St. Tammany farmer., 1903-03-28
WANTED THE PRINCES SCALP.
How Old Chief Spotted Tail Wanted
to AyeAge the WantOn KILL
ing of Buffalo. r.

Yet even before the time of the yener
| able trapper there was a recognized
need of the enforcement of measures
| to check the indiscriminate slaughter
| of the bison. AS far back as 1916 Fran
ces Parkman, in his california anc
Oregon Trail" speaks of the indigna
tion of the plai1lsmen at any wanton
destruction committed among the buff
falo COWS; and to shoot calf was
cardinal sin. t
eyes, 1 remember said Mr.. Wig.
gins, according to the Denver Post
when old Chief Spotted Tail wanted
Buffalo Bills scalp and the scalp OF
Prince Alexis and lot of down east
government officials. And 1 was willing
to go and see him take them. I wish
he had. We'd have had some Buffalo
left if old Spotted Tail had had his
way. Spotted Tail was wise old
chap. He knew more than a white
man about some things. Just as a
beaver knows more than a red man
about cold weather. The way Buffalo
Bill and his crowd butchered the buff
falo was a shame. Bill brought Grand
Duke Alexis and 40 other 1tenderfeet'
out with. him to the plains, and for
three months those fellows shot an
average of 81 buffaloes day. They
counted only those that fell, and as
many more must have been wounded,
which, of course, were left to starve
and die. Each hunter fastened piece
of paper to the lapel of his coat, and
it. fell he punched pin hole in the
paper. 1t was plain slaughtering. Z,
''Old Spotted Tail was mad. The buf-
faloes were made for the red man, he
said. He didn't want those pale face
butchers to come into the Indians
hunting grounds to kill his meat and
not even take the hides Buffalo meat
was too good for coyotes. The chief
made plain proposition to me and
Bill Silver, another trapper. He was
to take 100 warriors and quietly raise
the scalps of Buffalo Bill, the prince
and the entire vandal party. The old
Indian was in earnest, too. He wanted
three white men to go along as wit
nesses. Silver and 1 were willing to
go. The third man was necessary un-
der some law or other, I believe, if the
thing ever got out. We tried two or
three. but each one was afraid that the
Indians would take his scalp, too. l
knew better. All the Indians wanted
for their trouble was the outfits and
the scalps of the vandal party, who
were laying waste their herds. The
one mans backwardness spoiled the
scheme" Fss.
, It's coed thing for "Bill'' and his
friends that he had old Spotted Tail to
deal with instead of that other Sioux
redskin who. about that time, claimed
the Black Hills region as his private
hunting grounds. If Cody had had
Sitting Bull to reckon with the sequel
would have been different. Sitting
Bull had a radical way of dealing with
this kind of offenders. l remember
when Il party of Englishmen invaded
old Bulls hunting preserve and were
the buffalo much after
the manner of Buffalo Bill and his
crowd-fcr sport" not even taking
hide. Those wealthy scions of nobility
and too much leisure did not need the
pecuniary benefits supposed to be in
vested in the slaughtered animals, as
did the poor hide hunters. They were
out for "sport" and not for subsistence
Or gain. Sitting Bull became alarmed at
the wanton destruction of his herds.
He demonstrated. The white hunters
were welcome to the game necessary
for the legitimate use of the company,
but the chief condemned in no unccr-
tain terms any indiscriminate slaugh-
ter in mere wantonness. The hunters
paid no attention to Bulls complaint.
Then he became angry and threatened.
The vandals laughed in his face and
went on with their butchery.
Sitting Bull was not built like old
Spotted Tail. He did not seek long or
far for white men to witness what he
directly determined on. Bull was
Willy old chap. He kept his own coun-
sel and was careful that no evidence
should be available to connect any of
his young men with the tragedy which
vas shortly enacted in an isolated anG
onesome valley in the depths of the
Black Hills.
The chief removed his camp from the
'icinity where the English crowd were
operating to restrain his
lngry warriors from openly coming
~ Nth ha
n reality to fertify against any sus-
,icion of the real coup which he had de-
c ermined to make. The sportsmen
uttered themselves that the chief was
lfraid of them.
But suddenly the hunting party dis
The crack, crack of their
'itles no longer echoed among the hills.
Friends who sought the missing hunt |
RS several days later found their |
lorses running at large on the prairie.
ome of them were bridled and saddled |
1ater still, the score or more of bodies
we're found in lonesome valley, mu-
lated beyond recognition by carnivor-
'l!s bird and beast, but the scalps in
act. The arms and property of the
White man were also undisturbed. If |
murder had been perpetrated within
lie confines of that lonely valley it GER
ainly had not been for the purpose of
obbery. And whoever knew an Indian
O slay without taking the scalp and
he personal belongings of his victim?
Nothing ever came up that could con-
Get Bull with the killing; the govern
nent could prove nothing, so it did
lothing.
Native Salt I'm Africa.
To obtain salt the Rakalula and other