Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-12
EARLY INDIAN ATHLETES.
Their FavOrite Games Were Rowling
Ball, Running and Wrestling.

From the Chicago Chronicle.
The American Indians were great oowi-
crs Alleys of greater length than any IN
use today were built In the open neids.
Balls hewn out of stones were rolled py
genuine Indian muscle. In fact, there Is
scarcely a popular kind of game played In
this country today but that its counter
part can be found in the age of the red
man. They were gamblers. too. even to
FORGETTING the clothes upon their backs.
their wives or their liberty. Strange to say.
the average school history has abounded in
a description of the Indian in nearly every
point except the details Of the games ne
played.
Relics Of the Indian bowling alleys are
rare, except in a few sections of the coun-
try, thus showing that the game was net
a universal one, and of all the games which
the Indian played bowling Is undoubtedly
the most remote. The western reserve OF
Ohio was one of the centers for the Indian
bowlers. In several parts of Ashtabula
county some of the older residents have
these relics preserved. which they have
picked up themselves in their early farm
ing. usually in the open field.
The balls used instead Of being large
wooden ones, like those in use today, were
made of light-colored stone, and range in
size from ordinary league bail down to
the common small toy rubber ball, The al
| leys We're built of wood, carved out to
| make reasonably smooth surface. The
!
! roll rather than accuracy in striking the
| ten pins at the opposite end of the alley.
/ The alleys We're built so long that 1t is al
| legged ii was hard matter to roll of
! these stone balls that it would reach
| the end. The Indians, too, kept n score,
| and. like in all other games, they gambled.
| The Indians were inveterate ball players
| and excellent 'roOters. Their game lasted
| usually from . o'clock in the morning till
| shutdown It was participated in by from
| Gp to 1000 young men, divided into two
| sides, and the games We're witnessed by
| from ;EoaD TO 500 men, women and chill
dren. who formed an immense ring around
the entire field. The enthusiastic Indian
yells We're not altogether unlike the noises
of the modern ball park There was scarcely
| an intermission Of five minutes during the
| entire day.
The game however. resembled our foot
| ball rather than base ball. When the bail
| was in the air there were kicks and Strug-
gles. MANNED limbs and bruised bodies A
| prescribed line divided the "rooters" of the
| two sides. and across this line the gambling
took place. Old men were selected as UNI
pires. Women on both sides brought the
crude household goods of The family to the
| ball park to be Staked on the game. Stake
holders guarded the goods The scene re-
| sembled two distinct camps. although there
| was not necessarily more than one tribe en-
| gagged in the game.
| There was feature of the Indian game
| which will be new to the ball players of the
year 1900. Several medicine men among the
Choctaws sat all night on the spot where
|
| smoked to the Great Spirit who was to wit
ness the game. The night before there also
occurred what was known the bal
| play dance
! Prior to the game each Indian was pro
| vided with two instruments which resem
bled tennis rackets of today. Tn,
judges threw the ball in the air, and i'm
mediately hundreds of Indians started afte
| it One finally succeeded in catching it be
| tween the large ends Of the two tennis
I racketS' and threw 1t home" or between
two poles, the limit of one side or the other
This would count point toward tn,
game, and the side getting 100 points frs
Won. Often in the terrible struggle for tn,
ball difficulties would arise between two
, | slightly injured contestants, and the gam
would stop until they settled the dispute
The women also played ball. When tn,
. men We're tired they would announce
game between the women. and prizes woult
, be awarded to their winning wives
Among the popular amusements dear t
the lighter side Of the American, a parable
for which has been found among the In
| dams. are the following: Bowling, ball play
| ing, horse racing, foot racing, dancing
, | wrestling, checkers, dominoes, Quoits, shan
fights.
: Many things which some Of US today ma,
| believe are contemporaneous only with tn
I age in which we live by research may b
; | found to have existed in the everyday If
| of the American Indian. Polygamy wa
E practiced by certain Indian tribes long be
r | fore Joseph Smith founded the Mormon be
: | lief. Eapor baths were enjoyed by the In
Y | dian before the white man came to distur
his hunting ground.