Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-02-01
BRUTAL RECREATION PERMITTED TIE BRAVES

Another chapter on the Indian question is
furnished by Mr.. Charles H. Cressey, whose
dispatches from Pine Ridge agency during
the Indian trouble were published in this
paper. Out of the fulness of his expert
ence he writes to The DISPATCH, as
follows:
Whose fault was it-what caused this
trouble among the Indians?
The primal and principal cause as as
certained it from personal and widely ex-
tended investigation in the capacity of a
newspaper correspondent among the Indians
good, bad and indiferent-was the long
continued failure on the part of Congress to
do its full duty, particularly In the matter
of surrounding its appropriations in man
ner insuring a certainty of the Indian De-
psrtment, so called, making the issue of
supplies with the promptness necessary.
Indians went hungry, they became e1-
asperated by hunger. while Congress dis
cussed tariff reform.
Then too, there was and IL the red tape
curse. Indians are mere children in one
striking particular-they know no friend
ship or entertain no confidence when the
other party promises and then fails to
promptly fulfill that promise. The Indians
know nothing of legislation or departmental
routine,
1magines Promises Broken.
The Great Father promised, he says, in
return for his land to give him all the pro-
visions and clothes he wanted, or at least a
reasonable amount To the Indian mind,
when those provisions fail to come regularly,
the Great Father has broken his promise
then the Indian sees strong and sufficient
grounds for mutiny. Not only have
his provisions frequently been delayed,
but he has been put upon land that is ut
terly barren, utterly untillable. Poor, al
most the very poorest of clothing has been
sent to him, and it wears out and drops
completely from his body long before the
time for new supply arrives, then he re-
sorts to his blanket, leggins, etc., which are
made by his own people, and which last an
honest length of time.
am not a particle surprised that nine
tenths of the more than $50, 600 Indians on
the Government reservations in this country
to-day still cling to their blankets, leggins
and moccasins. As between the alleged
civilized garments-miserable in material
and fraudulent in make-with which the
warm, well-made, picturesque costumes of
their own handIwork, they show, in my
estimation, excellent good Judgment in
choosing the latter.
Jeans Are Good Enough.
would not suggest to the Government
furnishing the Indians with English melton.
broadcloth or fine cheviot, but 1 do insist
that if the Government would furnish them
SO very expensive class of suiting as plain,
everyday jeans, that Mr.. Indian would
have much better opinion of Mr.. Great
Father, and be more inclined to believe in
him than is the case at present. 1 am no
lover Of the Indian, nor am 1 a hater of the
Indian. Ny one object is simply to state
a few plain facts as found the N at the Pine
Ridge agency.
By nature and by instinct the Indian is
pastoral, not commercial. Congress has
seemed to appreciate this fact to the extent
OF putting him on barren land, giving him
e lot of filth rate implements and telling
him to earn his bread like the white man.
You might as we'll plow for grain on a ball
room floor as to plow for it on Pine Ridge
reservation.
''Ihe Government has provided big, good
schools on the reservation. When the In
dian students finish the course of study
there they can 90 to the great Indian school
at Carlisle, Pa, and graduate"
Yes, and then what2 What becomes of
nine and three-quarters tenths OF them after
they get back from Carlisle? You don't
know7 Well, I'll tell you; they go back to
Pine Ridge, back to the horribly filthy, the
vermin-ridden tepees of their ancestors, and
In month they are just as much uncivil-
lied, to all intents and purposes, as they
were before they took that long course of
schooling at home and abroad.
The Red Mans Recreation.
Scores of times, while busy at Pine
Ridge, the query came to my mind-what
IN heavens name are these people living
lOi' w Houuer Iney want 10 go TO war II
Tor nothing more than to relieve the GRAZ
ing monotony Of their existence. Think OF
it-not thing on earth to do, day in and
DAY outl I'm wrong they do have just three
slight recreations, advertisements or what
ever you may class them-two for the bucks
and one for the squaws-and mark what
they are! Every two weeks or so the agent
turns loose about 100 steers on a sweep of
prairie east of the agency, and the bucks,
astrlde Of ponies, and armed with gun or
bow and arrow, let loose in a grand chase
alter them.
They shoot to kill by slow stages of tor
ture, and the way in which they enioy the
barbarous practice is simply revolving.
When the members Of lodge down a steer
they gather around it with their knives.
and II any life remains in the poor creature
they jab its eyes out, cut of Its tail and ears