The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-01-30
CHIEF cROWrOOT.
An Interesting Chapter ON tHc Charactea
of a Into Inhlnn Chier


in q magnificent rore of white bead
work as rich as ermine, with gorgeous
pattern illuminating its edges, glo-
rious sun worked into the front of it.,
and many artistic and chromatic figures
Rewed in gardy heads upon its back.
He wore an old white chimney-pot hat,
bound around with eagle feathers, a
splendid pair of chaperajoc, all worked
with beads at the bottoms and fringed
along the sides, and bead-worlied moe
casins, for which any lover of the In
dian or collector OF his paraphernalia
would have exchanged new Winches-
ter rifle without a seconds hesitation.
But though Crowfoot was so royalty
clothed it was in himself that the
kingly quality WIS moStapparent His
face was extraordinarily like what
portraits we have of Julius Cesar, with
the difference that Crowfoot had the
complexion of an Egyptian mummy
The high forehead, the great aquiline
nose, the thin lips, usually closed, the
small round protruding chin, the strong
jaw-bone and the keen gray eyes com
posed face in which every feature was
finely moulded, and in which the war
rior, the commander and the counsellor
were strongly suggested. And in each
of these roles lie played the highest
part among the Indians of Canada from
the moment that the whites and the
red men contested the dominion of the
plains until he died, short time ago.
He was born and lived n wild Indian
and though the good fathers of the
nearest Roman Catholic mission believe
that he died e. Christian, l am con-
strained to see in the reason for their
thinking SO only another proof of the
eonsummate shrewdness OF Crowfoot's S
lifelong policy. The old king lay on
his death bed in his great wigwam,
with twenty-seven of his medicine-men
around him. and never once did he pre-
tend that he despised or doubted their
magic. When it was evident that he
was about TO die, the conjurers ceased
their lonE-continued, exhausting for
mula of bowling, drumming, and all
the rest, and, Indian.lille, left Death to
take his own. J hen it was that one of
the watchfuL Jealous priests, whose
lives have indeed been like those
of fathers to the wild Indians,
slipped into the great tepee and ad-
ministered the last sacrament TO the old
pagan.
"Do you believer" the priest inquired
"Yes, I believe" old Crowfoot grunt-
ed. Then he whispered, But don't tell
my people"
Among the last words of great men,
those OF Saponaxitaw Chs Indian
name) may never be recorded, but to
the student OF the American aborigine
they betrny more that is characteristic
of the habitual attitude of mind of the
wild red man toward civilizng infiu-
ences than any words l ever knew one
to utter
AS the old chief crushed the bunch
grass beneath his gaudy moccasins at
the time | saw him. and as his lesser
chiefs and headmen strobe behind him,
we who looked on knew what great
part ne was bearing and had taken in
Canada lie had been chief of the most
powerful and savage tribe in the north,
and of several allied tribes as WELL
from the time when the region west of
the Mississippi was terra incognita to
all except a few fur traders and priests
His warriors ruled the Canadian wilder
ness keeping the Ojibbeways and Crees
in the forests to the east and north,
routing the Crows, the Stonies and the
Big Bellies whenever they pleased
and yielding to no tribe they met eX-
cept the Sioux to the southwark, in our
territory The first white man Crow
foot ever knew intimately was Father
Lacombe, the noted old missionary
whose fame is now worldwide among
l,p Il I'D ~
warrior chief became fast friends, and
from the day when the white man first
broke down the border and swarmed
upon the plains, until at last they ran
what Crowfoot called their FIRE
wagons (locomotives) through his
land, he followed the priests counsell-
ing in most important matters. He
treated with the authorities, and there
after hindered his braves from murder
massacre, and warfare. Better than
that, during the Rel rebellion, he,
more than any other man, or twenty
men, kept the red men of the plains at
peace when the French half-brceds,
led by their mentally irresponsible dis
turber, rebelled against the Dominion
authorities
When Crowfoot talked, he made laws.
While he spoke, his nation listened in
silence. lie had killed as many men
as any Indian warrior alive; he was a
mighty buifalo-slayer; he was torn,
SCARED and mangled in skin, limb and
bone. lie never would learn English
or pretend to discard his religion. lie
was an Indian after tho patteru of his
ancestors. At eighty odd years of age
there lived no red skin who dared ans
wer him back when lie spoke his
mind But he was shrewd man
and an archdiplomatst. Because he
had no quarrel with the whites, and
because grand old priest was his tru-
est friend, he gave orders that his body
should be buried in II coffin, Christian
fashion, and Us | rode over the plains
in the summer of 1890 | saw his burial
place on top of high hill, and knew
that his bones We're guarded night and
day by watchers from among his peo-
pie. Two or three days before he died
his best horse was slaughtered for bur
ial with him. lie heard of it, That
was wrong he said; there was no
sense in doing that; and besides, the
horse was worth good money" But he
was always at least as far as that
in advance OF his people, and it was
natural that not only his horse. but his
gun and blankets, his rich robes, and
plenty OF food to last him to the happy
hunting-gr grounds should have been bur
led with him. --Ju ulian Ralph, in Har-