Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-18
AN INDIAN RUSE.
1t Appealed to the Superstition of the
Others to His Advantage.


Others to His Advantage.
Fort Sill Letter to Buffalo Express.
"A member of the Canadian mounted po-
lice, Lieut. McDouough told me-" said Capt
Particle. al the officers Club, "the follow
ing incident of band of Crees and solitary
Piegan Indian, which b novel and interest
ing. 1t occurred about 100 miles from Fort
Walsh: A band of Crees1ndians woke up one
Snowy morning to fine, that about one dozen
of their choicest ponies had been run off
during the night. Pursuit was soon organ
lied, and within few hours a fresh trail
was found in the snow. After following the
trail some thirty miles:it entered a river
bottom and headed for a wooded island in
the middle of the rivegf
Smoke was seen rising from the trees,
and an opening, which seemed to be the
mouth of cave, appeared in plain view.
Presently single Indian, Picgan, showed
up in front of the opening. He was in war
paint ana there was dog at his heels.
Pretty soon the dog scented the Crees and
began growing and barking. The Piegan
looked up, glanced a moment about him,
and then instantly entered the cave. In
about ten seconds another Piegan came
around the rocks and also went in; then
another and another and another, there be-
ing but few seconds between them. The
Crees lay silently in the bushes watching
ana counting, until upward of fifty Piegans
the cave, and still they kept coming What
seemed remarkable was the fact that all
tneSe indians We're, to all appearances, eX-
actly lhe same size. We're dressed and paint
ed ankle, each carried Winchester rifle
and, most remarkable of all, each one
slightly. > =
They were a gaudy crowd and the Crees
counted seventy of them. The superstitous
Crees naturally concluded that the evil
spirit mad something to do with it, for there
was no doubt that there were seventy Pie
gan Indians on the island who were exactly
alike.
so thoroughly Were. they filled with the
ldea that the devil was mixed up with the
mystery mat even when renforcements
arrived, which was in a few hours they
were reluctant to attack the island. That
night one Cree, less superstitious than the
rest, crossed over ON the ice to investigate
on approachins the supposed cave he was
surprised TO find it was no cave at all but
simply an opening leading some ten feet into
the rock, where it made turn and came out
on TIE other side. 1t required but a glance
10 understand what had seemed SO mys-
ferrous before. There was but the rem
nant of a single Camp fire the ponies were
gone ana not an Indian was in sight The
apparent presence of sixty-nine other war
LOTS LOTS was sharp trick on the part of the
PleSan warrior to deceive his enemies and
gain time for his escape which he accom-
pushed in good shane
w nile 1t is true that most red men are
iiuN uiouaiN SuperStlt1OuS and others again
so stoiid and indifferent that you might en-
Ter thelr presence with a brass band throw
hand-spr1ngs before them, smile, Weep have
Commissions or do some other outrageous
thlns. and yet they will sit and look at YOU
with cold, reserved glance and disinterest-
ca eye, still there are some who have the
hump or humor pretty well developed, and
are intense Wags in their own way The
trader at Fort Berthold. on the upper Mis-
souri,, caught Tartar one day
"A Ree Indian had given him conSdera HE
ANNOYANCE by hanging around the store in
half-drunken condition, and was told that
IN case he was seen again with a bottle it
would he taken from him and thrown into
the fire. A few days afterward the Indian
appeared with a pint flask in his blanket
as usual. The trader was as good as his
word, ard demanded the bottle which was
given up without protest. and then the red
skin darted for the door.sf The trader threw
the flask into the stove, when bang! went
the stove and out came the windows the
trader following. Had he stopped to inves-
tigate before throwing he would have found
the flask contained gnnpowder, not whisky
Some of CoXey's foot tourists in eastern
Montana were badly SOLD last spring by
mischievous Crow Indian who moved a sign
on the road to Billings reading Six miles
to Billings and stuck 1T up in a strange
place. The weary commenwealers Travelled
six days and five nights before they reached
ba