Evening star., 1895-04-27

ing Omcef. The cOmmandlnS Omcef SIgneu
1t and gave 1t back to the adjutant, the ad-
jutant gave it to the sergeant major, the
sergeant major gave 1t TO the orderly,
swore at him three times, and five minutes
later the deed was done. The communica-
ton was deposited on a desk in the Indian
| agents Office Incidentally it may be ex-
planned that the Indian agents office is
about 300 yards from the offices where all
this writing took place.
1t was still so early in the morning that
the Indian agent had not reached his Office.
In fact, the communication was there just
an hour before he was If the orderly had
been sent to the agents house, the COM
| munication would have reached its destina-
tion this one hour earlier, but this would
have been irregular.
What the agent read when he opened the
letter was as follows:
FORT BARRENALL, o. D..
September Z, 1893.
The Indian Agent, Big Ration Reserva-
| Sir I.have the honor to inform you that
during the night of September 6. 1899, there
has been an Indian burial according to the
old customs. within the limits of this post
| l wish to do nothing towards exciting the
Indians by pulling down the corpse, but
on the other hand, cannot allow such a
structure to remain within the limits of the
| post. An early reply from you on this SUBJ
! ject is requested. Very respectfully, your
obedient servant
JOHN ABBOTT. Col, Blank Infantry,
Commanding post
To begin with. the commanding officer
] had brought all this trouble on himself
| He was well advanced in years. he could
not sleep in the mornings, and thinking
| that every one else should agree with him,
he usually had his regiment turned out for
| drill as soon as 1t was light enough to see.
Sometimes the dew made the grass too wet
| for drill, and then he allowed the men to
remain in barracks, while he, for lack of
| board walk and called ii exercise He al
ways tested the grass first thing every
morning by walking through the little plot
| in front Of his quarters and as it was the
| duty of the officer of the day to sprinkle
| this little plot with a watering can when
| he made his midnight inspection of the
| guard, the commanding officer generally
found an unusually heavy fall Of dew, and
with sigh ordered the musicians to sound
| the 'recall''-no drill.
Now If the commanding officer had been
| In the habit of remaining in bed until a
| reasonable hour some soldier would have
| discovered the buried Indian and torn him
down to get the relics buried with him.
But as the commanding officer took his
| accustomed walk this memorable morning
| his eye caught a strange sight, a thing
| uncanny, rolled up. propped up. stretched
| out on the limbs of the big cottonwood
| that stood in the northeast corner of the
| post. The commanding officer put on his
| glasses and blessed his soul several times
in establishment before he could believe his
| SeESeS. Then he left the board walk and
started for the tree.
What it was there vas no doubt-a long
| bundle somewhat larger than man, with
| dirty rags covering it, stretched out and
| bound to rude scaffolding with pieces of
| rope, the scaffolding resting on the heavy
| houShs of the tree. AT one end of the
| bundle the painted feathers of war bon
net were visible, and yes, there was the
| pipe, too, that the spirit was supposed
| to smoke while on the way to the happy
| hunting grounds. At the foot of the tree
! We're some pieces of jerked beef and some
| water in a stone jar, both of which the
| u hafo he r. H.
ed his destination.
| The commanding officer looked at the
| surrounding country, at his watch, and
| then at himself. Yes, that was Fort Bar
| renall: nothing about it had changed since
| the day before. 1t was. broad daylight and
he was dressed as required by existing
| orders; therefore, he was not in bed and
| dreaming. He glanced at his boots.
| why" exclaimed he, ''the grass here is
as dry as a bone. while in front of my
quarters there was heavy dew. But that
| is nothing compared to this astounding
| burial. For ten years past the Sioux have
| buried their dead like decent Christians.
and here l wake up one morning and find
| they've not only gone back to their old
| customs, but they've even used a military
reservation and military tree for their
| purpose"
Then the commanding officer rushed to
| his office. repeating the articles Of war and
| the army regulations. but finding no clause
| that in any way covered the thing out on
| the tree. The events already narrated in
|
| the Indian agent next followed.
The Indian agents office was noted for
| its deplorable lack of system. If matters
had proceeded regularly. the agent would
| have called his head clerk and given him
| Instructions, and these instructions would
| have gone downward in the scale of official
rank until they struck some one low
| er rough to do the actual writing, and then,
going up and down several times more,
! would have landed eventually at the ad-
| minstration building of the military post
| two hundred yards distant, in the form Of
| a return communication, which, in sub
| stance, would have had the honor to in
| form the commanding officer, Fort Bar
| renall. o. D.. that the Indian agent, Big
| Ration Reservation, .. D., had received the
| first communication. dated Fort Barrenall
| o. D., September 1, 1888, and would give
| it his earliest attention. But. fortunately
| for this tale. which, in that case, would
have stretched out through several months.
| like a Chinese play, the agent was sadly
| irregular in all his work. He simply
clapped his hat on his head and walked up
| to see the commanding officer.
| BY this time the greater part of the gar
| rison was looking at the queer grave. The
| commanding officer strode up and down.
| gave his glasses final adjustment, and
| eN claimed. I'll be blowed."
| The portly major of the regiment thrust
| his hands deep down into his spacious
| PC ockets, arched his eyebrows and made a
! letter o with his lips, so great was his as
tcnishment. and then calculated, This
l
| One of the numerous second Iieutenants,
| who had sense enough to know that his
| opinion would not be asked, and, moreover,
| would be worthless, in any case, backed
| away from the circle of ladies who were
| "Oh-ing'' and Aiming" and when out of
| bearing range, ventured the remark, Til
| be blanked If this isn't devil of a row."
And the last new buck private, who was
| afraid to speak in the presence of his
corporal. or sergeant, or in fact in the
| presence of any one who ranked him-and
| every one did rank him-went away Off by
| himself, stepped outside the fence that di-
| vided the military from the INDIAN reserva-
| ticn and then relieved his mind with, why
| don't they knock the dink-dankity -dink-
| dog-dankity y-dink thing down out of the
| dinkity tree, and then they'll find out some
| thing about the dnk-dankity thing?"
| The Indian agent walked rapidly toward
| the scene of excitement He was very pop
| ular with the garrison officers, and he
| stl ode along every one greeted him with a
| cordial Good morning, major" All Indian
| agents have the brevet rank of major. the
pay of average first lieutenant, and the
| emoluments of brigadier general He ap-
| preached the commanding officer with a
| smile his lips. OF course, not being a
military man. he could not appreciate the
| enormity Of an offense which not even the
| sixty-second article of war could cover.
| The commanding officer grasped his hand