The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-03-18
WILL HONOR A /
FAMOUS INDIAN
Movement on Foot Among tho
Cherokees to Erect Statue
for Sequoyah.
ASK CONGRESS FOR AID
'e Was unquestionabiy the Greatest
Indian This Nation Ever Produced
sad Is So Revered by the Full!
Blood Cherokees.
ASK CONGRESS FOR AID

Kansas City Journal: The effort OH tho
,art OF several prominent Cherokee In
hans to erect a statue in the capital
lquare at Tahlequah, l. r., to the memory
81 sequoyah has renewed interest In this
wonderful Indian. He Is unquestionably
he greatest Indian this nation ever pro-
!uced. and Is so revered by the full-blood
sherokees. but as these do not form the
most considerable part of the tribe and
he miXed-bloods control affairs in the ma
ional council, bills for a monument to
oerpetuate his memory in marble have
heretofore failed. A number Of promi-
lent men have been Interested in the
project this time, however, and 1t is hoped
he bill will pass. No one doubts that
President Roosevelt will sign the bill
making 1t possible to erect the monument
1t once. Although Sequoyah is the espe-
:ial %favorite Of the full-blooded Cherokees,
le was not one of their ulnbe His life
work. however, was devoted to their in
erests. This work was the formulating
II an alphabet which consists of eighty
I've characters. So simple is 1T that it
las been learned by students in from three
% four days, and it is grounded OH such
thorough principles that When learned by
,ne knowing the spoken language no Diff
iculty is experienced in reading. 1t has
been pronounced one of the most complete
lphabets in existence, and for it Sc
luoyah has been dubbed the American
fSadmus."
Sequoyah was born in ITO, in Georgia,
where the Cherokee tribe was then liv-
ng. Ills mother was a full blooded Cher
'kee and his father q German trader,
snown as George Geist or Guess. In 1881,
With other members of the tribe, Sc
luoyah moved to the Indian territory and
lived on a little farm in q district known
oy his name, some twelve miles north OF
Muldrow. There 1t was that he, though
wholly u~neducated, fashioned the letters
or his alphabet. which will doubtless live
rs a study long after the last Indian has
passed away. He was a farmer and
counted well-to-do, as he owned cattle,
logs and horses. A personal description
II him, secured several years ago from
houston Beng of Fort Gibson, who has
since died, is that Sequoyah was a slender
nan. with fine features and a pleasant ex-
preston. He was lame in one leg, due to
a white swelling he was afflicted with
when a boy. When he Travelled abroad
he roaae a white mule. In 1913. in COM
pany with his son and another Indian, he
started on a trip west, to try and find a
sand of CherolSees which had gone there
years before. The party travelled in q
cart, drawn by a yoke of oxen, but had
horses With them. Somewhere in the
northern part of Mexico Sequoyah be-
came separated from his companions and
they We're compelled to return without
him. He was never heard of again, and 1t
is supposed persisted from want. AT the
time of his disappearance he wore a large
silver medal. presented TO him by con-
gress in recognition of his services toward
the uplifting of the Indians.
The written language he invented has
been of great use to people dealing with
the Indians. Soon after it was made pub
lie the bible and many other books were
translated into Cherokee, and a paper,
known as the Cherokee Advocat tie, started.
This newspaper is still in existence. One
half of it is printed in English and the
other in Cherokee. The office is located
at Tahleauah, capital Of the Cherokee ma