, 1891-02-28

EVIL INFLUENCE OF TRE ARMY.
The influence of the army upon the In
dian is bad every way. The soldier in the
ranks hates the Indian and his feelings
are r~eciprocated. The soldiers are gam
blers and many of them arc drunkards.
Men born ON the Sioux reserve tell me
they never before saw so much whisky
drinking, carousing, disappearing, and
gambling. Thunder Bear OF the agency
police force reported a gambling party 10
the agency blacksmith shop one uighL.
Tue police and soldiers made a rail and
captured $50 soldiers and civilian army
employees in the den. Indian squaws
we're given whisky by common soldiers
and whisky was to be had everywhere. 1t
is TO the credit of the Indians to say that
they abstained from over indulgence in
the face OF temptation.
The army officers nearly all drink. On
more than one occasion officers were car
ried home from social parties by their
friends, either fighting drunk or limp 10
one of the traders apartments, jugs.
bottles and demijohns, and cases of
liquor were const intly on tap. Ii was
said they were the personal property OF
certain army officers. but every white man
seemed to be able to draw the corks. and
some of the orgies INDUCED by officers
and civilians would disgrace a not very
respec able doggery il a frontier mining
camp.
Profanity prevails wherever the soldier
is found. | met a dozen officers while at
Pine Ridge aud | remember but one who
failed t. be blasphenous in ordinary con-
versatioD. And so throughout all the
camps. soldiers and officers alike, are fear
fully Indifferent to the third commandment.
The agency employees are proiane ID many
cases, but the quality of their blasphemy
is mild and lonesome by comparison with
the sulphurous and abundant oaihs OF the
military people. Christian Indians told
me they had never heard so much swear
ing or known of so much drinking and
gambling in all their lives as has been
constantly before them during the brief
interval during which Pine Ridge has
been under martial control, and it was re-
marked that the army people were not in
the least disturbed by it. nor did 1t seem
to occur to those in command that such
unciviliZed forces were uncOmmo among
Indians. No effort was made to curb the
ruSAy uituNru VI tno D'a'uem' n
Nu,b;nn wss Tdna ~ nrnisb nnrsors for
bringing liquor upon the reservation, al
though contrary TO law, and NJ military
restriction was placed upon It's sale 10
whites.
The recruiting of scouts will badly de-
m~oralize the efforts of the Indian Office to
encourage individual Indians to settle
Dermaneutly uDOn tracts of land, The
1oT.n iH.s ,eg nao,h IVA bosrJ
and clothes from in The better class OF
Indians are going gladly into it, leaving
the police force, other agency employment,
their homes, their stock, their little start
toward civilization, their everything, even
their families in some instances Few of
the turbulent, no~n-progressive Indians
take kindly to military discipline, and in
fact, the recruiting officers refuse to take
men who do not bear good names. The
result is to take away from the immediate
contact with, and, to a certain extent. the
control of the large body of Indians the
bes. men on the reserves.
CLAIMS
oIaiua q. losso.
count OF lnaian Expectations VIII uoutt
less be presented, Lieut.. Byron of Camp
CHEYENNE river tells me that A.. will
49,. ,o.s;blo or doz,rroton
O
OF CATTLE ranches' ana personal properly
outside of the reservation. Capt. Whitney
of Fort Niobrara puts it as low as $500.
Army o5oera gerar,IIv oyroe tbo, tbe
- -, - NLN-.nN
uamagc uoue ny hoStlies !" "nne 9e'''ei7
is merely nominal. and is confined to a
small srea on the Belle Fourche and Chey-
enne rivers near the last hostile camn
n. IL
IN " siIIs yea HnaE
"a oeeu uone' espeeiy W piokIeesl'
iLeiNn upou "u 2I NJ h1s u 'enVeu
N nroS M ln neI snes he
4. 1872 = 80 "
s sT ErIei ~ nase ~ s'me VI .neir Tte T Tnu
So - - D., 49, -
Tua sc anu ma,oh ht 60 ,heir nTn nnmn ~ the
IA - ~ IL 80 TTnS;an ho,sao
ID 5000 5tsanoa 800 al IS
W ".' N U"' VI
PaH, IN I.oo. ., ,bo t-;o,aI;,, Lo,lI
InHn un
De 'i;ae w boa,Hu TEa -,
~" W"LeIs
San,L "aI5'cse - Sna,;I Opsi nnS
a".mW Sosoiot;on foIiowoS
"a PsSin w, ,pn w. 80 ooo Tod.,,s
Go y ~ d u
a. 10 200 nHn C. ,snosta - -
s-,oOO,oOF ~ sobN 900 e. u su
aas,ronoS ~ ~ og. : dnS 80
Iii -, nunnor,v 5os,ron"S "a r. ~
80. 90 ShN g.. 80;
Ia"t' W &c sNo n.a -