The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-04-22
Great Council /. 0. r. a., CT South Care
lima.

The Great Council of the Improved
Order of Red Men was in session n
Columbia on the 14th and 10Th and
was attended by about 100 members Of
the order, including officers OF the
Great Council and delegates from be-
tween so and 40 tribes in the reserva-
tion Of this State.
The long talks of the great chiefs
showed that the order is in healthy
and growing condition, and that a
number of new tribes have beer or
ganized as we'll as several suspended
tribes reorganized.
The great Incohone Of the order in
the United States, who is Mr.. Thom-
as G. Harrison of Indianapolis, lndi-
ana, was represented at the Council
in the person of the Great Senior Saga
more, Judge Thomas II. Watts, Of
Montgomery, Ala. He could not re-
main with the Great Council during
it's entire proceedings, but was present
during the first mornings session and
made an interesting and instructive
address, after which he took the trai2
for Montgomery.
Judge Watts who is a man of strik
ing appearance and pleasing address,
is son of the war governor, Thomas
Hill Watts of Alabama, who with
VIM. L. Yancey represented his district
in the secession convention Of that
State, and after going TO the front as
the colonel of regiment was maze
attorney general in Jefferson Davis'
cabinet until elected governor Of Ala
bama.
Judge Watts is we'll posted in the
tenets and in the history Of the order,
and the following are some of the
points made in his sketch Of the his
tory and growth Of the order:
cit was first known as the Sons Of
Liberty, about the time of the tea par
ty incident in Boston harbor. After
wards it was known as the St. Ia
nina society. Later on, about 1880, it
was reviviied in Maryland under the
name of the Red Men. A little later
it was transformed into the Improved
Order of Red Men,
''The order has remarkable growth.
Up to 1860 it had membership of
but 9, TOO; in 1880 but 2s, 600; in 1890
had grown to 81, 900: in 1902 to 2C0,-
900, and last year to 300, coo. There
are councils in 43 States and the great
council is made up Of represen tative
men who would be creditable to any
legislative assembly. There is the
degree of the Pocahontas which is
conferred upon the female relatives of
Red Men and there is also the Red
Mems league, which consists of COM
panies organized and drilled, their
uniform being that of the continental
soldier The Red Men have no orphan
asylum as other orders have, but they
take care Of the orphans of deceased
brothers by keeping the fatherless in
the homes of people who take double
interest in their welfare. The order
has grown very much in the south in
recent years. -
The session of the Great Council was
one Of tie largest and pleasantest in
the history of the order in this State.
Sumter was voted as the place for
the meeting of the next Great Council
in April 1904
The officers elected for the ensuing
Great Sun are:
Great sachem-Wm MCGOWAN, of
Spartanburg.
Great. Senior Sagamore-E c.
Steinmeyer, Charleston.
Great Junior Sagamore-Cole L.
Blease, Newberry.
Great Prophet. H. Hair, New
berry.
Great Chief of Records-R. A. Will
liams, Charleston.
Great Keeper of Wampum-Wm. M.
Fitch, Charleston.
Representative to Great Conucil of
United States, to meet in Atlantic City,
n. j., in September. H. Hair,
Newberry.
The Timmonsville Enterprise