Evening star., 1900-11-20
Sioux and Cheyenne Indians Always
Ready for Trouble.
RESTRAINT ALONE PREVENTS THEM
Interesting Facts Regarding Them
by Judge S. w. Dewitt.
THE WOUNDED KNEE WAR
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
PINE RIDGE AGENCY, S. D.,

The possibility of another Indian uprising
in this section, that would involve the Sioux
and Cheyennes, is regarded as by no means
remote. Only the strong arm of the gov
ernment prevents uprising" declared
Judge S. w. Dewitt of the Interior De-
partment, who has been here investigating
the S1.Go0,OO0 claims growing out of the
Wounded Knee war of 1890. so wild and
restless are the Indians that they would
go on the warpath at any time that the
forces of troops and government police
were so far reduced as to allow the trouble
to get under way"
You would be surprised to know how
wild and treacherous the Sioux are today"
he continued. Il have recently seen all of
their chiefs and braves in council and al
though / do think civilization is fast re-
claiming them still the Brule and OSallaa
Sioux are not happy.
"a larger number of the Pine Ridge In
dians are raising cattle today than ever
before. But still the greater majority are
content to live solely for the purpose of
consuming the rations distributed to them
twice a month by the government. The
young braves are losing the noble traits
which once won for them the sympathy and
respect of the whites. The aged chieftains
drag themselves over the alton, re-
ceiving the homage Of their subjects but
slowly grunting their long lives away under
the vgilant eyes of policemen and soldiers
leaving the bowed and wrnkled squaws to
do the little necessary work.
HaIf-Breeds Are Industrious.
1.-The only good Indians are the half
breeds who are occupied in raising cattle
on the choice grazing lands. Many of them
are exceedingly wealthy, some of the herds
containing fully 1000 head But do not
think they are yet reconcied to the life OF
the reservation. The same conditions exist
today which caused Big Foot and his band
to march into the reservation from the Bad
Lands to be annhilated at Wounded Knee.
They are ever on the watch to detect the
slightest wrong by the agent and. failing
in this, they fancy wrongs. While they
frequently complain of unfair treatment
and stealing by the agent, the Indians are
not easily cheated. The Indians themselves
do not hesitate to cheat when opportunity
offers, and need to be watched constantly
by those who deal with them. Few OF
them understand English, and many OF the
half-breeds and 'Squaw men coach the ig-
norant into hatred of the government.
The Indian school at Pine Ridge is prob
ably the most extensive in the world. and
hundreds of young Indians are rapidly ac-
quiring the English language. The next
generation will show marked civilization
and revolutionze the governments mode of
trea ting them.
Not only are they taught to read and
talk. but to Use the implements of peace.
Manual training and farming are taught by
competent teachers and before graduation
be as handy with tools as their teachers.
The girls are made acquainted with house
keeping in all its branches and taught that
life holds something better to an Indian
woman than herding cattle, raking hay and
begging fireWater. They become expert
seamstresaes and cooks. and as a rule are
happy in the requirement of such arts.
Cause of the Pine Ridge Trouble.
What was the real cause of the Pine
Ridge uprising in 1890 to 1891?
THAT is hard to answer. No one has
ever learned just what grievance caused
the Indians to rise in revolt, and l don't
suppose 1t was any particular one. BY the
continual urging of the 'SquaW men they
were melted to rebel. When questioned
about the matter the Indians answer with
grunt and grimace. l suppose the chle1
cause was the encroachmcnt of white cat
tlemen on the reservation. The finest graz
ing lands in the world are comprised in the
government domain north of Rose Bud and
Pine Ridge, and thousands OF cattle feed
there without cost to their owner. Late
in the season the feed naturally becomes
short Across the line in the reservation
the grass is always long and green and a
tempting bait. Not only do the cattle often
wander onto the forbidden ground but the
herders frequently cause stampedes and the
flying mass of beef could not be stopped
until it was far into the reservation. No
effort was then made to drive the cattle off
ard the cowboys looked on serenely while
the Indians fumed with rage.
The white men sinned once too often.
In the latter part of 1890 Short Bull, the
Brule Sioux, gathered around him nifty
braves from Rose Bud and rode over into
the Pine Ridge reservation to the north of
White river, which flows dagonally through
Pine Ridge. At the same time Kicking
Bear, another Brule chief, was uniting his
men in the same reservation. Shortly al
ter Big Foot, the warrior OF the Cheyenne
tribe came down from the northeast with
a band of about sixty young Cheyennes in
war paint and feathers. They rode to
point in the Pine Ridge agency south of
the other encampments, and pitched their
tepees on the banks of the Wounded Knee
river Whether Big Foot intended to join
Kicking Bear and Short Bull will never be
known. Soldiers were sent out to intercept
the CheyenneS and they We're corralled in
their camp. They were ordered to surren-
der their rifles and go back to the reser-
walton.
BEGINNING of the Battle.
Several of them had already handed over
their guns when events took a sudden
change. A big, handsome brave walked
over to a sergeant as If to hand over his
weapon but instead leveled his rifle and
shot the soldier dead. The battle began
Immediately The Indians We're hudded
together that they dared not shoot for fear
of killing each other. The maddened SOL
diers moved them down like hay before
they could file out and pour n successful
fire upon the whites. Although few of
the soldiers were killed and many wounded
Big Foots entire band was eXtermlnated
and the battle of Wounded Knee went into
history. Seeing the awful results of Big
Foot's opposition to the government. Kick
ing Bear and Short Bull quickly went back