Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-02-11

OF personal courage, individual or ra-
cial," says Senator Pettigrew of South /
Dakota. "let me say. do not overlook
the Sioux Indians. They are the only
people on the face of the earth who
have never been conquered. They were
never defeated by their aboriginal enc
mics, and they have never yet been
cOerced into submission by, the army OF
this republic. When they were ghost
dancing few years ago, they danced
until they were done dancing. and never
surrendered their arms; and General
Miles knows this, too. There were 1900
Sioux, and General Miles had 5000 SOL
diers: but the Sioux did not surrender.
Miles was diplomat enough to know
that a battle would have been d battle
OF determination on both Sides The
Sioux nation has never been conquered,
and they consider themselves uncon-
querable today. They are proud, brave
courageous and arrogant. They always
have been and always will be. Not only
as a people. but individually they are
as brave as the typica: old Romans
Talk about the Roman holding his hand
in the fire until it burned off-why,
there are lots of Sioux who would do
the same thing today, for an object"
can you mention any particular in
stance of personal courage"
We'll. there is DR.. Eastman. a full
blooded Sioux. who is doing "a great.
good work for civilization today. ]
knew his father. He was an unedu-
Gated. but very intelligent Indian
About thirty years ago I saw him
sharpening two long butcher knives on
a grindstone. Then he whetted them
on milestone. They We're sharp
as razors. I happened to be there just
as he put the finishing edge on them.
ana SAID: Eastman what are you going
to do with those knives""
Jim Jones he kill Injun He saw h,
Kill Eastman. | give Jim Jones this
knife: I take odder. We fight. Mebbe
jim Jones he kill Eastman. Mebbe not
Just then Jones, who was a great bic
bully, came along and got out of his
wagon. He left his rifle in the wagon
and came toward us. Old man Eastman
approached him. handed him one knife
with the handle towards his hand, and
said: Jim Jones, we fight. You say
you kill Ole Eastman. Now we see. Ole
Eastman give you same chance like me
Take knife. We fight
Jones turned pale as DEATH He begged
like whipped cur. He swore he never
said it. and promised never to say an
| other word against Eastman, before the
old Indian would let him off. There was
an example of personal courage. chiv-
| airy, honor such as few men of any
race have ever given. The old man
wanted to give Jones fair chance. He
thought that, sooner or later, he and
Jones would come together in mortal
combat. He wanted a fair show him.
self, and he wanted to give Jones fair
show, too. There are plenty OF such in
stances of personal courage among the
Sioux"
Il never knew you were such a frien:
of the Indian before
well, I'm not their advocate. I know
all of their faults. their weaknesses and
their bloodthirstiness 1 know of the
shocking and horrible crimes they have
committed. 1 am not making excuses
for them, nor getting them on pinnacle
of fame, but merely stating fact which
l know. They are ignorant. illterate
savages, and are not an ornament to our
civilization. But they are brave, cour-
ageous and have confidence in them
selves, individually and as race. As
1 said before, they are the only race OF
| people on the face of the earth today
! who have never been conquered They
are dying off and will soon exist only in
history"
dropping the Indians, senator, tell
me about the antelope on which you
made your reputation as a marksman.'
THAT is very funny incident" re-
sponded the senator. 1 had driven aCIos,
the great SiauX reservation from Bis
marck to Deadwood in a coach similar
to the one Buffalo Bill uses in his bust
ness, in company with two other Dako-
tans. and we were near Deadwood when
an antelope appeared on a hiilock neal
by. 1t was about three hundred yards
| from us, and stood surveying our part
with interest and wondering eyes We
were armed with carbines, which woui
:, shoot as accurately around Il tree a.
| at a mark, and our driver and outride
each had rifles of the latest pattern
! When the antelope appeared, the cOacf
stopped, the driver and outrider eacl
got down to take a rest and shoot a
the animal. I jumped out OF the coach
and, raising my carbine, aimed abou
ten or fifteen feet above the animal!
heart expecting the ball to drop at leaS
within fifty feet of the mark. l fired
and by a lucky chance. my carbine bulle
struck the antelope right in the heart
so that it fell before the others, Will
their rifles, could get sight and pul
trigger. The fame of that shot quick.
spread all over that region. and l an
regarded today in the Black Hills as
dead sure shot. Ii is needless to sa
that l have never done any shooting
there since.
What sort of a man was the bully
Jim Jones, with whom old man East
man offered to fight with knives?'
HE was an over-grown fellow, stron
as an OK, a braggart. who was Away
, telling of the murders he had commit
, ted, always in self-defense, until peopl
. really believed he was the bold, ba
. man that he represented himself to b.
. He had a quarrel once with youn
, lawyer. in his office at Yankton, an
, was incontinently fired out at the 10
| | of a boot. week later he caught tina
! same young lawyer in square stor
. | room, with no exit but the door. an'