Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-05-09
THE YOUNG DTDErSPLlT SKY
To be the New Chief of the
Oneida Indians.
HE IS A COOKER" At LACROSSE
Also the Reservation Girls
Favorite.
How the Indians Cheese Their New Chief
Split Sky is If Years of Age aud one
of the Best Looking Lads of the feser-
yation-Hs Can "rhrow the Snake"


Boston Herald.
Onondaga Castle, the home OF the
semi.civillzed aborigines who make
Syracuse picturesque on circus day ana
who spend halcyon existence on the
plateau south of the city digging ginger
root and whiting out bows and arrows
to sell to city children, will be the
scene of momentous ceremony, aud
the chiefs Of the Six Nations from all
parts of the State and even from the
confines of Canada. will be on hand in
all their wampum and war paint. a
great council has been called, says the
Standard of that city, for the purpose
OF filling the vacancies that have been
caused by the deaths OF chiefs. The
warriors who have gone on to the happy
hunting ground left no particular herdi.
tary rights TO their children; in fact, II
the Indian considers the passage OF
blood at all he looks to the squaw to
pass on the sang azul. But it appears
that with the Six Nations the chiefs are
not chosen in these modern days because
OF a glorious ancestry. The aspiring
young buck cannot even stand out .or
office and hustle for it like the young
palelace of the city. The process is
peculiar and primeval. 1t is, indeed, u
form of patriarchul government that has
survived above all the changes that time
has wrought.
Last winter the long, mournful whoop
that is always sounded on the death OF
chief echoed twice from the hilisides
that enclose the reservation as with a
wall. Two of the white haired old pa.
triarchs, one of them the head chief
of the Oneidas, went on to join their
fathers, and the council house was .he
scene of mourning for many days. The
tenacity with which the OnOndagas
cling to the customs Of long ago is re-
marka5le. No teachings Of the mis-
sionaries seem to affect them, and their
intercourse with their white neighbors
has no apparent tendency 10 alter their
ways. Whenever chief dies the death
whoOp is surely sounded all over the
raservation-a drawn out, reverberating
wall that can hardly be described. And
when the last hOnors have been done
the dead, the surviving chiefs so of 70
their own home and there, in the soil
tude Of their fireside, they consider al!
of the young men of the tribe. Each
forms an opinion for himself as to the
| qualifications of the various youths, ana
| gradually as they meet one with an,
other they learn what names have been
most thought OF, ana gradually by NJ
| definite process it has been tacitly de
cidcd that certain young buck is quail
fled for the great honor. Nothing j;
said to him for some time, but he /;
watched closely to see il his conduct j.
worthy, and if he fultills the require
ments he is notified to prepare himsel
for the great event. He then keep
himself aloof from his companions for
time and assumes an air that is in keep
ing with his new dignity.
When Chief Abe Hill of the Oneida
and Chief Peter George Of the Onopdaga
died last winter there was a great dea
of speculation on the reservation as Il
who would be their successors. Man,
of the young men have had consideraol
schooling and several have broken ava,
from the tribe and have gone to the cit,
to learn trades. some, too, have joinet
the church and have cast aside the Gus
toms Of the tribes as relics of their bar
barism. All these have become ineligible
The right sort Of a young man for
chief, say the Indians, is one who re
spects tile traditions of the tribe an
who worships according to the ways {
his fathers, who is content to live en- tn
reservation and take part in the tribt
councils. Chief Daniel La Fort an
others Of the influential Indians locke
about for youth who would fill tn
bill, and it has been announced that ID
choice for head chief of the Oneidas hs
fallen upon Adam Thomas, who is ju
Is years old, and who is one of the hes
looking lads on the reservation. III
new chiefs real name is Tan-ho.ya
which means Split sky. Just why tn
. picturesque appellation was given
HIM is not known, but il probably can
from some unusual aspect of the heavel
at the time Of his birth. ..5.a
!. Split Sky is the dude of the reserv
9 ton. All OF the girls think he is ju
too lovely for anything, and the DO
i who have seen him play lacrosse al
throw the snake think that he is
!, cOrkcr. .-.