Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-14
BAD INDIAN THEN

witty head of the Episcopal Church In
wyoming. once called 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 to a mis-
sionary fund to be expended among the
Shoshone Indians" said Mr.. Joseph Breck-
ons Of Cheyenne. "There was considerable
reluctance on the part OF the men whom
the bishop invited to attend this meeting
Close fstedness is far from being charac-
teristic of the Wyoming people. But there
are sections of the United States where IN
dams are more highly regarded than they
are in Wyoming-far be 1t from me to say
that these sections are generally situated
a long distance from where Indians actu-
ally live and have their being. Some or
these pillars. of the Episcopal Church IN
Wyoming frankly told the bishop that they
didn't particularly favor the purpose 1or
the furtherance of which he intended as
,sembling them.
"'We'I attend, of course they said to
him, for We like to hear you talk on any
old subject. But you know that we don
like Indians, no matter what tribe they may
belong to nor how near they seem to be ap-
preaching the seat Of grace. and we are
bound to tell you that. while Wen ENJOY
your discourse. there isn't much chance OF
our loosening up in a financial way TOWARD
the Shoshones'
"'Oh, WE'LL said the bishop, come around
anyhow, and We'll talk it over
when the meeting was assembled the
bishop became pretty eloquent in picturing
the excellent traits of the Shoshone In
dams, and particularly in portraying the
virtues Of their aged chief, Washable, who
lived to be considerably more than hun
dred years old. He told them what fine
nature and character Washable possessed,
and how. throughout all of his long life he
had always been friendly toward the
whites. repeatedly saving white parties
or those Of renegades from his own tribe.
Washable. the bishop went on, was well
disposed, in his old age, toward the uplift-
ing Of his tribe through the medium of re-
ligion, and that spirit in him deserved en-
enlargement. Then the good bishop went
on and told of the Shoshones' religious
needs-a mission house and chapel on the
reservation religious instructors, and so on.
Notwithstanding his eloquence, the bish-
op felt, when he had concluded this portion
of his discourse. that he had missed fire.
The men he addressed couldn't see IT, as
the saying is. The dictum that q good In
dian is deceased Indian was one that they
unanimously believed in. They couldn't
help but conjure up. even as the bishop
talked, the memories of early massacres
and outrages in which their own forbears
and other relatives suffered. The bishop
perceived the utter lack Of enthusiasm with
was an adroit man as we'll as an able bIsh-
op. and he saw that something had to be
done II his purpose were to be achieved
He struck an entirely different key.
nave dweit.' he said, at considerable
length upon the fine character Of Chief
Washakie as revealed during these his
later and mellower years. But, to illustrate
how capable an Indian Is. under proper pre-
cept and example. to turn away from evil
conduct. I'll have to own up to 1t that
Washakie was not always the man he Is
today. His youth was wild impetuous and
even cruel There was little or no morality
IN MN. Like a good many of the chiefs, he
was polygamist. At one time he had as
many as nine wives.
once. at the time that Chief Washable
mad these nine wives in his tepee. he
started srart s on at the head of his tribe on a
fore starting he called his first and most
important wife out Of the tepee and pointed
to cleared. level spot, about a hundred
y va; away. He told her that he wanted
return from the hunting expedition. The
wife nodded In obedience. The Indian wo
men. as you we'll know, attend to ali ~ tho
camp iaoor. ana this order of her husband,
the chlef. was quite an ordinary one
Washakte was off on the hunting exne.
dltion with the tribe for several weeks
When he returned with the tribe. one even.
ing snort Time before sunset. his aston
ishment was acute when he observed that
his tepee had not been moved. in accord
ance with his instructions to his first wife
ne didn't say anything about the matter at
nrst however: but Joined his wives In the
tepee and took his supper in silence.
After supper. however. he called his
first wife over to him -''o
told you to move the tepee before
my return" he said to her. why has it
The Wife timorously replied that she
had started to obey the chiefs injunction,
out tnat her mother had interfered and
stopped her. Civ
Washable stood up and gazed stern,v
at the aged crone, his first wife:s mothn,.
who was blinking over in a corner Of the.
tepee. AVA '''
Why" he commanded of his mother
in.iaW: ala you interfere with my order?"
reply: -'o nag 'i'aoe
Because liked the tepee better here
ana then, my brethren concluded the
olshop. with solemn impressiveness, the un-
regenerate Washable did an awful. an an
pall1ng thing. He strobe over to where his
aged mOther-fn-law sat, snatched a pistol
from the bosom of his blanket. and struck
her dead at one blow with the butt of the
pistol "a LAG
THE bishop ceased He appeared to be
quite overcome with the thought of such a
shocking thing. But well-defined prins
crept over the countenances Of the bishops
ts as he finished his story. Worse
than that many Of them turned to each
other and winked. Still worse, a buzz ran
around the meeting place, and the gist of
mat ouzz was this: I guess this fellow
washable Is all right. after ALL The buzz
was followed by great futterihg and tear
Ing OF leaves. The bishops welI-to-do
listeners were scribbling checks for the
amounts they desired to contribute to the
Shoshone missionary fund on the fly leaves
of Bibles and hymnals and tearing them ont
to be passed up to the bishop"
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The Courageous Blind.