wait
meant murder. She hoped her
teacher might be spared. She didn't
want him to die. Leigh had always
worked with white men and they
had paid him wages. She could not
see why her people wanted such
men killed.
Suddenly a strange, persistent far
off noise like the continual whooping
of men and women, interrupted
their talk and work. 1t seemed to
come from the direction of Castle
Mountain, which raised its lofty
crest above them toward the North.
There came in view a number OF
young men on horseback. Egan
was evidently angry. As soon as
the young men saw him they be-
came silent, respectful, dismounted
and approached the people now
standing up in no little excitement.
The babies cried, and the old Too at
was adding his shout to the din :
"Oke-Oke sun this is the day !"