The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1904-04-09

is SEQUOYAH
FOUND AGAIN ?
Skeleton of American Cadmus
Still a MOOted Question.

f. Fancher, real estate and mining
property dealer Of Snyder, Oklahoma,
was IN Lawton recently and made It a
point to tell a reporter Of his discovery
Of an Indian skeleton near his mining
claim last December. The discovery
was made public at that time. Mr.
Fancher said:
Late one evening as was coming
ia from my work rabbit ran in front
OF me and disappeared in the creyice
Of some rocks that had been piled on
the side of small hill. / followed
the rabbit and in removing the rocks
to get at it found the skeleton and
the other things now so much prize.
4 Among them Is silver medal, four
inches in diameter, perfectly round,
Rcomposed OF two pieces Of solid silver
clamped together on the circumfer-
8ence, on one side Of which IS inscribed
in raised form a tomahawk and pipe,
with their handles crossed, Ebeneath
them two clasped hands, representing
the army and navy of the United
States, on one OF which is an Ameri-
can eagle and on the other three but
tons 10 which the strips Of colors were
attached; beneath them are the words
Peace and Friendship on the other
side Of the medal are the words, ar
ranged around the border like the in
scriptions on doller, 'TH. JEFFERSON,
president or THE UNITED STATES,
\ A. D. 1901, and In the center Of the
medal is engraven the picture OF JEFF
ferson.
Among the other things | found
were a hlntlock rifle, seven fllnts, three
bars Of leadI hand made J, ,bulletsmolds
and bullet ladies', a frying pan, a pipe,
buckle, an ak or tomahawk, an old
fashioned English hoe and some mug
gets Of copper
tE'Iom an the Investigations / have
bride, ! am inclined TO the opinion
fhat the dead man was none other
dian Sequoyah, tho chief Of the Cher
ekees, 70 whom was given this silver
1nedal by the government for the work |
hf forming an alphabet for the Chero-
tee language 1t is a known fact that 7
bnly two OF these medals were IN ex-
sstence, and that one Of them was In
Hhe possession Of SeQuoyah.
sSlRce making this find a book has
been sent me from England giving
Of Sequoyah. In this book
II Is stated that he came into the
Wichita mountains In 1887, and there
Sled and nothing more was known Of
him. This biography states that he
Fas crippled In the left Lex. The
skeleton | found shows that the left
leg had been affected and was probably
Shorter than the other. There was
three other men who started out with
him from ST. Louis that year, and
Hhey lost their horses IN tile Wichlts
mountains What became OF the other
nen IS unknown. According to this
book, Sequoyah's name ia English was
George Guess or Geist.
t>"Mrs Keys, who lives at Vinita, l.
81. is sister Of Sequoyah, and her
Statements to me bear out the biogra-
bhy as contained in tie book. She
ays that he was born in Georgia and
aas s. years Of age at the time Of his
aeath. He was only Quarter-brced
aheD4ee, but was chief Of the tribe.
is home was at Tahlequah, /. r. mi
Boxing over the medal which showed
Der, she discovered SeQuoyah's picture
Hmly engIaven just beneath the
efoss formed by the tomahawk and the
npe. sh,i is positive that the remains
sfe his ana has made me large Offers
90 the things ! have in my possession,
8nt il win take $500 to get them