The record-union., 1899-03-26
ONE GOOD INDIAN.

The good Indian is said to be the
dead Indian by those who hold that the
redman is the inveterate foe of the
paleface, and that it is best for botn
! that the copper-colored shall go be-
meath the grass. But there are no hui
name people who hold to any such
doctrine. Experience has proved that
there is many a good Indian who is a
live Indian.
Many Of them have demonstrated
their capacity to embrace civilization
and to enter into competition with the
white man in most walks of life. we
take it that the dead Indian epigram is
due more to the live, vicious. white
man than to any native .deviltry in the
redskin. However that may be, we
have recent record of good Indian
serving the white man nobly, died with
the respect and admiration of all who
knew him.
William J. Pollock was a Pawnee In
dian. He was one of the famous Rough
Riders and went through the Santiago
campaign under Roosevelt. In Cuba he
contracted a fever and of that he the
other day died. It is said of him by
those who knew him that a Drawer,
truer, nobler spirit never lived in the
body Of man. He was as daring as he
was devoted to the flag of the nation
under which he fought so CALAMITY. He
was born in 1871 of full-blooded Paw
nee parents. At the age of IL he en-
tered the, Indian Institute at Lawrence,
| Kansas, under his Indian name, See
-athoo." He could not then
speak a word of English He, however.
at once impressed the school faculty as
being more than ordinary, as a student
apt, earnest, and of fine natural capac-
lily.
He remained at the institute ten
years, graduating then with the high
est honors ever accorded a student Of
that school. In that ten years he was
not once found worthy Of reprimand,
and had a perfectly clean record. On
graduating he was given the name of
William ]. Pollock, after Major Pollock,
the lifelong Indian Inspector, who never
sullied his name by any act bringing
discredit upon the Government because
of its conduct towards the Indians.
After leaving the Lawrence school the
Indiani youth went to the Fine Arts De-
partment of the Kansas State Univer-
sity to crafty artistic tastes. He ad-
vanced rapidly as an art student and
presently his works were sought after.
The Iowa Register" says:
One of his paintings is considered by
Professor A. H Clark of the University
of Kansas to be one Of the most re-
markable in existence. 1t is Pollock's
own conception of the Messiah, and is
! little water color some eight by ten
! inches in size. The picture represents an
Indian chief standing upon the world.
and looking with uplifted hands toward
| a group in the clouds above-the figure
| of Christ in the center with an Indian
| brave kneeling on either side in the at
i titude of prayer. Toward this group Is
| flying an eagle, the symbohcal divine
messenger of the Pawnee Indians. Poi
lock was a Christian of the Protestant
| faith, and this picture has great value
because of the psychological signifi-
canoe which it portrays in regard to
| the development of the Indian by civili-
cation.
Sickness finally drove the young man
from the university, and he returned to
his home in Pawnee County, Oklahoma.
as he put it, Ito regain my old-time
health in my old home, but not to take
up my old life When the war with
| Spain broke out he enlisted as q Rough
Rider and speedily developed remark
he enlisted he had been made Sheriff of
his county, but he surrendered the office
| to become soldier for the Stars and
| Stripes, because he firmly believed in
the justice and humanity of the cause
of the country.
! At Ell Caney, San Juan and Santiago
he was in the thickest Of the fights and
performed deeds of great prowess.
Colonel Roosevelt says ''he fought like
a fiend in fearlessness, but like a splen-
did soldier also" In his regiment he
had the respect and admiration of men
and officers without an exception At
the close Of the war he returned to his
home to write the story of the cam
paign, to be illustrated with his own
drawings. But the fever was in his
veins and he went down to death with
it.
If that Indian had lived and finished
his book 1t is safe to say it would have
| been a remarkable work, and have at
tracted the attention of the whole
country, for he was graceful as a
writer, graphic in sketch, conscientious,
though imaginative, close observer
and an excellent judge of men and their
motives. Here, then, was one good In
dian who did not win the title by be-
coming a dead Indian
The Filipinos represented by Aguin-
aldo, are reported to be defiant and
more determined than ever not to yield
to American authority. For instance,
| those intrenched at Catbalogan, have
sent out word that they will never sur
render, which is safe for them to say,
as we have no troops near there in the