Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-08-29


the Eait, have Just come into gre at
luck. Ina couple of weeks they will
recaivu about 1920, 600 cash in conse-
quence of a judgment Of the court of
claims at Washington in their favor.
| And this piece of good fortune is only
> a CONTINUATION Of series of w,ndfalls
that have dropped into their pockets
! during the past five or six years. A
little over year ago they received from
the government nearly million dollars
cold caBh from trust funds lying in the
Treasury, and shortly before that they
received other large sums, and these,
together with property they already
had anil other big sums Of ready money
in their hands, will make every man,
woman and papoose of them worth fully
$4,000 per capita.
Certain other little Indian tribes,
like thu Osages, in Oklahoma, and the
Puyallnps and Yakimas, in the State
OF Washington, are even richer, but as
compaiSd with the richest white races
of Europe and America the wealth OF
the Dalawares is nealry five times as
much per capita as that Of the inhabit-
ants OF the British Islands. nearly six
times MS much as that of the general
population of the United States, over
nine times that o: Germany, and over
'26 times that of Russia, for the best
authorities place the per capita wealth
of Great Britain at only 81, 236, of the
United States at only 81, 029, Of Ger
manyyat 1862 and of Russia at 1925.
REMNANT OF A NATION.
This happy little band of Delawares
numbers only 754 persons, living among
the Cherokees. A fragment Of the
tribe went to Canada and was lost early
in the present century. Another little
fragment was reported in Louisiana
back in the year 1925, but has not been
heard of since, and other fragments
joined the Senacas and Shawnees and
thus lost their identity, while poor
little body Of some so or 90 is living
down in the southwest corner Of Okla
homa with the Kiowas and Comanches.
Thus the Delawares among the Chero-
KEGS are all that remain intact in con-
siderable body of that great aboriginal
nation, which, under the generic name
of Lenni Lenape, once peopled the wilds
of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey,
Western Connecticut and Southeastern
New York.
AS race they have been equally ia
nous in history and fiction. They were
THE Indians with whom old William
Penn negotiated the celebrated treaty
under the Shackamaxon elm tree in
Philadelphia. A branch of their
general tribe, the Mohicans, furnished
the subject of James Fennimore
Cooper's popular romance. Another
branch, the Manhattans, drank Gala
.bashes of rum with Hendrick Hudson,
on the site of New York City. Before
the Revolution and long afterward the
Delawareans played prominent part
in Indian wars against the whites. For
over century they we're moved about
and driven from pillar to post with no
permanent abode.
From the time of their original de-
parture from the Middle Atlantic
States down to their location in their
present home they inhabited success
sively the States Of West Virginia,
Kansas, leaving their footprints on the
soil Of each, and bequeathing to the
localities they frequented the legacy
,of their native names. No other In
dian tribe has, perhaps, experienced so
many vicissitudes. But now their
troubles are happily over. They are in
a decidedly enviable position, and being
assured of permanent oecuaption Of
their well-earned land of Canaan, they
can look back contentedly upon the
hardships of their long exodus
TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE.
A recital of their pilgrimages from
the land OF their fathers to their
present home, 1900 miles away, and OF
the successive changes in their condi-
tion from wild savages to wealthy
modern citizens, makes unique story
I. vt has never been told before in con :
nected form. When Capt. John Smith
landed in Virginia the Delawares occu-
pied all the country from the head Of
the Chesapeake Bay up to and east OF
the Kittatinny or Blue Mountains in
Pennsylvania, running ENTHUSIASTICALLY
from Gettysburg to Harrisburg and
Mauch Chunk, Belvidere, N. j., and
Middletown, N. y, to the Highlands
of the Hudson and on eastward az Jar az
the Connecticut river, comprehUndine
that part of Connecticut west of the
CorAecticut river, all that part of New
York between the Highlands and the
ocean, that part of Pennsylvania waterec
below the range of the Kittatinnies by
.theis treams flowing into the Delaware
riveAa of New Jersey, and the county
of New Castle in the State of Delaware.
They were bold, daring and gifted
tribe, numbering. more than $4,000
souls The name by which they called
themselves, 'Lenni- Lenape, signifieo
'"true men," The nation or confed.
eracy consisted of five tribes all sneak
ing one language: /. The Chihohockis,
who dwelt along the Schuylkill and the
west bank of the Delaware; 2, the
Wanamis, who inhabited the lower hall
of New Jersey 3, The Munseys, who
peopled the upper tributaries of the
Delaware, from the mountains dowr
to the Lehigh; 4, the Mohickan
ders (Mohicans, who resided between
the west branch of the Delaware ant
the Hudson, from the Catskills dowI
as far as the Raritan river in New
Jersey and 5, the Manhattans, whS
occupied Manhattan Island, Slater
Island and Long Island, and thos'
jparts Of New York and Connection
lying between the Hudson and Con
necticut rivers.
Their neighbors on the south wer
the Manahoacs or Monocans, peoplinl
upper Maryland and the Easter
Shore; on the west the Shawnees, Nan
ticokes and allied tribes, living betwee
the Susquehanna and the Alleghen
Mountains, and on the north of tn
i1roquois or Five Nations, embracin
the Mohawks, Senecas, Onondagae
Cayugas and Oneidas, occupying tn
land from the East end of Lake Erie
Lake Champlain, and from the Kit
,tatinny Mountains and Highland
,northward to Lake Ontario and the 81
Lawrence river.
=, A furious war was raging betwee
the Iroquois and the Delaware whe
a.. IL ,a1