The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1899-10-14
INDIAN MYSTERY MEN
some of Their Feats of Magic Are
Really Wonderful
uovn Chippewa witch Drove SEN
.,or Lewis CAss from Con
ferencc-N Hcdskin Editi"h
of the Rope Trick

1-uIs is a story about Indians; the
aboriginal princes ana poteh
tates of our country the llle ~,
women and children who Dreamed at WIZ
over the prairies, down the dells' ~ 'he
n,ountnin businesses, along the salt-sea
coosts and over the beautiful waters
of opr great inland seas; the people
who owned all the SOIL and VINO knew ,
no master save the Great spirit, Wn"iu
| I o,cfellow has eloquently described us
cha Indians "Nlanitou the Mighty
the Smithsonian institutions the Ma
tio,ol museum and the museums oil the
executive departments contain many
relies of the fast disappearing race
which lived in happiness between the
Atlantic and the Pacific until our CIV
iIizotion came to them with sword ana
flame.
Government Ethnologist Hoffman,
interested the writer to-dayYlihsto stories
about the "medicine men" o. the lhal-
ans, and their iugglers and mystery
men. and YOU will probably be enter
toired with some of his statements
about them. He says that these mys-
terry men" perform feats OF magic
which would put to shame the famous
Yoois of India, who make plants grow
from sterile ground, and change oad-
ding rods into serpents, in the pres
ence of puzzled representatives OF the
superior races.
Ethnologist Hoffman, referred TO an
alleged fact that Senator Lewis Cass'
of Michigan, once went to Mackinaw to
confer with the Indians, concerning
transfer of some of their estates to the
government. when he was entertained
AT big medicine feast; and after the
feast a Chippewa woman, who car
ried an old dried up snake skin in the
form of a bag, threw il upon the ground,
when it seemed TO become alive, and
chased the great statesman from the
conference. He says that Senator Cass
told this story TO many of his friends,
and that he always afterwards avoided
accepting official appointments upon
commissions to visit the Indians, be
cause he could not rid his mind of that
occurrence.
"The bravest act / have ever known, y
he said, twas performed by one of these
Indian iugglers. A favorte trick of his
was one that had often been performed
by white magicans. 1t consisted in
permitting himself to be shot at, the
hocus-pocus being an arrangement by
which the bullet fell out of the barrel
into a cavity in the stock of the weapon
before the latter was discharged.
Meanwhile he had another bullet con
cealed in his mouth, which at the in
slant Of firing he pushed outward with
his tongue, so as to make it appear that
he had caught the projectile between
his teeth. Now it happened that this
man had a rival, who was engaged in
the coniuring business in a neighboring
village. On one occasion, when the
trick was to be performed, the juggler
announcing, as usual, that he was ready
to be shot at by anyone present, the
rival stepped forward and said that he
would do the shooting. But he de-
manded permission to use his own gun. |
Naturally the iuggler objected, but |
his protest was oyerruled. 1t was de
cided that the rival magician might use /
his own weapon. This meant almost
sure death to the performer, yet he did +
not blanch, To refuse the test would |