The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1896-11-20
INDIAN 6ASC-BALL.
It Isn't Much Llke the National Game.
but 1t l. n lively Sport


Henry Inman, in the Kansas, City STAR
It is conceded that the Choctaws, in
their uncivilized state, we're the most
skilled in the game, OF course, tho In
dian method of playing is not at all sim
liar TO the American National game,
and indeed it is more like tennis.
1t is played with two bats or sticks,
and in every house l visited in the
Choctaw Nation l saw one or more pairs
of these peculiar bats. The sticks are
bent into an oval loop at one end, with /
a web of fine buckszin thongs stretched /.
across them to prevent the ball from
falling out when tossed or caught. Each .
player carries two of these bats, one in |
each hand, and they catch the ball by /
jumping into the air, and throw it from /
the bats, and never are allowed to strike !
it or catch it with their hands.
In their primitive days it was an in
variable law of the game that no player |
should wear moccasins on his feet, and !
he could make his appearance on the
ball grounds only in the prescribed
dress. He had to wear his breech-clout
and beautiful head belt and tail, made
of white horse hair or quills, with
name around his neck constructed of
the same material as the tail, dyed in
colors. The match was made up months
before the day agreed upon for the play
ing of the game, and was led by two
champions, or captains, as we should
call them. These captains had the
power to go through the tribe, from vii
lage to village, and alternately choose
the men for their respective sides. The
choice of players was generally effected
by proxy; two runners" were sent,
armed with a pair of "ball-sticks."
These were elaborately ornamented
with paint, Abbons and any thing that
had a ga 2earance, and were
touched b wyers selected as an
evidence accepted and would
be on ha ly at the appointed
time, pr IKE part. Each side
erected und, where the game
was to ace, two upright poles
about yoce2igh and six feetapart,
across a Oop of which another pole
was fastened. These were called the
goals or "byes," and the distance be-
between them, one representing one side
and one the other, was some 500 feet.
At point exactly half way from each
goal small stake was driven where the
ball was to be thrown into the air at a
certain signal.
All the preliminaries for the game
were attended to by an old men, who
were also the judges or umpires. First
line was drawn from one goal to the
other; this was called the betting line,
across which all bets were made and
placed in possession of the regularly-ap-
pointed shareholders, and all betting
was made the night before the game
was to be called. Every conceivable
thing was staked that the Indian pos
sessed, for there is no such inveterate
gambler as poor Lo. The women of the
tribe, too, were as. earnest to wager what
their lodges contained, even to the last
blanket.
The night before the game, all the
players assembled around their respect
i've "byes," where, by the light of
torches and other fires, the squaws beat
their tom-toms and sung the weird songs
of the nation. Then was the "ball-
play dance" INDUCED in, all the players
of both sides, in their full game dress,
rattling their bats together and joining
in the monotonous chants of the tribe.
Then the squaws formed on each side of
the betting-line and there danced and
sung appeals to the Great Spirit to de-
eide the game tomorrow in their favor.
The game was always opened by four
old medicine men, who were also the
umpires. The night before the game
was called, while the players and the
betters were dancing and having good
time at the "byes" and the betting line,
they were squatted down at small
stake, away from the fun, smoking tc
the Great Spirit for ability to impartial
ly decide the game tomorrow, as theil
duties required.
The four old men standing at the
small stake throw the ball up in the all
and then the players, numbering 700 o.
500 frequently, rush frantically to the
spot, leaping and actually jumping over
each Others heads, darting between
their adversaries' legs, and all the time
keeping up the most demoniacal Yell
in their efforts to toss the ball to theiI
own side. Sometimes q regular hand
to-hand fight occurs, but it never be
comes serious, because, according to onC
of the rules of the game, every weapoI
is left in the village and no man is al
lowed go or send for one, so that thest
occasional broils never amount to any
thing. The game is for 100 points, ant
point is when the ball is passe(
through the poles of either side, which
counts one.
All the players efforts seem to be con
centrated upon keeping the ball up il
the air, but of course it does fall to thu
ground once in. awhile, and then tn,
scene is pandemonium broke loose; yol
can not see theplayers for the dust the,
raise as they rush together, nor can, the.
see the ball either, and bloody nose