The Topeka state journal., 1902-12-13

n prominent IN inc
annals of Kansas.
THE UNLUCKY THIRTEEN.
The story which l am about to re-
late gives itself such a color of authen-
ITCHY that I cannot refrain from giving
it from apDroxima tely the date of its
occurrence. The Indian way of relat-
ing these stories and legends with such
marvellous memory and accuracy is Wen
known by those who have studied their
customs and traditions. and the hand
ing down of these stories by the older
members of the tribe to the younger
ones has Derpetuated, or l might say
preserved. many beautiful tales ami
| legends, which with the white man
| to oblivion.
The Usage Indian is truly, even up
| to-date, the Indian of our imagination.
and today you see him in his village
the typical American Indian.
The Cherokee, though warlike at the
beginning of the present century. was
an entirely different Indian, and in his
methods and customs more domestic
| begun to come westward about the year
1916, and made his villages and towns"
in the mountains by the beautiful
streams-the Illinois river and Wan
creek.
The Osages, or Wa-shah-shas, who
| lived or kept their winter villages along
the Neosho river and it's beautiful val
! leys from Council Grove down to where
!
state from the Cherokee nation, did not
want the Cherolxees to hunt buffalo upon
the Drairies toward the Virdegris or
Walnut river, and consequently many
battles were fought between their hunt
inS parties out upon the high rolling
prairieS to the westward.
- 1t was about the year 1882 that a
young Cherokee scout visited FOrl
Smith, and while there a steamer came
up the Arkansas river, and among its
passengers who landed there were two
men who were going to- Fort Gibson,
an army post of the western frontier
and in seeking some to go with
them overland to that fort they found
this young Cherokee, Too-stah, which
was the name of the young scout, and
Immediately secured an ambulance and
driver from the post at Fort Smith ana
started with the two men to Fort
Gibson by way OF the military road lead
ing over the mountains due westward.
They Travelled slowly and when night
came on them they camped at the edge
OF a large glade on little creek. After
supper TOO-Stah told the younger man.
who seemed to be the master and the
other the servant. that he knew of a
deer lick" about a quarter of a mile
from camp, and that If he wanted to see
deer killed at a lick" they would go
over there and kill one. The young man
eagerly consented and the two set our
with two old army guns to try their
luck at the lick" When the moon was
at the meridian. or might moon,"
f1ne buck came I'D and the scout shot
and killed it. With the assistance of the
other two men they took it to camp.
The next morning the young man ex-
pressed q desire to see the deer lick
by daylight. He and the young scout
TOO-Stah went to the lick" and n,
grove of beautiful and symmetr O.
young trees out in the center o. lie
glade or small prairie, and immediatei r
set out to see them more closely. lie
! f0Hn6 thirteen
growing out there in the middle of the
prairie with no other tree or bush with
! in a quarter of a mile. They were grow
ing as il they had been set out, in the
| growing each from a sunken place III
the ground and two growing from one
depression. He was struck with the pc
SltlOn and number of trees and asked
Too-stah what it meant. The scout
/ laughed a low. quiet laugh and prom
ised to tell the story of the trees when
they reached the fort, as he said it was
long story, and could not be told
thare-
When they reached Fort Gibson, the
young man seemed to be a parsonage of
great moment, the commandant taking
a great deal of interest in his welfare
A tent was ordered struck for linn and
guard of two soldiers placed in front
of it. The next day the young man
sent for Too-stah, the yourg scout, and
told him that he had become wonder
/
trees and was ready to hear the story
He produced large amount of writing
material from large carpet bag and
sat ready to write what he should hear
This young man wrote so much while
at Fort Gibson the Indians gave the
name De-ga-w -wha-le-sky. the writer ]
have often thought. while thinking oi
this story that perhaps this young man
was Washington Irving, though Too
stah gave him no other name than the
| writer
| Too-stah afterward in the year lg5:
went to California with a wagon trair
and told this story of the Writer and
| the blackgum trees to another Cherokee
| who had been a trader among the
Osages and who in turn told it to his
| children after he came back to the Cher
okee nation. Too-stah died near Chico
/ California, about the year 1857 This is
I have never seen it in any of irving
writings:
When the Cherokees first came to tfi;
country there was a large village ol
town of them settled near the heac
waters of the Wan, about eight mile.
from Wan prairie, and at the beginning
of the year in the full moon a party Q.
20 braves. including the young sub chief
| Gul-h-ge-na, or the Buck. left for hunt
They took with them four squaws and
young Cherokee maiden named Ge-wah
nj. They started north to hunt and ira,
along the Grand river. They passed III
Grand river to where Spring river comes
into it from the east The main rive
coming from the northward. from th
point was called the Neosllo. and 3
miles UP this river from where SDrin,
the Usage country proper sets in. Il