The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-07-20

actions Uncle Sam makes no distinction
between sexes ages or conditions. At
the very lowest estimate, the govern
ment will pay s35, 900, 600 to the Indians
for the lands included in the negotia-
tions during the past four years. 1t was,
think, the Fifty-frst congress which
appropriated ss,ooo,0oO to pay the
Choctaws, and the Cherolkees were to
receive over S, 600, 900 for the Cherokee
strip in the Indian territory. Why
shouldn't Indians ride in chaises while
white men walk?
If the government were able and will
ing to make every Indian Jay Gould,
it does not follow that it can make civ
ilized men and women out of them.
The incident is still fresh in the public
mind where the young Indian, educated
at the Carlisle school in Pennsylvania,
returned to the plains and killed a
United States officer. justification
was claimed for this act, but there
really was none. 1t was pure savagery,
and vet this Indian had not been long
out of school and was, perhaps, as near
civilized as any Indian is susceptible
of. A correspondent in Tahlequah, J.
T., writes me that one of the features
of civilization he finds in that section
is an Indian editor and an Indian minis
ter. My correspondent called at the
residence of Creek Indian farmer one
day and remained by invitation for din
ner. Imagine my surprise" he writes,
when the head of the family took his
seat at the table and asked blessing
on the food. Also imagine my surprise
when this same head of the family Che
had sixteen children) took one of the
boys away from the table for some mis-
behavior, lambasted him with a piece of
mule harness and swore some of the
most terrible Indian territory oaths
during the performance that have yet
enoountered-andI have encountered .
great many"
CURIOUS INCIDENTS NEARER HOME.
The Cornplanter Indians occupy some
Of the garden lands of the state of New
York, and have lived there for many
years, having every advantage accord
ed them that the white men Of the state
possess, and yet it is question if their
civilization as community is much
further advanced than when they first
took possession of this reservation. A
year or two ago, was riding up the
Allegheny river on the Western Penn
sylvania & New York railroad, which
passes through the reservation. Below
Salamanca my attention was attracted
to an Indian astride Of a log floating
complacently down the middle of the
river. His long legs were immersed
in the water up to his thighs.
He was chanting a maudlin In
dian dirge, and altogether presented
a rather novel picture. I asked
the conductor about our noble red
brother on the log, and he informed me
that this was an ordinary spectacle
during the summer months and not an
infreqnent spectacle even when the
water was too frosty for agreeable
bathing. The conductor was stout,
wel1-conditioned man named Richard-
son-"Pap' Richardson his friends in
Buffalo called him because Of his
large, fatherly appearance. He looked
like Grover Cleveland, except that he
had more good nature in his face. Con-
ductor Richardson went into the In
dian question with me as he had
come to know it from running
train through the Cornplanter
reservation every day for some
years, and coming in contact with the
Indian as patron of railroads, that i'm
portant adjunct of civilization. He had
many humorous incidents to relate in
regard to the devices of the Indian to
beat the railroad company out of his
fare An Indian, he said, would never
buy ticket except to the next station,
no matter how far he expected to travel.
He would not get off at the station to
which he had purchased his ticket, but
would continue on his journey, taking
chances on the conductor overlooking
him. When called upon to pay, he will
reluctantly shell out enough pennies to
carry him to the next station, and there
again neglect to get off. So he will
continue paying from station to sta
ton, until he reaches Salamanca,
where he originally started for.
It is Mr.. Richardson's theory that in
the early history of the road some In
dian worked this game successfully,
and every one of them who now travels
on the road thinks it is worth while to
try it. The curious circumstance is that
the same Indian will try it day after
day, never apparently discouraged by
defeat, and always satisfied in his own
mind that the conductor does not
fathom his deep laid financial scheme.
AS to riding down the river on
log, they do that because they have
no money to ride on train. They
go up to Salamanca from the reser-
walton, spend all their money for
whisky, and take this method of get
ting home. Most of them are good
watermen and it is a large Indian,
drunk or sober, who can't float home on
a small slab, if nothing better is at
hand. But sawlog is their favorite
craft, and to see half-drunken buck
floating serenely down midstream, sit
ting astride log, chanting bacchana-
Ian and won't-go-home-till morning
song, does not impress one as indicative.
of that high order of civilization which
should be the outcome of residence OF,
half century in the imperial state Of