The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-14
A REAL MONTANA STORY.
How a Petrified Indian Was osee For Cigar Sign and An0ther
 for a Hitching Post.

for . Hitching Post.
 rb. Anaconda (Mont.) Standard.
 "Joe" De Champ. a backwoodsman living in the Thief River Falls region. in Northern Minnesota, has lately been engaged in removing the remains of Judians from their graves in the lands soon to be opened for settlement. The bodies he reburies in places out side the ceded lands. Among the sto- ries of his experience in the former cemetery of the aborigines Is one re- garding the finding of several per- fectly petrified bodies, and the uncan- ny feeling which one has when he listens to the account Is intensified to the end. when 1t is related that one of the petrified aborigines was used as a hitching post, while another served as a cigar sign. Eight men worked with "Joe," digging for the bodies of the dead Indians. "Joe' receives $14.1S for each corpse from the government; therefore, he is exceedingly industri- ous. The moonbeams, Altering through the branches of the pines, shone down on Joe" one night as he labored with pick and shovel. About him the razed fence that had been built about the resting place of tri- bal leader formed a decorative fes- toon.
 Dig, dig, dig, stopping only to wipe the precipitation from his brow, "Joe" labored on. He heard not the croak- ing of the frogs in the pond near by. nor paid any attention to the echoing calls of the animals that roamed abroad in their nocturnal search for food. Encountering what appeared to be a stone, "Joe'' laid aside his show el. mopped his sweaty face, and then set to work with pick. Zoe" is a callous man, used to looking coTnpos- edly on grinning skulls and heaps of bones, but when he saw there, in the uncertain light, the grim countenance of real red man. sticking up in the hole he had made, he fled for his as- sistants, reused them from their sleep and enlisted their services in calming his perturbed mind and in completing the removal of the body. Finally the report reached the Chippewa village, and then there was more trouble for De Champ. who had various heart to heart talks with inquiring red people.
 The upshot of it all was that the cigar sign and the hitching post have been buried-if, indeed, the bodies were ever used for that purpose. It was almost perfectly preserved, and was removed from it's shallow grave with difficulty. Near by another body was encountered in the same condi- tion, and the were, laid aside while the work of removing the other nor tai remains progressed. It so happens that De Champ is a great joker, and when the story of the petrified cigar Indian and the aboriginal hitching post got around his friends began to ask him about his resurrection opera tion, and the two were laid aside while gether, Joe" has taken up 113 In- dians. Of the number, twenty-six were of the Catholic faith and were reburied at the agency. The remain der. who were oldtime pagans, were taken across the Beltrami County line for burial. The Catholics when taken up were found to be incased in wood en coffins, but those who remained loyal to the old Indian faith were wrapped in pitch bark. Thus far only two petrified bodies have been found.