Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-27
Chat With a Washingtonian Who
Knows the Indians.
FEARLESS, But NOT TROUBLESOME
Jackson Hole is Bad Spot, With
Tough Citizens.
TRAITS OF THESE INDIANS

Information about the Bannack Indians
is at a premium, now that the telegraph
wires are heavy with more or less sensa-
tional statements regarding the alleged
outbreak of that tribe near the Fort Hall
reservation, Idaho. Mr.. w. P. Ramsey, an
officer of the coast survey, was for nearly
five years employed on this reservation by
the United States government, and Is thor
oughly well acquainted with the character
istics and circumstances Of the tribe. He
said to Star reporter this morning:
"In the summer of 1885 I was appointed
by Mr.. Atkins, who vas then Indian COM
missioner. as farmer on the Fort Hall
reservation, and served at Fort Hall from
that time until the LIST of December. 1880,
in different capacities. During part of the
time acted AS agent and also as clerk, as
well as farmer, and my duties in the latter
capacity took me all over the reservation to
give the Indians instruct ms in agriculture.
/ would sometimes be absent for weeks,
and / frequ entity ved with the Indians in
their huts. There are two tribes of In
dams on the Fort Hall reservation, the
Bannacks AMI the Shoshones. Theres are
about $50 of the Bannacks and 1850 or
100 Of the Shoshones. This reservation
contains almost all OF the Rannacks in
they will not marry out of their tribe they
are rapidly dying out, and it will only be a
question of a few years before they are
entirely exterminated.
Bannacks Are Big Men.
1.-The Barracks are very large people,
and are fine, manly locking specimens of
humanity. 1t is rsre to see an adult Ban
mack less than six feet high. They are
brave, courageous and fearless, and If
forced to fight will fight like fends. The
Bannacks can never be whipped except by
determination. as they will never surren-
der II aroused to a fighting pitch. In this
they differ fl ON the Shoshones. who are
agricultural Indians. and ere spiritlesS and
quiet. The BannackS are not agricultural
by nature. and they will only raise hay.
But although they are always ready to
fight If made the subjects of aggression.
they are not eager for row, as they are
intelligent enough to know that if they
should go on the warpath their numbers
are so small that they would be easily
overcome. One of the Bannack braves
once said to me: No good for Bannack to
fight. Not enough of him. Soldiers come
like grass. Bannack cleaned out
II do net believe that the Bannacks
could possibly today muster one hundred
and eighty-five warriors all told on the
Fort Hall reservation, and to do this they
would have to take in all the old men and
cripples. They have no arms to speak of
and they are very poorly equipped for a
row. I have letters from there frequently
and all my information is to the effect
that the Indians are in peaceful frame OF
mind, and that there is no trouble at all on
the reservation. A letter received ten days
ago from =. personal friend, Mr.. Louis
Main of this city. who is now the farmer
on the reservation, gave no hint whatever
of any symptoms of disquiet among the
indians. 1t is my opinion that the reports
that have come from the west about this
so-ca1led outbreak are highly sensational,
and are probably founded on the most
flinsy facts.
Trouble About Hunting Rights.
This whole trouble" continued Mr..
Ramsey, sis matter of states rights
more than anything. The treaty between
the Indians and the United States. made,
I think, in 1865. gave the Bannacks the
right to hunt on the public domain. and
the question now is whether the adm.s-
sion of Idaho and Montana into the Union
repealed that right or not. Personally do
not think it has ever been repealed, and
that the Indians have as great a privilege
to hunt on the public lands as have the
whites. Every year the Indians go out to
hunt beyond the reservation and they al
most Invariably go to the agency Tor per-
mission. The agent gives to those Indians
whom he can trust passes that are made
out in regular form, stating the name OF
the Indian, the place that he has chosen
| for his hunting ground and the period
that he desires to remain. There are some
| fifty or sixty bad Indians on this reser-
walton who cannot be trusted away from
| the agency. These Indians, however. often
| go without permission. and it is probably
some CT them who are causing the pres
| ent trouble. They will go out and take
| their chances, but they never go in par-
ties of more than four individuals. They
| are good enough hunters to know that il
| is impossible to capture game with larger
parties. Their plan of action is to go te
| the center of the territory they have
chosen for a hunting ground and after Sc
| lecting a camp, scatter in different dfrec-
| lions. Each man will take up position or
| some favorable spot and sit motioniess FOL
hours waiting for game. They do not
| stalk the game as the white man does
| but wait for 1t to come near them Wher
| seen from a distance the Bannack hunts
| man looks more like the stump of tree
| or stone than human being, so still
| does he sit. The Bannack always leaves
| his blankets and feathers at home wher
| he goes on a hunting trip, as he know:
! well that there is a peculiar odor about
| the articles Ct attire that is easily dis
| tinguished by the game. He consequently
| wears white mans clothes. But as a mat
| ter of fact the Bannacks almost all veal
| such garments.
A Tough Settlement.
| jackson Hole is very tough com
mrrity. 1t is located about hundred ant
| twenty miles from the railroad and is in
habited by squad of settlers who subsis
mainly upon the game they kill on thu
government lands. Iney are, as RUE
| rather desperate characters and bitterl,
resent the privilege given to the Indian
| to hunt off the reservation. They hav
been known in the past to forcibly inter
fere with their right to do So There is
game law on the statute books that re
strcts the hunting to certain periods o
the year. but it is dead letter and hav
never known 1t to be enforced against tn
white man.
''In 1889 this neighborhood was infeste
with 1awless people, and the state authori
ties of Idaho and Wyoming requested tn
agent to furnish them with a squad O
Indian police from the reservation to hel
in a raid that was going to be made on
gang of cattle thieves located at Jackso
Hole. There was also some in the Teto
basin in Idaho. We sent out fourtee
mounted Indian police, but there were n
arrests made that year. The next year tn
white authorities made a raid and capture
several Of the outlaws. some of whom ar
now serving sentences and killed one G
two of the cattle thieves. l mention thi
to show the character of the people VIII
are now raising the cutlery against the Bar
nacks. None of the neighbors of the II
dams living near the reservation fear thel
| at all. as they are well enough acquainte
with them to know that the Bannack
not looking for trouble and will not seek
of his own accord. When the Bannacs