Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-10-08
RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF INDIANS.
They Look for n Messiah Who VIII
Restore Hunting Grounds.
washington Times)

wv doulutlOn Ilnts.l
Formerly the worship Of the red man
was vague. 1'hey were pantheists who
saw the Deity in the vhlrlwlnd and in
the storm and in every phenomenon,
and Il should certainly stand 10 the
credit Of their susceptibility and adapta-
bnity that they have become so impress
ed by the Christianity which has been
taught them that their spirituality has
taken shape in conform ~ Herewith.
II IS true that their ideas of the expect
cd millennium are somewhat different
from ours: for, in metaphorically sepa-
rating the sheep from the goats. they
draw the color line" at Indian red,
consigning their white oppressors TO OBJ
llvion and punishment, and the abo-
riginal elect 10 a replenished buffalo
range and n good radiance from white
domination.
In the accomplishment old this much
coveted restoration. II is significant and
soothing. as respects the question OF a
general uprising. which some so per-
eistently apprehend that the Indians
expect the Messiah alone TO act. They
do not propose 10 take part themselves.
They expect everything to be done for
.
the Messiah does the rest. They are all
well aware OF the superior numerical
strength and marvellous expedients and
appliances OF the white people and the
dstressful straits TO which their own
tribes are now reduced. They are prac-
tically hors du combat, and will not
venture to act In a body without the
prospect Of supernatural assistance.
False prophets and mercenary men may
inspire some OF them with a promise of
this. and there may be on occasions
foolhardy individuals, and even bands.
who win run amuck under a frenzy OF
fanatlcal excitement. or perhaps go on
the warpath. But the great mass OF the
Indian people is likely to remain in
quiet expectancy Of the advent or 90
about their business with faith and re-
signation. Should the Messiah fail 10
come. and prophecies come 10 naught.
as they have repeatedly done with all
Adventists for the past fifty years-and.
indeed. for eighteen centuries-then the
time of the Messiah's appearance may be
Indefinitely postponed while the faith
continues to shoulder
There IS naturally, among old residents
who have lived through Indian cam
paigns. and know their vicissitudes by
painful personal experience, a nervous
apprehension that disquetude may at
any time develop into an outbreak. And
certainly II IS just as easy 20 secretly
organize an emeute among Indians as
it is 10 formulate a strike among the
brotherhoods or trade and labor. An In
dian uprising may be arranged by pre-
concerted agreement for a given date,
and a massacre OF white men ensue in
fifteen different States at once; and the
results might be infinitely more deplora-
BILE than the Anarchist outbreak In Chi
cago. or the draft riot I'm New York, or
the John Brown instruction in Virginia,
or the more recent half-Dreed rebellion
in Manitoba and the Northwest Terri
tory. But no matter how mysteriously
the spirit may move, or in what disguise
the Messiah may come. a restless vigi-
lance Will surely detect his designs ana
hold his followers in check.
The direct and effective way to break
ND the nest of fanatics is TO break up
their meetings, and the direct way 70
avert an Indian uprising is to prevent
their ghost Dances just as the Indian
agent did at Pender, Neb, where 5000
Indians were assembled and more were
expected. These ghost dances are held
openly. and It may be imagined with
what desperate fervor the Indians engage
I'm them when it is understood that
their dances are not only in the interest
OF temporal needs, but for eternal gain.
They believe that by constant stamping
(Which Is about all the style there is to
an Indian dance they may bury the
whites thirty feet deep under ground and
restore the country TO It's pristine bucohe
condition.
The focus OF the religo movement
seems always TO be at Standing Rock or
Pine Ridge. In South Dakota. Indeed, all
insurrectionary plots are Matched there,
of which Swift Bears movement on July
18th is not an exception. II is a centre
from which all inspiration doubtless en-
anates. and emissaries are sent from
there to outlying districts TO stir up en-
thusiasm. while In correct conformity
with tradition and all historical events
the locum tenens Of the Messiah Is in the
wilderness 1t was so with John the
Baptist, Elijah, Moses, and Peter the
Hermit, and even with the Child Of Beth
lehem.