Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1905-10-05
His Story.
The older a man Is the farther he
could jump when . hey.
His Story.
FAMOUS INDIAN INN.
WHERE CHEROKEE POLITICIANS
LONG MET AND PLOTTED.
It Is Once More to Be the Scene OF
Tribal Council - Interesting
Bits Of the Hostelry's
History.

The Oldest hotel in Indian territory
the National, at Tahlequah, will enter
tain the councillors of the Cherokee
nation this fall for the last time, and
will cease to be the rendezvous for
politicians Of the cnce proud and pow
erful Cherokee people. For over 50
years the venerable hostelry has been
receiving guests, says the Kansas City
Journal.
For that period 1t has also sheltered
nearly all the chiefs Of the Cherokee
nation and the members of the In
dian council About its fireplaces
many a deep-laid plot of state has been
perfected, and many of the bills now
incorporated into the laws of the
Cherokees were drawn up in the low
ceilinged rooms Of the old hotel.
For years Tahlequah was designated
in the Biographies as the capital OF In
dian territory, although in reality it
was never more than the capital OF
the Cherokee nation. So superior were
the Cherokees, however, to the other
tribes in the science Of political manip-
ulation that they exercised great in
fluence over the politicians Of the other
nations, and thus indirectly became
the center of the government in the
territory. 1t was in the old National
hotel that the political prowess OF
the Cherokees was fostered.
The National was built in 1874 by
Aunt" Susie Taylor, wife Of Dick
Taylor, a well-known Cherokee. 1t
was opened Immediately as a tavern,
as hotels were called in those days,
and soon became the popular stopping
place of all leading men in the Indian
territory. The hotel stands just north
of the square in which the national
capitol building of the Cherokees is
located, and hence has always been the
logical place for Cherokee lawmakers
to stop.
During the period of the civil war
all business enterprises were practi-
cally suspended in Tahlequah, and con-
sequently the old tavern, which had
been running 16 years, was closed. 1t
became the arsenal for the confederate
soldiers who had possession Of the
town. Every room of the building was
stacked full of arms and ammunition.
These supplies were afterward cap
tured by the northern troops, and the
hotel became an arsenal for the fed
eral troops until the close of the war.
After the war the National was
again opened as a hotel, ana Mrs.
Elizabeth Alberty generally known all
over the territory as Aunt Eliza. took
charge of the place. She is a native
of Cherokee, and before the war grad
uated from the national female SEM
mary of the Cherokees in the class OF
1857 and later taught the Chero-
kee male seminary. She did more
than any other person perhaps to fos-
ter these two institutions, which have
been the pride of the Cherokees fol
over half century. Aunt Eliza has
adopted so many Cherokee girls and
given them an education in these In
stitutions that she cannot remembe1
the number. Although we'll along
toward the seventies, Aunt Eliza is
still running the hotel, and is as full
of vim as she was score of years
ago.
81 slept in this room in 1857, again
in 1883, and tonight find myself rest
ing before the same fireplace" said a
guest of the hotel the other day, "and
the room looks just like 1t did when
l first stopped in It,"
In that very room Chief Lewis Down.
ing, founder of the Downing party,
and one of the most famous execu-
tives Of the Chcrokees, died. In the
same room Senators Plat, Teller,
Stewart and many other men Of ma
tional renown found shelter while in
the Indian country, bent on business or
pleasure. During the great deadlock
in 1886 between the national and
Downing parties federal authorities
called Chief Mayes and the counselors
of the Cherokees together in the par
lor of the National hotel and gave