Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-06-17
"BEEF.ISSUE DAY"
HOW THE WARDS OF THE GOV
EIsNMENT ARE GIVEN MEAT.
UaIf-Starved Steers Driven Out Upon
the Prairie and Divided Up
Among the Indians "A
Cruel Exhibition.

different camps scattered over the reser-
walton, wherever water and timber, and
bluffs to shield them best from the
wind, were to be found in common.
Each steer is calculated to supply twenty
five Indians with beef for two weeks, or
from one and half to two pounds OF
beef day; this is on the supposition
that the steers average from 1000 to
1900 pounds. The steers | saw weighed
about 500 pounds, and when they tried
to run, stumbled with the weakness Of
starvation They were nothing but hide
and ribs and two horns. They were
driven four at time through a long
chute, and halted at the gate at the end
of it until their owners names were
marked off the list. The Indians were
gathered in front Of the gate in long
rows, or in groups of ten or twelve, sit
ting easily in their saddIes, aud riding
off leisurely in punches Of four As their
names were called out, and as their cat
tie were started off with a parting kick
into the open prairie. The Apaches,
Comanches, Delawares and Towacomies
drove their snare off toward their camps;
the Caddoes and the Kiowas, who live
near the agency, and who were served
last, killed theirs, if they choose to do
so, as soon as they left the per. A man
in charge Of the issue held a
long paper in his hand, and
called out, "Eckhoos-cho, Pe.an-
voon-it, Hooscho, and Cho.noo -chy," "
which meant that Red Bird, Large.Look
ing-Glass, The Bird, aud Deer Head
were to have the next four steers. His
assistant, an Indian policeman, with
"God helps them who help themselves
engraved on his brass buttons, with the
figure of an Indian tolling at plough in
the centre, repeated these names aloud,
and designated which steer was to go -
which Indian. A beef issue is not a
pretty thing to watch. Why the Govern
ment does not serve its meat with the
throats cut, as any reputable butcher
would do It'll not possible to determine.
1t seems to prefer, on the contrary, that
the Indian should exhibit his disregard
for the suffering Of animals and his bad
craftsmanship at the same time. When
the representatives of the more distant
tribes had ridden of, chasing their beef
before them, the Caddoes and Kiowa5
gathered close around the gate of the
pen, with the boys in front. They were
handsome, mischieyous boys, with leather
leggings, colored green and blue, aud
with silver buttons down the side, aud
beaded buckskin shirts. They sat two
on each pony aud each held his bow and
arrows, and as the steers came stumbling
blindly out into the open, they let the
arrows drive from a distance of ten feet
into the animals faux and neck, where
they stuck quivering. Then the Indian
boys would yell, and their fathers, who
had hunted bufTaloes with arrows, smiled
approvingly. The arrows were not big
enough to kill, they merely hurt, and
the steer would rush off into a clumsy
gallop for fifty yards, when its owner
would raise his Winchester, and make
the dust squirt up around it, until one
bullet would reach leg, and the steer
would stop for and instant, with a des-
perate toss Of its head, and stagger for
ward again on three. The dogs, to the
number Of twenty or more, were around
it by this time in snarling, leaping
puck, and the owner would try again,
and wound it perhaps in the flank, and
it would lurch over heavily like drunken
man, shaking its head from side to side
and tossing its horns at the dogs, who
bit at the place where the blood ran and
snapped at its legs. Sometimes it would
lie there for an hour, until 1t bled to
death, or again it would scramble to its
feet, and the dogs would start of IN a
panic OF fear after a more helpless
victim.
The field grew thick with these
miniature butcheries, the Winchesters
cracking, and the spurts Of smoke rising
and drifting away, the dogs yelping, and
the Indians wheeling in quick circles
around the steer, shooting as theY role,
and hitting the mark once in every half
dozen shots II was the most unsportS- !
manlke and wantonly cruel exhibition
have ever seen. A bull in a ring has a
fighting chance and takes it, but these
animals, who we're too weak TO stand. !
aud too frightened 10 run, staggered
about until the Indians had finished tor
turing them, and then, with blood spurt-
ing from their mouths, would pitch for
ward aud die. Aud they had to be quick
about it, before the squaws began cltting
of the hide while the 6anks were still
heaving. This is the view Of beef is.
cue which the friend OF the Indian does
not like to take. lie prefers calling your
attention to the condition OF the cattle !
served the Indian, and in showing how
outrageously he is treated in this respect.
The Government either purchases steers
for the Indians a few weeks before an /