Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1900-10-05

were enabled to reach Cannonball
agency without further trouble.
Exactly at the juncture of Cannon
ball river and the Missouri there was
an abandoned frontier store. 1t con-
sisted of a primitive log cabin with
two good sized rooms. There the
couple established themselves and
spent a year, which Mrs. Williams de-
scribes as one OF great happiness, as
we'll Is of hard work.
Their nearest neighbor, an Indian
named Ahewanka,: lived just across
the C%annonball river. Within ten
minutes walk of his ..ouse was a sub
agency of some 1000 Indians. The
total number of Indians in the reser-
walton is about 5000. They belong
to the Sioux tribe.
The prairies surrounded the young
couple on all sides. Coyotes infested
the ground. Eagles scared through
the air, and occasionally descended in
search of food. Prairie chickens and
rabbits abounded. There were even
4 few deer. Hence game was always
to'be had. Fruit and vegetables could
be procured on the reservation: but
their main dependence none the less
was upon a Klondike outfit. which they
had brought along with them.
With their Indian neighbors Mr..
and Mrs. Williams soon established
close relations of friendship. They
found the Sioux language easy to
learn. Mr.. Williams would go fami-
liarly among bucks and squaws, posing
and sSetching them. They in return
would frequently call at the log cabin
and gaze in wonder upon such myster-
les of civilization as were there un-
yelled to them. With a frankness un-
usual among these reticent people, they
would talk about their grievances, de-
scribe their difficulty in obtaining the
money guaranteed to them, and COM
plain bitterly about the surveillance
to which they were subjected. In
fine, Mr.. Williams and his wife soon
came to know, to admire and to love
the companions among whom fate had
thrown them.
That the affection was returned was
shown by the name which the red men
bestowed upon the white man. They
called him the Indians Young Man."
Mrs. Williams still remained 1.-THE
Captured Woman"
Then the Indians Young Man fell
alarmingly i'll. The climate did not
agree with him. The hardships in
cident TO life in the wilderness during
a lons seige Of winter proved too much
for his delicate frame.
AT last he had to be removed to the
agency hospital at Fort Yates, a mill
tary post 30 miles away. Here he
fingered for three months, working at
his book until the very end. Nor did
his indian friends forget MIN. Every
few days a gentleman named Fore
Claws would gallop the distance from
the C~annonball suA-agency and back
again as a delegate commissioned to
inquire after the health OF the Indians
Young Man.
a cheering letter from his publishers
asking him to forward all his material
as soon as possible seemed to rally the
invaiid's fading energies. But the
hopes thus enlIindled were false. He
had a relapse. A few days later he
quietly passed away. His book had
been completed.
The Indians poured into Fort Yates
in large numbers to condole with the
widow and attend the funeral.
For a brief while Mrs. Williams re-
manned as a guest of the wife of the
colonel of the regiment. Then she
went back to Cannonball to make pre-
parations for her return to the east.
AS she drove into Cannonball 400 In
dians locked around her carriage and
held it up until they had an opportun-
ity to shage hands with her.
."Redface," as the spokesman of the
tribe, presented her wit ha pipe, one
Of the dearest Of all his possessions.
She still retains his aS we'll as q num.
Der of moccasins and other souvenirs
from the friends whom she and her
husband had made in their years so
jOurn among them.