The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1900-03-06
ALBANY INDIAN RELICS.
RARE PIECES OF WAMPUm FOR THE
NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM.

orB State Museum at Albany has
been enriched by q collection of Indian
relics of great historical value. These
have been sought out aud purchased
by Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse,
assistant curator of the museum, who
is learned IN the lore of the Iroquois
League and herself chief by adoption
and heritage in the Snipe tribe of the
Senecas. As the Indians have come
to know something of the value of
their heirlooms it is by no means so
easy now as it was few years ago to
acquire these relics, and alter the
work of tracing them out. which is
often matter of no little difficulty, o
round price must be paid for them.
The most notable acquisition of the
collection is the Fiye-fire wAmpum
belt of the Iroquois League. This
belt is, like most other wampum belts,
a document. 1t is of purple wampum,
the five council fires of the Senecas,
Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayugas and
Mohawks, being represented by five
diamond shaped bits of white wan.
pun. The belt was always held by
the Keeper of the Western Door of the
League, which was at Lake Erie, the
Eastern Door being at Albany. Chief
Ely Parker of the Senecas, who was
President Grants Commissioner OF
Indian Affairs, was the last Keeper of
the Western Door and held the belt
in his possession to the time of his
death. Then, as the Office was no
longer existent, the belt went to his
relatives, from whom Mrs. Converse
bought it. By the use of microscope
traces of red paint may still be dis
cerned on the wampum, the paint hav-
ing been smeared there in token of
war when the League split at the ont.
set of the Revolutionary War, the Mo-
hawks espousing the cause of the
British, while the other four nations
remained loyal to their friends, the
colonists. The wampum, which is in
fine condition, is strung ON strips OF
buckskin and on sinews.
Another relic of great historical
value is the original OF tho Complain
ter Treaty, probably the most impor.
tant Indian treaty ever made in this
country. Tuis treaty was enacted be.
tween the whites on one side and the
Indians on the other represented by
Cornplauter, the great peacemaking
chief OF the Senecas, aud it put an end
to the frontier war in 1888 aud out
lined once for all tho boundaries of
New York State, so that there was
never more dispute between red men
aud white men on that point. 1t is
signed by Cornplantcr himself and the
chief representing the other nations of
the league. With it is q section of the
Cornplanter wampum belt, about
foot long, which must always accom-
pany the treaty, to make it valid, and
is, IN fact, n sort of cnacting clause.
After the great peace chiefs death his
daughter came into possession of the
treaty aud for forty years she carried it,
together with the precious wampum
belt, in pouch made of elm bark,
which she always strapped to her back
as squaw carries her pappoose.
Mrs. Converse has been trying to
obtain the documents for twenty years.
and she finally located them in the
possession of Cornplantcr's heirs in
the vicinity OF Warren, Penn. Last
June she went to their home, travel
ing forty miles in a springless lumber
wagon over the mountains to get there.
and found a large number of heirs
VINO claimed part ownership in the
treaty and belt. After a long pow
WOW terms were agreed upon and the
money was paid over to the principal
heirs, the others receiving presents to
their satisfaction and Mrs. Converse
considered her work all done when
there appeared upon the scene a Young
N rys.,r 1.
jected sale and had walked across n
nearby mountain 60 put IN her claim.
There was no disputing that she had
some rights in the matter, as her
grandmother had already been paid,
and she, as a descendant of Chat branch
OF the family, had equal rights. More
over, she looked as if she intended To
insist on them TO the utmost. so Mrs.
Converse explained TO her that thg
Governments money had all been
paid out and asked if she wouldn't be
satisfied with n small present. The
squaw Rrunted solemnly aud disdain.
fully. Mrs. Converse asked her il she
had a house. She grunted assent.
Wouldn't you like some knives AMI
forks for your house?' asked the
white woman.
imp, said the squaw.
Well, some pretty lowered calico
enough for two dresses.
imp, replied the squaw.
Well, an axe, then, suggested
Irs. Converse, racking her brains for
something TO touch thecupidity of her
adversary, cor some bright.colored
blankets; colored like the setting sun. "
she concluded iusinuatiugly.
"Umph,' said the squaw. ''No
good"
What do you want, theu?" cried
the white woman despairingly, forosee.
ing q demand for a round sum of
money.
The Indian woman moved close up
to her, looked her full i'm the eyes and
said with dignifed emphasis. "Four
bEshcl seed potatoes
She got them and tho transaction
was concluded
The Jamison belt is n fine bit of
wampum commcm)ra Mary Jami.
sem, known to the Iroquois as the
White Captive Sho was captured
while n very young girl in the early /
part of tho Revolutionary War. aud I
instead of being treated as slave
was adopted into the Wolf tribe of !
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