The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-21
A DEAD RED WAN ROBBED.
A PaIeface Stole the Burial Outfit OF
Brave and Then Failed TO Use 1t.

interesting, but the extract given below
from the forthcoming report of the bureau
| of ethnology is of universal interest and
throws a new light on the matter of Indian
outrages. The story is thus told in the
words of Scout Allison, and its publication
is allowed by Maj Powell:
God was discovered in the Black Hills in
1874, and, regardless of Indian ownership,
white men from all parts of the United
States rushed into the hills in eager search
of the precious metal. The Indians en-
tered strong protest, and appealed TO
the United States authorities to expel the
miners from their reservation Many were
driven out by troops. but in spite of all OPP
position the spring of 1876 found the new
gold fields literally alive with white men
and mines giving up gold at the rate of
thousands of dollars per day. While every
trail leading to the Black HIS across the
Preservation became public highway over
which supplies were hauled, into the
mines. one of the principal routes to the
Black Hills was over the Bad river trail,
through the very heart OF the Sioux res
erVatiOn in South Dakota. Fort Pierre, at
the mouth of Bad river, was the starting
point and base of supplies. Thirty-five
miles above Fort Pierre was situated the
Cheyenne River Indian Agency, on the
west bank of the Missouri river, around
which were clustered about 5000 friendly
Indians. Sixty-five miles below Fort
Pierre the Lower Brule Agency was loca-
ted, also on the west bank of the Missouri,
where about $500 friendly Sioux received
their rationS. Indians passing from one
agency TO the other frequently came in
contact with miners and wagon trains on
the Red river trail, but the Indians, being
inclined to peaceful methods and hoping
that the government would eventually pro-
tect them in their rights, avoided contact
as much as possible, waiting their oppor-
tunity and crossing the trail where no
white man was visible.
About the middle of April, 1876, seven
lodges of Minnikanyeju Sioux, who had
been visiting at the Lower Brule Agency,
were on their way home to the Cheyenne
River reservation, when one of their num-
Der, a young warrior, was taken violently
i'll, and died while they We're encamped on
the bank of the Red river.
Following the usual Indian custom in
such cases, the body of the dead warrior
was washed and painted, as if for fes-
tival, dressed in his finest savage attire,
and then wrapped in a new wooden blan-
ket, his old mother having first brought
his bow and arrows and placed them ten
derby by his side. Then the blanket and
dressed deerskins were carefully wrapped
around the body and fastened with leather
thongs. Lastly, the finest and biggest
buffalo robe in camp was wrapped, with
the fur inside, around the dead warrior
and securely fastened with a long, stout
lariat. Four fOrked posts were then set
upright in the ground on a little mound a
few rods north of the Black Hills trail
on which a 'scaffold was erected about
eight feet from the ground On this scat
fold the body was placed, secure from
burrowing animals, and after the usual
funeral rites the grief-stricken friends
went sorrowing to their homes at he
Cheyenne river agency
The mourning red men had been gone
perhaps not more than six hours when a
party of gold hunters, fourteen in num-
Der, with q span of mules and a wagon to
haul their supplies, came to the place
where the dead warrior had been laid to
rest.
The whites saw the Indian grave the
first enc they had ever seen, and the last
and only one they ever saw. They turned
the mules out of the beaten track and
drove to the little mound and halted by
the side of the scaffold. They walked
round and round the strange object, look
irg up and examining it from every side.
At length one of them said Say boys,
that looks like a good robe around that
redsl1in. Somebody bring an ak from the
wagon and wen see how they. fix up a
dead Injun, anyway" The ak is brought
and in a moment the posts are cut
through and the scaffold, with its grew
some tenant, falls to the ground The
lariat is Ioosened and two men &? seize
the edge of the robe and unwind it from
the body II is indeed a good robe. They
shake it in the wind, and then throw it
into their wagon. Gwen have use for that
robe" they say.
The removal of the robe brought to view
the dressed deerskin. Just what we
want" they said, ito make whiplashes,"
and the deerskin follows the buffalo robe
into the wagon. And then the blanket,
r. .lv,fA
do to leave that. So into the wagon 1t
went to keep company with the rest of
the funeral furniture.
Next their attention is given to the al
most naked body of the dead warrior
One of them seiZes the bow and arrows.
"1n keep them for my little boy" said he.
Another takes the claw necklace. He will
take that home for his wife. And thus
the body is entirely denuded. The moe
casins are taken by one, the silver arm
bells attached to them, was
taken by another, and spurn-
ing the naked body with the
feet, they go on their way rejoicing at
their rich find. 1t portends good luck
when they reach the hills.
About noon the following day the little
band of Indians reached their homes,
where they impaired the sad news of the
death of the young brave to his friends
and relatives. Among the latter was
brother, who, after learning the exact 10
cality of the grave, mounted his horse,
saying that he would go and look upon
the silent form of his brother and weep
for him. Before sunset he was drawing
near the little mound, but saw no scat
fold standing there, and wondered if he
had mistaken his direction. No, there is
something here, and he rides closer to see
what it is. One brief glance at the ruins
and he knows the whole story. The posts
with the marks of the ak, and the poles
which formed the scaffold are there. The
tracks of the wagon and Of the mules
show plainly in the soft earth, and all
around are the footprints of white men.
But where is the dead warrior? Scattered
about are fragments of the skeleton,
stripped of flesh, and down yonder by the
river are score of coyotes suarling and
fighting over something which looks very
much like a portion Of the dead Indians
body. The wolves and coyotes had finish
ed the work which the white vandals had
begun.
No tear started from the eye of the dead
warriors brother as he sat there on his
pony and contemplated the scene, but.
giving utterance to that savage growl
which no white man can initiate or de-
scribe, he turned his horses head toward