Washington sentinel., 1898-10-22
Ahuse OF the Red Nan.


abuses obody who is familiar with
the general treatment Of the red
men will doubt. 1t is wildly i'm
probable that in this late day, after
their long and bitter experience
with white soldiers. any consider
able number would offer lorcible
resistance to the white authorities,
unless there was a burning sense
OF wrong in their hearts. In the
case OF the Northwestern Indians
1t is directly charged by persons
who have had intimate relations
With those directly involved that
there has been a long series Of
robberies by Indian agents who
have swindle d them out OF money
due to them from the Government
out of their land, their timber and
their stock, and in scores of
instances out of their mileage and
pGr diem when attending the
United States courts at Du nth and
St. Paul as witnesses in the prose-
cution OF persons charged with
smuggling liquor into the reServa-
tions and selling it to the Indians.
A Chicago man, who seems to
have specific knowledge OF all
these affairs, says that the Govern
ment appropriations are too small
and when several hundred Indians
are taken to ST. Paul the money is
exhausted before the witnesses are
paid. They are left penniless
in the streets hundred oi miles
from the reservations, and are
compelled 70 walk the entire dis
tance with only such food as
they can beg from the unfriendly
white settlers. This has been an
annual disgrace through Iour
successive administrations. 1t is
for this reason chiefly that Indians
refuse to submit to arrest or TO
serve as witnesses. Even If ac-
quilted they are pretty sure to be
subjected to hardships, often in the
dead OF winter, for which there is
no excuse. AS they do not under
stand red-tape meth IDS, they
naturally charge it to a policy OF
calculating robbery or persecu-
ton.
One of the exciting causes of the
present trouble is said to have been
the assassination nj Pah-Gon~Ay-
GeshIck. or Hole-in-the Day, chief
OF all the Chippewas, and traitor
to his tribe. 1t is charged, ard it
has not been denied, that he came
to Washington to settle C rtain
differences between his people and
the Government and sold out the
tribe. Some smart repres
OF the Cover ment bought him and
caused him to betray his trusting
fellows by the promise Of house
and an annuity Of $1,000 for fifty
years. The perfidy was so obvious
and injurious that two young Pill
layers We're selected by a general
meeting to kill him, which they
did near Cass Lake. Since then
the annuity has been divided be
tween his two sons and another
heir. One Of his sons became
chief by inheritance, but the tribe
refused to recognize him or any of
the family OF the traitor, electing
White Cloud (Wah Bah Nah
Quod) as chief, who still holds the
office. OF course there has been
a bitter feeling toward the Gov
eminent for its bribery OF the
former chief.
Then folio wed broken promises
in relation to the Winnebagoshish
dams, near the source of the Mis-
sissippi. The rice fields Of the
Indians were ruined and a large
crop destroyed. They were prom
Ised compensation, but the promise
was never kept. In Wisconsin,
when a similar overflow affected
the farms Of white men, the claims
were promptly paid, as Senator
Philetus Sawyer was an influential
Republican and he pushed the
matter. The pine lands trouble
added to the sense oil wrong. The
Pillagers and Mile Lac bands were
induced to favor the Nelson
bill of 1887, under the representa-.
ton that it, allowed them to take
up their lands in severalty on the
reservation where they were. AS
soon as it became a law, however,
a new construction was placed on
it and the reservation was open to
settlement by white men. The
Indians were told by the agents Of
the Government that they would
receive no raCions and would for
feit all annuities unless they re-
moved to White Earth agency.
Here is a succession oi betrayals,
broken promises, petty swindles
and positive outrages. That it is
not simply FIRE water and a devil
spirit that move these Indians to
violence is indicated bV the stipu-
lation that the newspaper corre-
spondents must be allowed to be
present when they meet the repre-
sentatives OF the Government.
They yearn tor an opportunity to
tell the American people what
their treatment has been. They
realize the hopelessness Of war
with the white men, but it is only
by such an outbreak that they can
expect to find a remedy for the in
tolerable evils they are made to
suffer.
Owls IN CHICAGo-ChicaGo has
a novel trade in owls, the supply
coming.to the commission mer-
ank- from fhR INGENIOUS farmer