The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-16
RED CLOUDS DOWNFALL.
Once Virtual Master Of 0le-SiXth Of
Our Territory.
He Meeklv Pays a $50 Fine-The
Famous Old Chief Deals in Bonds
and Mortgages Now.
From the New York Press.

Last week Wyoming justice of the
peace fined him and his companions $50
each for violating the game laws. They
had killed antelope and deer in the Oil
Mountain region. The man who was once
king paid the fines and promised that
he and his followers would sin no more.
Forty years ago this mans word was
law from the northwest territory to far
south Of the Platte, and from the Rocky
moutains east to the Mississippi river.
He was then 30 years old, and had but re-
Gently received his ''war name" of Mach
peah-leutah. This in English means red
cloud, and red cloud he was, indeed, to
the goldseekers crossing the plains, to the
hunters, the trappers and the would-be
settlers. He was hereditary chief of the
Ogallalas and elected leader of the banded
tribes of the Sioux nation. He succeeded
to the kingship of the federation on the
death of Old Smoke, and during four dec
AIDES he has shown wonderful sagacity
and adaptability. He has proved him
self warrior, diplomatist, politician
and tinancier. He has defied when
possible and yielded when necessary. AS
result, although no longer q monarch of
".
staked white captives to the earth and
had fires built on their stomachs Now
he employs more delicious torture-one
learned from his conquerors and sane
toned by civilization. 1t is a torture born
of the prison hood of bond and mortgage
"a torture comprised in the words 'pay
up or get out"
But in 1884 Red Cloud was the typical
fighting man and general Of his race. All
the Dakota nation acknowledged his
sway as completely as any barbaric fed
GRAFTON submits to one man rule. Under
his orders the Ianctonnais tribe held the
passes of the Rockies
"Old Red, +" as he had come to be known
to the whites. while still comparatively
young, though he saw his opportunity in
the civil war and responded cordially to
the advances of confederate agents. The
prompt punishment of the Minnesota up
rising by Gen. Sibley gave him his first
accurate knowledge of the power and
numbers of the whites, and thereafter he
| developed great astuteness and prefer
| ence for argument rather than for arms.
| He bloomed out also as an orator, and
| Leon Palliday, the veteran frontiersman
| and interpreter, told the writer in 1878 of
| Red Clouds first speech to white men. 1t
| was made in 1864 and was intended as
| message to the great father at Washing
| ton. There had been a beautiful auroral
! display few nights previous, and in ad-
| dressing the army officers, Machpeah-
| eutah referred to il as follows:
IF you will only lift up the dropping
! spirits of your red children by giving
them succor and teaching them the better
way of life, their thanksgiving for YOU
! and yours will ascend to heaven Just as
the aurora kindles it's light on earth and
| streams upward through the dark toward
the home of the great spirit"
Odd w. H.. II.
| spirit on the part of the young braves
aided materially in the construction of
the Union Pacific railroad, but it lost him
! much of his prestige as arwarrior.
So, when the great uprising of 1876 took
| place he was no longer a recognized
leader After the victory of the Little
| Big Horn he was revlled and tainted for
his lukewarmness. But he said nothing
| and, like many white statesmen, awaited
the vindication of time and events After
| Gen. Terrys conference with the fugitive
! Sioux at Fort Walsh his opportunity
| came. All of his predictions had been
! verified, and disregard of his warnings,
! had ended in disaster. When the defeated
| but still defiant bands were herded to-
! gether like so many angry cattle at Fort
| Robinson, in Northern Nebraska, he
shone forth as the man Of intellect who
| dares much and dominates brute rage
| with master mind.
One Sunday in 1877 the stars and
stripes were displayed over Dick Bears
trading post on the Deadwood trail,
about three miles from Fort Robinson
The Indians judged this to be a signal
that more troops were coming up from
Sidney, and that their semi-imprisonment
was to be followed by the punishment of
death. Four thousand men, women and
| children fed to the hills, and what had
been barbarlc camp was transformed
into a desolation Of trampled grass
smoldering ashes and the raucous conten-
tion of coyotes over half gnawed bones.
The men at the trading post-of whom
the writer was one-Knew that danger
was in the air. A messenger dashed
| away to the fort to notify Capt Wheeler,
and the gates of the big stockade sur
rounding the store were closed. Half
an hour later there came from the
distant buttes to the north a buzz like
| that of angry bees. 1t grew to the trem-
ulOus thunder of horses hoofs upon the
! stony ground. Then down 10 the lower
| land that forms the valley of the so-called
| White river swept magnificent array of
| cavalry-the riders in war paint and the
ponies with braided names Men and ami
mails seemed one in their sympathy of
| movement and both alike appeared to be
filled with the. joy of coming battle.
| The Dakota war whoop rose loud and
!
and the spectacle compelled the admira-
tion of those who stood within the frail
stockade expecting to die, burt deter
| mined to die lighting
At the writer's side was Missionary
Robinson. AS ne examined the workings
of his carbine to make sure that the shell
extractor was in good order he murmured
to himself that spirited passage from Job
about the horse.
He paweth in the valley and rejoiceth
in his strength; he goeth on to meet the
armed men.
1.-The culver rattleth against him; the
glittering spear and the shield.
HE smelleth the battle afar off, the
thunder of the captain and the shouting"
But there was no massacre. AS the
great column surged toward the stockade
gates, headed by The Stabber, Little Big
Man and Old Man Afraid of His Horses,
it suddenly broke and fell back as the sea
breaks and falls back from the silent
might of cliff Then those within heard
a voice 1t was the voice of the man who
had been king, and who was still chief of
his tribe. II was the voice of the leader,
whose words had come true and who