The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-01-18
ALBANY INDIAN RELICS.
RARE PIECES OF wAMPuM FOR THE
NEW.YoRK STATE MUSEUM.

Within the last six months the New
York State Museum at Albany has
been enriched by collection of Indian
relics OF great historical value. These
have been sought out and purchased
by Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse,
assistant curator of the museum, who
is learned in the lore Of the Iroquois
League and herself q chief by adoption
and heritage in the Snipe tribe OF the
5enecas. As the Indians have come
TO know something of the value OF
their heirlooms it is by no means 80
easy now as it was few years ago to
acquire these relics, and after the
work of tracing them ont, which is
often matter of no little difficulty, a
round price must be paid for them.
The most notable acquisition of the
collection is the Five-fire wampum
belt of the Iroquois League. This
belt is, like most other wampum belts.
= document. is ofpurple wampum,
The Ave council fires of tho Senecas,
Onondagas, Oneidas, Clyugas and
Mohawks, being represented by five
diamond shaped bits of white wam-
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
oerned on the wampum, the paint hav-
ing been smeared there in token OF
war when the League split at the out.
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
6ne condition, is strung on strips of
buckskin and on sinews.
Another relic of great historical
value is the original of the Cornplan-
ter Treaty, probably the most impor-
liant Indian treaty ever made in this
country. This treaty was enacted be-
tween the whites on one side and the
Indians on the other represented by
Oornplanter, the great peacemaking
chief of the Senecas, and it put an end
to the frontier war i'll 1888 and out
lined once for all the boundaries OF
New York State, so that there was
never more dispute between red men
and white men on that point. 1t is
signed by Cornplanter himself and the
chief representing the other nations of
the league. With it is section of the
Cornplanter wampum belt, about n
foot long, which must always accom-
pany the treaty, to make it valid, and
is, in fact, sort Of enacting clause.
After the great peace chiefs death his
daughter came into possession of the
treaty and for forty years she carriedit,
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 Cornplanter'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
who 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 young
Indian woman who heard of the pro-
jected sale and had walked across q
nearby mountain to 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 descendant OF that 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 tho
Governments money had all been
paid out and asked if she wouldn't be
satisfied with q small present. The
squaw grunted solemnly and disdain-
fully. Mrs. Converse asked her if she
mad house. She grunted assent.
Wouldn't you like some knives and
forks Tor your house?" asked the
white woman.
"Ump,' said the squaw.
"Well, some pretty howered calico
enough for two dresses"
"Ump," replied the squaw.
"Well, an axe, them" suggested
Mrs. Converse, racking her brains for
something to touch the cupidity of her
adversary, "or some bright-colored
blankets; colored like the setting sun, Z"
she concluded insinustingly.
"Umph," said the squaw. ''No
good"
"What do you want, then?" cried
the white woman dsspairingly, foresee-
ing demand for round sum of
money.
The Indian woman moved close up
to her, looked her full in the eyes aud
said with dignifod emphasis "Four
bushel seed potatoes"
She got them aud the transaction
was concluded.
The Jamison belt is a fine bit of
wampnm commemorating Mary Jami-
sem, known to the Iroquols as the