The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-08-01

cealed in the willows. within gunShot of
the house in which ShAveuau was lying,
ana mad the ferocious Wap-e-nas s-are6d
Iowa9ds the place, ne and his followers
would have been moved down by the bua-
lets from Wilson party
Waiting for Shavenau to die was the
situation IN which we found ourselves,
and We hoped he would. speedily, If il
| would put an end 10 the pending con-
11ct. We were helpless SO far as protec-
ton was 10 be thought of, and there was
| not mucn use of trying 10 get away, for
II was 30 miles across a desert TO the
1 nearest settlement. We felt no certainty
that when the killing began we would DE
let alone. To further help the matter
along, Wass, che Of onaven1ds Iol.S'ns-, ~,
rode in that evening wild with Mormon
WHISKY A runner had been 10 his camp
anu ne stopped en- route to fortify him
SELF, and came in urging mis- horse 10 its
utmost speed, his person Invested of
everything out a pair OF Dreecnes, car
fridge belt and a revolver. He whooped
at every plunge of his painting pony. A
cur ran out barking at aim and shot
/ from NasS revolver killed the dog. WasS
rode up to the agency and gave it out
cold that he was after blood, though the
friends.
As night came strong guard of Shave
nauS warriors were strung across the
mesa and we were warned to keep out
of sight Two of our number were sta
toned in the stables with several. of the
best HORSES saddaed ready for emergency,
ers store. strongly built structure of
cottonwood logs, not Tar from the stables.
About midnight a messenger came to
US and said that the old chief was dead.
1t WIS a relief to know ms much IN
the morning runners were sent out car
ryinS the news to Wap-e-na'S camp, and
he returned the word that he was salts
fed.
AS soon as daylight came number of
young Indians were sent out TO the
ranges and shot 20 or 80 of the old chiefs
has nj
Sheep in accordance with the usual GUS
TOM In the village ShavenauS scuaW,
his girls and otner female relatives
clipped their hair short, and the sounds
of the death wall reached the agency,
three miles distant.
The agency carpenter was asked to
make the coffin for the old mans inter-
ment and the size marked on the ground
was about feet by feet. it was three
fee<~.l depth when completed. On a
prominent knoll. within sight of the
agency, the burial place was selected, and
three or four Mexican poems. lounging
about Shavenau village, We're detained
eryday Ute dies he generally gets tucked
away in a ravine where the labor of
digging a grave can be avoided and stone
be found for the covering. But in this
case they went beyond the usual GUS
tom.
The box was placed in the grave. then
in the bottom was laid a mattress, which,
the old man priced very hign.V, and that
was covered with fine Navajo blankets.
Other blankets of the same kind were
placed over the corpse and then friends |
and relatives began placing in their Of
fer!ngs until the box was filed with a ]
sack of flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, |
cooking utensils, saddle and bride,
kniIe, revolver, rifle, ammunition, a |
buffalo robe, furs money and trinkets, |
etc, all for his use in the happy hunt |
ing grounds.
There was no ceremony; the poems ar /
ranged everything as directed by the !
chiefs. The family of the dead chief was |
present and the Squaws of the tribes We're /
there to join in the death wall, each try
ing, seemingly, to make il more nideouS /
than the other. No, not all of the squaws
were there. for an occasional wall came /
up from the distant river bottom in, an
SWer to those echoed from the knoll, add
ing a feature of weirdneSS to the clos
ing drama, demonstrating that the old
squaws might be decrepid and tied to
their ''wickiupS' by infirmitieS, but that
that death wall was something that re-
manned the same forever, a characters
tic that could not be civilized out of
their nature. And. though coming from
eternity, the walls We're vigorous enough
to vibrate among the teppes of the happy
low and distinct, like the prolonged tone
of flute, it fioated out from among the
lingering on the ear like the in
viting note of a houri on the borders of
then changing, not unlike
the howl of a hungry coyote seeming the
aroma from a distance, break
ing into fvenaical GATHERINGS and wind
ing uD like a shrek OF anguish of lost
souls driven into the burning pits of per-
dition.
If there is anything that an old squaw
is expected to excel in it is the death
wall, and the nearer she laps on the
home stretch the more spirit and origin
atty she throws into it. 1t is something
that comes with age and experience and
the near approach of the end, and no
young souaw can compare with the
Neither fr men nor the
young are permitted to exercise the privi-
eges of that wall.
The poems built strong framed struc-
ire, rooted and gabled like a house, with
40 opening on either side by which adj
nittance could be be gained for the pur-
pose of dissertation. A Greek cross over
he structure. Derched on one of the
gables: marks the resting place of one of
he widely known and typical chiefs of
he Utes.
STANLEY STOKES in, Colorado Re
publican.