The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-04-19
Only GANN|DALS
N 1HE COUNTRY
TonkaWaS in Indian Territory
Called Man Eaters.
THEIR HISTORY GIVEN
Sho wing How They Devoured
the Fresh White Man.
THEIR HISTORY GIVEN

The Chicago Chronicle prints the fol-
lowing article:
There are about fifty cannibals LETT
in the United States. Many people did not
know, perhaps. that there We're even tina.
many man eaters within our territory.
This last remaining tribe is rapidly dying
fout. according to James Mooney Of the
: bureau of ethno,ogy at Washington. who
has been making a study of them. There
are now but fifty of this once powerful
kingdom left and in a few years or more
it viii become extinct.
The people in question are the Tonka
was. who, even in the times when eating
Of human flesh was a common practice
among many bands of our wild aboris-
ines, were known at the most depraved q
all the new world canniOals. The few
remnants of their tribe are being kept Oh
a reservation in Indian Territory, whittier
they were taken twenty years ago Tor
protection against their many enemies.
To all other tribes they are still known
simply as the man eaters"
The old home OF the Tonkawa cannibals
was about San Antonio Tex, just back
of the coast. In their prime they were
physically powerful. nimble athletes, fear
less fighters and good hunters. but in
veterate roYers.
The man eaters are ali descended
from a wolf, their first ancestor accord
ing 10 their tradition. 1t is their religious
belief that they must always be, like the
parent wolf, nomadic and gaining sub
sfstence by hunting the beasts of the field.
Hence the Tonkawas have ever been non
agricultural. In one of their pantomiI,e
dances the performers disguise themselves
as wolves in honor OF their worshipped
ancestor.
The man eaters" are outlawed and ia
tooed by all other Indians. For a century
and more the entire red race in America
praved people To this the Tonkawas
have retaliated by serving as scouts for
the whites and guides in many govern
rhent expeditions against hostile tribes.
Three centuries ago. when the Texas mis-
lsions were established by the Catholics,
the Franciscan friars gathered in some
Tonkawas for conversion al San Antonio,
San Jose and Alamo. But this reform en-
terprise proved to be futile. The man
eaters" were not to be tanned.
At the time of the American occupation
of Texas they hired as scouts against
their unfriendly kinsmen. Association
with the rough soldiers of the garrison
completed their Decentralization and in 1S49
they were described as 500 or 700 of the
most worthless. degraded vagabonds lv
ing" In 1877 the government placed them
together with several other tribes, upon
reservation on the upper Brazos. The
Texans. who had declared that no Indians
should live in the state. attacked the
agency fired on the soldiers protecting It
and scattered the Indians. This but added
q further hardening of the temper Of the
forsaken man eaters" Their 800 sur
vivors were collected upon a new reserva-
tion on the Washita. Indian Territory.
During the civil war. when some in
dams were persuaded to fight with the
north and others with the south. the Ton
kawas, with few others, preferred 10
remain upon their own reservation rather
than take chances with the Indians On
either side. The white men We're now too
busy to look out for their interests. Their
red enemies now found a long waited op-
portunity 10 reap a harvest, OF sweet re-
venge.
In the round stomachs of the man eat
ers" had been secreted many lost rcll-
tives of the surrounding tribes. But de
spite the natural attitude Of the Tonka-
was their agent and all Of his employees
took the oath of allegiance to the confed-
crate government The Tonkawas, though
unconsciously. were now confederate in
dams.
on the night of October -. 1862. the
"man eaters - enemies-l50 picked Shaw
nees. Delawares. Wichitss and kickapoos
armed with modern rifles. surprised the
agency. killed the white employees ana
burned the buildings TO the ground. TIE
Tonkawas. only 3o5 in all. had only bow
and arrows. but kept up a stubborn re-
sistence long enough for part of their
women and children 10 escape 10 the hills
when the battle ended 16 Tonkawas
nearly half Of the tribe-lay dead upon
the ground. more than 100 of these VIC
Tins being defenseless women and cha-
dren The attacking party lost twenty
seven killed and wounded. The hearts Of
the Tonkawas were now hardened stu
more than in their former defeats.
Dripping chunks Of human flesh. CIT
from the limbs OF their dead foes, huns
20 the saddle bows of the surviving man
eaters when. after the massacre. they