The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-03
BAD INDIAN THEN.
Bishop Raked I'D the Old Chiefs Past
History and Won.
washington Star.

Bishop Talbot, the able, eloquent and
witty head OF the Episcopal Church in
Wyoming, once called a meeting OF the
well-tO-dO men of the Episcopal faith IN
wyoming for the purpose of telling them
why he wanted them to subscribe 20 a mis-
siOnary fund to he expended among the
Shoshone Indians" said Mr.. Joseph Breck-
Ons, of Cheyenne. There was considerable
reluctance on the part of the men whom
the bishop Invited TO attend this meeting.
CIOse-hstedness IS far from being a charac-
teristic Of the Wyoming people. But there
are sections of the United States where In
dams are more highly regarded than they
are in W~yOming-far be II from me TO say
that these sections are generally situated
a long distance from where Indians actu-
ally live and have their being. Some OF
these pillars of the Episcopal Church, In
Wyoming frankly told the bishop that they
didn't particularly favor the purpose for
the furtherance of which he intended as
sembling them.
We'll attend, Of course they said to
him, for we like to hear you talk on any
old subject. But you know that We don't
like Indians, no matter what tribe they
may belong to nor how near they seem TO
he approaching the seat of grace, and we
are bound 10 tell you that, while We III en-
joy your discourse, there isn't much chance
of our loOsening up in a financial way TO-
ward the renewing of the spiritual strength
of the Shoshones.'
"'Oh, WE'LL said the bishop, come around
nyhow and We'll talk IL over.
When the meeting was the
bishop became pretty eloquent in plcturlng
the excellent traits of the Shoshone In
dams, and particularly in portraying the
virtues OF their aged chief, Washable, who
lived to be considerably more than a hum
dred years old. He told them what a fine
nature and character Washable possessed,
and how, throughout all of his long life, ne
had always been friendly toward the
whites, repeatedly saving white parties
from massacre at the hands of other tribes
or those of renegades from his own tribe.
Washable, the bishop went on. was well
disposed, in his old age, toward the upllft-
ing of his tribe through the medium of re-
ligion, and that spirit in him deserved en-
enlargement. Then the good bishop went
on and told of the Shoshones' religious needs
"a mission house and chapel on the reser-
walton, religious instructors and so on.
Notwithstanding his elOquence, the bishop
felt, when he had concluded this portion or
his discourse, that he had missed fire. The
men he addressed couldn't see it" as the
saying goes. The dictum that a good Indian
is a deceased Indian was the one the unanl-
mously believed in. They couldn't help but
c~onjure up, even as the bishop talked, the
memories of the early massacres and out
RACES in which their own forbearS and other
relatives suffered. The bishop perceived the
utter lack of enthusiasm with which they
received his de~liVeranceS. He was an adrolt
man, as we'll as an able bishop, and he saw
that something had to be done if his purpose
were to be achieved. He struck an entirely
different key.
80 nave dwelt.' he said. at considerable
length upon the fine character of Chief Wa
Shake as revealed during these, his later
anu HtellOWpT years. bul, 10 Illustrate HON
capable an Indian is, under proper precept
and example, TO turn away from evil con-
duct, I'll have to own up TO IL that Washa-
kie was not always the man he is to-day.
His youth was wild, impetuous. and even
cruel. There was little or no morality in
him. Like a good many other chiefs, he was
a polygamist. At one time he had as many
as nine wives.
"'Once, at the time that Chief Washable
had these nine wives in his tepee he started
off at the head of his tribe on a great hunt
ing expedition. On the night before start
ing he called his first and most important
wife out of the tepee and pointed TO a
cleared, level spot, about a hundred yards
away. He told her that he wanted the
tepee removed to that spot before his return
from the hunting expedition. The wife
nodded in obedience. II Indian women, as
you know, attend TO all the camp labor, and
this order of her husband, the chief, was
quite an ordinary one.
Washable was off on the hunting expe-
dition with the tribe for several weeks.
When he returned with the tribe, one even
ing a short time before sunset, his aston
ishment was acute when he observed that
his ~tepee had not been moved, in accord
ance with his instructions 10 his first wife.
He didn't say anything about the matter at
first, however, but joined his wives in the
tepee and took his supper in silence.
latter supper, however, he called his
first wife over to him.
"'"I told you to move the tepee before
my return" he said to her. "Why has il
not been dOne?'
1.-The wife timorously replied that she
had started TO obey the chiefs injunction,
but hat her mother had interfered and
stopped her.
"'Washakie stood up and gazed sternly
at the aged crone, his first wife's mother,
who was blinking over in a corner of the
tepee.
"''Why,' he commanded of his mother
in-law, Ibid you interfere with my order? p
Wi unheard-of audacity the bag made
"''Because / liked the tepee better here. 4"
"tAnd then, my brethren concluded the
bishop, with solemn impressiveness, the un-
degenerate Washable did an awful, an APP
palling thing. He STROBE over to where his
aged mother-in-law sat, snatched a plstol
from the bosom of his blanket. and struck
her dead at one blow with the butt of the
pistol
1.-The bishop ceased. He appeared to be
quite overcome with the thought of such a
shocking thing. But weu-defined grins
crept over the c-ountenances of the bishops
listeners as he finished his story. Worse
than that, many of them turned to each
other and winked. Still worse, a buzz rar
around the meeting place, and the gist OF
that buzz was this: L guess this fellow
Washable is all right, after all The buzz
was followed by a great futtering and tear
ing of leaves. The bishops well-to-do lis
teners were scribbling checks for the
amounts they desired to contribute to the
Shoshone missionary fund on the fly leaves
of Bibles and hymnals and tearing them out
10 he DaSSed I'M 70 the biShOnn