Wide-awake., 1900-01-24
INDIANS AS WITNESSES.
Hold Closer to Truth Than White M.n.

Indians make good witnesses and
they stick closer to facts than white
people"
This statement was made the other
evening by Judge o. P. Shiras of the
| United States District Court of North
ern Iowa. He speaks from his expert
ence in trying many cases in which In
| dianS were either concerned or appear
ed as witnesses. He was appointed
during the administration of Chester
A. Arthur and since has been contin-
ually holding court in his own district
and within the Sth United States Judi
cial District which comprises thirteen
states and three territories. This fed
eral district, leaving out the state of
Kentucky, is larger than all the terri
tory east of the Mississippi River
Speaking of his interesting expert
ence in coming in contact with the In
dians in court he says the red man
pr woman is generally accurate. His
observation was general. He says:
ASK a white man if he was drunk on
n certain occasion he will try to wrig-
gle out of. it, but the Indian will come
out with yes if he was. On
one occasion a lawyer asked a squaw
If she understood the nature Of her
Obligation in giving testimony. She
answered that she had taken strong
word to tell the truth and she would
do so. She was asked to define the
difference between the truth and lie,
whereupOn she said: The truth Is the
truth and lie is q lie; they are diff
ferent and you can't make them alike
''You will remember that some six
years ago an Indian named Plenty
Horses was being tried in Sioux Falls
for the murder of Col Casey of the
United States army. One of the wit
nesSes brought in by the government
was American Horse. There had been
= Messiah craze among the Indians
and religiors phase had been inject
ed into the t::al
I'm the examination OF American
Horse he was asked what he knew
about religion. There stood near by
small white table which the witness
drew near him. He placed his finger
on the center of the table and drew
circle about it saying, This is what
the red man knows about religion
then he drew a larger circle saying
that the white man knew that much
more. Moving his finger around the
outside of the larger circle he said: Be
yOnd this the red man knows as much
about the coming Of Messiah as the
white man."
Judge Shiras says the Indian makes
a good juror, in which capacity he may
sit after relinquishing tribal relations
crafty laws. He says. too, that he has
come In contact with some good In
dian lawyers.
81 think" said he "there Is a mis-
taken idea about the red man having
been generally mistreated by the gov
The facts show that they are
he richest people per capita In the
whole country. The trouble Is that
they have poor idea of the value Of
money. and spend it recklessly. In
lians will walk clear across one state
ntO another to draw their annuities
md in twenty-four hours, after getting
he money they will have gambled ev-
Try cent of it away before they leave
he vicinity and then walk back homo
o do the same thing over on the next
,ay day.
'It is astonishing to see the methods
lsed by an intelligent red man to get
lway with his money. Among other
hings he has weakness for a certain
lind of amusement known as the
Merry go Round Recently one of
hese concerns got permission to set
Ip one of their machines on a reserva-
ion within my circuit. The bucks
would gather about the cOntrivance
nd to the tune of steam turned or
an would ride the whole blessed day.
they spent all the money they mad and
awned different articles to get more
or the same amusement.
During the last few years the wo-
nen took great craze for wearing
hese blue bathing suits trimmed In
White braid. The traders are said to
ave disposed of large quantity Of
his toggery, the squaws wearing them
IL the time until worn out, when they