The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1904-02-27
roNKAwAs ONCE CANNIBALS
Eating Tcrrors Of Indian Ter.
ritOry and Texas.

lug OF MS allOtmeut Oh ldn0, ne is HOW
full-f1edged United States citizen, bav-
ing the power to vote, run for office, and
take part in political campaigns. OF
this once powerful tribe, says Guthrie
Chicago Inter Ocean, there now remain,
according to the report of Gov. Tom Fer
guson for 1903, only about SO persons.
AS late as 1875, they were powerful
tribe, and were the terror of the other
southwestern tribes which roamed In
dian Territory and part of Texas.
1t seems strange that cannibals could
exist in this country as late as 1875,
yet the Tonkawas are charged by other
tribes and by persons who have been
long in the government service with be-
ing man-eaters even as late as that date.
1t is claimed that among the many
tribes which have inhabited this coun-
try, the Tonkawa is the only one that
has had this charge lodged against it.
AS result, it is alleged that the Ton
kawas were always SO hated by other
tribes as to be Stunned on all occasions,
and even to this day the hatred is said
to exist against the few remaining Ton
kawas, who are now as far from canni-
balism as any people on earth.
Mat Durr, the aged white man who
has lived among the Oklahoma Indians
for years, and is acquainted with their
customs, traditions and languages,
more than any other white man in the
southwest, says of the Tonkawa of to-
day:
"A solitary Tonkawa Indian was a.
visitor recently among the Sac and Fox
Indians, looking for friend Every
one of the so descendants of the Ton
kawas. is Stunned and despised by the
other tribes. The remnants of the man.
eaters, who devoured thousands of other
redskins, always hunt for a friend,
which they seldom find. The ancient
Tonkawas were the Ishmaelites of the
red race, and their so living descendants
are actually hated by other Indians for
the human flesh-eating committed by
their ancestors.
Tradition relates that the last big
feast on roasted human flesh caused the
death of several thousand of the vo-
racious cannibals in Texas. Having
gorged themselves on the tender flesh
of several hundred captured Kiowa In
dams, they INDUCED in their last sleep.
Many thousand Kiowa Indians, and
some other children-robbed redskins. ap-
preached the unguarded wigwams of
the gluttonOus man-eaters and slew all
they could find Only a few, the pro-
genitors of the so still remaining Tom
kawas, escaped. Our solitary Tonkawa
visitor felt very lonely; he failed to find
a single income or friend
1t is related of the Tonkawas that an
old custom was to hold feast at least
once each year, at which they killed and
ate any prisoner in their possession
who had been sentenced to death, and it
is added that it made no difference at
these annual feasts whether the color
OF the prisoner was white or red. the al
legged fate was the same. In this con-
nection Jack Leedy. of Hennessey,
Okla, who for many years was in the
employ of the government at the Ana
darko Indian agency in southwestern
Oklahoma, relates this story, evidently
the same occasion as referred to by Mat
Durr, although the two differ somewhat
in the minor details only:
"In the fall of 1875 the Tonkawas
came up from Texas, and were camped
about five miles southwest of the Ana
darko agency; it being the season for
the man-eating feast, it was learned
that they had as prisoner a young Cad
do Indian, and expected to kill him for
the occasion. 1t was estimated that
about $50 Tonkawas were in camp, and
the Caddoes planned the rescue of their
tribesman, but, being few in numbers
themselves, persuaded the Kiowas, who
were friendly, to join them and massa-
ere the Tonkawas.
"On the night settled upon for the
butchery, they stole upon the Tonka-
was in the darkness and waited for the
moon to rise. 1t was about midnight
when the war whoop of the chief was
given, and with uplifted tomahawks
they rushed the Tonkawa camp, striking
down their victims as they sprang from
their beds of leaves. Out of the entire
number of Tonkawas but AZ ESCAPED.
The Kiowas and Caddoes scalped their
victims and left the bodies to be de-
voured by wild beasts and buzzards.
The spot where the massacre took
place was marked for many years by the
skulls and bones lying around on the
ground, but they were later buried by
an order of the government.
The tribe, according to statistics. is
gradually lessening in numbers. and il
is only question of few years until
the last Tonkawa will remain in the ter
ritory. AS fast as the Indians die. leav-
ing no heirs, their land is placed on the
market, under the direction of the gov
eminent, and sold to the highest bid
der; in this way their land is passing
slowly into the control of the whites.
with whom the remaining Tonkawas are
fast friends, and many of which are mar
ried into the tribe. In their last DAYS.
according to the tradition of the other
tribes, the Tonkawas must turn to the
Caucasian race to find income" or
friend