St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-23
REJECTED BY REDS.
The True Story Of "Mrs. We'll
don's" Rather Remarka-
BILE Life.
A Brooklyn Woman Whose De-
vOtion to the Indians Was
Fruitless.
She Spent Many Years With
Sitting Bulls People to
No Purpose.
Her influence Over the Willy
Old Chief Lost--Her Re-
turn Home.

New York World
When Mat-o-wan-a-ti-ka Ghe Kicking
Bear, the prophet of the ghost dancers,
came up from the Ute country to bear
what seemed to them the glad tidings of
the coming of the Messiah to his BROTH
ers OF the Sioux nation he found white
woman in Sitting Bulls tepee. With
the others she listened to his tale, but,
unlike them, she saw not the starry
lights dropped from heaven to shine
above his head by night, nor the glory
of the sun that circIed his brow by day.
For her the deadly fire of the prophets
eye had no terror, and she feared not at
all the flaming sword that leaped from
his right hand to Stay the unbelieving.
She turned not her eyes from his face
when he told the big Sioux chief that he
had seen the Christ; that he had taken
up his habitation with the Utes and was
presently coming to the North; that he
would bring back the old days again to
the Indian; 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
hunt them as of old, and that the BUT
falo should never die. for his bones and
skin were to be left after feast, when
he should spring again into life.
Sitting Bull Bowed His Head.
Sitting Bull heard him aud 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 BULBS
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 and 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 a
spy. He was Sitting Bulls nephew,
and the story Of the coming Christ had
filed the old chiefs heart. He would
not hearken to the white wOman's warn
ing. The ghost dances continued, and
Mrs. Weldon'S mission was a failure.
Readers of the World Will readily re-
call, in dispatches from Fort Yates,
under dates of last November, refer
ence3 to Mrs. Weldon. She was repre-
sented as the cOnsort of Sitting Bull,
and charged with having encouraged
the hostiles to continue the ghost
dances is disregard of the orders of the
authorities at the Pine Ridge agency.
She. it was said. urged the braves in
council to reject the overtureS of peace
made by Agent Mclaughlin on his mid
night visit TO Sitting Bull, and under
took mission of peace to Fort Yates,
whittier she was escorted by Sitting
Bull. There all traces of her ceased.
Mrs. Weldon is a Brooklyn woman.
The strange story of her life has re-
manned hidden for ten years under this
assumed name. Caroline Valentiny
Schlatter Weldon is the daughter of
Charles H. Valentiny, physician of
prominence in South Brooklyn twenty
years ago. He died in May, 1882, at his
home at No 1854 Pacific street, leaving
widow and son and a daughter. The
son returned to Germany to lay claim
to an inheritance which had fallen to
him as an only son, and in few years
the mother died, leaving Caroline alone.
DR.. Valentiny was an officer in the
PruSSian Reserves. In the famous OBJ
position to German supremacy his fol-
lowers were defeated and he was forced
to fly to Switzerland. There he was
Joined by many of his countrymen who,
like him, had been condemned to
death for their revolutionary &C
tons. The daughter of one of
these refugees he married and
Caroline was their first born. In 1851 he
brought his small family to America
and began the practice of medicine on
Hamilton avenue, Brooklyn. Suisse
quently 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 cousins in their studies
She continued there several years,
showing remarkable ability in lam
guageS and developing artistic tastes of
her father deeply occupied by the eX-
acting duties of successful practice,
and her poetic spirit freely fed itself
upon stories OF romantic nature.
A Strolling Indian Passed.
One day she saw passing her window
a StrOllng Indian. with feathers dane
ing from his head-dress and a bright
woven blanket trailing at his heels.
She called him in. He was an Iroquois
from the reservation near the lakes, and
he was peddling beads and trinkets
made by the SQuaWS. She fed him and
kept him for long time. In return for
her kindness 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 sorrows of
his race. Then the father interfered
and sent the old beggar away. But his
daughter unused over the pathetic his
tory of the redmen. She wrote poetry.
she painted pictures, butt the theme
was the Same-the coming of the whites
and the going of the redmen
Then came young PruSSian soldier
to Brooklyn. 1t was in 1865, Just at the
close of the civil war. The offlcer's
name was ClaudiuS B. Schlatter, and he
had been charged to look up the Valen-
tiny family in the new land. Having
been surgeon in the army he opened
an office IN Columbia street, within easy
distance of the Valentiny house. There
he passed his leisure hours, talking of
the old Prussian days. Caroline was
just poisoning 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 memory of the old In
dams tales. But misery only followed
the marriage. The Prussian surgeon
could not comprehend the romantic
nature OF MS young wife. Further and
further they drifted apart, until there
was no companionship between their.
The truth was hidden from the good
old doctors eyes, and the young couple
kept up the semblance of happiness,
Caroline'S thoughts turned again to the
Indians. The story of the Sioux revolt,
of the Custer raid, and of Sitting BULBS
escape to British soil, theh filling the
newspapers, recalled the experiences
of her girlhOod. Her confidence in the
nobility, purity and innocence of the
Indian character was very great. She
knew of the outrageous conduct of
rapaclous agents who had tormented
the helpless redmen for years. She
read of the great braves, Tecumseh.
Osceola. Samoset, and she saw another
in Sitting Bull. She opened communi-
cations with him through his family,
and many letters passed between them.
10 rho T|.,s