The times., 1901-03-10
BELLIES OF INDIAN TRIBES
Many Pretty Maidens in the Red
Mans Territory.
sought for ns Prizes I'm the Mstrf-
nioninl Markct-Their Grace and
beaoty the Result of an Inter
mingiing of Blood With whites

In romantic novels. in tales Of existence
in forests. and in wild. weird North
American stories generally. the Indian
maiden has by no means been ignored
among the persons of the drama The
Indian girl since the time of Pocahoutas.
and Indian girls generally have been de-
picted as creatures of beauty and joys
forever. There are. in all probability.
many pretty Indian girls. and some beau
tiful ones. but these are few and far be-
/ tween The men are handsome for their
physique and stslwart bearing. but the
woman among the Indians is almost ever
a drudge, and a female drudge can hardly
be said to be a lovely specimen OF her
| sex
There are some very pretty Indian
girls in the Indian Territory. but their
loveliness comes because of the inter
mingling of white and red blood. the op-
portunities of education. and their asso-
citation with white people There are
few of these beauties in the Indian Ter
ritory Many of them are well-to-do in
the worlds goods are intelligent and ac-
complished, and sought after for mar
riage by young men who could easily Sc
cure brides in the East equally as in
telligent, rich. and fairly favored
Referring to this class of young Indian
women writer says the girls Of the In
dian Territory are to all intents and pur-
poses on the same plane with white wo-
men of education and refinement. except
that some strain of the wild strong In
dian blood runs in their veins and gives
to them a tinge of richer color. a brighter
eye. more Iissome grace than their
white sisters possess.
Reckoned in fractions of blood these IN
dian beauties are more Caucasian than
aboriginal American. All of them, how
ever. are Indians, politically and socially:
they hold firmly 20 their membership in
the tribes. Many of them are One-Quarter
or one-eighth or even one-sixteenth or
OHe-thirty- second Indian; but the red
strain is the stronger and shows, if not
in some lingering richness of color or in
the molding of the face. still in an indie
ftnabIe fascination and grace, the heritage
of a forest people. Among them one may
find perfect blondes with the Indian
strain still salient and paIpabIe. And al
though they have succumbed to the cor
set Of an alleged civilization, in almost all
cases they have their less trammeled an
cestresses to thank for the blessing of
well-nigh perfect figures. And one other
of wonans best gifts they possess; clear
and low voices, with not a trace Of the
gutteral intOnatiOn which is common to
all original Indian tongues. So rarely is
it that one of them marries an Indian
that such an event is commented upon in
the Territory as a remarkable thing
Intermarriage with whites in the Cher0-
kee, Greek, Choctaw, ChiSkasaw, and
Seminole tribes has fOurished 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 intermarriage, some
of which are very severe-aImost prOhib-
tive, in fact.
The Chickasaws are the strictest regard
ing intermarriase. y law recently placed
on their statute books requires any white
man applying for a license TO marry a
Chickasaw girl, first, to produce evidence
that he has resided in the Chickasaw na-
tiOn two years; next to furnish credentials
as TO his good character, and third. 10 pay
81. co for the marriage license This must
be done if the ceremony is performed ac-
cording TO the Chickasaw laws. and the
girl is welded according to the custom OF
sometimes takes, the privilege of elOping.
at the cost of losing her right in the tribal
lands and money. and of disgTacing herself
in the eyes of her relatives. Her head
a
right in the Chickasaw nation is valued
at from 3, coo TO Sl0,000. and in the CherO-
kee Creek. and ChOctaw nations from So
600 to 5000. The intermarriage laws OF ali
the four nations named are about the
same, excepting that of the Chickasaw
nation. charging $1G00 for a license while
the others only ask 80.
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 gain
ed control of large tracts of land, fOstered
outlaws. and raised bad families There
the wise men of the tribes met and pass
ed an act making every white man show
his credentials before license was is
sued was there a beJterment Of these con-
diLlOnSs The character of each applicant
was carefully examined before he was
admitted. For several years thereafter
respectable and Industrious white men
married into these tribes and their chill
dren married whites. 1t was SO on down
the line until today the eighth, sixteenth.
and thirty-SecOnd part Indian pTedomi-
mates. Of pure blOOds there viii be none
within a few years.
Still this Open-dOOr marriage policy,
while it admitted no bad characters, was
frdught with many evils The women
possessed a desire TO marry white men.
hence il was easy sailing for fortune
hunters This class of men fenced in
large tracts of the public domain, or land
belonging to the REDSKINS in common.
used the land for cattle ranches, and con-
Verted the minerals into cash. Many men
became milliOnaireS at the expense of the
tribes. They were known as galvanized
Indians or ''sQuaW mem
Five years ago the evil was partly rem
edied by the tribal councils disfranchising
all "suuaw men, who thereafter married
into the tribes. This checked the influx OF
for a time, and then IL be-
came as bad as ever. Early this year the
Chickasaws took another hitch in the IN
termarriage situation by raising the Il
esPss T5e aTeT5se i9 sO I963n girl of today is pos
sessed Of an excellent education. The Fed
eral Government spends nearly 10000 an
nualIy in educating the youth of the five
tribes.
The Indian maiden who has the reputa-
ton of being the belle of the Territory Is
Miss Tookah Turner whose Indian name
is Pretty Whirling Water She mas not
only beauty but possesses the accomplish
meuts Of the finished product of fashion
a BILE school She will come in for a large
slice of the fortune of her father, w. G.
Turner. of MUskOgee, a millionaire cattle
man. Miss Turner is a Cherokee. Another
Cherokee belle is Mrs. Rachel DaVis-Bra-
ly of the Georgia Cherokee branch She
'ame to the Territory only ten years ago,
but she belongs there by ancestry, as she
S of the famous Ross family the head OF
which. Joshua Ross. was for forty years
chief Of the tribe. and was one OF the most
Intelligent and progressive Indians OF his
time. The Ross family is said to be the
richest Indian family in the country. and
he aggregate of their wealth mounts Wen
lp into the millions. Another Of the Ross
family who is notable for beauty is Mrs.
Or. Thompson
laughter of Pleasant Porter. the pre- sent
,hiaf is an example. She Is an heiresS u
considerable wealth besides whlt her tri-
)ai right and land Inheritance viii give
ler Miss Leota Crabtree Chittp Mekko
n the Indian nomenclature of her tribe
$ another pretty Indian girL Though she