The Delta independent., 1899-12-01
THE LAST OF A TRIBE
cusron OF IOWA INDIANS.
ssuav TrsAasg Cs00ao
Childron shan School

Most Of the seventy eight remnants
of the once powerful IOwas live on
their allOtments near Perkins, Okla
homa Territory. They are not men
with the hoe AS most Of their choice
lands are enther uncultivated Or else
titled by whites. They employ their
time in eating, sleeping, dancing. grunt-
ing. visiting and wOrshipping. They
consider all the various dOings-includ-
ing hOrse-racing and trading sQuaWs-
rs religious ceremonies.
Their religion Is a grotesque mixture
Of paganism and Christianity. They
are ardent sun-wOrshippers. calling
often upon Jesus, who they say h In
the glorious orb Of day. They believe
In spiritual horses, dogs and even green
prairies where NO troublesome white
man or bad Indian can modest them.
Bill Dole, a very unctuous old limb Of
the expiring tribe. said: II have eleven
sQuaws and pappOOses up there, and
lots Of spotted ponies eating grass up
there on the ever green prairies. /
can see them on every clOudless day"
Bill. however. got married again last
week to Il four-times widow. Most Of
their wigwams are adorned with gor-
geOusly colOred pictures of scriptural
scenes.
They still persist. in spite of having
been notified repeatedly not to do 20,
in depositing their dead on the surface
Of the earth. The graveyard In the
old. deserted Iowa Indian village ON
Bear creek. Lincoln county. IL q dis
gusting. sickening boneyard. Glutton-
Gus turkey buzzards and irreverent
hogs fight over the remains.
Dan TOhee, lineal descendant Of
tho . 0nO rnval rSohaa faunilv
ofiiciates as chief Of the little tribe. He
looks very dignified. never gets drunk
nor trades wives and Is not much Of .
far. His brother Dave, however
seems to be the black sheep Of the To
hee family. His sixth sQuaw died last
spring. and after bowling seven nights
around her dead house he put . 81
marble cross near her resting place and
began preparations for union with
squaw No. Z.
The Iowas delight to drink q slightly
intoxicating concoctiOn made Of fer
mented and boiled corn. sumach Der
ries. sugar and wild onions. After gulp
ing down copiOus draughts of the bev
erage they get exceedingly happy and
talk about the good times coming
when only good IOwas will inhabit thu
whole Of Oklahoma.
Getting some Of the white mans edu
cation is one Of their greatest hard
ships. The young Iowas. like snails
crawl to school," They play sick. and
sometimes even dead, to keep from 1t
tending. The older ones consider ths
younger ones martyrs during schoo
hours and often help them to evade ths
task. Two years ago they Induced tn
Indian department to allow then Il
have q school right At home. TAsy bod
q costly building erected and several
teachers were hired, but. alas! o0ly
about six Juvenile redskins attende<
the school.
The Iowas hate working on the raad,
even w0rse than any other kind a h
b0r. Eight Of them started oo, q ,pro
tracted visit to Nebraska last summer
simply to escape from working thres
days on the roads which they travd
more than any white man.
They regard all physical and othe,
ailments ~ the work Of 'impe within
and take strong emetics and vomit ths
evil spirits through the knot holes ints
hollow trees. Perhaps. through some
sort Of faith-cure process. this Away
seems to make them feel all right f0'
awhile.