Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-27

M ~ from the agency.
NM were camped the In
diars. The valley is wide. but it does not
have a deep effect. 1t looked gray and
dusty in the summer sun. while now and
then some clot of evergreen showed where
some thicket of pine grew on a distant hill.
There are some sixteen hundred Osages.
About four hundred of these are half-bloods
or whites, admitted into the tribe. These
wear store clothes of an inferior sort and
attempt to distinguish themselves by civil
lied airs. The eight hundred others wear
blankets. don feathers. decorate their faces
with paint and are proud of it. These are
the full-bloods. The Osages are a very
wealthy outfit. They have some 100000
acres Of as good land as ever slipped from
the palms of the Infinite If any one were
to buy it at anything like a value, it would
be worth fully SO an acre as an average.
Aside from this the Osages have some
SS,UO00U in the treasury in Washington,
$S,OO,0O0 of which is supposed to bear 3
per cent interest per annum. / don't know
that the interest is ever paid, but, whether
as interest or donation, each Usage re-
celves from his great white father in Wash
ington $40 year in four payments. The
head OF a family draws this money. II
there are ten in family, ne has 81. 400 a
year, and spends ir like a copper-colored
lord.
Seven Traders I'm the Nation.
There are seven traders IN the Usage ma
ton. To the extent of the money due them,
every Indian has tick with these traders.
Each family is provided with a card. with
the names of the seven traders. When your
Usage Graves a saddle, or ten pounds o:
sugar, or a quarter of beef, or anything else
of aboriginal interest. he goes to the store
with his card. The hawk-eyed trader over
looks it, He finds set down opposite every
traders name exactly what this particular
child of nature owes. The aggregate of
course. makes up his entire financial embar-
rassment. As every trader knows just how
many sQuaws and papooses look to this
particular buck as the head of the family,
he rs therefore able to determine just how
much money the great father pays him
every three months: and il does not take
long with a pen and piece of paper TO dis
cover whether he has any prospective as
sets, ana, therefore, whether he is to be
trusted If there is enough money coming
to him at the next payment day. he gets
what he came after. III not, the trader pats
him on the shoulder. smiles upon him and
exhorts him to tie a string to his ambitions
until after he next payment day. Then he
can have his saddle. or his sugar, or his
quarter of beef, or anything else he pleases
Divided Into Five Bands.
''The politics of the Usage government
divide the Osages into five bands. They
correspond TO the states of a nation, or the
counties of state. The Osages have their
head chief-a sort of president-their chief
justice. their treasurer. their attorney gen.
eral and their congress. This last is called
the national council. II is made up of three
delegates from each band. None of the Off
GERS of the Osages get over a hundred dol
lars year salary. The honor and the op-
portuntty IL affords for 'skinning' some
body, is regarded sufficient without nil
ing up any great monetary bait by way of
stipend. The national council has fifteen
members. three from each band. The bands
have names as follows:
salt Creek band. Black Dog band. Cla-
nou band, Pauhuska band and Strike Axe
band.
when / was there the names of these
law makers. as written out by the inter-
prefer for me, were:
"Nekawashetonga, or The-Ambitious-
Man.
'Ebokawatainka, or The-Saucy-Paola.
Observation-Disclosures The-Saucy-Osage
"Olahawala, or The-Man- W no. Follows
Up.
''1oushetamoie. or The-Man- who-steps-
High.
"Tehscamoie. or The-Yellowstone.
''11hawatainka, or The-Saucy-willow.
"Tewahehe, or The-Man-W no Scares- Up
The-Town.
'Opontongah, or The-Big-Euk.
"Moushonashou, or The Man. Who Walks
The-Land.
"Kathetawtainka. or The-Saucy-Chief.
"Cyprian Tyrian.
'.Saucy Calf
Frank Ravelette.
Isanopahshe, or The-Man- who-Is-N Not
Afraid-To-Die.
"All these officers were elected Ana M,
Indian election is great scheme The ball
lot box Is inside of a sort of rope corral
This rope fence, made of picket ropes and
lariats tied to trees, prevents anybodv from,
getting aat of ~
that is, any outside buck not EMPLOYED in
the actual business Of the election Inside
are the Judges and a few select friends of
the candidates. with the interureter and tbe
clerk OF elections. When an Indian votes
the ballot is opened and read so that ali
the world may hear-read in English and
in the Usage language, so that none may
complain that IL was not honest and un
derstood AS a result. fraud would seem
impossible.
Jealous Politicians.
These Indians are very zealous nou-
ticians. The schemes they will put IN the
plots they will lay, and the political nit
falls and snares they will rig, would do
credit to Tammany. They will rake a can
didate's past with a fine-tooth comb. and
every story they can tell on him. whether
true or false. is told and retold, talked
over and commented upon around every
compire in Osagedom. They have a very
good code of laws. 1 am told. Some of the
faults of their criminal laws are obvious.
One was indicated to me as 1 stood link
ing on the day l was there A little dry
dark, humpbacked Usage was standing
near. He wore the clothes of a white man
and i took heed of him as the only Grin
pied Indian l ever saw. What Indians do
with their cripples is never explained. but
there are never any about at any rate
This particular distortion, who had a
shrewd, keen, weasel face was named TO
me as former treasurer of the tribe
He Hoped off with $4,000 of our money
My informant was a full-blooded Indian
with the commonplace name of Bill Con-
nor. and was much feared and respected
IN the tribe for intelligence. as well as for
traoIIons touching his bloody ferociry.
How was that" / inquired
ny, he was treasurer continued
Common, and the cattle companies had
just paid their rents for our pasture land
or course this man got 1t, and the next
we knew he was away off in Florida spend
ing the money like a drunken sailor We
didn't in fact, know of his whereabouts
Tor about a year and a half. When We did