The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-12-06
A BAD INDIAN TEEN.
Bishop Tells How Washable Subdued
His Mother-in-Law.

! Ills ILOLueI-lL-L Law.
Bishop Talbot the able, eloquent and
witty head of the Episcopal church in
Wyoming, once called a meeting of the
well-to-do men of the Episcopal faith
! in Wyoming for the purpose Of telling
/ them why he wanted them to subscribe /
4 TO missionary fund TO be expended /
among the Shoshone Indians" said Jo-
! seph BreckOns OF Cheyenne in the (
J washington Star. There was cOnsid-
enable reluctance on the part Of the
men whom the bishop invited to attend /
! this meeting. lOse-dstedness is far Z
\ from being O. characteristic Of the WyO- \
ming people. But there are sections of /
| the United States where Indians are /
more highly regarded than they are in \
( WyOming-far be it from me to say
l that these sections are generally stu /
ated a long distance from where In /
dams actually live and have their be- |
ing. Some Of these pillars of the Epis- /
copal church in Wyoming frankly told /
the bishop that they didn't particularly /
favor the purpose for the furtherance /
Of which he intended assembling them. |
Well attend. Of course they said /
to him, for we like to hear you talk on /
any old subject. But you know that we /
don't like Indians, no matter what tribe |
they may belong to nor how near they
seem to be approaching the seat Of
grace, and we are bound to tell you
that, While We'll enjoy your discourse. (
there isn't much chance Of our loosen
ing up in a financial way toward the
renewing of the spiritual strength Of
the Shoshone.
oh, Well said the bishop. come
around, anyhow, and Wen talk it over
when the meeting was assembled
the bishop became pretty eloquent in
picturing the excellent traits OF the
5 Shoshone Indians, and particularly IN
} pOrtraying the virtues Of their aged
? ,n 70 ho
. siderably more than 100 years old. He
/ told them what a fine nature and char
acter Washable possessed, and how,
throughout all of his long life, ne had
t always been friendly toward the whites
repeatedly saving white parties from
massacre at the hands of other tribes
I or those of renegades from his own
tribe. Washable, the bishop went on,
was well disposed, in his old age to-
ward the uplifting of his tribe through
3 the medium of religion, and that spirit
in him deserved encOura cement Then
the good bishop went on and told Of
r. the ShoshOnes' religious needs-a mis-
2 sion house and chapel on the reserva-
ton, religious instructors, and so on.
Notwithstanding his eloqUence, the
bishop felt, when he had concluded this
/ portion Of his discourse, that ne had
/ missed fire. The men he addressed
6 couldn't see it. as the saying is. The
: dictum that good Indian is a de-
o ceased Indian was one that they unani-
$ mOusly believed in. They couldn't help
but cOnjure up, even as the bishop
p talked, the memories of early massa-
: cges and outrages in which their own
. fOrbears and other relatives suffered.
The bishop perceived the utter lack OF
= enthusiasm with which they received
his deliverances. He was an adroit
e man as well as an able bishop. and he
= saw that something had to be done IL
n hn Ga1nf u
z struck an entirely different key.
p I have dwelt,' he said, at consid-
cradle length upon the fine character Of
q Chief Washable as revealed during
these, his later and mellower years.
u But, to illustrate how capable an In
( dian is, under proper precept and ex-
- ample, to turn away from evil conduct
E. I'll have to own up to it that Washa kie
lt was not always the man he is today.
i His youth was Wild impetuOus and
even cruel There was little or no mo-
Tality in him. Like a good many of
= the chiefs he was a pOlygamist. AT
n one time he had as many as nine wives.
r. Once, al the time that Chief Wa
"a shake had these nine wives in his
N tepee, he started Off at the head Of his
tribe on a great hunting expedition. On
y the night before starting he called his
y first and most important wife out of the
a tepee and pointed TO cleared, level spot.
Iii about 100 yards away. BE told her that
he wanted the tepee removed TO that
T. SPOT before his return from the hunt
~ ing expedition. The wife nodded in
" obedience. The Indian women, as YOU
7t well know, attend to all of the camp
ID labor, and this order Of her husband
lr the chief, was quite an ordinary one.
% a" Washable was off on the hunting
- expedition with the tribe for several
=. weeks. When he returned with the
M / tribe ore evening a short time before
aF 81 HflfaH 1.FFH -
or when he observed that his tepee had
~ not been moved, in accordance with his
% Instructions 20 his first wife. he didn't
M say anything about the matter at first
sn however, but Joined his wives in the
s. tepee and took his supper fE silence.
III After supper, however, he called his
IT first wife over to him.
~ Il told you to move the tepee be-
~ fore my return he said to her. why
IL has it not been done2"
s. The wife timorously replied thai
at she had started to obey the chiefs in
es junction. but that her mother had in
L- terfered and stopped her.
=, Washable stood up and gazeC
a. sternly at the aged crone, his first wife:
in mother who was blinking over in g
20 corner OF the tepee.
be 90 Why" he commanded of hi,
III mother-in-law, Ibid you interfere witt
!" With unheard-of audacity the has
e- made reply:
a. because I liked the teDee bette
be here"
nG And then, my brethren concluded
1s the bishop, with solemn impressiveness
al the unregenerate washable did al
m awful, an appalling thing. He strod
er over to where his aged mother-in-lav
Pc sat. snatched a pistol from the bosom
- OF his blanket and struck her dead a
"a one blow fifth the butt Of the pistol
ga The bishop ceased He appeared 4
d. be quite overcome with the thought o
or such a shocking tking But well-de
lh fired grins cTept over the countenance
,s of the bishops listeners as ne finishe,
'fd his story. Worse than that. many o
81 them turned to each other and winked
an Still worse. a buzz ran around the meet
ne ing place. and the gist Of that buzz wa
70 this: T guess this fellow Washakie :
~ ali right, after all The buzz was fol
as lowed by a great futtering and tearin
n- Of leaves. The bishops we'll to-do lis
t. teners were scribbling checks for tn
ne amounts they desired 20 contribute q
- the Shonshone missionary fund on tn
a. fly leaves of Bibles and hymnals an
nt tearing them out 70 be passed up 70 tn
81 bishop"
DR.. z. N. Keysors method OF fiiini
~ teeth is painless 162 Main street Auer
he each building. Telephone 112n X