The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-09-08
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
Arp Writes of the Marriages with Saw
age Redskins.
AtLnntd Constitution.

west told us that white people were
marrying Indian girls more frequently
than ever before. "Indeed," he said,
';the dusky maidens seem to prefer
the pale faces to their own race and
This provokes me to write a letter
about Indians for the special pleasure
and benefit Of our young people. Boys
and girls like to read about them, |
but most Of the stories that ap-
pear are more romantic than true. Dur
ing the war our brigade camped one
night on the Chickahominy River, about
thirty miles from Richmond, and we
were shown the very stone on which
Captain John Smith laid his head for
club when the beautiful
Pocahontas rushed wildly in the circle
and threw herself upon his bosom and
saved his life. About the stone [
have MY doubts, but it is historically
true that Powhattan lived there, and
that his daughter, a lovely lass Of
fourteen, did save John Smiths life,
as he in his letter to the queen Of
England says, sat the minute Of my
execution she hazzarded the beating
out Of her own brains to save mine"
She afterwards married John Rolfe,
with her fathers consent, and from
that union came the Randolphs Of
Virginia, and a little strain Of that
same Pocahontas blood flows in my
wife's veins, and she is proud Of it,
and loves to tell the story to her num-
erous and lovely offspring. That lit
tie strain isn't bigger. than a cambria
needle, but it has never lost its
strength. She would make a right
good Pocahontas now if anybody that
she loved was in danger. Intact, she
has some Indian traits still lingering
in her bosom, and should have been
named Indiana when she was chris
tened.
But it seems that ever since Poca-
hontas married o white man the In
dian maidens of all the civilized tribes
have been willing to do the same
thing. It is well known hat the
daughters of the Creeks and Cherokees
in Georgia always said yes when a
g%ood-looking white man proposed mar
riage but such unions were not hasty
nor deceitful, they had to be in earnest
and from honorable motives. II an
Indian maid was betrayedby a design
ing white man, he could hardly escape,
for the whole tribe became avengers
of blood. Her virtue was her dearest
ornament, and if she lost it the third
finger of her left hand was dismem-
bered at the second joint, and that
left her shame always visible.
Now it seems to be settled by the
men of science that the Indian be-
longs to the Caucasian or white race,
or else he is aboriginal and is a race
Of his own. He is neither Monaghan,
Malay nor negro. He was first found
here on this continent, just as the
negro was first found in Africa. AS
the elephant was found in Asia, the
kangaroo in Australia and the llama in
Peru, SO the Indian may be a native
Of the manor born, for biologists say
that this continent is the oldest by
several thousand years. But where
he came from or how he got here is a
question too deep for me. The exis-
tence Of Aztecs in Mexico is still an
unsolved problem and who were the
mound builders is matter Of doubt
and speculation. One thing, how
ever, seems certain, that the race is
doomed to extinction. The command
s'be fruitful and multiply does not
belong to them. According to the
United States census reports, in 1853
there were in the United States and
territories 400, 765; in 1860, 339,421
in 1870, 313, 712; in 1880, BOG, 543
in 1890, 248, 253. OF these 58,806 are
classed as civilized. The Cherokees
and Greeks were sent from Georgia to
the Indian Territory about sixty years
ago. The former then numbered near
10000; they number less than that
now. What is the matter with them!
They have fine lands, both for pastur-
age and cultivation, and the bounty
Of the government would nearly sup.
port them. They have good framed
houses TO live in and have as good
schoolhouses and Churches as oul
country people have in Georgia. They
are classod as civilized, and dress just
like white folks, and cook and eat as
nourishing food as we do. What is
the matter ? I asked Of one Of their
educated ministers. God knows
said he. I mingled with their people
and talked with them. They did not
seem to be sad or distressed about
anything It was not that the chill
dren died before maturity, but that
the mature died faster than children
were born to take their places. The
exception to this decline of the race
seemed to be in the families where
white men had inter-married with In
dian maidens. These unions were
prolific of children who were healthy
and handsome, and always bred after
the mother, having her cinnamon
color, her straight black hair and high
cheek bones. There is no apparent
mixture of blood as hat which ap.
pears in the mulatto who is the half
breed of whites and blacks. But these
Indian types weaken in succeeding
generations Of quadroons and octo.
rooms, and if ever the tribes are saved
from extinction, it will be by this in
~creasiug amalgamation with the white
race. These unions do rot seem to
shock the sentiment Of mankind as dc
the unions of whites with negroes,
Even Vassar College would not be
horror stricken at the discovery Of an
octoroon among her pupils. Indian
students may be found in many Of oul
colleges and are not rejected at hotels
or boarding houses or theatcrs OF
Churches or on railroads. In some Of
the tribes, as in the Greeks and Chero:
KEGS, their features, their beauty and
their traits Of character approximate
the Anglo-Saxon. Schoolcraft, who
is the highest authority, says theil
features are regular, their expression
noble they are taciturn and stoical
to the last degree, cunning and watch:
full, %persevering in the pursuit and
revengeful in the destruction of their
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