Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1900-09-05
INDIANS AS WITNESSES.
Iiola Closer to Truth Than White Men.

&ots .StCSeE " lEutH iuhu WHilc Mep..
Indians nuke good witnesses and
they stick closer - Facts than white
pecplNS
TAm Statement was made the tothes
evening by Judge O. P. Shf1sa Sf the
United States District Court of North
ern Iowa. He Speaks from his expert
ence in crying mar in which In
dtahs were either concerned or appear
ed as witnesses. He was appointed
during the administration Of Chester
a. Arthur and since has been ceRtih-
-ually holding court h his ewh district
and withln the 9th United States Judi
cial District, @hlch comprises thirteeH
states aAd three territories. This fed
eraa district, leaving out the state Of
kentuckS, is Rrssasr than all the terri
tory east et the Mississippi River.
Speaking of his interesting expert
ence. in coming in Gonts.ettt with the In
dians in court aass says the red man
or woFnsA is generally accurate. His
observation was general. He says.
"Ask q white man If he wps drunk on
a certain occasion he viii try to wrig-
gle out of it sat the Indian will come
out with q yes If he was. On
enc occasion q lawyer asked squaw
II she understood the nature Of her
Obligation in giving testimony. She
answered that she had taken 'strohg
word to tell the truth and she would
do so. She WIS asked to define the
difference between the truth and a lie,
wheleupoh she said: The truth IS the
truth and a lie is a !ies they are dif:.
ferent and you cah'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 Cct. 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 a religious phase had been inject
ed into the trial.
''In the examination Of American
Horse he was asked what he knew
about religion. There stood hear by d
small white table which the witness
drew near him. He placed his finger
on the center of the table and drew q
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
mere. 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 relinqulshlng tribal relations
and complying with government seT-
crafty laws. He snys, too, that he has
come in contact with some good In
dian lawyers.
"I think" said he, "there is mis-
taken Idea about the red man having
been generally mistreatcd by the gov
ernment. The facts show that they are
the 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
dians 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 ev-
cry cent Of it away before they leave
the vicinity and then walk back home
to do the same thing over on the next
pay day.
.sIt is astonishing to see the methods
used by IN intelligent red man to get
away with his money. Among other
things he has a weakness for certain
kind Of amusement known Us the
Merry so Round Recently one OF
these concerns got permission to set
up one Of their machines on n reserva-
ton within my circuit. The bucks
would gather about the contriTance
and to the tune of steam-turned or
gan would ride the whole blessed day.
They spent all the money they had and
pawned different articles to get moro
for the same amusement.
During the last few years the wo-
men took q great craze for wearing
these blue bathing suits trimmed in
white braid. The traders are said to
have disposed of a large quantity Of
this toggery, the squaws wearing them
all the time until worn out, when they
would buy another suit"