Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-11-23
ALMOST EXTINCT.
Iowa Indians on Their Reservation In
Oklahoma,

ingalls,, o. T., Nov. 2o.-Most Of tho
seyenty-eight remnants of the once
powerful Iowas live on their allot-
ments near Perkins, 0. I. They are
not men with the hoe, as most of their
choice lands are either uncultivated or
else titled by the whites. They employ
their time in eating, sleeping, dancing,
granting, visiting and worshipping.
They consider all the various doings-
including horse-racing and trading
squaws-as religious ceremonies.
Their religion is grotesque mixture
of paganism and Christianity. They are
ardent sun-wcrshippers. calling often
upon Jesus, who they say is the glori-
GUS orb of day, They believe in spir-
itual horses, dogs and ever green prai-
ries where no troublesome white man
or bad Indian can modest them.
Bill Dole, very unctuous old limb
of the expiring tribe, said: 81 have
eleven squaws and papooses up there,
and lots of spotted ponies eating grass
up there on the evergreen prairies. I
can see them on every cloudless day.
| Bill, however, got married again last
week to four times widow. Most of
their wigwams are adorned with gor-
geously eolored pictures of scriptural
scenes.
They still persist, in spite of having
been notified repeatedly not to do so,
in depositing their dead on the surface
of the earth. The graveyard in the
cid, deserted Iowa Indian village on
Bear creek, Lincoln county, is a dis
Igusting, sckening boneyard. Glutton-
Gus turkey buzzards and irreverent
hogs fight over the remains.
Dan Tohee, the lineal descendant of
the 2,0Oo-year-old royal Tohee family,
| otficiates as chief of the little tribe. He
looks very dignitied, never gets drunk
nor trades wives and is not much of a
liar. His brother Dave, however, seems
to be the black sheep of the Tohee
family. His sixth squaw died last
spring, and after bowling seven nights
around her dead house he put $25
marble cross near her resting place
and began preparations for union
with squaw No. Z.
The Iowas delight to drink slight
ly Intoxicating connection made of fer
mented and boiled corn, sumach ber-
ries, sugar and wild onions. After
gulping down copious draughts of the,
beverage they get exceedingly happy
and talk about the good times coming,
when only good Iowas will inhabit the
whole of Oklahoma.
| Getting some of the white mans ed
ucation is one of the greatest hard
ships. The young Iowas, like snails,
crawl to school," They play sick, and
sometimes dead, to keep from attend
ing. The older consider the younger
ones martyrs during school hours and
often help them to evade the task. Two
years ago they induced the Indian de-
partment to allow them to have a
school right at home. They had a
costly building erected and several
| teachers were hired, but, alas! only
about six juvenile redskins attended
| the school.
The Iowas hate working on the roads
even worse than any other kind of la
Dor. Eight of them started on pro-
tracted visit TO Nebraska last summer,
simply to escape from working three
days on the roads which they travel
more than any white man.
| They regard all physical and other
AILMENTS as the work of 'imps within"
and take strong emetics and yaanit the
evil spirits through the knot-holes into
hollow trees. Perhaps through some
sort of n faith-cure process this always
seems to make them feel all right foI
awhile.