The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-10-14

oAy WILL IL Ill,
some ceremonies were held in the lat
ter part OF the preceding week, of
which the whites were not made ac-
qualnted. It is said, and it is undoubt-
eoly true, that the real green-corn
dance is held on the uuiet-although
there is good deal of noise about it
and that the public ceremony, which al
ways takes place on Sunday, is to salts
~ the curiosity of the whites and the
mercenary warnings of the noble red
men. The dance was at first fixed for
week ago Sunday, but was postponed
for week. The reason assigned for
the delay was that old Chief Daniel La
Fort was ill. The real reason was that
the number of white persons on hand
was too small to make it profitable to
the dancers.
Your correspondent drove out to the
Onondaga reservation last Sunday af-
ternoon. 1t lies nine miles down the
beautiful valley south of this city.
coming into the Indian settlement you
pass numerous houses occupied by the
Onondagas, some of which are neat and
comfortable and speak we'll for the
thrift of the inhabitants, while others
are badly in need of ordinary and ex-
traordinary repairs. The Council
House is in the centre of the settlement
and just off of the main road. It is a
long, narrow, one-story building, paint
ed white, with green blinds and a red
roof.
Here were found a dozen TALL, 1.-THE,
wiry, muscular young braves, engaged
in the great national game of baseball;
that is, they were knocking up and
catching "flies." The ball-players said
that there would be green-corn dance
in the afternoon, just when depended
upon Chief La Fort. In the shade back
Of a house not far away sat this old
chief of the Six Nations, smoking fat
and cheap cigar. He was surrounded
by half a dozen of the tribe
La Fort is a good specimen Of the
highest type of the civilized Indian. He
is we'll along in years now, and his
hair and mustache are gray. His Eng
lish is excellent for one of his limited
opportunities. Among the tribes of the
| Six Nations his word is law. Not only
| is he the head of the Iroquois League,
but he also is the chief of the Ononda-
gas. All the Indians within his iuris-
diction have great respect for him. He
was at the head of the New York In
| dams who were at the Columbian Ex-
position, and he said last Sunday that
| a man from New York had been to
see him in the previous week about go
ing with some of his race to the Paris
| exhibition, and that he had agreed to
| go.
1--WE shall have the dance by-and-by
when fifty or hundred people get
here" said La Fort, in response to an
inquiry. Then he added that the In.
dams wanted to make it pay by charg-
ing small admission fee to the Lone
House. After while there came a
| perfect string of carriages and bicycles
and by $50, when the dance was begun
there were several hundred persons on
the ground. n
While waiting for the white people tt
come, the chief spoke about the Onon.
dagas and their ceremonies. II have
not taken census of the people on
the reservation in three years." sale
he. '"The last one showed about foul
hundred Indians, men, women and chill.
dren, and the number is about the same
now. There are between seventy and
eighty families. Twenty years age
there were only 280 persons here, 81
you see we, have increased in numbers
The state gives us an annuity Of none,
and salt. Last year we got $4.44 t