The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1901-04-04
INDIAN GIRLS OF BEAUTY
THE BELLIES OF THE INDIAN TER
RlToRY HEIRESsEs ALSO.

~ lOH the Vi tnp WDlte
and the red blood in the Indian Terri
tory there has grown up a race nota-
BILE for the beauty and grace of its
women. The girls of the Indian Terri
tory are no more the wild untamable
dusky beauties of early Indian fiction
than they are the wretched creatures
found among some of the tribes today.
They are to all intents and purposes
on the same plane with white women
of education and refinement except
that the strain of wild, strong Indian
blood in their veins gives them a tinge
of richer color, brighter eye, a more
lissome grace than their white sisters
possess.
Reckoned in fractions Of blood, these
Indian beauties are more Caucasian
than aboriginal American. All of
them, however, are Indians, politically
and socially; they hold firmly to their
membership in the tribes. Many of
them are one-quarter or one-elghth or
even one-sixteenth or one thirty-second
Indian; but the red stain is the strong
er, and shows, IL not in some lingering
richness of color or in the moulding
of the face, at least in an all but indie
finable fascination and grace, the her
itage of forest people.
Among them one may find perfect
blondes, with the Indian strain still sa-
lient and palpable. And although they
have succumbed to the corset of civil
ization, in almost all cases they have
their less trammelled ancestresses to
thank for the blessing of well-nigh per.
feet figures. And one other of wom-
ans best gifts they possess: clear and
low voices, with not trace of the gut
tural intonation which is common to
original Indian tongues. Raised amid
scenes of the bloodless conquest of
their race by the whites, they look
without concern upon the destruction
of tribal customs and the thinning and
dying out of the old blood. To this
last they even contribute, for so sell
dom does one of them marry an In
dian that such an event is commented
upon in the Territory as remarkable.
Before the middle of the last century
Cherokee woman one day met a
hunter in the forest. She was fright
ened at his white skin and fed, think
ing him an evil spirit. But he was fas-
cinated by her beauty and pursued her
into camp, where he learned that she
was the daughter of friendly chief
The hunter laid siege to the heart of
the dusky belle and finally gained her
consent to marry him according to tri-
bal customs then in vogue. This hun
ter and his squaw raised breed
child, who was great curiosity to the
redskins. AS years sped by other hun
ters invaded the domain of the Five
Tribes of the Indian Territory and
married other dark-skinned beauties.
Intermarriage in the Cherokee, Creek,
Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole
tribes has flourished to such an extent
within the last quarter century that
the full-blood element is now on the
verge of extinction. The old men of
the tribes are becoming alarmed, and
have passed laws against intermar-
riage. Some of these laws are very
severe. almost prohibitivc, in fact.
The young Indian women object to
these laws, because they do not want,
as a rule, to marry the men of their
own tribe.
The Chickasaws are the strictest re-
garding intermarriage. A law recent
ly placed ON their statute books re-
quires any white man applying for a
license to marry a Chickasaw girl,
first. to produce evidence that he has
resided in the Chickasaw nation two
years, next to furnish credentials as to
his good character, and third, to pay
$1,000 for the marriage license. OF
course, the girl has and sometimes
takes the privilege of eloping, at the
cost of losing her right in the tribal
lands and money, and OF disgracing
herself in the eyes of her relatives.
Her head-rlght is something worth
considering. A right in the Chicka-
saw nation is valued at from $4,000 to
$4,000, and in the Cherokee, Creek
and Choctaw nation at from $4,000 to
$4,000. The intermarriage laws of all
the four nations named are about the
same, excepting that the Chickasaw
nation charges $1,000 for license
while the others only ask $40.
There Is good reason for these laws.
Many fortune hunters, attracted by the
wealth of the Indian maidens, have In
the past married into the tribes and
gained control of large tracts Of land,
fostered outlaws and raised bad fami-
lies. There were few happy mar
riages, and not until the wise men of
the tribes met and passed an act max
ing every white man show his creden-
tials before the license was issued, was
there betterment of these conditions.
The character of each applicant was
carefully examined before he was ad-
mitted. For several years thereafter
respectable and Industrious white men
married into the tribes and their chill
dren married whites. 1t was so on
down the line until to-day the eighth,
sixteenth and thirty part In
dian predominates. OF pure bloods
there will be none in a few years.
Still this open-door marriage policy. |
while 1t admitted no bad characters, |
was fraught with many evils. Any |
well-appearing man, with gift of |
love-maklng, could go there and win a |
bride and a handsome fortune at the |
same time, provided his record was |
reasonably good. The women there |
were not so highly educated as they |