The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-04

out of the clutches of the law. For awhile
he lived the life of a veritable 'squaw-
man" and doubtless might have been sc
adopted in the tribe as to have become g
chief II have led thousands of them in
their subsequent wars with the white Amer
leans, but his parents n friends inter-
posed. and forced him to send the woman
back to the tribe. He, too, has since mar
RED a white lady and raised a family. His
first bride, after that one spree into which
he led her. has not ceased to respect her
self, and she has managed to live and work
in good homes ever since. Though clrcam-
stances made this a mesalliance. yet. in our
judgment, the first marriage was the valid
one, of which the Heavenly Father mi VS..
and the s~quaw-woman, for a few days led
astray by a dissipated man, was superior to
the "squaw-man."
A very able gentleman from an eastern
city WAS attacked with a terrible disease
which disfigured his face. He may or may
not have been at fault. But at any rate. a
sense of deep shame came over him at the
sight and consciousness Of his misfortune.
He soon abandoned civilized life and be-
gan to wander about among the Indian
tribes: he brought up at last near the Mo-
jave mountains of Arizona. He attached
himself to a small band that had a sensible,
good-hearted chief. He married, it is I'M
derstood, into the royal family of the tribe
and has a goodly family of boys and girls
living just az the Indians live. They are
nomadic. They live under the boughs of
trees. They plant little valleys in the
spring time with corn and potatoes. They
watch and herd bands of ponies. They are
with the widest men on the war path. Our
poor friend, though of high culture, man
ages to be an Indian with the Indians and
nothing more. He advises the chief, is
often his chief of staff. He takes the In
dams part in all q~uarrels with their white
Helghbors; but manages quite often to settle
difficulties amicably and SC prevent out
RACES and bloodshed. just as soon as this
wild tribe is forced to AXE up land and
have a permanent reserve, our poor friend
will doubtless arrange, as so many others
have done. to get 100 acres at least three
times repeated, assigned to his wife and
himself. A good house will arise in one
corner and near by Il large barn. Oats and
barley Will grow upon a part of his we'll
chosen acres, corn and hops upon another
part. Fences will come and orchards will
be enclosed. Artesian wells, pressed by the
~nelghborlng ridges into intense activity,
will afford his family water to irrIgate and
plenty of water to drink for his household
and the animals which roam more at large
with the common herd. This is a type of
the usual 'Squaw man" to be met in AriZo-
ma, New Mexico and the Indians of the in
terror. In loving the Indian women well
enough to expatriate themselves, they
manage to attain unto the compensations.
. aoCo INV AIAc VA -CokliDIlcH
"squaw- men, for if we define the term as
we have used it, to mean the husband of an
Indian woman, it has in our American his
tory touched the highest in the land.
judges of tine United States courts, mem
bers of congress, generals in the army.
officers of the general staff, most prominent
merchants and hundreds of citizens of the
first standing in the community where thew
live.
Two things are usually asserted and be-
lieyed in common frontier society. One is
that the man VINO marries a s1uaw has de-
graded himself, and the other is that the
issue of such marriage is bad; that is, tina.
half are bright and shrewd enough
but deficient in moral character. This can
hardly be true as a general statement.
Nearly all our interpreters for the Indians
were at one time ..squaw men, or half
breeds. and their moral character has not
been of the best repute. Yet they compare
fayorably with our own citizens who have
clustered around the many Indian reserya-
ions simply for greed. There is certainly
no indigenous taint-nothiEg that educa-
ton and true religion will not overcome,
as it does in either white man or Indian I'M
mixed. q. u. HOWARD.
Governors Island, N. Y, Nov. 8, 1880.
Copyright.