West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1895-10-03
AN INDIAN FUNERAL.
From our California Correspondent
CAPTAIN GRANDE INDIAN
SCHOOL, Sept. 30. 1895.

one-a funeral. This one was an
Indian, the wife of Jose Munko.
who lives on the opposite bank OF
the river from the school house.
The woman had been sick for
some time and had gone to see
and take medicine to her several
times. She lay on a rude bed which
Jose had constructed after she got
sick. They have no children and
so some of the Indian women and
girls would go accordingly to see
her.
Jose would come nearly every day
and tell me that his wife was very
bad; sometimes crying as he talked.
On last Thursday evening after
school closed heard Jose scream
ing and l started to 60 over, but
Jose appeared on the river bank
franticallv swinging his arms say
ing his wife was dying.
ran near mile to an Indian
family and told them to come at
once. When / got to Jose's house
the woman was dead and he was
running about the yard screaming
and gesticulatlng frantically.
When the friends gathered in,
their screams and howls were heart
rendering and ear-splitting. So
left, leaving word that / would
come if needed.
The Indian knows not how to
moderate his expressions of grief at
such an occasion and therefore the
whole night their doleful weeping
sang out on the still air and vibrat-
ed from hill to hill. So l slept
little.
Early in the morning Jose came
and asked if l would come and
make the coffin. / took saw, ham
mer, nails, screw-driver, screws,
tacks and ruler. Jose gathered
some pieces Of old broken boards
about the hut and with those 1
made rude box. Then he brought
me some white muslin that he had
bought some time ago, with which
/ covered and lined it. Then he
brought small piece of black
silk, a relic that his wife had saved,
and l made cross with it on the
lid.
The Indians are all Catholics
here, in way. They were con-
verted to that faith when Spain
owned the country and the Jesuit
missionaries ruled the Indians.
We next placed the corpse in the
coffin, which was no little Job, for
she weighed over two hundred
pounds.
Jose all the while assisted me in
making the box, etc., crying and
praying to the Virgin.
The women had dressed her in a
new girgham dress, folded her
hands across her breast and placed
in them a small brass crucifix and
a picture Of Christ at her head and
lighted candles on each side. These
the Indian priest brought.
A few hours later the corpse was
put in a road wagon, one they got
from Uncle Sam, the priest sitting
at the head and Jose at the foot,
and started for the burying ground,
followed by the friends. The
priest and Jose sang all the way.
AT the grave Lighted candles were
given a number of children who
stood around the coffin while the
priest chanted aRd prayed. Then
they all sang. Then the priest
took q cup with some water in it
and with a corn husk sprinkled the
coffin, grave and dirt. Jose took
some dirt, kissed it and threw it in
the grave both before and after
lowering the box. All the while
there was much weeping and man.
ifestations Of sorrow, but the
Indians are like children, they
weep one moment and laugh the
next. Their sorrow IS not the kind
that lasts.
asked Jose TO 90 home with me
and stay all night which ho will
lingly did. He seemed very sad
and told me he was now all alone,
as nc belongs to a tribe IN Mexico
and came here four years ago.
Next day jose came again bring
ing on his shoulders a fine pkin
which he gave me. He seemed
sorrowful and would weep when he
talked Of his wife.
Although an Indian burying in
a land where the whites with whom
they come in contact, are little
more civilized than they, and
though many Of their performances
we're OF a crude nature, yet it
showed sympathetic sorrow and a
belief in religious rites, and their
sorrow vas genuine and not for show.
The Hermit,
r. =, THOMAS.