Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-01-26
A GOOD INDIAN.

No Heart was an Indian, and hi!
name was a Justification.
For not only did he have a heart
but the blood pumped by its pulsa
tons was red and good and human
No Heart was one of those Indians
who do not require the episode o.
death to apotheosize them into de-
cency. After he had done his care
full and painstalling best to kill a
reasonably large number of people
in the Minnesota country in 1862 he
hurried over to the westward, and,
safely located in Dakota, he re-
formed and became brand snatched
from the burning. No Hearts
reformation was bona fide, too. He
had fought very fercely, because he
had thought that to be the correct
and praiseworthy thing to do, but
when he discovered that fortune
went in the end with the virtuous
man with the long gun he deter
mined to become righteous, where
fore he developed into a coffee cooler
and communed with white men.
Percival ran little newspaper in
Fairbanks, and the bottom land
wherein No Heart and certain of
his wives lived was just across the
river. 1t was very handy for No
Heart, and he used to devote most
of his time to talking to Percival
about the improvement of the In
dian race. He had amassed some
money by freighting and had
great deal of native ability and much
oratory, but he was cramped some
what for language, and so at the
times when he grew most eloquent
he was most incomprehensible.
Get ambitious in English, No
Heart. Aspire in the language of
the United States, Percival used to
tell him. II have no doubt that
this is picture of a new Eden
which you are painting, but it
sounds considerably more like the
rafting of crate of crockery. If
you must ambish, why, ambish
along the lines of the language of
the white man. Then No Heart,
for his lack Of words, would become
very sad.
He was at the head Of a sort of
subj tribe of the Sioux. At the time
of the expulsion and flight from
Minnesota the outfit, led by No
Heart, gathered together and re-
viewed the various murders they
had committed, and swore to be
true to one another They took the
big community kettle in which the
dogs had been prepared for the
whole dozen or so of tepees, and
with sundry incantations broke il in |
two pieces. 1t ruined the kettle for
all practical purposes, but according
to their theory, it was a sure wit
ness of their future fealty to one
another for it showed that with
separation and dispute in the organ
ization there could be no integrity
or unity or profit, just.as with the
pot split there could be no cooking
Of dog, while with the two parts al !
ways together the feas ting would be
This was regardless of |
the fact that the cracked pot was
bound to leak. (
Such is the poetic idea of the In
dian.
From this episode rose the name
Of the 1.-TWO Kettle" band. No !
Heart was the patriarch of the Two
Kettle band.
II am going to save the Indian
race, !" said No Heart to PercivaL II
I'm going to make it like the white.
Why should the Indian freeze and
jtarve and wear especially frowsy
,ags while the white man lives in
own and runs secondhand stores
ind barber shops and plays in the
,ity brass band?" He said this
,artly in Indian and partly in Eng
ish, for it was one of his earnest
moments.
Percival warned him. An Indian
J an Indian, he told him, and it is
% use trying to make him anything
lse. No Heart was firm, however,
nd he set out straightway to bring
bout an improvement in the affairs
( his race. He had a snug amount
t money, so he was well equipped
o swing his scheme He went to
be tailor in Fairbanks and caused
most marvellous suit of clothes to
70 made for him. Broadcloth. Silk
med. Patentleather shoes. A
high hat. A shirt Of dazzling white
less.
When appear in this before the