The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-07
THE LAST OF THE MIAMIS
| GABRIEL GODFROY, ONE OF THE
LAST OF A VANISHING RACE.
The Indian of To-Day as Found I'm
Indiana-Outwittedb by Whites and
United for Civilization.


Mohicans," but almost the last of the
| Miamis. and the son of Francis Godfrey.
who was the last war chief in this State
Of that once powerful tribe. Francis
Godfrey half French, half Indian. was a
man of might and fame in the Wabash
valley in his day, and both whites and In
dams paid him Difference. Gabriel, the
son, showing the two strains of blood, but
with that of the red race dominant, is
to-day, perhaps the most notable and in
teresting Indian in Indiana.
/ had long been curious to visit this
scion of a vanishing race, as we'll as
| sundry of his brethren who are scattered
through the Mississinewa region, and so
in the course Of recent wheel trip along
the Wabash 1 sought him out, not know
| ing how 1 would be received, but trusting
partly TO my resources and partly TO a
| letter of introduction 1 bore from Mr..
| James F. Statesman, of Peru. The letter
auspiciously paved the way and the re-
sources did the rest. A observation-disclosures
policy, a gallant Difference to Madam
Godfrey and an interest in the children
captured them all. and within less than
half an hour was taken to the bosom of
|
that belongs to the red mans nature. l
was shown all the rare and interesting
relics around by Godfrey, among them the
carefully preserved clothing and finery of
| Frances Slocum, the famous white captive;
a multiplicity of guns were also exhibited;
we went out and shot at a mark with bow
and arrows, and along with it all went
numerous narratives that savored of the
| wild, aboriginal life.
Gabriel Godfrey, picturesque in appear
| ance and literatesque in character, is
worth going a distance to see. He is a
| powerfully built man, in the sixties, with a
massive, strong face made leonihe by a
heavy growth Of yellowish-white hair
which falls to the shoulders or is worn in
knot behind. His nature is utterly trans
| parent, and one who converses with him
and takes note shrewdly may get a key
| to the Indian question and guess why the
fates have dealt hardly with him and his
people in their intercourse with the whites.
After his more than threescore years spent
cheek by jowl with the invaders of his
heritage, the modification is but super
fetal; their ways are not his ways, and
his conformity to them is, at best, but
awkward and unnatural For example,
the Indians natural domicile is wigwam,
or something akin. and Godfrey and his
family are strikingly out of place in the
great, barren, many-roomed house where
they find shelter. The rules of living. the
orderly arrangement, the convenience and
ornamentation which make a house home
in any sense of the word, is here missing
entirely. The place is simply a refuge
from outdoors when outdoors proves un-
pleasant.
INCONGRUOUS CONDITIONS.
Again, the Indians natural activity is
to tread the wild places with moccasined
foot, the preying instinct hot in his blood
and the spectacle of him in cowhide
brogans caring in his slip-shod way fol
plow. horses and cattle is so palpably
forced and incongruous to be grotesque
We read encouraging reports here and
there of the civilized Indian taking to hus-
bandry, and Godfrey himself has beer
cited as a thrifty, prosperous citizen. The
statements are not purposely false, but
they are decided perversion Of the rea
fact. Thrift, providence, anything like in.
dustrial application and business sagacity
is utterly foreign to the Indians charac-
ter. and the fact that he may be seemingly
well-to-do at any given time signifies lit
tie. A better illustration of this could moi
be found than the case Of Godfrey. When
more than a half century ago, the Miami.
sold to the United States government the
last great tract of land which they hello
as tribe, there were reserved to Franci.
Godfrey many hundreds of acres of tn,
| Vol To <,ff hi 40
main the son Gabriel succeeded, and at on,
time owned more than 300 acres O.
that rich tongue of land formed By
the confluence of the Wabash anc
the Mississinewa. Here, as 1 was told b,
Mr.. Statesman. he lived in the open
handed style of immortal lord, his hous,
the stopping place of all his fellow-Indians
who looked to him as their friend and su
perior, and for whose debts he was surety
All that is over now. Just how the lani
went it would be useless to inquire-suffic
to say it has changed hands. Part of 1t 4
owned by the Wallace circus people. VIII
have their winter quarters there; the res
| is in possession of white farmers, and tn
| original owner has left of his fathers am
pie reserves but forty-eight acres, part o
them hilly and sterile. AS one inquire
| further among the Indians of this localit
he finds the same story repeated, and Their
! is revealed the pathetic spectacle Of thes
: one-time lords of the soil now in a elias
> with our poorest, least successful whit
: farmers, fioundering along in a helpless
inefficient sort of way, and pushed to tn
{ wall by the conditions of civilized life. On
+ Of the most notable cases is that of VIII
liam Peconga, whose former home stood o.
the Me-shin-go-me-sio reserve, in tn
southern part of Wabash county. Pc
conga is the grandson of old Chief Me-shin
| go-me-sio, to whom and his band was re
served ten sections or ten square miles o
, land. In evil hour they had this com
: mon property divided and apportione
r | among the several members of the band
a Few of them now have anything left, an
Peconga, the chief heir, recently left hi
: last strip of land, and is living with
[ friend.
! The explanation is two-fold. In the frs
. | place the Indian, along with his lack c
: | foresight, has but little sense of values
y what he wants he will have at any cost,
!, ii lies within his means, and he will Civ
his promise TO pay a mortgage with yer
little thought as to results. Hence. assaile
by a multiplicity of wants that he neve
knew in his savage condition, and withor
;. the check of prudence, his possession
: must, in the nature of things, slip AVA
:. \ from him