The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-07-02
A SHORT FRONTIER STORY
OF Primitive Justice Showing How We're Deter,
mined Before Blackstone Became an Authority

In all ages, and among all people who
had progressed beyond absolute individ-
ualfsm and gained any kind of govern
ment or community interests, there must
have been some kind of law to settle dis
putes and controversies, whether of a
public or private nature, and L remember
once in the very early days of Minnesota
OF witnessing a test which bore a close
resemblance to- a trial by jury and in
VolVed an important question of individ-
ual character. which would have been
classified under our Jurisprudence as an
action Of SANDER. 1t occurred among
the Sioux Indians, and presented many
features of much interest. which made an
impression on me which 1 have never for
gotten. The whole proceeding was abso-
lutely natural and aboriginal in It's char
acter and conduct. and free from the tech
nicalities which sometimes obstruct the
progress of the administration Of justice
in modern times,
1t Is well known that the value of the
testimony of a witness depends very
much upon his demeanor and manner of
delivering 1t In court, and that the judge
usually tells the jury that they must take
these matters into consideration in giving
it its true weight, but in the case 1 am
about to relate there was nothing but the
appearance and manner of the witnesses
testifying upon which to base judgment
of their truth or falsity. and 1t was this
novel feature that lent additional and
peculiar interest to the controversy.
The Sioux Indians have rude kind of
Jurisprudence which gets at the truth by
a sort of natural intuition, and the case
I witnessed convinced me that justice had
been reached with more certainty than
In nine out Of ten Of our jury trials. We
have all heard of trial by battle, under
the old English law. and the trial Of
witches by water. where; If they sank and
drowned they were innocent, and If they
fioated they were guilty and were hang
ed. But this trial was based on public
sentiment; or the ability of bystanders
to detect guilt or innocence from the APP
pearance and conduct of the litigants dur
ing the trial, which, although crude
methed, IS, In my judgment, much safer
than some Of those practiced by our an
cestors at no very remote date.
The trial I refer to is called the Vir
gin feast. It Is brought about in this
way. Some gossip or scandal Is started
IN a band about one OF the young women.
It reaches the ears of her mother. In
order to test its truth or falsity. the
mother commands her daughter to give
a Virgin feast. The accused cooks some
rice, and invites all the maidens Of the
band to come and partake They appear,
each with a red spot painted on each
cheek as an emblem Of virginity. They
seat themselves in a semi-circle on the
prairie. and the hostess supplies each of
them with a bowl Of rice which Is placed
before her. A boulder painted red, Is
placed in front Of them about ten feet
distant. and large knife is thrust into
the ground In front Of, and close up to
the stone. All the young men attend as
spectators. This ceremony IS on the part
Of the accused, and any girl who takes
q place in the ring, a challenge to the
world. that II any one has aught to say
against her, he has the privilege of say
ing 1t. If nothing is said, and the feast
Is eaten uninterruptedIy, the maiden who
gave the feast is INDICATED. and the Cos
sip disbelieved; but If the challenge 10