The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1903-06-11
WHERE 1T is A DUTY OF THE
SON TO KILL THE FATHER

| his seeing faculties, SO that he could
no longer hum or fish Like all whom
| saw executed In this manner. he was
eager to die, aM0 a day and hour were
set for his eldest son to terminate the
career of his father.
Matter-of- Fact Death Scene.
81 was present on the occasion and
witnessed the family murder, from
first to last. A running moose of walrus
sinew was placed about the old mans
neck, and when all was ready he lay
down upon a pile of skins, with mis-
head resting in his wife's lap. The lat
| ter, who was several years younger
| than he, and who had not reached the
| period of uselessness, held his head in
her hands while the eldest son, grasp
ing the sinew cord, soon strangled the
old man to death by few quick and
dextrous twists and turns of the rope.
So firmly convinced are these people
that the death blow as given by son,
daughter, cousin, or near relative is
painless, that in this. as in all cases,
the old man expired without a struggle.
The faces of the son, wife, and other
relatives in the lodge betrayed no more
/ sign or show of emotion than so many
logs OF wood. Never in my life had I
seen a thing done in a more cold
blooded and matter-of-fact way than
this. The expression on the face Of
every one was intensely stolid, stupid,
| and solemn.
ION another occasion which I have
in mind, a venerable Chukche reached
point where he could no longer hunt
or fish, and where the welfare of the
community demanded his execution.
AS usual, he was eager and anxious to
die, and making up his mind that he
would die by spear thrust at the
hands OF his Oldest son, matters were
| arranged and when the day arrived for
! the execution, I was present with 9TH
| erS TO see how the murder would take
| place. When everything was ready the
space inside the lodge was cleared, and
| kneeling at one end of the habitatiop,
the old man barred his breast, and, af-
| ter giving minute directions to his son
as to how and where to strike in or
| der to insure instant death, told the
| latter to strike. The words were hard
| ly out Of his mouth when the son
! launched his spear, the point of which
| penetrated the old mans left chest, and
entering his heart, produced almost in
slant DEATH AS soon as this was done
| to the satisfaction OF relatives and all
! present the usual funeral ceremonies,
orgies, and drinking bouts commenced,
| lasting several days This is the reason
why all the Chukches one meets are
mostly young men,
| con the whole | found the Chuk-
| ches and other jewellers of the North
| Siberian coast very strange people
| They are cheerful enough in a way, but
! at the same time victims of strange
and gloomy superstitions as old, al
| most as man himself 1 doubt very
much whether the civilized mind is
capable Of understanding or fathoming
the depths of the strangely barbaric
Chukche mind. On one occasion | re-
membered two young girls entered a
Chulche village where | happened to
be staying, from a point nearly 100
miles distant They had been on the
road for many days, making the jour
ney on foot in the dead of winter, and
arrived almost starved and frozen.
Famine and disease were raging in
some parts of Chukche land that win
ter, and when they recovered suffi-
GENTLY to talk and explain themselves
they told their story
.'They belonged, they said, to GER
tain sub-tribe and village, 100 miles
distant to the east, and to the wolf
totem According to family tradition,
the founder of their family had been
left a babe in the woods, during an on
slaught and massacre by a hostile
tribe, whose members killed every one
in the town save this baby, whom they
happened to overlook. He would also
have persisted had it not been for
she-wolf (the RomuluS and Remus
myth is common among the Chukches
as well as among many other savage
tribes), that sucked and otherwise
provided for the little orphan, who
grew be a great warrior, and to re-
venge himself and the tribe that killed
his parents and people. Continuing
their story, the girls said that the vii
lage in which they lived had been over
taken by ali epidemic of measles
(Which, though far from serious among
white people, is almost as fatal as
smallpox among the Chukches and ST.
berian Eskimo), aggravated by famine.
Every one in the village had either
died or deserted they said, leaving
them fatherless and without food, the
sole survivors of the strange white
mans sickness that had destroyed their
friends and relatives.
Tale of Ancestral Wolf.
'aThey had about given themselves
up for lost, when one night the an
cestral wolf appeared to the eldest sis
ter in dream, and told her to take her
sister and travel so many days Jour-
ney westward, until they came to the
village where they had just then ar
rived They had never in their lives
heard of this place, nor did they know
how to reach it, but the wolf appeared
to the oldest sister night after night,
telling her the direction and route to
take the day following which she did
finally, with her younger sister reach
ing her destination. They subsisted as
best they could on what small game
the eldest sister was able to kill from
time to time during the journey.
THE arrival of the sisters, and the
strange story they told, created a great
sensation in the village, where it was
firmly believed by every one barring