The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-20
IOWA SACS bNDH)XES
One of the Strangest incidents
in Indian Life.
SURROUNDED BY WHITES
Yet Never Adopting One Of
the White Mans Ways.
SURROUNDED BY WHITES

! Guthrie, o. r, Dec 1s.-Up to a short
| time ago few people in Oklahoma knew
there was a Sac and Fox Indian tribe
| in Iowa. A week or two ago the news
| papers contained dispatches OF various
| lengths from Tama, Ia, describing state
| OF unrest closely bordering on insurrec-
| ton among the Sacs and Foxes on ac-
| count of an Indian girl who had been con-
! fined in a government school against the
protests of her family. Reports from the
agent in charge of the tribe indicate that
these stories. if not made actually out of
whole cloth, were at least so garbled and
| exaggerated as TO make it hard 10 silt
the facts from the great mass OF fiction
which surrounded them. Thus much may
be said, however. that any threat on the
part of the Indians Of assaulting the
whites or making war upon the govern
ment had no better origin than tht i'm
agination of some romantic reporter. The
Sacs and Foxes of Iowa are as peace
full today as they ever were, and their
record for friendly relations with the
whites is unsuItd. The question which
arose over the Indian schoolgirl is In the
courts on its way to a perfectly paclhc
and satisfactory solution
Meanwhile, the news that body Of m
dams large enough to be formidable was
settled in the peaceful farming state Ct
Iowa came with almost q shock of sur
prist to the great body Of newspaper read
ers in the east The history OF the Iowa
Sacs and Foxes is perhaps unique in the
annals of the 400 years struggle between
the white and the red men in this coun-
try. The Sacs and Foxes went west with
the other Indians in the early days. Inc
hulk of them settled in the Indian Ter
ritorv. and others in Kansas; but in 49,
letter was received in Washington from
lieutenant Armistead at Fort Dodge, Ia,
saving that a party of Sacs and Foxes,
numbering about 100, had returned from
Kansas to Iowa in the midst of winter
and in so destitute a condition as to win
the sympathy of the white settlers. Ihey
expressed a wish to remain in Iowa ana
buy little land for themselves, saying
that the reserve. set apart for them far-
Their west was unsuited to their reeds;
and, as the settlers were willing to nave
them STAY, the government gave its per-
mission. In 1856 the legislature of Iowa,
on petitfon of the inhabitants, enacted
n law permitting these Indians. and no
others. to remain In the state They
had brought with them $500 saved out OF
their annmties, and eight horses; and with
these they purchased a tract of farming
land. which was turned over to the gov
ernor Of the state to hold as trustee Tor
them.
In 1857 the band had increased so as to
number 264. Of whom 81 were men ana
Al boys. Since then they have kept Up
pretty well in their ratio Of increase with
their white neighbors. They have been
thrifty enough, also, to lay aside more
money and add to their reserve till they
have now nearly 1900 acres Of land on the
Iowa river bottom about two and half
miles from Tama, and back five miles
from Toledo, the county seat. The line
which is drawn around the reservation Is /
nothing mort, in a material sense. than
one of the fences common in all the farm
ing country near Tama, yet in a moral ,
sense # is more nearly impossible than
the Chinese wall in the days when II was
built TO repeI invasion. On one side OF the
road which skirts 1t art the houses OF IN
tellfgent white farmers, observing all the
ordinary amenities OF our Caucasian civ
ilization. On the other side peeping Up
here and there through the brush, are the |
cabins Of the red men, clapboarded in the /
ordinary way as far as the bottoms OF the /
gables. and above that filed in with Old /
mating and bark and odd bits Of wood /
Of various shapes and sizes. The Indian /
houses are even without windows. except /
for movable clapboard in each. rudeiy |
hinged so as to be lifted for the adTnis- |
sion OF light and air.
This contrast IS not merely typical OF 1
the two civilizations brought elbow 70 el- /
bow. but on the part Of the Indians II Is /
a deliberate and significant protest OF ths /
most vigorous sort 4 peaceable tribe is +
capable of making against white men /
wavs. associated in their minds with +
white mtn's vices When it came 20 build
ing their houses the antipathy Of these
Indians for everything which hinted at
the red man over into 2 white
found expression in their unwillingness to
use the white mans saw 70 cut the ends
~ the gable boards. or TO pierce the "als
for windows which WOOio nave 70 % So
with white mems sashes ard white mems
glass. The strength Of their purpose 20
resist white influence IS shown further tn
the fact that, although missionaries have
lived among these people. or az near 10
them as was permitted. ever since the res
,rvation was bought yet there is not
Christian. 50 FAR ~ IS known, in tire whole
tribe. Il may BE Inquired why Indians
who thus refuse 70 initiate the white man
s-en IN matters NECESSARY 60 Ite and
health and civilization were willing End
wen DESTROYS Of leaving the further vest
7-a country. peopled with thar own race.
10 take ID their abode on the edge OF
white town. IRE answer IS found ia TIE
tact that these Indians ware anxious -
I've ~ peace vit0 the whites ard feared
hat On the frontier taeg might b drawn
ato some % the5 body qaarrels v5ica
occurred there from time - time
The Modern Mother
Has found THAI her Bftls ones are In
proved more by tire plearant sTru2 o.