The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-06-14


 Washington Times.
 l have witnessed many different dances by various tribes of Indians of the plains in the frontier days of long ago, but the one which lives in my memory as the most revolting of them all is the torture dance, a test of endurance. a contest in which the men of the tribe endeavor to SOW the .stuff' they are made of. The torture dance among the Indians is a ceremony now,to a large extent. discon- tinued. The interior department has largely succeeded in an effort to stamp out this barbarous practice As matter of fact, such dances as a public perform ance, as was once the practice are now entirely forbidden. Though held in se- oret the torture dance is the grand gala day of the old medicine chief"
 Endurance of the Indian.
 The Ioftiest virture of the American In- dian is endurance. When religious su- perstition and the high social virtue of people combine in a given direction, or toward any one action, 1t may be re- earded as sure that that act will be per formed. The Indians believe, like many Christians, that self-torture Is an act most extent of pleasure he can give his Maker is measured by the amount of suffering he can bear without fiinching. There are always. therefore, some warriors who are actuated to the self-torture Of the Hoch- e-a-yun'' by motives as pure and sent- ments as holy as ever led Cnrlstlan martyr to the stake Others are actuated by pride or ambition. They wish 10 sis- nalize to the whole tribe their possession in an eminent degree of the chief of manly virtues, or to lay foundation Tor future preferment by an act at once holy and popular.
 Brutal and Bloody
 But very few years ago every aspir- ant for the position and honor of war rior in the plains tribes was obliged to po through an ordeal as brutal and as bloody as can we'll bs imagined. That practice, too has gone in the rapid pro eress of change The boy of sixteen 10 twenty years, panting for his position as warrior, is no longer allowed by the interior department to bare his breast to inc knife (yet 1t Is done), to be tied up by broad bands of his own flesh, and to fight out alone his battle of pain and suf- fering.
 At every medicine dance there are more or less volunteers for the torture. Oc- casionally there is man of middle age but they are generally from the younger men of the tribe.
 When the medicine chief and old men decide that the time has come for the ceremony the volunteers are sent for, one bv one. Each comes into the lodge in breechclout alone His person and condi- tion are examined by the managers who coolly discuss in his presence the par ticular kind and amount of torture he can bear without fatal consequences.
 The Ceremonies Begin.
 After some religious ceremonies the medicine chief passes a broad-bladed Knife through the pectoral muscles so that two vertical incisions are made from three to four inches long, and about two inches apart in each breast The portion Of the flesh between the incisions Is then lifted from the bone. and the ends of horsehair rope about three-quarters of an inch in diameter passed through the opening and tied to wooden togles. The free ends or the rope are then fastened to the top of one of the supports of the lodge so as to give the sufferer about ten feet or play Here he remains without food or water until his own vigorous efforts or the softening of the tissues enable him to tear out the incised muscles and escape from his bondage
 Sometimes the incisions are made in the muscles of the shoulder blade or of the back, and to the ropes are attached nov able ogjects. preferably the skulls of huffaloes. Sometimes the devotee is dragged up by he ropes until six or eight feet from the ground, and left suspended until his weight and struggles tear out the flesh Each devotee makes the most strenuous efforts to free himself. He un- derstands that 1t is best to tear loose as soon as possible, not only physically, as quicker ending of his tortue, but also from a religious point ofview
 Try to Tear Losse.
 It is good medicine to tear loose at once. bad medicine to beseveral days about it. As soon as freed he is examined by the medicine chief and old men. If all is right he is congratulated, other re- lgious ceremonies gone through with; his wounds are washed and dressed with herbs, rudely, but with such skill that in few weeks they are entirely healed Singular as it may appear, an instance of fatal result, even in the hottest weath- CT. has never come to my knowl<dge Should the devotee finch under the knife or cry out, or show other evidence of weakness during his subsequent suffer ings. he is released at once, and sent off a diseraced man. Formerly he was con- demand as a woman and made to do wo- mems work. He could neither marry nor hold property. These consequences are