The Dickinson press., 1895-01-19
THE FLORIDA sEMrxoLrs.
About 200 Are Left and Live in
,Straggling Villages.

About 200 Are Left and Live In
,straggling Villages.
It will 500 be in order for some one
familiar with the lives and habits Of
the Florida Indians to write about
"The Last of the Seminoles." The
remnants Of this once powerful tribe,
who are scattered through the Florida
everglades, scarcely exceed 200 in mum
Der. Patrick Murphy Of Jacksonville,
n OF the attaches Of the House of
Representatives, has just rturned to
Washington from that state, aud last
night talked entertainingly about old
Chief Tallahassee and his tribe. He
was Mt one time a trader among the
Indians In the everglades and had
many good friends among them.
II saw a man in Jacksonville just
before l left" said lie, "who had been
down with the Indians several weeks
and told me that their ranks are rapid.
~ becoming decimated. They are
poorer than cver. The game in their
section, on which they largely subsist-
cd, Is nearly all shot away, and the
few remaining able-bodied men will
soon have to get down to good old
hard work, unless the government
comes to their relief. They have very
little property of their own, and what
they have is not of much value. They
do not take kindly to the trades or
farming, and for that reason are insult
dciently clad and are leading a kind Of
1and-to-mouth existence,
"There are not over 200 remaining
who populate the three or four stray
Cling villages. One of these is at Cow
Greek, in Brevard County, another at
Lake Rosalie, in the same county,
another at Miami, in Dade County,
aud still another ut what is known as
the Big Cypress, on Lake Okeechobee,
right in the heart of the everglades.
Tallahassee, the chief Is q fine-looking
medium-sized Indian, aged about Is
years, and talks English fluently. He
sets a fine example for the few bucks
left in the tribe, but he can not in
duce them to go to work and earn their
own food and clothing. Their neglect
of their persons and irregular habits
and eating r making physical
wrecks Of them, and it will be only q
few years before their villages will be
broken up and the handful of those
still living scattered in all directions.
When Tallahassee dies he will be sue
ceeded by his son, a strapping big
Indian. whom the whites call ''Billy
Buster" His only ambition Is to kill
lots of game, and he is an expert hun
ter and fisher. He considers himself
insulted when the subject Of work is
preached to him.
"The Selninoles keep up their annual
feast, which is called the green-corn
dance. 1t takes place during the first
quarter of the moon in June. All the
living members of the tribe gatkcr
ut the ncighborhood Of Chief Talla-
la>Spc's abode at this period. Then
all their laws are made and they pow
Wow for days and days, until oil have
been L.eard who have anything to sug-
gest for the good of the tribe or for
their entertainment. This is also the
popular time for weddings. and often
a dozen marriages are celebrated while
the green corn dance continues. The
dance feature of the gathering is
something on the order of all Indian
dances. They paint their faces and
bodies with glaring crlors, circle round
and round a Hg campfire, stamp their
feet, and give the short, sharp yelps
SO characteristic of all Indians. They
keep up this so-called dancing until
they fall exhausted. Many whites wis.,
it their ga:Aeliiis place ut this season
and are invariably well treated
Washington Post.