Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-29
A MISSION OF PEACE.
Friendly and Hostile Chiefs Frsm
Pine Ridge Pass Through the
City for Washington
TO SEE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS.
An Aggregation of Famous Redskin War
riors That Are Hard to Beat on
Western Plains.
TO SEE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS.
MAJOR BURKE GIVES THEIR PEDIGREE.
They Smoked TObiss, Liked the Admiration Of the
Crowds and Were Farpy.

The friendly and hostile Indian Chiefs
sent By General Miles to Washington from
The Pine Ridge Agency on mission OF
peace to President Harrison, reached Pitts
burg last evening.
They were in charge of Indian Agent
Lewis, who had been sent on from the capi-
tai to act as their escort. Around about
and nearby hovered the stalwart Major
Burke. who, as he expressed it, was the
mutual friend OF the Government and
Indian"
The Major and the agent didn't ride In
the same car with them, they couldn't stand
the stencil, but every buck in the party
knows the veteran well, and some Of them
had felt the force of his strong right arm.
Greeted as an Old Friend.
When the Major, therefore, appeared in
the crowd on the platform the stolid gaze OF
the savages turned to one of pleasure, and
they greeted him with smile aid wave Of
the hand. Young Man-Afraid- ot-His-Ho
stood up and bowed.
There is the most powerful red
skin chief to-day" remarked the MAJOR,
poiutlng to the biz and friendly Indian in the
car. He inberits hIs title, and Is an lntelllgent
and decent young fellow. Did you ever see a
finer specimen of physical manhood? IKE
him. aud if we had few more chiefs OF his
caliber in the West there would never be any
There were Il chiefs in the party, and they
occupied 4 common coach. Indian Agent
Lewis had been carefully instructed by the
Government not tn allow anybody, and
newspaper reporters in particular, to see
them and lie refused to give out
their names Major Burke, however knew
Ileln, and as he was not under OATH he laughed
and remarked that Uncle Sam was afraid the
hig chiefs we're scared, and he didnt want
them frightened unnecessarily. This is why
the order was issued, "b1t you see," he added,
that the bucks are in a good humor aud not
bit ratified"
Some of the Familiar Names.
The names of those in the crowd are familiar
to the newspaper readers of the last two
months. They were young ng-Man-Afraid-of-H His
Horses. American Horse, Major Sword, CON-
mander of the Indian police spotted Horse,
Two Strike. Big Road. Little Wound, High
Pipe, Hump, High Hawk, Spotted Elk,
stpar Iass Of these ae Two Dog strike Hg
Pipe He Dog. Fast Thunder and
Fire Lightning were hostiles, the Others were
friendly Indians. All of them are noted as
warriors and are fUll-blooded redskins. Chiefs
like Major Sword, Hump and NOung-Man-
Administrations wore civilians clothes
with the soldiers brass buttons on them. but
old Two Strike and few others wrapped
themselves in blankets, and the long feathers
could be seen dangling from their headgear,
, which was, was % hung up .,;nnr,lheo on tne -, car
large brass medal which he wore on his breast.
Hump is one of the noted Sioux fighters.
He distinguished himself as young man in
the Custer massacre against the whites. but
since then he has been weaned over and is now
great admirer of the paleface.
Hump can talk little English, and he man.
aged to say to reporter that he was a COM
panion of Big Foot at Wounded Knee. He
had no faith in the coming of the Messiah and
was opposed TO the ghost dances. few days
before the fight he tried to persuade Big Foot
and his band to go into the agency but he re-
fused. Hump went himself and escaped the
massacre.
Spotted Horse Acts the Guard.
Spotted Horse stood guard at the car door,
and kept everybody out except those who had
business there. He is friendly and wore a
uniform that was presented to No Fresh by
General Cooke. 1t was the costume of an
officer and had epaulettes on the shoulder.
Hajor Burke said the soldiers guyed him about
the suit, but Spotted Horse was proud of it.
When No Fresh died last summer under sus-
picious circumstances, Spotted Horse sue
ceeded to the chieftancv, and the uniform was
his by right of inheriianc At the battle of
Wounded Knee the redskin stood by the whites
and shot down four Indians himself.
Big Road was another powerful Sioux chief
who led the left wing for the savages in the
Custer massacre. Major Burke said he had
worked with him for good while before he
For time after the war of 1877 he was very
bitter against the whites. but in the recent
trouble he was true to his late- convictions,
and did much TO settle the dispute and avoid
lloOdshed.
With the party were the interpreters Rev.
Charles Cook, Big Bat and Louis Shang Ran.
The Indians attracted big crowd OF people
at the depot and they swarmed around the car
TO catch a glimpse of the redskins. American
Horse opened window and someone on the
platform handed up lot of tonies American
arOund n hDnnr Dft ha
donor. the chiefs threw away their fine Ha-
vanas and cigarettes and commenced the
Pittsburg creation.
Major Burke on the Pittsburg Toby
81 don't think they will care to fight after
smoking a tobv,' said Major Burke. "I know
them-of old. and they either kill or cure. L
think in this they will kill, :" and the crowd
laughed.
The Indians by the way, smoke like old
timers, and they enjoy a good cigar with the
average white man. Spotted Horse has ma
MIA for cigarettes, and II was apparent to every
body that he is fast becoming civilized.
On the outside the most picturesque figure
WAS Major Burke. formerly of PitIsburg. He
wore large white snmhrero. and still carries
an ugly scar on his cheek He inquired aft er
numerous people who lived here, and received
quite an ovation in tie depot. He was particu-
larry anxious that THE DISPATCH should have
the names of the chiefs, aud took pains TO hunt
up its reporter.
He praised the newspaper correspondents at
Pie Ridge, and told how they suffered from
the cold While the troops were hourly in dan
ger Of being attacked. The war Is over.''
said the Major. There is no more
danger. The Indians have been treated
badly, anG they tried to assert their
rights. but in a misguided way. This visit to
Washington is to hold peace convention and
grand pow-wow with the authorities. The
Indians have passed the ghost dance craze, and
for the life of me can't understand how they
ever embraced such nonsense"
IndiIn Agent Lewis said he had not been al
the agency during the trouble. and he knew
nothing about il. He had been sent from
Washington 20 see that the Indians got
through all right. General Miles came with
them as far as Chicago.