The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-31
Lapse of a Once Great, Fruit
full Field for RumOr.
SCARES WORSE THAN RAIDS
Growing Belief That Indians
Were Not Fighters Wrong.

years since such a thing was even men
toned The Indian is no longer related
TO Mars. He is peaceful albeit sloth-
full citizen. The Indian scare was origin
ally one Of the distinct characteristics of
the frontier which lent it a great deal of
its color. It is a matter Of record that
the Indian scare was always q more fear
ful thing, taking it all around, than an
actual Indian war. The memorable In
dian outbreak into southern Kansas in
the early eighties was the last Of its
kind in this part Of the country. 1t comes
as a surprise today to remember that at
that period even Wichita had its refu-
gees from the prairles
Following the last actual outbreak a
number of newspaper wars followed. In
these the newspaper men were not en-
tirely malicious. Their only culpability
lay in charging on rumors instead Of
looping them off But this latter was not
an easy thing to do. A settler who
found ''war stick" in his front yard,
or was threatened by an individual In
dian, was not long in making serious
state of affairs out of it when he drove
into town with his family, dumped pro
miscuously with the furniture in the
back end Of the wagon. a small rumor
of an Indian outbreak upon reaching New
York or Chicago was always displayed
frightfully in very large black letters in
q prominent place on the first page. It
often happened on that account that the
government in Washington was all agog
over an Indian war scare that did not
interrupt the Indian agents morning cup
Of coffee on the reservation which was
reported to be stained with the blood
from the scalp wounds Of innocent set
alers.
The latest Indian scare Of any kind was
that which reigned for a day or about
half a day in Blaine county in 1896, in
August Dennis Flynn was advertised to
speak at Watonga one afternoon. His
political opponents started an Indian
war scare. reporting that the Indians
had revolted because they were being fur
s4ished beef on the block instead Of on
dhe hoof A good many Of the men had
already left their homes for the political
meeting. and the fright SOME OF the
lone women on the farms suffered that
day was thing to have put the scheming
politicians to shame.
But that was the last of the Indian
rcares, and like most Indian scares it
was false.
Before that time and since the settlers
have gradually been drifting into a total
indifference of the Indian, and into a dis
belief of his fighting qualities. His for
uuer- reputation for ferocity is entirely
cclipsed; his renown for vaIor held to be
little more than myth. The bow and
arrow. except as a toy, has wholly dis
appeared. A tomahawk today is not pre-
served out of a souvenir collection and
in those collections is very rare. a scalp
6 not known. The Indians who
have guns attract no attention, while it
was only few short years ago that a
great number of professors could be found
who believed that any policy which per-
united an Indian to go armed was Grim
5nal. But now the white man does not
regard the Indian as dangerous in the
beast With this oueting of fear has
come the belief generally felt that the
fighting qualities of the Indian were gen
orally exaggerated in the early history of
the westward moving frontier.
Yet this idea is false. The Indian was
n good fighter and a valorous foe. far bet
ter than the Filipino or the Cuban
Their respective stands at different
points on the continent bear ample tes-
timony OF that Their stubborn resist
ance in Ohio, when recalled. seems i'm
possible to the man on the frontier today
who cannot believe that the ancestor Of
the slouchy individual who passes him
on the street ever did stand up before
armed and organized white men and,
what is more, defeated them.
But the stand of the Indians in Ohio
proved that they could do this. For
dhere is no spot which has been. the
scene of so many bloody conflicts with
the Indians as the old town of Chilicothe,
Ohio. The town was the grand rendez-
vcus Of the Delawares. Shawnees. Wyan-
dottcs. Pottawatomies. Famas and vari-
ous other tribes whenever they were pre-
pairing to start on the warpath, and this
was practically the case in the summer
"
kentucky was planned. This fact was
well known TO the white settlers. and
many expeditions were sent against the
town. some of which were successful,
Uthers retreating defeated The town was
destroyed by the whites not less than
hslf a dozen times. and on one occasion
was promptly rebuilt by the Indians. nor
was il entirely abandoned by them ua.I
The restless tide Of white immigration
had driven them forever from the Sclytp
valley, their favorite hunting grounds.
one Of the sharpest conflicts in the his
tory Of Chillicothe took place in 17-s At
this time the tide Of white population
was setting strongly westward. and the
Indians while they seemed TO lack the
power of combining TO resist ii. were do
ing everything in their power TO EXTERN
3nate the white settlers. Their anger at
9his invasion of their hunting grounds in
Iensitei the natural cruelty of their dis
position. and the frontier history OF the
time contains many stories of travellers
waylaid, straSSlers- surprised by stealth
families butchered and homes DESTROYED
These tragedies however. seem 20 have
had little influence in retardiaE the adj
vance Of population. and II is remarkable
that the dangers of frontier life deferred
50 few people from pluns.ng into the un-
-raverSed wilderness west Of the Ohio A.
these hutcheries grew more frequent.
however, the settlers began TO feel the
need OF some efficient action TO put a
check % them. and an expedition against
the Indian headquarters al ola ChiIHcothe
was accordingly organized
Two hundred volunteers We're enrolled
Tor This expedition. which formed AT Har-
risburg. and which as placed under Ehe
command OF Colonel Samuel Bowman.
The march upon Chiicothe was accom-