The Helena independent., 1892-02-28
CITY NEWS AND GOSSIP.
Inspector Watkins Tells Of the Dis
position OF Sitting Bulls
Former Residence.
Tho Sapphire Deal as Told by
Gov. Hauser to a New
York Reporter.
The Dead Indian Under tho Exchange
How = Chicago Man Learned All
About q Looloo.


About q Looloo.
Inspector William Watkins, jr., Of tht
postal department., has in his collection oi
Indian ourios piece of wood from tn,
cabin in which Sitting Bull. the Siou,
chief, was killed during the late uprising
The cabin IS no lone er in the possession o.
the Sitting Bull family, and if the stories
told by the Indians are true. that the ghos'
of the old medicine man still walks about
the house where he was slain, the splrl,
will no doubt ba found roostinG in the back
ward Of the residence of the postmaster at
Mandan, N. D., for that is whore the cabin
now is, compactly stored away awaiting
shipment to Chicago to be exhibited at the
Worlds fair The postmaster at Mandan.
with Representative Perkins. of North Da-
kota, bought the cabin recently from tho
resduary legatees of Sitting Bull-his son
and two daughters. The consideration
agreed on was pony for the boy, blue
silk dress for one of the girls and bright
red one for the other. When the bargain
was completed the purchasers, una
BE to find an imitation pony.
attempted to ring in two cheap print dresses
on the girls. Their scheme was frustrated
py the wife of Representative Perkins.
Mrs. Perkins is q full-blooded sioux
woman. highly educated and very 1ntslll-
gent. Her sister, like herself woman Of
culture, is the wife Of an army officer now
at Jefferson barracks, st. Louis. He mar
riad her while be was stationed st Fort
Yates. Mrs. Perkins would not hear of the
girls being imposed on and insisted that
they should receive nothing less than what
was promised them. She had her way.
The purchase Of the cabin. taking it apart,
moving the pieces to Mandan and packing
them for shipment to Chicago, cost the two
men a little over $lD0. They have already
refused an ofafof $4,000 from some Chi
have applied for space to exhibit the cabin
on the Worlds fair grounds. and II they
get the desired permission will put n 1t
not only the suit Sitting Bull had on when
killed but other Indian relics.
While on the trip through North Dakota
on which he got the piece Of the cabin. In
spector Watkins was told by the Indian
npent at Standing Rock Agency the legend
of the stone from which the place gets its
name Years ago, according to the Indian
tradition, buck and his squaw were on
Journey down the Missouri river to visit
some relatives at distant point. Where
Fort Yates now is the buck saw young
squaw Of surprising beauty with whom ne
fell desperately in love. In spite OF the
tears and entreaties Of his lawful wife, he
refused to proceed on the journey or IN any
other direction, but resolved to stay right
there with his new found passion. T. he
deserted suuaw exhausted her entreatles
and her tears and finally arose to
leave the place alone. AS she did 50
she fell back in the spot where
she had been sitting and turned to
stone There she has remained ever since.
standing reproach to her faithless lord
ard master and to all Of his kind. By q
faint stretch of the imagination the stand
ing rock from which the agency gets its
name can be made to take on the outlines
of a woman. The Indians believe the story
and pay homage to the monument Of man's
perfdy and hckleness, and Woman's con-
stancy. While the inspector was at Fort
Yates he saw an Indian approach the rock,
bow. reverently and lay something at its
base. When the Indian lad gone, the in
spector and the agent went ont to see what
the offering was. 1t was chew of tobacco
No heavy sacrifice, it might be said. But
perhaps it was the last the Indian had.
When in the east ex Gov. Hauser never
allows an opportunity to say a good word
for Montana go unimproved. The other
day New York Press reporter asked him
about the outlook in the state. and the ex-
governor said 1.-The growth of our state
has been very large since the census, and
we must have now upward Of 175, 900 popu-
lation. We shipped out of the state last
wear S5 0OO, 900 worth of wool, mutton and
horses, 100000 900 worth Of cattle and ever
$4O.00O,OOO Of copper, silver, gold and lead.
Our people have never been SO prosperous
in the history Of the territory OR state as at
the present time. We have got Il great
bonanza in the sapphire beds, about which
have talked to you when / have been in
New York before. You know ] owned the
larger portion of the old bed of the Mis-
souri, river in which these sapphires we're
found. An English syndicate bought up
all the smaller claims, until they had
nearly as much as myself. The beds
can only be worked by the uso
of water power, and I had control
of most of the water power. An old miner
came along and got an option from me for
the use OF the water for placer mining.
have always been good to these old fellows,
because was miner myself. and the first
thing knew he had turned over his water
rights, which extended nearly fifteen miles
along the sapphire placers, to the English
syndicate. That put Us on so equal {. foot
ing that | went in with them, securing Il
large stock interest in the company and a
considerable payment i'll cash. think |
prefer the stock, because they have been
taking out some enormously valuable
sapphlres from the lodes that have been
driven by hand into the deposits. Some of
the sapphlles have sold i'll London at as
high price as $4,000 for q single stone
There arc about five per cent of the sapph-
Tres which arc worth from $500 to s., 800
apiece, and the product Of smaller and less
valuable stones ia simply enormous. by
my consolidation with them the company
owns all the Montana sapphire beds and all
the known sapphire product in the United
States.'
There must be dead Indian under the
house.. How many times that has been
said across g gambling tahle in Helena,
And yet how few people knew the origin
OF the expression. Its meaning was well
known, however, as nobody WAS heard tc
use it unless the cards were agaiuss him
Still, for all that, dead Indian, or what
was left of him after his dust had ,ninulaG
with the soil his forefathers owned Inv
under one of the gambling houses of He
ena from the time this building was erecter
until il short time ago. In digging tn,
foundation for the Exchange in the early
days of the town, an Indian grave wa,
found. Rather than disturb the bones tn,
builder concluded to let them rest there