Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-14
SUNDAY, JUNE a. 1891.
OF their principal men wished to meet me,
ana they wanted me to use my influence In
tneir behalf, especially in the matter OF

establishing school for their children.
4 l set out accordingly on the appointed
gay with my party, consisting of my faith
1ui driver and his wife, tent and equipage
complete None of us knew the road to the
cheyenne village, but we attempted to find
1t without guide, and were reduced to
making frequent inquiries along the way.
AFTER some hours we became exceedingly
hungry, and paused under tree beside the
creek to refresh ourselves with q hasty
lunch, which we shared with a ragged small
Doy on vicious pony. He had appeared to
observe our proceedings with interest. At
last we came in sight of the White river, a
stream OF considerable size with wide
fringe OF cottonwood trees, and saw that
the struggling village lay mainly on the
| opposite side. The ford, however, looked
dangerous. The milky water ran swift and
oeep, and with our heavily loaded wagon
my driver dared not attempt it.
From the School at Carlisle.
we drove along the bank and stopped at
the hrst house to make further inquiries,
although we supposed that the people were
Cheyennes and that we could converse with
them only by signs They proved, however,
to be Sioux The elderly man told us all
we wanted to know, and finally spoke OF his
son, who was, he said, lately returned from
Carlisle School; and who had been badly.
injured at the last beef issue, and was in
great suffering. 1 went into the house and
talked with the poor fellow in English, to
the great delight of his parents, leaving
him with a promise to send the agency
doctor to him, and also some of the canned
fruit his feverish palate longed for.
Now came the most perilous part Of the
a.,1.4 1o1t 1trry
| white cliffs to the log house of Little
Wolf, prettily situated in the edge of a
deep wooded ravine near the river. At its
side stood the cool summer house-a tepee
with its framework of poles half bare ad-
mitting the light breeze. The chiefs family
consisted of himself, his wife and two
children, pretty young girl and hand
some little urchin of or years. They re-
ceived us with graceful warmth, and a rush
of soft sibilant syllables, of which tall
young policeman, whose mother was a
Dakota and his father a Cheyenne, acted as
interpreter
A Council With the Wise Men.
The woman helped to pitch the tent un-
der the trees, and brought store of warm
fried fish for our supper, while the men
assembled as many of their friends as possi-
BILE for council, although, as they told us,
the river was really dangerously high and
few would venture to cross. Most of the
people lived on the opposite bank and a
rude bridge had been projected but not yet
built.
There was real pathos in the earnest talk
Of these men, as they gathered in the one
bare room of the chief, seated themselves on
hard wooden chairs, on iron-hooped trunks,
or on the edges of the neatly arranged beds,
and with the true Indian mixture of SIM
plicity and ceremony explained their posi-
tion and set forth their needs I am SO ac-
customed to understanding and conversing
freely with Indians that the sound of the
strange Cheyenne tongue added to the
charm and unusualness of the occasion. I
talked in Dakota and the policeman inter
preted. Afterward we drove with Little
Wolf and the policeman up and down the
river bluffs, and selected central and
beautiful location for the desired school
house Thoroughly enjoyed my visit here,
and really mourned when the order came
last winter to transport the whole band
through the billiards and severe cold of
February to their little reservation on
Tayne river, Montana
The Mutterings of the Coming War.
day we stopped by previous appointment
at the White Clay school house, afterwards
burned by excited Indians just after the
massacre at Wounded river and I met there
in council 30 or more Of the principal men
of that district, most of whom were within
few months from that time involved in a
species of rebellion. They were in thor
oughly dissatisfied frame of mind, and it
was equally evident that they had good
grounds for discomfort. I insisted that I
was only a School Inspector, with no au-
thority to listen to general complaints or
make general recommendations, and en-
deavored to confne the discussion to educa-
tional matters. But this I found to be i'm
possible.
Every one who came from Washington
must listen, whether he would or no, to the
sad tale of insufficient food, of unfulflled
promises, of unsuitable employees and gen.
eral injustice-injustice which burns into
the soul of even the patient and long suf-
fering red man. l listened and made note
of what was said, and even sent the SUBJ
stance of it to Washington; but it is idle to
hope for attention to such stories until at
tention is claimed by open or threatened
violence. The Indian may starve un-
noticed if he will only starve peaceably, but
the country is soon in a commotion if he
prefers to die fighting
Good People of the Bad Lands.
My next trip took me into region Of
which much has lately been heard, and but
little is probably known by the average
reader-the Bad Lands. My errand in that
neighborhood was to ascertain the number
of children in q certain settlement of half
breeds on the White river, and to seek out
a desirable location for another new school.
My observation of these good people in their
neat, thrifty homes, and my pleasant expe-
rience of their hospitality have inclined me
to the belief that the "squaw men, as they
are vulgarly called, are a much-maligned
class. Their houses and farms are generally
equal to those of the average pioneer settler
and greatly superior to those of the average
Indian.
Their wives, almost invariably neatly
dressed, are good housekeepers. The large
families of little ones are usually prett1,
clean and attractive, all speaking English,
and there is an air of self-respect; and pros
perity about them quite foreign to our usual |
thought. 1 found plenty of
promising children, and an earnest desire |
for good day school, These claims, lying |
in the comparatively productive river bot
strange, bare cliffs of fantastically colored |
limestone, of an aspect at once arid and |
beautiful The sunset and moonlight effects |
On Their Towers and Turrets
are worth taking much time and trouble to |
exploring some of the most accessible fort |
resses, for the widest portions cannot be |
reached save on foot or horseback and with |
q trusty guide. Water and pasturage for
teams are only to be found in certain
favored spots. There are also numerous
culs de sac, ending in insurmountable cliffs
Or yawnlng precipices, so that an excursion