Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-09-26

unanimous. Every head counted. The
mumbling old beldam, great-grand.
mother of countless thousands" braced
up from the edge of the grave for the
occasion. The big bellied little four
year-olds, reveling in the dirt about the
reeking shambles, the tiny hour-o:d
papoose. even many puppy, blanket
swathed and slung squaw back, passinA
for wee baby, anything he could show
as possessing spark Of Indian life was
duly credited to the warrior lord of the
lodge for another ration, full one.
Cattle might and did shrink, but to the
Indian there is more meat in lean COW
than in the stall fed OK to the white, fo1
the reason that Everything goes. >
Horns and hoofs are the only things the
Indian doesn't eat.
Agents might and did cheat and steal,
but SO did the Indian, and many re-
joicing old sinner has been credited with
a family of twelve when his sole avail
able domestic assets consisted of two
SQuaws and three children, the papooses
having been borrowed or personated
by bundled up doggies, the grandmother
being public property passed around for
the occasion; the others, pickaninnies
painted SO as to look entirely unlike the
grinning urchins counted in the flock of
brother Stab-in-the-Dark. whose people
had just been enumerated. There were
agents who lent themselves to that sort
of thing because the more Indians they
could show as their especial wards, the
more barrels and boxes and bales were
invoiced to that agency and deftly
''raked off" en- route. There was time
when the man who wouldn't make hay
when such a sun shone was looked
upon as an improbable servant who
couldn't contribute to campaign funds.
"What the devil do you suppose we had
you made agent way up at Gallatin
for?' asked an irate political ''boss" of q
deposed and crestfallen late incumbent
who came home superseded.
why, it was you and our congress-
man who exposed the stealings Of nv
predecessor and had him fired. sup
posed you wouldn't stand that sort of
thing. supposed you wanted me to be
perfectly honest"
''Of course we did; but, damn it, you
don't seem to understand; he was paying
to the other party"
But railways and telegraphs have
brought all this, or much of it, within
range, SO to speak. Things have
changed, except perhaps human nature,
white or Indian. There has been failure
to provide for carrying out the earnest
recommendation of the best friend the
Indian has known for years-the man
whose word was his bond, whom they
e. -,
peace. There has been shrinkage both
in the cattle and the count. No matter
how much beef might shrivel on the hoof
in the old days, the Sioux, if he were at
all sharp, got more than was his share,
and most of the Sioux were as sharp as
their knives. Other tribes might have
starved and suffered, but not they. With
the new order Of things came full stom-
achs for hosts of other aborigines, but
fault finding for these Dakotas. No
more ''tepee COUNTS" ON the contrary
heads Of families paraded their entire
force, and while enumeratOrs with
book and pencil went along the front
of the line. Uncle Sans bluecoats on the
border keenly watched the rear and put
sudden stop to all sham and swapping.
and. turning in appeal to the general
who headed the great commission and
won their faith. appealing to Crook for
the remedies congress had utterly failed
to provide, their hearts were bowed with
the tidings that the Great Spirit had
summoned the Gray Fox" to happier
hunting grounds.
Then was there no other appeal? One
-one which had never failed to wiring
from the government the concession de-
sired. Old chiefs might plead in vain,
but the blood of the young warriors is
hot and strong, the lust for reputation
as vehement as of yore. Every brave
stood ripe for action, and no Indian
leader ever eQualed in craft, in cunning.
in adroitness the scowling old sinner
Sitting Bull. and no man need doubt
that it was he who gave the cue. Every
medicine man in the Dakota Nation be-
gan to preach the coming Of the Mes
siah. but the Messiah craze was only
the means to an end. Un-koi-to, the In
dian redeemer-he who ordained that
his children should prepare themselves
by the savage rites of the ghost dance
to meet him and all their dead ancestry
and with them wipe the paleface from
The land-Un-koi-to was fraud of the
hrst water, masQuerading scamp of a
white man at odds with his own kind.
and progressive Indians knew it. But
even to such saviour, when urged by
the charlatans in every village, the SUI
perstitious nature of the red man turned
IN eager adulation, and the CHASTITY, mad
1ening dance went on.
Night after night all over the broad
northwest the skies were aglow with the
fro ho =