The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-05-31

GREEKS SACRED RELIC
Keeping of the To-ka-par-chee
Triple One
BRASS PLATES OTHER
Handed to Medicine Men Out
of Clouds

Okmulgee, /. T, May 3o.-The two most
sacred relics of the Greek Indians IN the
Indian Territory are in the keeping Of the
To-ka-par-chee tribe and Charles Gibson,
a citizen of the tribe, thus describes
them: "One of them reaches back 10 the
time of George H. Of England. The
relic has been handed down 10 the present
time. The ruling clan Of the To-ka-par-
chez was honored with being the custo-
dian Of this relic. 1t is said to be the
treaty between the Creeks and Great
Britain; it is on genuine sheepskin. and
was wrapped up in six layers of dressed
deer skin unsmoked. A long time before
the rebellion, the noted chief, Hopathle
Yohols, was custodian Of this relic. lie
married a To-ka-par-chee woman. When
the custodian of this relic was dying, IT
was his will TO confer this honor on a
safe man of his clan, to take charge OF
the relic and 20 keep il lifetime. turn
ing it over to some one like the first one
did. About the close of the civil war
this noted old chief died, and conferred
the honors on Capt. John Goodfeiiow.
This man also became very i'll after
long time and he consulted some of the
old men of his clan and they decided on
a man, and the relic was delivered TO
him Today the Indians look upon this
relic as next to brass or copper plates
To-ka-par-chee own. These plates are
hard to describe. as they are kept IN
very sacred vault where none is allowed
to enter except the medicine man or some
old chief The history of these plaf IS
is as follows:
"One old medicine man, who had been
noted for being the greatest among the
Creeks. before dying told some of the
other medicine men that so many days
after the day of hrs death, if they would
meet him on the highest mountain peak
naming the mountain-he would bring
them something very sacred and 1t would
strengthen their medicine and add to their
happiness. The medicine men then ap-
pointed a day and waited. When the last
stick was thrown away, each wended his
way to the top of the mountain. They
waited long and well. When the sun be-
came low in the west great snake came
from the west and darkened the country
around about the mountain. The medi-
cine men were frightened but stood their
ground. Then came claps of thunder and
flashes of lightning that almost blinded
the old men. Then a dark cloud APP
peared out of the dark cloud of a bundle.
which was handed to the old men. The
hands holding the bundle were all that
could be seen ard resembled the hands
of the old medicine man who had died.
LAS soon as the package containing the
plates were delivered the cloud moved
away and there was a clear sky. The
old men took their charge back to their
square house and hid it until the time
of their annual celebration or green corn
dance. when the plates were introduced
into their festivities. That was some
900 years ago. and they are still in
possession of the town of the Creeks.
The custodians of these plates arc what
are called the Wild clan. There are a
great many of these plates and the larg-
est ones have characters of some kind
on them. They are exhibited only on
state occasions. once a year. Each one
has a beautiful sound or ring. II Is said.
when they are used In the dance. making
sweet music After the dance they are
taken out. one TO each man, and are
secured very bright and placed away I'M
til the next year 1t is said that in the
polishing process the work hands are
very cautious, as ii is known that the
least slip will result I'm a sure loss Of the
plate. as It is said the plates are sup
posed to he part turtle or fish. as they
came to the Creeks through a cloud OF
mist and will dart here and there II let
loose in the water ard WI get away"