The Saint Paul globe., 1900-05-08
BUREAU PRETTY SMOOTH
NEZ PERCEs CHIEF COULD NOT
MAKE INDIAN COMMISSIONER
BELIEVE HIM
PLAYED WHITE AGAINST RED
And Though Versed in Poker, Chief
Joseph Was Not Master Of
the CommissiOncr,s
COI0rscOpe.

| yesterday forenoon on his way Ddck 20
the COlville reservation in Oregon, after
a conference with the powers at Wash
| ingtOn He was accompanied by his in
terpreter, Stephen Reuben, Carlisle
graduate, and his trusted henchman and
| adviser. Peo-PeO-Telec. Joseph went to
! Washington tC ask the government for
manual training schools for his tribes
men. He had a number of different re-
! quests of a minor nature to make and has
been at the national capital for six weeks.
The party left almost Immediately over
! tire Northern Pacific for the West. While
in St. Paul, Joseph chatted of his visit
! to the great father, saying that he had
| heap plenty good visit and many good
words with the national executive. JO-
seph even attempted a faint touch Of
humor at the expense of Peo-Peo-Telec
| and gravely insisted that mis- counselor
had been pining all the way west on ac-
count of a pretty squaw in the Indian
| bureau, who made words on machine" ="
| Stephen Reuben came to the rescue and
with great earnestness protested that Pee
had carried himself with the greatest dig.
nifty throughout.
The fact of the matter was, however,
that the party spent all their cash dur
ing. the first few days at the national
capital in having good time and failed
to show up at the Indian bureau at all
for nearly a week Then satiated with
the whirl of Washington life, they sent
for more money and began to talk over
the matters which called them East
Joseph IS one of the few living war
chiefs of the Western tribes who contest
ed the march Of civilization. Old Ger
OnimO, another of the same stamp, has
also forsaken tht trail and now spends
| most of his time playing poker at mill
tary post, where he is under surveillance
Joseph, however, was of a more business,
ike trend of character and since his
famous campaign, has accumulated
moneys and ChatteIs representing a COM
Portable fortune.
JOSEPH'S FAMOUS CAMPAIGN
AS Josephs famous campaign is forgot
ten history with the general public, il
may not be out of place to refer briefly to
it here Few even of those who know
the outlines of the story know that the
| outbreak grew originally from a ghost
dance and Messiah craze. long antedating
| the more famous, craze that ,culminated 4
few years ago in the bloody massacre at
| Wounded Knee That was the case, how
ever, for the belief in an Indian Messiah
dates back as far as white records go. to
1850, with the PuebloS il the Southwest
There has been hardly decade since that
time that has not seen a Messiah revival
among one or another of the tribes from
Ohio to the mouth OF the Columbia ard
| from old Mexico to the Canadian line.
The originator of the craze among the
Nez Perces in 1870 was SomohOlla, a mys-
tic, and head of an order of dreamer
priests, who gained great ascendancy
over allthe Indians of the Columbia vail
iey. Their restlessnesS got some of the
Indian agents nervous, and futile orders
were issued to certain of the bands to
stop dancing and come back to the res
ervations, whence they had strayed.
Then REQUIRED the Ole. old story Of every
Indian outbreak; a government commits
sion made up of men who knew every
thing except Indians, to treat with the
recalcitrants; a land-grabbing treaty
which the Indians did not want to sign
and which the white settlers thereabout
did noc want to keep; a murder or two by
the whites, reprisals= by the Indians, and
then wild cries for they ytroonsfTto stop the
trouble, which they had had no hand in
starting.
The commission in this craze wanted
the Nez PereeSz toNdeed away their claim
to the Walula valley and move into
Idaho. Some. agreed, but JoseDh's band
! ANAUSSb W o15lls - HllISS dragged along
until 1871, when, after much persuasion,
Joseph had agreed to go on the reserv2-
ton at LapWaie. The laWese eIernenr
among the white settlers had been aggr%-
waiting the Indians. Several COL
lisions occurred, and finally one of Jo-
seph's men was killed. Still the old chief
held the whip-hand on his band. 1t was
the 18th Of June, Joseph had gathered
up all his cattle, and he had promised the
| next day to move upon the reservation.
Ihat night band of white cattle rustIers
struck the Nez Perces' camp, ran of
q large number of horses, and killed one
of the Indian herders.
WANTED TO FIGHT HIS WAY OUT.
Joseph could hold his men no longer,
and they swOoped down on the/ settle
ment at White Bird Creek, Idaho. killing
! tWenty-one persons in one night. The war
was on, end Joseph. with little over
! 100 braves and all his women and chill
! dren, numbering $50, started to fight his
way out of the country. His plan of cam
! paign was well-nigh perfect It had all
the mobility of an Indian war party, with
! all the regular army's precautions of
! scouts and videttes, and system of signal
! ing.
| Gen. o. o. Howard started on his trail
/ and struck the band on June II at Hang
I man s Creek, only to lose thirty-four SOL
! diers On July 4 Howard's advance came
| up with the band again and lost thirteen
| more men. Joseph slipped away in the
night, and On July II crossed trails with
/ Gen. Howard himself, killing eleven of
| the latter'S s men and wounding twenty
! six. Again the willy old chief side-stepped
! and slipped away into the hills Then
began the remarkable thousand-mile re-
| treat. Howard was behind him with a
| greatly superior force. Miles was in his
] 81
| with troops and a band of Crow scouts
| on his flank. Joseph pushed up the Clear
! water over the mountains into Montana.
! stopped in the Pig Hole Pass long enough
| to beat off his pursuers with a loss to
| them of sixty men, then through the
mountains southeast to the Yellowstone
! Park, where Howard again caught up
! with him long enough to lose some more
men and have part of his band of horses
cut out by the Indians Never stopping.
| Joseph slipped between the -flanking COM
| mandS and cut across the corner of Wy
! oming into Montana again, hoping to
! reach the Canadian line beyond the pur-
! suit of the American troops This time it
was Col. Sturgis with fresh troops who
! caught up with the hard-pressed band.
! There were two fights, both sides losing
! heavily. This was the first time Joseph 5
loss had been serious. Still. with consum-
/ mate generalship he managed to slip
away from a beaten field and crossed the
Missouri with scarcely fifty able men, bdt
! still carrying his wounded and his women
! and children. He lodged into the Bear
paw mountains, and seemed on the point
! of gaining the Canadian line when Col.
Miles, with fresh troops and fresh Crow
scouts, cut off his retreat. and in a bloody
| fight, captured more than half his horses
and killed or wounded forty of his band.
! Joseph surrendered to save his women
| and children He was promised permis-