The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-05
STRANGE INDIAN POISON.
Mysterious DecOctiOns Understood
by Northern Redskins.
From the New York Times.

From the New York Times.
1T venture to say that no poisons known
to science the world over can compare in
their effect with the deadly mixtures used
by the conjurers. or medicine men, of the
Cree and Salteaux tribes of Indians, way
up in the Northwest region of British Co
lumbia," said DR. James Melden of Man
itabo. before a small group of mis- friends
the other evening at the Hoffman House.
He was on a flying visit to New York but
found time to narrate the following tale;
'Rhese tribes" he said Give in that
vast. wild region from 700 to 1000 miles
north of Winnipeg. just on the border Of
Eskimo land. They are the last tribe
to be met with before the Eskimos are
reached, and they get along very amica oily
with them, as hunting ground demarca-
tons are mutually understood and re-
spected No doubt the extreme rigor of
the climate accounts for it, but they are
conspicuously peaceful for redskins. and
perform almost incredible feats of end';r-
ance l have known bucks of these tribes
to run ahead of a dog sled as guides for
over 100 miles. But for all they have
such amiable dispositions, just let ore Of
them get mis- anger or spirit of revenge
aroused through jealousy or envy and the
victom of his wrath meets death more
horrible than the tortures of the inquisi-
ton by the use of these mysterious baf-
ling posons. The modus operandi is sim
ple enough. He takes his case to one Of
the conjurers of the tribe-for the same
custom prevails among both the Crees and
the Salteaux-who undertakes tie job of
removing the Objectionable buck The
conjurer then starts off into the dense for
ests alone and gathers a collection Of
banks and herbs unknown to botanists.
with these he returns to his wigwarn and
brews the destructive mixture that does
the business.
Now for the peculiar way In which II
works" the doctor continued. II want to
say, by the way of parenthesis. that these
tribes never go on the warpath. They make
no use of tomahawk or scaiping knife.
They never resort to the popular redskin
method o. removing an enemy by shooting
him down from ambush. Poison is their
sole receipt for settling scores. Fortified,
then, with his potent drug, the man who
is out for vengeance manages to kaye il
administered to his doomed foe in his food.
1t may be months before the effects are
visible Al whatever time Of the year the
poison is taken il never Desins to operate
before spring Here IS one CT the most
amazing features. The first siga is TIE
appear ar Ce or sores On lle Dolly. ana cs
pecially on the face, of the victim. IN
the course Of a month or so these would,
apparently, dry up and be followed ~
scales But that is merely the Sc smIng
calm before the storm, for in the course
of a few me- nths more. during which the
poor buck Suffers indescriblEle tortuIes.
these scales di,p off, and in their pace
great in;ts OF hair spring up, the last
stages before death follows in its most ng
onizing form. far worse than the fortunes
from prussic acid and a great deal more
prolonged.
II remember we'll" resumed the mar
rator, "how we heard of these Indian pois-
ons in a vague way for some time in our
country, but knowing the medical books
contained nothing Of that sort under the
head OF toxicology we put the whole thing
aside as a yarn. We were rudely aroused
one day from this infidelity by the ap-
pearance among US of a buck about 40
years old who had been under his enemy's
poison He was In the earlier stages. be-
fore the scales formed As he was a man
of wonderful strength and superb physique
Il was hoped by missionary who had
lived for many years with these tribes that
the victims life might be saved IL he could
reach civilization and get the benefit of
professional skill. So he had him brought.
like a good Samaritan, over that vast sa-