The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-19
YOUNG INDIANS RIDE TO DEATH.
They Had Murdered n White Man
and stOicaIly Meet Their Fate.


The best Of the modern instances of the
sort Of bravado that leads an Indian to
his death was related the other day, when
Capt. G.. w. II. Stouch of the Third In
fantry. Indian agent at Tongue river, and
Maj. Mclaughlin, Indian Inspector met
on Northern Pacific train and got to ex-
changing "reminiscences. Few men
in the country who have had as much ex-
perlence among the red men as they. Capt.
Stouch has spent practically all his life
on the frontier and generally among the
Indians, and when the policy of the inte-
rior department was changed few years
ago and army officers were made Indian
agents, ne was sent out on detached duty
as agent to the Northen Cheyennes. Mai
Mclaughlin has been an agent among the
sioux Tor twenty-four years. 1t was Capt.
5touch connection with the Cheyennes
that brought out the story bearing on the
lndlan contempt for death which was
told on the train.
In the fall of 1899 a white man was killed
py the Northern Cheyennes. The name of
the man is forgotten now though his death
came very near causing an Indian war.
he was buried. and that was the end of
him. But the manner Of his taking off led
to trouble. He was a herder for his uncle
VINO was cattleman Of some prominence
on Iongue river, and the uncle insisted on
blood atonement for the death of his ne
phew. The matter was inquired into by
Capt Stouch. and he found out who the
cuIprHs We're readily enough.
The Northern Cheyennes are fairly de-
cent set of Indians and have not been
contaminated to any extent by contact
Win the whites. They are perhaps nearer
70 the state of nature than any other of
the northern tribes. In the tribe there were
a couple OF young fellows just budding
into manhood. They were too young to
nave mad any part in the wars of their
people, and all they knew of actual war
rare was from the stories that the war
rlors and the old men of the tribe told
and they were fired with desire to es-
tapilsh reputation by taking a white
scalp. During the sun dance in the pre-
vious August they had been raised to the
dignity OF warriors, and they wanted to
do something that would bring them dis
tinction in the tribe. So they hit upon the
plan OF Killing the young herder. Mai Nc
Laughlin tells the rest of the story:
-The murder was a cold-blooded affair
and the white people were very much in
censed. The uncle invoked the aid of the
government to secure the arrest of the
murderers. Capt. Stouch made a demand
on the Indians for their surrender to the
authorities. The Indians wanted to com
promise They made the usual PROPOSE
ton to atone for the death by turning
oyer oyer ponies and blankets to the uncle But
the uncle would not have Ii. He wanted
the murderers, and the government finally
made arrangements to take them by force
Two or three companies of the Third in
fantry, under Capt. Stouch, were sent to
the agency, and the Indians were giRen
to understand that the boys must be given
the boys would not give themselves up.
but that they would show the whites that
an Indian knew how to die.
THE captain was not sure of the in
tentons Of the Indians, and he stipulated
a time when he would expect the murder
ers The Indians sent word that If he
indicating the place where the herder was
killed, the young men would be delivered.
soldiers on the spot. The men were
mounted, and they were drawn up along
the end Of little ravine, in which the
body of the murdered man had been found
At the upper end of the 4avine was the
entire tribe of Indians. / could hear dis
tinctly a number Of old men and women
singing the death chant, and l suspected
that the boys were going to commit sui
eide. The scene was impressive. 1t was
rather late IN the fall, but the day was
at the head of their line and the line Of
soldiers at the other, stood out like great
pieces of sculpture against the blue sky
The Indians began to crowd up to the end
of the ravine, and we noticed that many of
them were mounted. These kept in the
the head of the gully they began sing
ing the death song and waving their guns
Suddenly two mounted men started out
of the bunch and rode wildly down on the
line of soldiers.
THE young men were nearly naked and
they carried repeating rifles, which they
began emptying into the closely drawn
ranks of the soldiers. Capt. Stouch in
stantly gave the command to fire at the
difficult to hit them. They on the contrary
fired with a great deal of accuracy and
had killed or wounded half dozen of the
troopers horses before they had advanced
a hundred yards. At the first volley from
the troops the horse ridden by one Indian
fell dead. The young fellow fell behind his
horse and continued firing at the troops
He killed number of horses but did not
touch a man. The other fellow rode
straight on, singing his death song, and
shouting as he rode. There must have been
some hundred shots fired at him. but ii
was not apparent that any of them reach
ed, for he rode straight at the line of
troops screeching dreadfully, and before
the men knew IL he had passed the line
and was a dozen yards away. Then a
number of them turned and fired at him.
and he and his horse fell dead together
I'm the meantime the other Indian lay
behind the barrier formed by the body of
his horse and fired at the troops as fast
as he could. The end came when a half
breed employee at the agency ran along
the side of the ravine until he could get a
shot at the Indian. Then, as the murderer
raised his head for a shot after reloading
his rifle, a bullet struck him fairly in the
temple and split his head open. The sol
diers lost a dozen horses, and it was ra-
Their a remarkable thing that not a bullet
hit man. Through all the din of the fir
ing there could be heard the deep inton-
ing of the death chant sung by hundreds
of voices in the Indian camp. The affair
fairly illustrated the fact that Cheyenne
knows how to die"