New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-11
THE IROQUOIS WAMPUM.
AN ANCIENT TREASURE THAT HAS DIS
APPEARED
TIE LOSS DISCOVERED AT TIE DEATH OF
CHIEF wERSTER-sOMETHlNG ABOUT THE
ORIGIN AND USE OF wAMPUM.

Syracuse, N. T. July
Now that Chief Thomas Webster. the keeper
Of the Wampum Of the Elder Brothers of the
Iroquois Confederacy. is dead and buried, it is
discovered that most Of the wampum that was
In his possession has been stolen. The chief
kept his wampum under his bed at his hut on
the Onondaga Reservation south of this city.
Three years ago, at the time Of the Onondaga
Historical Associations celebration in this city.
this wampum exhibited in charge Of Chief
Webster 1t was all intact at that time Now
some CT the most valuable pieces are missed. 1t
Is said here that some of the missing pieces have
turned up In the collections In the State
Museum and the Smithsonian Institution. The
Mayor of Albany is said to have come into the
most valuable piece called the Hiawatha belt
The Indians are very reticent when asked about
the wampum but 1t is said that several Of the
chiefs became aware Of the theft several weeks
before Chief Websters death. Men here who are
acquainted with the affairs Of the Indians say
that little Of the wampum is left at Webster's
hut, and intimate that the most valuable pieces
were stolen and sold by somebody who deceived
the aged chief
The Indian legends consider Hiawatha to be
the inventor of Wampum, asserting that his
wampum was Of fresh water shells and bird
quilts The Onondaga wampum belts are not
over a century old, and al but the beads In them
were made by white men, The death OF Chief
Webster removes the last OF the aged keepers
of the wampum Of the Six Nation Confederacy.
He died last Sunday and was buried on Tuesday
with pagan ceremonies in charge OF Chiefs Dan
Tel La Fert and Thomas Lyon. Abram Hill,
keeper Of the Younger Brothers, died on Febru-
airy %, 1895.
The office Of wampum keeper is one OF the
most ancient in the Confederacy. The Elder
Brothers consist Of the Onondagas Mohawks
and Senecas: the Younger Brothers OF the
Oneidas. Cayugas and Tuscaroras Chief HILL
who was an Oneidan. lived to be seventy-seVeh
years old. and Chief Webster was seventy six
years Of age. The Websters are mentioned
among the most noted chiefs Of the Onondagas
of recent years They are the descendants Of
Fphraim Webster Onondagas first settler, who
married an Indian. These descendants have
always lived with the Onondagas Harry "eo-
ster, one of Ephraim Webster's children. was
long chief Of high reputation. Thomas WEEP
ster came from this same family.
For nearly year Chief Webster had been
weak and feeble. and death is attributed to Old
age Chief Webster had a prominent part In
the "Feasts" Of the Confederacy. lie wore
feather headdress, and made long addresses 10
the Great Spirit In these ceremonies the VAN
pum played ltS part NeSScH6eio H"'N 'N'' $500
to the various tribes to announce the dealh Oh
Chief Webster and to call a condoling counch
to raise a chief and keeper of the wampum-that
Is what is left Of it
If the wampum belts which have been pre-
served at Onondaga Castle for century or more
should be gradually disappearing into the hahos
Of private collectors it would. indeed. be pity
Were it not that they have been used from tiihe
fmmemorial (but with less and less intelligence
7 fear) in some of the interesting ceremonies OF
the Indians especially that which preserves the
traditions of the formation of the Iroquois
League. or the Federation Of the Five Nations, II
would have been wise had the belts long ago
been acquired by the State. as to prevent their
destination The reverence Of the Indians Tor
what they are persuaded historic memorials
of their distant past might have saieguaroeo
them so far as their own people were concerheo
but they were always temptation to white men
who had none Of the scruples of the Indians ana
It is more strange that any should be le1t al
Opondaga Castle than that portion OF the coi-
lection should have been stolen 1t would De IN
teresting now to know how many OF the DEUS
taken to the Five Nations Reserve on the Grano
piver in Canada after the revolution are still
there.
AT THE "CONDOLING COUNCIL"
Tho vampum belts figure chiefly at the cere-
,ronv Of the "Condoling Council as it has been
called since Mr. Hale published 1.-THE Iroquois
o. Of Rites, in 1888 At this council chiefs
49, "raised I'D" to take the places in the federal
Senate vacated by the death or removal OF other
on,ofs After the acceptance by the Senate Of
1t