The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1897-09-07
INDIANS AND WHITES
BILL ARP WRITES OF THE MAR.
RiAGES WITH SAVAGE REDsKINa
no Discusses Ethnology-Ref. rs To tho RE.
cent Dihtrlbts In the Boston Transcript.
There Are Mon Of Many Minds.

Not long ago some writer from
the west told us that white people
we're marrying Indians girls moro
frequently than ever before. "In-
Decd" ho said, "the dusky maidens
seem to prefer the pale faces to
their own race and color"
This provokes mo to write a let.
ter about Indians for tho special
pleasure and benefit of our young
people. Boys and girls like to read
about them, know, but most of the
stories that appear are moro roman
tic than true. During the war our
brigade camped one night on the
Chickahominy river, about thirty
miles below Richmond, and we we're
shown the very stono on which Cap
tain John Smith laid his head for
Powhattan's club when the beauti.
ful Pocahontas rushed wildly in the
circle and threw herself upon his
bosom and saved his life. About
the stone [ have my doubts, but it is
historically true that Powhattan
lived there, and that his daughter, q
lovely lnss Of fourteen, did save
John Smiths life, as he in his letter
to the queen OF England says, "at
the minute of my execution she haz-
zarded the beating out of her own
brains to save mine." She after
wards married John Rolfe, with her
fathers consent, and from that union
came the Randolph's Of Virginia,
and little strain Of that same Poe.
ahontas blood flows in my wife's
veins, and she is proud of it and loves
to tell the story to her numerous and
lovely offspring. That little strain
isn't bigger than a cambrlc needle,
but it has never lost its strength.
She would mako right good Poca-
hontas now if anybody that she loved
was in danger. In fact, she has
some Indian traits still lingering in
her bosom, and should have been
named Indiana when she was chris
tened.
But it seems that ever since Poca-
hontas married a white man the In.
dian maidens Of all the civilized
tribes have been willing to do the
same thing. 1t is we'll known that
the daughters of the Greeks and
Cherokees in Georgia always said
yes when good looking white man
proposed marriage; but such unions
were not hasty nor deceitful, they
had to be in earnest and from hon.
orable motives. If an Indian maid
was betrayed by designing white
man, he could hardly escape, for the
whole tribe became avengers of
blood. Her virtue was her dearest
ornament, and if she lost it the third
finger Of her left hand was dismem-
bored at the second joint, and that
left hcr shame always visible.
Now it seems to be settled by the
mon of science that the Indian be-
longs to the Caucasian or white
race, or else ho is aboriginal and is
race of his own. He is neither Mon
golian, Malay nor negro. He was
first found here on the continent,
just as tho negro was found in Az
RIGA. AS the elephant was found in
Asia, tho kangaroo in Australia and
the llama in Peru, so the Indian may
be native of the manor born, for
geologists say that this continent is
the Oldest by several thousand years.
But where he came from or how he
got here is question too deep for
me. The existence Of Aztecs in
Mexico is still an unsolved problem,
and who were the mound builders is
a matter of doubt and speculation.
One thing, however, seems certain,
that the. race is doomed to extinction.
The command ''be fruitful and mul
*tiply" docs not belong to them. Ac-
cording to the United States census
reports, in 1858 there were in tho
United States and territories 4OO,-
764; in 1850, 330,421; in 1870, 313,.
712; in 1880, 30o,543; in 1890, 248,.
253. OF these 58,806 are classed as
civilized. The Cherokees and Greeks
were sent from Georgia to the In
dian Territory. about sixty ye, -,
ago. The former then numbered