Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-02
INDIAN CHARACTEnisTICS.
Their TrustwOrthfness as Witnesses
and Their Ignorance of Money Values.

Correspondence Chicago Record
Indians make good witnesses and they
stick closer to facts than white people"
This statement was made the other even
Ing by Judge o. P. Shiras of the United
States district court of northern Iowa, He
speaks from his experience In trying many
cases in which Indians were either con-
cerned or appeared as witnesses He was
appointed during the administration of
chester A. Arthur and since has been con-
tnually holding court in his own district
and within the eighth United States Judi
cial district, which comprises thirteen
states and three territories. This federal
district, leaving out the state Of Kentucky
| is larger than all the territory east of the
Mississippi river
Speaking Of his interesting experience in
coming in contact with the Indians in court.
he says the red man or woman is gener-
ally accurate His observation was gen.
eral. He says: ASK white man If he
was drunk on certain occasion he will
try to wrisgle out of it, but the Indian will
come out with yes II 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 a Strong word to tell the truth
and she would do so. She was asked to de-
fine the difference between the truth and
lie, whereupon she said: The truth is the
truth and a lie is a lie; they are different
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 Colonel Casey of the United States
army. One Of the witnesses brought
in by the government was American Horse.
There had been a Messiah craze among
the Indians and religious phase had been
injected into the trial.
"In the examination of American Horse
he was asked what he knew about reli
gion. There stood near by a small 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 larger circle saying that the
white man knew that much more Moving
his finger around the outside of the larger
circle he said: Beyond this the red man
| knows as much about the coming of Mes
siah as the white man.
Judge ShiraS says the Indian makes a
good juror in which capacity he may sit
after relinquishing tribal relations and COM
plying with government severalty walls
He says, too, that he has come in contact
with some good Indian lawyers.
II think" said he there is a mistaken
idea about the red man having been gen.
orally mstreated by the government The
facts show that they are the richest peo-
pie per- capita in the whole country. The
trouble Is that they have a poor idea of
the value of money, and spend it recklessly.
INDIANS Will walk clear across one state
into another to draw their annuities and in
twenty-four hours after getting the money
| they will have gambled every cent of it
| away before they will leave the vicinity and
then walk back home to do the same thing
over on the next pay day.
at is astonishing to see the methods
adopted by an intelligent red man to get
away with his money. Among other things
| he has a weakness for a certain kind of
amusement known as the 'merry-go-round
Recently one of these concerns got permits
| sion to set up one of their machines on a
reservation within my circuit. The bucks
would gather about the continuance and
| to the tune of a steam-turned organ would
| rjSe the whole blessed day. They spent
! al. the money they had and 4Awned diff
| ferent articles to get more for the same
amusement.
During the last few years the women
| took great craze for wearing these blue
| bathing suits trimmed in white braid: The
| traders are said to have disposed of large
quantity of this toggery. the squaws wear
ing them all the time until worn out when
| they would buy another suit"