The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1901-08-15
OF MOHAWK INDIANS.
TO HAVE NEWSPAPER IN THEIR
OWN TONGUE.
The Editor IL the Son of a Mohawk
Chief Who was Educated at Govern
ment schools-specimen Paragraph
from the Paper

IL Will De 0QlLeu Dy CnaraeS a. COOKE,
a full-blooded Indian employed in the
department of Indian affairs at Otta-
wa, says an Ottawa correspondent of
the New York Sun. Some time ago
Cooke began publishing the Onkweon-
we, a semi-monthly magazine, printed
in the Mohawk language, and it was
SO successful that he has decided to
turn it into a newspaper, the first of
its kind in Canada and the second in
America. There are other Indian pub
locations not newspapers, but the ma
3ority Of them are issued by mission
airy societies and they are edited by
White men. The Cherokee Advocate,
published in indian Territory, is the
only other Indian newspaper in North
America. The Onkweonwe will pub
lish some Geographic news from differ
ent parts OF the world, market news
and reports of prices of furs, skins,
fish, ETC., and will have an inquiry de-
partment, which will be one of its
leading features. Editor Cooke is thes
son of a Mohowk chief and was edu-
Gated at government schools and after
ward took a course in a Canadian col
lege. When he had been graduated he
got a 'clerkship in the Indian depart
ment. He is a da~rk-skinned young
man, with pronounced Indian features.
He is good singer and is a member Of
the choir of the leading Methodist
church in Ottawa. Two other Mohawk
Indians, Miss Maracle and Joseph De
Isle, are employed in the same room
with Mr.. Cooke. All are we'll edu-
Gated. Few of the Indians can read
English, but about 10, 900 are able to
read anything printed in the Mohawk
dialect. The Mohawk alphabet con-
slsts of twelve letters and n and k are
used much oftener than any OF the
others. An ordinary eight-page issue
OF the O~nkWeonwe contains about one
quarter ms and ks. For this reason
the editor has had some difficulty in
getting his copy set up, as the printer
o runs out of MS and ks. English
characters are used. Here is a speci-
men paragraph from the Onkweonwe:
""KONONKWE ~AOTIRIWASONHA.
"Iakonnewata iaiakoseke enska ne
tens teken mint jlnikariwes onon-
WareJerakerike tionekonties enska me
Jlalaiaksera tenwatiaseren senah jiien-
wakatsteke ~jieniontste.'
When the Onkweonwe came out first
many of the old chefs objected to it.
the Mighty, says good Indians never
read newspapers" said they to tile
younger braves, but the paper became
popular. Indians like to hear about
the doings of the white men When.
Editor Cooke started the paper fei
published incidents about the Indians,
ande0soon letters were sent to him
from his fellow braves saying, Stop
publishing news about the Indians; tell
us about Laurier and Others They!
: did not object to the name Onkweon-
we which means in the Mohawk
tongue, 'the only human being or
"the real human being" in contradis-
tfnction to others who are looked uDonb
as being less worthy of the name of
man, or as lacking in qualities of
manhood. "Onkwe" means a humanF
being and would be applied to a pale
!, face or to an Indian of another tribe.
The addition of 'onwe'' is Mohawk for
the real thing" The MKdirawks ARE
irTduisitive. Among theHd0sS ~ ion TIfF'
c0rf CooAS h1-. haT . answer are the
following: Why does the government
try to control I%ndians?" What is
electricity? Who was Papineau? and
what did he do?" What is an In
6dian?" To the last question Mr.. Cooke
answered "An Indian is an Indian who
h a native blood in his veins, and
who is on the reserved lands unde the
protection cof the government" The
Onkweonwe recently published the fol-
lowing story about an Indian living
near Eganville, not many miles from
Ottawa: "Tndian John, q celebrated
Mohawk guide, who is now 80 years
old, has been sleeping in his coffin for
some months. John, although still a
vigorous man, knows that he must
soon leave for the happy hunting
grounds, SO onl time ago he made
himself a coffin and began sleeping in
1t. Since then he has used no other
bed, and he has told his family that
if death comes to him while he is Iy-
ing in his coffin they are to put on
the lid and bury him. Until the call
comes John will continue to hunt in
the land of the M~ississaugus.