Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-17
ROOSEVELT TALKS ABOUT INDIANS



ssOUR TROUBLES With the Indians seem
oehiefy to arise from race antagonism.
pure and simple" said Mr. Theodore Roo-e-
welt to srAR reporter yesterday. The whites,
on tho ono hand, make no distinction worth
mentioning between good Indians and bad
| ones, while the Indians themselves are sppar-
entity a. little inclined TO draw like distinctions
with regard TO the pale faces
For example, IL white man has his horse
stolen BY thieving savage he considers him
self warranted in eKacting PREPARATION from the
nrst friendly and honest Indian he meets. |
have known hunting party Of whites TO lose q
score OF horses bya raid from predatory
band OF Sioux. by which occurrence the losers
considered themselves warranted in making a
oescent upon the nearest village Of innocent
red men OF another tribe and driving OF a,
least % many of their animals. Again, I have
known Indians who had suffered depredations
~ the hands of lswless white rufssns 20 attack
COW boy camp in search OF revenge IL an
inoian experiences an indignity or outrage
nom one white man ne will kill the Iext white
man ne comes across, though the latter may be
enureiy inofensive; and SO il goes. To the
whites all Indians are the same and vice versa.
one thing should like TO be quoted as say
ing with much emphasis. and that is that the
Indian police and judges ought TO be paid much
peter than they are In the recenS skirmish
IN connection with the arrest of Sitting Bull
the Indian police behaved admirably and the
government should provide for the families os
those who were killed. as well as reward the
SURVIVORS, Ny own experience OF Indians has
peen very limited. They were always treated
white on my ranch, and the same cannot be
said OF many other ranches, l regret to say"
Said an old soldier who has fought the
III anoians with Custer, now employed at the
Treasury Department.:
KILLING OF souAws
'1his talk that has been made about the
killing Of the Indian women bv the troops
during the recent difficulty is altogether unfair.
When fighting is going on the squaws usually
are on hand to take part in the scrimmage j.
thelr side Is victorious they rush in with knives
ana often DO good deal Of execution. They
ride astrlde, like the men. and IL is apt TO be
impossible to distinguish them in the fray from
the warriors, though they keep in the rear
until their opportunity arrives. 1t is not the
FAULT OF the soldiers il a few Of them get shot.
and people would not feel SO much like sympa-
thizing with their fate if thew we're aware O,
the fact that II is the squaws who do the mu-
mating OF the bodies of their fallen foes
BLooprHIRsTY WOMEN
I'm an occasion when the troops may chance
70 be driven back the squaws dash forward on
their ponies and dismounting proceed with
their knives TO murder the wounded and to
mutilate the bodies in every fiendish way i'm
aginable. IL possible they take away parts OF
the dismembered corpses for holding horrible
publications. over afterward. As for the war
r,ors, they rarely do more than take scalps.
though frequently they will take more than one
from a single person. The chief honor, OF
course, attaches to him who cuts off the disc
shaped piece Of flesh from the very crown of
the head, with the tuft OF hair attached. but 1,
y also honorable TO take a second. a third or
even fourth scalp from other parts Of the
skull However, there must always be a scslp-
lock attached. An Indian will never take any
scalp from q bald-headed man, 40 that there is
some advantage in having lost one wool if one
lives in the far west"