The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-09-04
AN INDIAN SCARE IN POLITICS.
WatonGa, 0. T., Sept I.

| t1yuu uetlluS, lie DIOuSut IL ctIdlSs
tale, tale of political perfdy and con
temptible cowardice. This is the way
he felt about it:
Somebody, a Paul Revere, turned t.
the bad, plunged recklessly over the
northern part of this county last night
and yelled at the settlers, ''Indians.'
People not in the scheme, and limo
cent of its ptIrport, also mounted theiI
horses and shot wildly along the roads
advising the people to hide out.
When the Republicans here heard
this, this morning, they boiled over
| with indignation. Mr.. Chapman, some
miles north found a family, named
johnson, crouched in a draw and baI,ri-
caded, and ready to blow eighteen diff
ferent colors of daylight out of the first
Indian who appeared. Others coming
in, met women and children crying,
and men afraid to leave their homes
and come to the Flynn meeting.
There is no end to politics. In death
we are in the midst of politics.
Everybody present who heard Chap
mans story said: Pop trick
| There have been packed meetings,
stuffed ballot-boXeS, marked ballots,
unmathematica judges, blocks of five,
and Tammany frauds, but never before
| in American politics surely, was an In
| dian scare used to turn votes.
That was what was attempted here
last night, according to the Republi-
, cans.
The Indian scare was founded on
this: People were told that the gov
eminent had stopped the system OF Is
| suing beef TO Indians on the hOof, and
had substituted the system of issuing
| it in fifteen pound portions from the
| butcher block. This is true. They
We're also told that the Indian chiefs
had forbidden their Indians to SO ac-
cept the beef. This is also true, as an
Indian told me today. The evil Paul
Revere also told the poor women and
children that Tuesday night at 10
o'clock all the homes in the northern
part of the county would be raided by
the Indians. This was not true.
The suspicion is, and politics justify
the suspicion, that Populists in order
to keep people away from the Flynn
meeting and reduce its size and
smother its enthusiasm spread this
alarming report to keep people at home.
''Kes,'' the man who handles the reins,
tells me it probably kept 200 people
away.
This is fine little city. The mer-
chants are all Wide-awake. They do
a rafting trade. They love their town.
just as Wichita people do. They want
you to say what you think of it and
their patent anticipation is that your
opinion is favorable The stores are
substantial and well stocked. The
nearest bank is Kingfisher. And yet
so great is the country's business and
banking habits and so extensive its
! influence that with the nearest safe,
thirty miles away, trade is largely con-
| Quoted on checks l asked particu-
larry about this There are silver,
greenbacks, bank notes, and certifi-
Gates here in circulation and some gold
The money order department of the
postoffice is not used extensively in the
transmission of money, as the rates of
oh n n Trrll -
checks is made, say three times Il week
at Kingfisher. Everyone is expected
to be honest. The man who isn't. pays
cash thereafter. There is no question
doubt, distrust or lack of confidence.
Professor Morse's great system Of dot
and dash was a wonderful invention,
but it has given financial confidence in
America many a chattering jolt. There
is really some comfort in being SO far
away from a charged wire, that Wall
streets daily paroxysIhs are not sent
into the system with your breakfast
| cup of coffee.
People here are happy. The money
this year is in cotton. The Daily
Eagles cotton reports fix the market
price here every day.
Just for curiosity l asked Mr.. Wag-
ner, a merchant here, in regard to the
Indians idea of money. What / dis
covered in this respect shows how.
even in the Indians nature, confidence
is everything. The Indian values the
silver dollar highly. With him it is
''moccomakife." If he receives a bill
for five dollars he believes in il implic-
lily if he is assured of its ''mocco-ma-
kite" redemption.
Recently blanket squaw (and none
Of this pertains TO the educated red
NAM entered Mr.. Wagners store and
desired TO break a ten dollar bill. Mr..
Wagner gave her five silver dollars
which she accepted He gave her also
a five dollar bill, which she pushed
back with a grunt Mr.. Wagner took
out five more silver dollars and pushed
them out 10 her, but assured her that
five silver dollars and the five dollar
bill were one and the same to Mr. Wag-
ner. She grabbed the bill and went
away satisfied Indians see little gold,
and if presented 10 them would grunt,
mo good" unless assured of its ''moc-
eo-makite" redemption. Indian Agent
Woodson's checks are more valuable in
the Indians eyes than Uncle Sans
greenhackS.
Blanket Indians trade peculiarly.
Inv .oF rT~s-.