The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-01-19
A BASE MORMON PLOT.
The Messiah Idea the Creation
of Saints in Utah.
THE INDIAN "UPHE4YAL {"

~
Which Was Contemplated in th'
: Spring the Result of a oonspir-
acy..-The Whole Northwest
Was to be Plllaged.
PINE RIDGE AGENCY, S. D., Jan. 49,
General Miles is of the opinion, from
his own observations and conversations
he has had with old scouts and Indians,
that a general uprising in the spring was
contemplated by the 10000 redskins in
the Northwest. The ghost dance, as it
is now generally known, was merely a
cloak for grievances which the Indians
have suffered the past fifteen years, and
the Messiah idea was the creation Of
meddlesome Mormonsi in Utah and Ne.
yada.
Combining their dance with the false
teachings Of the Mormons, the leaders in
the plot hoped 10 infams every Indian
in the Northwest with religious fanati.
cism, 60 that when spring came and the
grass was green they would be sulic.
iently excited to join in revolt. which
was to extend from the British line to the
1udian Nation, aAd from the Missouri
river TO California. Il was the teachings
OF the Mormons that when all was
ready, the followers Of the Messiah
would have only to stamp their feet and
the earth would open and swallow up
the whites.
The Indians were well prepared for
the revolt. They were poorly clad and
haltstarved through the mismanage-
ment OF their affairs by the Interior De,
partment at Washington, and in this
condition they were greedy to accept
any belief that promised them the re.
turn OF their buffalos.
PREPARING FOR THE UPnEAvAI.
shrewd old fellows like Sitting Bull
had been working for years for an up
heaval, which would involve all the In
dlaus in the northwest. Their young
men had been buying guns and saving
their ammunition for the trouble which
was to come at vsguely fixed date in
the future, So industriously did the
savages prepare themselves for war that
Pine Ridge Indians were frequently
caught digging bullers out OF bnttes at
0elrich, where Captain Wells and his
Two companies OF soldiers were spending
the summer in riffs practice.
Enough Information has been gained
to show that the Indians who were to
take q prominent part in the upheavel
were Sioux, Araphoes, Shoshones,
Cheyennes and Grows. The Utes,
Piutes and NezPerces we're to take the
warpath during the excitement. This
fact is proved to some extent by the
gradual spread OF the ghost dance to all
these tribes during the present winter
The leaders Of this Btppendous plot
meant murder and pillag0 throughout
the Northwest. With all their people !
infamed with religious fanatiCism, they
could command a well-armed warrior for
every soldier in the United States army.
WORKING on THE YOUNG BRAVES.
They were the irreconcilable savages
of the Western Indians, who have done
all in their power to stop the advance Of
civilizations and who have been embit-
tered by the harsh treatment Of the
Indian Bureau. The younger and more
progressive element In the tribes could
not be inhamed into revolt by mere
harraDgues for war. 1t was for this rea,
son, therefore, that the Messiah craze
was started.
The natural superstition OF the red.
skins soon absorbed the teachings OF the
willy old follows, and when the snow
came even the staunchest friends OF the
Government among the Indians were
dancing with insane vigor. The killing
OF Sitting Bull, however, upset every.
thing, for time at least. The Indians
became divided among Themselves, and
then Disconnected at the rapidity with
which troops were concentrated, 1t be-
came evident 10 them that death was
sure to follow any demonstration on
their part.
In the turmoil which existed in the
great Sioux Nation, many of the Indians
OF the Northern agencies stampeded for
Pine Ridge, which seemed to them to
be- the possible theatre for the crash.
Some of'them'cem oil the way from the
Grow country, while others Represented
Standing Rock and the Cheyenne river
agencies. Still Others came from the
Missouri rlyeF.
CRUSHED THE PLOT.
Big Foot happened to get into the
crater Just when 1t was hot. There was
an explosion, and Big Foot aud his 200
people were wiped out. This conflict
destroyed whatever life there yet re.
NAMED in the plat Sitting Bull's sister
ia prisoner at Zine Ridge. In an inter.
view with q correspondent to day she
admitted that the Indians had contem.
plated an ppheayal in tho spring, aud
thSt Il It 6Rd not been cfe9hel BY the
mastery work OF General Miles apd his
subordinates, the extreme Northwest
would have been pillaged from end to
end.
There is some doubt, however, as to
whether the trouble is all over. There
are still thogsands OF HavageB in rest.
less condition. They are stunned for
the moment by the terrific blow the army
has struck, but there are many Vho be.
lieye that as so9n as the grass gets grown
revolt will break out in another guar.