The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-12-15
4 Woman on Indian Life
Strange Scenes in the Territory

receive rations once week. They are
bitterly opposed TO marriage outside the
tribe, and they are therefore obliged to
irtrmarry TO such an extent that you
can hardly find two Geronimo Apaches
who are not at least cousins.
They were required to adopt our dress,
but unfortunately not required to keep
up with styles, consequently they are still
wearing the full skirts and long waists
which we, no doubt thought beautiful.
and which were probably being worn by
our women at the time the Apaches be-
came prisoners.
The Apaches manufacture a crude sort
of WHISKY in small quantities by soaking
corn in water, fltering it through sand,
and then distilling it by means of some
rude apparatus made out OF five gallon
oil can and troughs made by soldering old
tin cans together. 1t takes much larg-
er quantity of this liquor. I understand,
than of the cheap whisky offered them
by the Lawtoa saloons TO produce the
dreaded effect, and transform a peaceful
Indian into revengeful savage. Before
this country was opened a drunken Com
anche was rare sight, but it is not I'M
usual now to hear yells and pistol shots
and wild commotion in the vicinity of the
camps, as the women and children run
10 the banks of the creeks to hide them
selves from shots fired by some drunken
Indian This is matter Of deep regret to
the old friends of the Indians.
KIOWAS.
The Kiowas are many of them very
7 handsome, and, as rule, have smoother,
clearer skins, and the women take better
care of their hair than the Comanche wo-
men. They are inclined to have short
necks and broad, thick shoulders and
grow clumsy and heavy looking as they
grow older. They do much handsomer
and more elaborate beadwork than the
/ Comanches. If you ever see a Comanche
woman with cradle of solid beadwork
+ and ask her if she made it she will always
] say, "Ka-Kiowa woman" Many Of the
. kiowas are christianized, and number
/ of our favorite hymns have been trans
lated into their language by some of the
educated young Kiowas and the mission
aries and are sung in the mission church
/ es to the original tunes.
Among the old Kiowas, Big Tree and
I Stumbling Bear were notable old Indians.
They are very large men with great
bushy heads. Big Tree, at the time of
I his conversion. it is said. expressed
+ himself as being very sorry for some of
/ his acts at the time when he was young
warrior and knew no better. One rule of
his in warfare. he said. was TO throw the
babies in the air, and as they fell, 10 catch
them on his hunting knife.
! Stumbling Bear said that he wanted to
/ become a Christian because all his chill
! dren were Christians, and he wanted to go
to the white mans heaven and be with
his children. He is. said to be the only
/ living signer o fthe Medicine Lodge treaty
made in 1868.
! Ah-pe-ah-tone is the chief of the hio-
was. rather good looking man. but not
the man of ability that Quanah is. The
Kiowa language contains many peculiar
sounds. a great many words ending in
prolongued "ong-k", "oh-dle-ty'' and some
other odd combinations that few white
people ever learn to pronounce correctly.
They have a very deliberate, mOnOtonous
way of talking, each word being given
sufficient time to reverbrate throughout
all the recesses of Kiowa head.
Among the Kiowas is a family of three
brothers, all named Jimmy. 1t was
matter of some conjecture to me how
three brothers had received the same
name The explanation was simple, how
ever They had been sent 10 different
schools. ore to mission school. another
to a reservation government school and
the third to Carlisle, the large Indian
boarding school near Philadelphia. 1t
might have been at a time when some
public man named James was popular or
else the supply of names was short when
these three brothers were named, for they
ell came home ''Jimmy's. There were
sometimes distinguished by the names,
Big Jimmy. Jimmy. and Little Jimmy.
The Kiowas are inveterate dancers and
neglect no excuse for fathering a dozen
! or more families in one camp, and holding
Z series Of what they term religious dam
es. often for the cure of some one who is
ILL., once visited a Kiowa camp in
which there was a girl very i'll with ty-
phoid fever She was so III that she
could not sit alone. but was bolstered up
by pillows and blankets into an upright
position. She could not hold her head up
nor keep it steady, and her eyes had a
wild. dazed expression as she tried to
FIX them upon US. We persuaded them
to let her lie down. but as soon as We
left the camp they raised her up. Their
idea is to fool death Ito pretend the per-
son is not iul All the tribes have this
idea. and one Of the objects Of their treat
meut is TO keen the patient awake and
sinllating health. and another object is
to brighten death away by terrifying
noises.
MEDICINE.
II may be that some tribes have discov-
cred valuable remedies among the roots
and herbs of their country, but the IN
eiaus about here posses very little knowl-
edge of. and use very few medicines
They are fond Of the what mans salves.
liniments. quinine. cod liver oil. fever
powders and cough medicines. but in a
class Of diseases which required ear ful
and strict attention TO diet they cannot
be relied upon. as they have q contempt
for milk and eggs IS food. and pin their
faith on beef and generally tough beef II
that We have always heard that The
diseases Of our race were peculiarly fatal
To the red man From observation have
come 10 Believe that they would be JUS
as fatal In cur race under The same treat
mcnt and environments. Their way 4
living exposes them 10 every change ~
Temperature and weather. and they viii
not carry out . sensible lire Of treatsuc- 2
regularly ara faithfully. Then there IS
always medicine man OF woman prompt
r. ougthe spot. ready To interfere with the
phykcians treatment discouragins the