The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1897-08-21

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Bull, one Of the Cheyenne delegates
and captain Of the Indian police, said
before leaving they asked Wovoka to-
give some proof Of his supernatural
powers. According he had ranged
them in front Of him. with his sombre-
70 between and his eagle feathers IN
his hand. Then with a quick move
ment he had put his hand in his empty
hat and drawn out from it something
black. = Tall Bull would not admit
that anything more had happened.
Black Coyote, one Of the Arapaho dele
gates and also a police officer, related
the same incident, but with a different
sequel, and told how when the Mes
siah had waved his feathers over his
hat and withdrew his hand. Black
Coyote looked into the hat, and there
tssaw the whole world. = sts*
The great underlying principles of
the ghost dance doctrine is that the
time will come when the whole Indian
race, living or dead, will be reunited.
upon a regenerated earth, to live a life
OF aboriginal happiness, forever free
from death, disease and misery. On
this each tribe has built structure
from its own mythology. All this is
to be brought about, not through war,
but by an overruling spiritual power
Some apostles here even declare that
all race distinctions are to be obliter-
ated and the whites are to participate
| with the Indians in the coming felicity
| Different dates are assigned to the
coming of the millennium. From the
| Cheyenne and Arapaho delegates Mr.
Mooney obtained a letter ontaining a
message or statement of doctrine de-
Islivered to them by Woyoka in 1891,
| and written down on the spot by one
| Of the Arapaho delegates. Casper Ed
| son, a young man who had acquired
some English education at the govern
ment Indian school at Carlisle. Mr.
Mooney highly extols the moral code
1 inculcated as pure and comprehensive
in its simplicity, and states that the
prophet has given these people a bet.
ter religion than they ever had before
4 taught them precepts which, if faith
fully carried out, will bring them in
better, accord with their white neigh
bors, and has prepared the way Ter
their fnal Christianization.
He has traced the progress Of thg
| doctrine through the various tribes Of
| the United States, and gives an approx
Innate statement as to the area of til he
dance and the number Of indians IN
Byo1ved. According to the latest Off
cial reports, there are about lac, 900 In
dians west of the Mississippi river, ex-
elusive of the five civilized nations in
Indian Territory. Probably all Of
these tribes heard of the new doctrine,
but only a part took an active interest
in it. Some thirty or thirty-fve tribes,
more or less. concerned, have an ag-
gregate population of about 10000
souls. A number were practically
unanimous in accepting the new doc
trine, notably the Paiute, Shoshoni,
! Arapaho, Cheyenne, Caddo and Paw
nee, while Of others, as the Comanche,
only a small minority ever engaged.
Only about one half of the 49, 600 Sioux
took an active part in it. It may be
safely said, however, that the doctrine
and ceremony Of the ghost dance found
more adherents among our tribes than
any other similar religious movement
within the historic movement, except
possibly the crusade led by the Shaw
ano prophet in 1906. Among most Of
these tribes the movement is already
extinct, having died natural death,
excepting in the case Of the Sioux.
The Sioux probably discontinued the
dance before the final surrender, as
! the subsequent events convinced even
the most fanatical believers that their
4 expectations of invulnerable ability
and supernatural assistance were de-
ceptive 5s-.
The Paiutes were yet dancing a year
ago, and as their dream has received
no such rude awakening as among the
Sioux, they are probably still patient
" awaiting the great deliverance in
spite Of repeated postponements, al
though the frenzied earnestness Of the
early period has long abated. The
Kiowas have recently taken up the
dance again and are dancing as reli-
giously as ever under the leadership
of the old men, although the progress :.