The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-13
WHITE MAx,s BREATH FATAL.
A Kickapoo Hndinn's Argument Against, an
Appropriation for n River.

a AtCAWRuS WIN "a-ANS
appropriation for n River.
A member Of the House of Representatives,
whois spending q few days In Now York,
showed q Sun reporter q letter which was die.
tated by an Indian, a half-brced Kickapoo In
Kansas, and sent to the Congressman. The let
ter was AS follows:
/" To the Son Of the White Fnther IN washinoton:
Word comes that you. and your brothers are
goinF to spend u heap OF money to deepen the
The white man has built bridges over the
where. except in spring. What good will It do
boat couldn't go very far II the channel was
deeponed, because the white mans bridges
'..Thirty.five years ago. when / was a buck,
and my people camped on the hills OF. Wyan.
dotte. at tho mouth Of what was then the kaw
crowded with little steamboats, that made trips
up and down the river.
There was plenty of water 10 the river then.
The white men game among us and bought our
land, and the White Father sent his agents out
and they made trades, and we marched on with
"a white mans bridge. was built a couple of
% pnas o6 6rS% the Sot m sGranS Of + the er river lngsr i, 4 steam team
q while moro white man bridges was built at
Lawrence and at Topeka and thon they went
more and charged toll to cross them.
Then the water began to get low. In some
White Father changed the name Of the stream.
Indians had called II the Kaw, White man
s another II na an %a and p%i tSsn then she river 9tlGs wsp sn isso II
dry. We got pay for our lands. Indian made
his own trade and must submit. But you
our name. You changed it and VOC said nothing
to rs about II, nor paid us for 1t, and when our
they told us we had lost our river and they
called It by some other name.
And now white, man wants to dig in tho
mouth OF our lost river. No. Lot IL alone IT,
is running ! dry; It is like the Indian. Let it
on dry land. There won't be a puddle between
banks deep enough for a tadpele
No wonder the srasshoppers and the dogs took
the town at ONCE. Everything you put your
cred or persisted from the fsco Of the earth.
We had council fires at Quindaro., White
mns 6 and ,rjn TOWN the there ors and cut cut roads in the
streams. Where is it nowi You can't And the
name on your map, and the town is no more;
town, and called It Palermo. "'T That Ha"' was as a
said our white brothers have built a town and
called It a pretty name, like some of our own,
and we took 1t as a peace Offering.
The katydid sings on the site in summer,
sheGe are ro1 people ssmi a in the r., town town When the The trees
falls it covers 1t Up so you can hardly see where
it ! Il; oDr noout,,n, 1o.v.nuo,tn 10, ,.,o,
ENon u Ocuulllul LcHNeIlWOrL0 mas Iaueu
and looks old. and Atchison is like the yellow
leaves in the forest when they are touched with
tho frost.
THE town you built on the Kansas shore,
and which sou named Doniphan-where is III
II a strange man came to the place in the night,
he would have TO camp out.
"Ellwood, that you built across the river
from the Black Snake hills, fell into the waters
OF the Missouri and rushed 10 the sea. Bel.
of al men, is fallen down; and looks like a ruin.
What is it in the white mans breath that
makes 1t like death when it blows on the In
dian and his people. and his country
IF the white Father has money to spend. let
him give it to our children instead Of spending
it to dig holes in a sandbar."