The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-02-11
HOW CUSTER MET DEATH
Standard LOuk-BlCkElrd Gives
Graphic Account Of The Massacre.
BRAVES WOULD SPARE HIM
With Shorn Looks He Was Not Rec
ognlzed-Soldlers Had Trouble
Putting Cartridges Into
Their Guns.

the Loafer band of tho Brule Sioux at the
Rosebud agency. In Dakota they call him
SCOOP" but that's only for convenience.
SCOOP" and his wife, his wife's aunt,
his little daughter. Yellow Horse, and five
young Sioux braves have arrived IN san
Francisco from South Dakota, says the
San Francisco EIdmincr. This Is the iirst
Journey that Stand-and-Look-Back
ever made in which he availcd himself OF
railroad trains and ferry boats. or course
no has Travelled thousands of miles
through the bad lands" of Mon
tana. Wyoming and Dakota, but II
was always on the back of a pony. When
he came 10 n river he either had to wade,
swim or raft across it, so now, although
not given to undue condolences, he eN-
pressed considerable surprise at all the
white people he had seen and the wonder
full ways they had of doing things. He says
that he had been told by some OF his more
travelled friends. of the great number oil
palefaces, and no had even been close
enough to n railroad TO see tho swiftly
passing trains, but hc had never quite be-
iieved all the stories of his acquaintance,
and he was not quite sure of tho philos-
ophy and use of engines and cars. Now
he has seen for himself and is satisfied.
Stand-and-Look-Ba backward is a kind of
man very rarely met with of reserva-
ton nowadays-a full-blooded Sioux. Ho
is "A splendid specimen of tho plains In
dian, almost unspoiled by contact with
white men. After one sees PIutes or
Washoes. or Diggcrs from California and
Nevada, one is tempted to remark that
Fennimore Cooper and tho rest of the
American story makers who have written
of the mobile red men" didn't know much
q tlafo 4
surrounded him with great deal of
imaginary glory. But when one becomes
acquainted with Stand-and-Look-I3ack
ward and looks at the tall, handsome
young men that accompany him, there is
some temptation to believe that the COM
plmentary things the noveists have writ
ten were nearly true.
Years ago Scoop was n "bad Indian"
He spent nearly all of the first part OF his
life on the warpath. When he was not
fighting the whites he was doing battle
with other Indians. Now he says he has
forgotten oil that sort of thing and only
does what the Great Father at Washing
ton tells HIM. He did not join in the Pine
Ridge outbreak, although two or three of
the young men who were with him were in
the midst of the battle.
But what makes SCOOP" n moro inter-
csting character than an ordinary Indian,
is the fact that he took part in the battle
Of the Little Big Horn, where Custer and
800 men of his command were killed.
Tho histories all refer to that fight as the
Cluster massacre"
scoop" was only % years old then.
He is As now. At that time he was not n
chief. His description of the fight, al
though brief, is interesting. He speaks of
his share in the encounter with reluctance,
however, evidently with some lurking fear
that even at this late day the government
might punish him for IT.
There were n great many Indians"
he began, through his interpreter, Colonel
Jordan. IL cannot count them, even the
lodges. We cannot read nor write, and it
is very hard for us to tell numbers. But
there were a great many" Hero SCOOP"
counted awhile OH his fingers as though
trying TO estimate, but at length shook
his head as If 1t were a vain attempt.
"There were nine tribes, and the young
men were all very angry. They were
strong young men and great fighters.
Crazy Horse and Gall were the chiefs IN
command. All of the braves wanted to
capture Custer alive. We called him
Long Hair and knew that there was not
one of us any Drawer than he. That is
why we did not want TO kill him. SO we
all looked for the man with long hair who
sat up straight on his horse and looked
very fine. But we could not see him."
Here the interpreter explained that just
before the fight Clusters wife bad asked
him to cut his hair, because she thought
his long locks would make him conspicu-
Gus and a prominent mark for the Indian
rifles.
First the soldiers camo upon us in a
small band. We attacked them, and
they were afraid. They ran. We pur-
sued them and took their rifles away.
Afterwards We used them To kill the other
soldiers. They were towards. They
did not fight al all, but were like dogs.
We could have beaten them with sticks"
Colonel Jordan explained that this ref
eroncc was 10 Major Reuo's detachment
which Custer had ordered To attack the
Indians from ono side and divert their at
tention until no could get around and at
tack them on the other.
AFTER the first soldiers ran the others
advanced against US. \ tall man with
buckskin coat rode IN front. We thought
he was Custer, but hc did not have the
long hair, so we shot at him. These men
were all brave. They would not run. They
fought hard, bu, there were too many of
Us. we Killed thom all, but thoro were
only 10 Indians killed. There seemed 10
be something the matter with the soil
diers' guns. They could not put car
tr.dges in them. IL was n big fight, hut
We killed them all.
But that was all when ] was a young
man. Now / want TO be quiet man.
vii. never put on the war paint again.
have my family and | see that II is not
right to fight. do not talk of that fight
because II sounds like boastlng. / have
never spoken so much abou, II before
All this was not told in a minute, nor in
the exact order in whIch i; Is written here.
S.and-and-Lpok-B spoke a SEN
tence IN his deep cultural voice, which
was nevertheless not unmusical, and then
he would take a pun or TWO At the cIga-
rette which nc had rolled for himself, his
eyes look ng away of as though he saw
all ouar aualu rha farra q chr that ha a "A =