The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1901-05-02
MURDERED AT HIS HOME.
Indian Medicine Man Shot Down by Supersti.
tlous Tribesmen.


! Tenawashe, the venerable medicine
man of the Yakima Indian reservation,
was shot to death from ambush by his
tribesmen at his home on the Status river
some time during last Saturday. On
Friday the victims wife went to the fort
to make some purchases and remained
there till Saturday. On returning home
she found the house locked and began to
look about the place for her husband.
Out in a pasture field short distance
away the dead body of the aged Indian
was discovered riddled with bullets,
where he had been shot down by super
stitious murderers. By his side lay a
bride, which it is supposed he was TAX
ing out to place on his horse to bring it
in to the stable. Not far away is a
clump of bushes, behind which the muir
derers lay in wait for their victim, when
he should come out on his regular even
ing trip for his horse. The alarm was
given and by the assistance OF neighbors
the body was taken into the house, and
there the remains lay till Wednesday
when they were inferred in the cemetery
at Fort Simcoe.
The motive for the crime is attributed
to the superstition of the Indians, who
from time immemorial have practiced
the killing OF their medicine men should
the latter fail in the mystic art OF curing
the sick and healing the wounded. Ten
awashe was a medicine man OF modern
proclivities, but still chung to some of the
fetichisms of the tribes. During the
earlier part of this year child was taken
to him to receive his treatment, and after
performing some incantations over the
sick bed the patient declared that it
would die as result. The child did die
And besides this death, other deaths
were charged up against Tenawashe, who
proclaimed that he had been visited by
| an evil spirit. In such events, as fail
ure to cure the sick and bring them back
to life again that they may become good
squaws or skookum bucks, the medi-
cine man is secretly put out Of the way
that his evil spirit may not be conveyed
to others. Tenawashe was well known
character among the Indians and was a
great friend OF the whites in recent years.
He was about IS years old, but had the
appearance OF a man much younger. At
one time he lived in Portland, and knew
| all about the country Whereabouts long
/ before the city was founded. He was a
strong, robust man and looked as though
he might live on for a number of years
yet. He leaves widow and several
children.
The murder was deliberately planned,
by whom it is not yet known. They had
secreted themselves behind some bushes,
and from the appearance OF the ground
must have lain in wait some time as the
ground was well packed down, showing
! that more than one person was connected
with the affair Three shots were fired,
at least there were evidence OF three
balls in the body. Two balls had struck
4 him in the back and passed clean through
the body, and the third ball must have
been fired after the victim had fallen, for
it had passed lengthwise through the
trunk OF the body.
Immediately after the alarm was given
the reservation police were notified and
have been searching the country for the
perpetrators of the deed. Suspicion
and arrests may follow soon.