Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-02-10
REJECTED BY SIOUX.
THE TRUE STORY or "mRs. WELL
DoN'S y REMARKABLE LIFE.
She Spent Many Years with sitting Balls
People, bat Mt the Last Her Influence
Over Him Was Lost.
Now YORK World

woman in Sitting Bulls tepee. Win Tue
others she listened to his tale. but unlike
them she saw not the starry light dropped
| from Heaven to shine above his head By
night nor the glory of the sun that cIrcled
his brow by day. For her the deadly nre
| of the prophets eve had no terror. and she
| feared not nj all the flaming sword that
leaped from his right hand to siay the IN
believing.
She turned not her eyes from his face
when no told the big Sioux chief that ne
had seen the Christ that he had taken u. up
his habitation with the Utes and was pres,
| emily coming TO tho North; that he would
bring back the old days again to the In.
dians that the white men should be swept
| from the earth or turned into beasts; that
| the dead should be called back to life and
| that men should die no more; that the
buffalo should again eat the grass OF the
| prairie and the Indians hunt them as OF
old, and that the buffalo should never die.
for his bones and skin were TO be lett after
q feast. when he should spring again into
life.
SITTING BULL BOWED HIS HEAD.
Sitting Bull heard him and bowed his
head SO did his warrior sons and his wife.
| SO did all the braves of the Sioux council.
| But the white woman shook her head.
| She was Mrs. Weldon who had made her
home with Sitting Bulls people. She had
| asked TO see Mat-o-wan-a-ti-ka that she
might show the chief that he. was not the
prophet. She feared that the religious
| fervor into which the Indians had been
| thrown might bring disaster to them ana
| their families, and she promised Sitting
Bull to confound the prophet before the
| eyes of the council.
| Mat-o-wan-a-ti-ka shrunk from her, but,
| quickly recovering, called her spy. lie
| was Sitting Bulls nephew. and the story
| of the coming Christ had filled the old
| chiefs heart. He would not hearken to
the white w0man's warning. The ghost
| dances continued, and Mrs. Weldon's MIS-
sion was failure. :,
Readers Of the World will readily recall
in dispatches from Fort Yates under dates
| of last November references to Mrs. well
| don. She was represented as the consort
| of Sitting Bull and charged with having
| encouraged the hostiles to continue the
| ghost-dances in disregard of the orders OF
| the authorities at the Pine-Ridge Agency.
She, 1t was said, urged the braves in coun-
Gil to reject the overtures of peace. made
| by Agent Mclaughlin on his midnight
visit to Sitting Bull. and undertook a ms
| sion of peace to Fort Yates, whittier she
was escorted by Sitting Bull. There all
| traces of her ceased.
Mrs. Weldon is Brooklyn woman. The
| strange story of her life has remained hid;
den for ten years under this assumed
| name Caroline Valentlnv Schlatter Wei
! don is the daughter of Charles II. Valen-
| tiny, physician of prominence in South
| Brooklyn twenty years ago. He died IN
| May, 1882, at his home at No. 1904 Pacific
| street, leaving widow and O son and a
| daughter. The son returned TO Germany
| to lay claim TO an inheritance which had
fallen to him as eldest. son, and in few
years the mother died, leaving Caroline
| alone.
DR.. Valentiny was an officer in the Prus-
| sian Reserves. In the famous opposition
| to German supremacy his followers were
| defeated and he was forced TO fly to Swift;
Zerland. There he was joined by many OF
| his countrymen, who, like him, had been
| condemned TO death for their revolution.
ary actions. The daughter of one OF
| these refugees he married and Caro-
line was their first born. In 1851 he
brought his small family. to America
and began the practice of medicine IN
| Hamilton avenue, Brooklyn. Subsequent
| Iv he removed to No III Sackett street
| and then TO No. $50 Baltic street, where he
| lived many years. Caroline at an early age
| returned to Germany and joined her cou'
| sins in their studies. She continued there
| several years, showing remarkable ability
! in languages and developing artistic and
poetic talent Of no mean order. Returning
she found her father deeply occupied by
| the exacting duties of q successful prae,
tice and her poetic spirit freely ted Itself
upOn stories of q romantic nature.
sTRoLLNd INDIAN PASSED.
One day she saw passing her window q
strolling Indian, with feathers dancing
| from his head-dress and a bright woven
| blanket trailing at his heels. She called him
| =. ~ frcrn ha ~
near the lakes, and he was peddling beads
| and trinkets made by the squaws. She fed
| him and kept him for long time. In re-
| tarn for her kindnesses he taught her his
| language. She quickly acquired the few
words Of the old chief, and together they
sat for hours while he doled out the sor-
rows of his race. Then the father inter
| fered and sent the old beggar away. But
| his daughter unused over the pathetic his
| tory of the red men. She wrote poetry,
she painted pictures. but ever the theme
was the same-the coming OF the whites
| and the going of the red men.
Then there came q young Prussian SOL
| der TO Brooklyn. 1t was in 1865, Just at
the close of the civil war. The officers
| name was Claudius b. Schletter, and he
| had been charged to look up the Yalentiny
| family in the new land Having been q
| surgeon in the army, he opened an Office in
| Columbia street. within easy distance OF
| the Valertiny house. There he passed
his leisure hours, talking Of the old
| blossoming into womanhood and the
young doctor asked for her hand. The
| father, greatly distressed at the morose
| condition of his daughters mind, fastened
| the marriage in the hope that new duties
| and new purposes would bury forever the
memories of the old Indians tales. But
misery only followed the marriage. The
| Prussian surgeon could not comprehend
the romantic nature of his young wife.
| Further and further they drifted apart,
until there was no companionship between
them.
The truth was hidden from the good old
doctors eyes, and the young couple kept
up the semblanco of happiness. Caroline's
thoughts turned again to the Indians. The
story Of the Sioux revolt, of the Custer raid
and of Sitting Bulls escape to British soil,
then filling the newspapers, recalled the
experiences of her girlhood. Her conf
dence in the nobility, purity, and inno-
cence Of the Indian character was very
great She knew of the outrageous con-
duct of rapacious agents who had torment
ed the helpless red men for years. She
read Of the great braves, Tecumseh, Osce-
ola, Samoset. and she saw another in Sit
ting Bull. She opened communications
with him through his family. and many
letters passed between them.
DISGRACE TO THE FAMILY NAME.
At this time also she encountered an adj
venturer who ruined her life and brought
disgrace to the family name. Her husband
turned from her, and the death of DIR.
Valentiny following, public demand for a
divorce was made and granted. DR..
Schlatter settled down OF once at No. 1bS
Seventeenth street, Brooklyn, in the home
and practice Of DIR. John Jacob Kunz,
whose widow he married and there he is
to-day.
The wife, however, was not so fortunate.
With her infant son she sought home
among the working women of the city.
She found lodging at No. II Liberty street
and began the life Of self-support. Her
artistic talents found employment at
Bentley's fancy embroidery store at No.
$50 Fulton street. But she was still IN
constant touch with the Indian life, and
entertained her companions ct work with
stories of Sitting Bulls bravery. gene
rosity, and nobility of mind. Eight years
ago her mother died, and she was left
alone with her son.
Immediately she left for the West. The
small sum of money (S2,0O0) left her by
her mother she invested IN house on the