The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-04-11

rom the intermingling Of the whit
ana NE red blood In the Indian Terri
iofy there has grown up a race nota
nle for the beauty and grace Of IN
women. The girls Of the Indian Terri
Tory are no more the wild untamabll
dusky beauties Of early Indian lictloI
than they are the wretched creatures
lound among some Of the tribes to-day
Ahey are 70 all intenis and purpose,
on the same plane with white womer
or education and refinement. excepi
mat the strain Of wild. strong Indian
blood In their veins gives them a tinge
ot richer color. a brighter eye. more
hssome grace than their white sisters
possess.
heckoncd 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 10 their
membership in the tribes. Many Of
them are one-Quarter or one-eighth or
even one-sixteenth or One-thlrty-sec
indian; but the red stain Is the strong.
er and shows. II not in some lingering
richness Of color or in the moulding
Of the face. at least in an all but inde-
Unable fascination and grace. the her
itage Of a forest people
Among them one may ind perfect
blondes, with the Indian strain still sa-
lent 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-nlgh per-
fect hgures And one other Of WON
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 c0ncsgn 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
hunter IN the forest. She was fright
ened at his white skin and fed. think
ing him an evil spirit. But he was fas-
e'uated by her beauty and pursued her
insp camp, where he learned that she
was the daughter Of a friendly chief
The hunter laid siege to the heart OF |
ile dusky belle and finally gained her
consent to marry him according to trl. |
bal customs then in vogue. This hun
Ter and his squaW raised q half breed |
child. who was a great curiosity to the
redskins. As years sped by other hun
tera invaded the domain Of the Five
Tribes OF the Indian Territory and
married other dark-sklnned beauties
Intermarrlage in the Cherokee. Creek,
Choctaw. Chckasaw and Seminole
tribes has fiourlshed 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 prohlbltlve 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 Chlckasaws are the strlctest re-
garding intermarriage. A law recent
~ placed on their statute books re-
quircs any white man applying for a
license 20 marry a Chickasaw girl,
first. to produce evidence that he has
resided IN the Chiekasaw nation two
years. next to furnish credentials as to
his good character and third, to pay
$1,000 Tor the marriage license OF
course, the girl has and sometimes
lakes 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. Z
Her head-right Is something worth /
A right In the Chicka- ,
saw nation is valued at from $4,000 to I
$4,000, and In the Cherokee, Greek I
Ind Chociaw nation at from $1,000 to !
sS000 The lntermarriage laws Of all {
he four nations named are about the J
same. excepting that the Chickasaw y
nation charges $1,000 for a license /
while the others only ask SO. 4
There Is good reason for these laws 4
Iany fortune hunters attracted by the a
wealth OF the Indian maldens. have IN a
he past married into the tribes and -
gained control Of large tracts Of land.
'ostered outlaws and raised bad fami-
les. There were few happy mar
.iages. and not until the wise men OF =
he tribes met and passed an act max y
ng every white man show his creden- ,
ials before the license was issued. was =
here a betterment Of these conditions. Z
The character Of each applicant was =
.arcfully examined before be was ad- y,
nitted. For several years thereafter Z.
and Industrious white men Z,
married into the tribes and their chill !.
Iren married whites. 10 was SO on y
Iown the line until to-day the eighth. y
sixteenth and thirty part In
Iian predomlnates. OF pure bl0ods u
A. A.. WI