The Russellville Democrat., 1893-11-23

in tepees. There were represented
 there several tribes, consisting of
 Comanche, Kiowa, Apache, Della
 ware, Wichitas, Caddoes, Cherokees,
 Choctaws, Creeks, Tonkawas. Chey-
 ennes and Araphoes Such gabber-
 ing and jabbering one never heard
 before. Indeed, I do believe that gestures are a part of their Ian
 guage At 10 o'clock they had
 formed in line ready to march to
 the stock pens two miles south of
 town, where an old fashioned Buffa-
 10 hunt was to be demonstrated by
 killing beeves with bows and arrows
 Well, to see a procession of 1000 or
 5000 Indians in dress parade is
 sight impossible to imagine, and one
 never to be forgotten. One could
 but listen and look Paints, feath-
 CTS, robes, drums, bells, music and
 languages from a dozen tribes; all
 on horse back, wagons and bug
 gies. They were all in full dress
 that day, to be sure they were, and
 were actually pretty. The men and
 women dress so nearly alike it is
 hard to tell which from tother You
 never saw such sight I am sure
 robes of all colors, covered with
 beads, braids, buck skin fringe,
 feather ribbons, and everything else
 in the way of ornamentation. They
 have their hair parted in the center
 behind and on top, and the hair
 wrapped on either side to form roll
 and over this is sewed coon-s skin,
 deer-skin, skunk, squirrel or any
 kind that can be procured. The shoes, or moccasins are made of dressed buck skin and are beauti-
 fully ornamented with beads, there
 is flap at the toe and heel, each
 trimmed with buck-sk fringe. The
 leggings are trimmed like the shoes
 and are all dyed, colored or painted
 in various colors. They are very sociable in their way, and talk free ly to one who can speak in their language They would often jabber away to me with the worst frowns I ever saw, but could only say, Me no savey, John" or Lizzie They like to be called John or Lizzie. The ''bufalo hunt was indeed exciting, and made me almost feel as if l were in the sure enough wild west The cattle, however, were killed with Winchesters and pistols One Indians pony fell while chasing a big steer, and was almost killed by the fall. Dinner was next, and then came the racing but you have all seen races. The great 'war dance was next in which five tribes, but each tribe formed a ring of it's own and danced to itself You never saw such a conglomerated mass of non entity in all your life. A dozen or more Indian men sat on the ground i beating a big drum with sticks while i the dancers formed circle around | them in ring such actions as they had cannot be described. They | began to dance at , D. m and were still dancing the next morning at &. | We now left for Fort Sill, or rather in the direction of Sill, a distance of B miles southwest, which is a vast | plain of broad prairie, and finer country was never traverscd by any < one, Here we found the turkey and | deer, and travelled all day without | seeing house. Ft Sill is gov ernment military post where there f are stationed $50 soldiers. These | soldiers have a good time. they get | their board, clothes and doctor bills | all furnished, and draw salary be sides, Here we saw one of those ! powerful Gatiing guns, It is sup { posed to fire 20 shots per minute, and is operated by one man. The are sh0veled into a kind [ Of hopper, and by turning a crank the thing is loaded and discharged | as above mentioned The barrel < slides automatically upon plate, and will mow a swath a hundred yards wide at distance of quar- ter of mile From here we went to Duncan, 30 miles east Of sill. and one of the most wonderful