The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-02
WHY THEY SCALf VICTIMS
A Dead Warrior Cannot Enter the
Happy Hunting Ground Without
a Scaplock.
How Indians Scalp White Men
and How White Men
, Scalp Indians.
The Manncr Differs with Different Tribes
:: The Hair Of Cowards is Per-
,s. fectiy Safe.

It is tho fall of 1878. Tho Chsyennes
dissatisfied with their place in the Indiar
= territory. have broken into small bands anC
are breaking for their old home in The
north, says the San Francisco Examiner
Two companies of United States cavalry
are in pursuit. bnt the Indians outnumbel
the soldiers, and when the troops get toe
close they turn and fight like cornored
wildcats.
Every day tho soldiers find fresh evil
dences of the f~erocity of the savages they
are pursuing. Every village aleng their
path has been devastated. Tko mutilated
bodies of men lie in the street-four or five
in every town.
Finally the troops reach the village of
the Mennonetes. There they find twenty
seven dead men and boys, almost che entire
male population of the town. The Indians
were less mcrciful to the women. A fate
worse than death was theirs. Several OF
them are found naked and stark mad wan
dering on the prairie.
There are other marauding bands Of In
dians in the country but the work of the
Cheyennes is u~nmistakable.
The bodies are not scalped. This is the
Cheyennes' way of expressing contempt for
those he kills, There is nc glory in carry
ing the scalp of n man who will not fight.
One OF the articles of the faith OF the sec:
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.
Further on the soldiers find a wounded
horse living on the prairie, Near him IS Il
.-.I.~.su InS 1y - liz typN 0p thYDI Annfv
rifle cartridges. There Was a fight here. A
hundred yards further on are more Ghells,
and the grass is spotted with blood.
Fifty yards further tn " find the body Of
q 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 I'M
equal race was run. the Indians firing as
they pursued. The. shot his horse, and he
tried to make a fort of the animals body.
Maybe he keps them of for a time-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
8enabl6, and he ran again.
Where the second shells and the blood
stained grass were found q bullet reached
him. and he went down, still fighting. He
must have recovered enough to make an
other effort. Another shot reached him as
he dropped from exhaustion and he fought
on to the end with his slx-shoote..
- That is why they took his scalp.
Just b hair on the top of the dead COW
bows head ws.s gone. The scalping knife
cnf around lust Cslow the line of the hair
ON the forehead. Then the knife circled
al head, taking in that rertafoar OF the scalp
where the hair divides behind.
That is the way they scalp a white nan.
Had their victim been a Sioux or a KoYal
THY would not have taken so much. But a
W~ite man does not distinguish his scalp
idE.
The ~scalplock consists of the axis of the
you brush 70 the front and TO the sides
ioins that which you brush back towards
fhe neck. Nearly all the Indians take great
trouble with the scalplock. They let the
hair, grow longer there than anywhere else
and braid it as carefully as a Chinaman
strings Of buckskin or rabbit-skin in with
it and ornament it with bits of glass Or
bright metal. Death to one of these In
dians, provided he does not lose his scalp
lock, means little. He ia never dishonored
while this whisp of hair is still attached to
his skull.
In the earlier days of Indian fighting a
whole tribe would hold a dance of rejoicing
if they found their dead after a battle I'M
ecalped. 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
mp to the happy hunting grounds by his
scalplock, and that without this appendage
he can never reach the Indian paradise.
Sc these Indians will do anything to pre-
vent their scalps from ornamenting the
belt or tepee of an enemy. There are nu-
merous instances of warriorg who. finding
themselves cut off from all hops of escape,
have ridden over precipices and gone down
singing q song of triumph, because the
enemy could not get their hair
This is also the reason that the Indians
always carry off their dead and hide tine
bodies where they can never be found.
The manner of scaipin9 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 operation.
They are not, however, as particular as
the Cieyennes and as to the character of the
man from whose head the hair comes.
Their habit Is to scalp every man, woman
or Child that they kill.
Bnt the Indians are a strange people. and
no rule is lnVafIdCIe- TDt iuStdlce. WHen
they wiped out Clusters command, the
Chief with yellow hair" was not touched.
They took his epaulets and his belt, but
that was all. whiie many of the soldiers
were hacked and mutilated frightfully.
And yet Custer had been their most con-
slant enemy, anG had fought as long as
there was Il breath in his body.
During the devastating march of the
Cheye,nes northward n couple of Captain
Woods troopers we're killed. They buried
them near where they fell. After the In
dian trouble was over the soldiers went out
after the bodies of the comrades. They
found that the Indians had dug them up
and scalped them.
lie process OF scalping IS very simple
The Indian simply holds the hair on the
top of the head In his left hand. Two
seni-circulgr cuts are made. and then n
good pull tears the scalp OFF.
In "A Stockton street saloon a dusty hand
full of hair is nailed to the wall. 1t il the
scalp of Running Devil, a Comanche. 1t is
over twenty years since the little braid WAS
torn from the Comanche's head by Il scout,
and the scalp is shfunken and looks like
leather that has been long exposed to the
sun.
Inc Apaches seldom if ever scalp. There
was q time when rewards were paid for
.ul-, 1911, - AHnx,oo . :-