Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-05-26
Nebraska Whites aroused.
Fsequsnr Orgies Of Omaha Reservation Indians
Force Them TO Close Saloons.


| over the bar. But no one seriously be-
lieved that this proylso would be OBJ
serbed since the sole reason for the es-
adjustment of a saloon was the desire
to keep the Indian trade. That can
not be done unless liquor is sold to
them.
Debaueh Burned in Memory.
Late in the afternoon the persons
circulating the petition gave up for
the people OF Decatur, with the mem
DRY OF the debauch fresh IN mind, de-
clined TO sign. Then IL was told by
the Indians that one OF the saloon men
put out OF business had arranged TO
open a resort at Lake Quinneba.
four miles below Decatur and on the
Iowa side OF the river. The saloon
man, ~ostensibly, was TO operate a sum-
mer resort, but IL was thoroughly un-
derstood that Indians would be allowed
to purchase freely OF all kinds of
drinks. The saloon man boasted that
he received a license from the authorf-
ties In Iowa 10 u such a place n
this week he has been making arrange
ments for a grand opening which is
calculated to throw in the shade the
widest dreams OF the last night OF
license in Decatur.
Squaws Are Worst Fighters.
Those who have lived among the
Indians here for years say that the
squaws are even more demonstrative
under the influence OF liquor than the
bucks. When drunk, a squaw will fight
on all occasions and, as g. matter OF
fact, seeks trouble instead of attempt
ing to avoid IL. She Will try her fists
against a white man at any tim and
her special delight is TO chase her
white sisters off the streets.
The squaws, too, are desperate gam
blers. When a carnival was held here
a year ago all manner of gambling
devices are permitted TO run, The
Indians Were among the most liberal
patrons OF the games. The bucks, when
bilked OF their wealth, usually went
away, out the squaws stayed on, Of
fering to bet their shawls, their beads
and moccasins and even their papooses
on the turn of a a or the roll of
a wheel. Stories are told of quaws
retreating from the field stripped of
most of their clothing, which they had
hazarded on the gambling games.
Sober Squaw Is a Woman.
Free from the temporary madness
caused by poisonous liquor the Indian
squaw of the tribes of Nebraska ceases
TO be a squaw and is at once an Amer
lean m Her brain unfettered by
the influence of fire water, she becomes
a thinking being, as is her white sister.
Her sympathies are not confined TO
the nome on the farm, the kitchen and
her children, but she is quite at home
in club and church work.
While her sisters writhed in pain
from the effects of the poisonous drink
they had taken. one Indian woman at
Decatur, Neb.. last week was presiding
owe a woman's aid society bazaar,
and selling 10 her fair friends home
made candies and cakes from her own
foundry, and ice cream which could
not be surpassed by the best cook in
all Burt county. White men nave made
ill-timed and ill-mannered fun of the
Indian m but down deep in their
hearts they don't mean 1t. Add to
her long black hair and tawny COM
plexion the gifts of perfect woman
hood, languishiEg red lips beneath eyes
shaded by dark lashes. and the whole
framed in a bewitcbing smile, and
you've a true woman, admired by every
true ma no difference what his family
may be or whether he Is from the east
or the west.
Indians Subscribe for Papers.
The Indian women of Nebraska have
made more progress than the men,
and, though they have the same ten
dency TO take up the Indian habits
after their return from school, they
lose httle of the desire for q better life
and the higher plane of civilization
and culture.
The Decatur weekly paper has on its
list the names Of thirty-five or forty
Indians, and most of them are women.
For it's subscribers is conducted a
small news stand, and ii is no uncom-
mon sight for an Indian woman 10 en-
ter the printing office with her papoose
wrapped in a small shawl on her back,
herself wearing m~occasins and blanket.
After a careful inspection OF. the maya
zines on the stand, she makes her Sc
lection. frequently buying o or five
at a time. She takes her money from
a chattaline bag, hung TO the string
waist; and 1t is not Connecticut-made
wampum, the medium OF exchange
among her ancestors.
Such magazines as Good House
keeping the American Monthly Re-
view of Reviews" "The Ladies' Home
Journal and THE Woman's Home
Companion are among those which
are III constant deInand by the Indian
housekeepers, though she has practi-
cally no use for physical culture or
magazines dealing with fashions and
clothing.
Degenerate Into pog-Eeaters.
From a visit to the Omaha Indian
reservation, ii is not evident that the
federal Indian educational sanitariums
are a delusion and a snare, which do
not benefit the average red-skinned
| youngster in the least. But the edu-
sation sticks" so TO speak, on the
women more than on the men. The
Indian mar will accept the bounty of
the United States just as long as ii is
offered TO him, and forget TO express
any gratitude whatever for ii. Indian
teachers have MANI times said that the
only solution of the problem is TO
| throw Poor 10, big and little, sex not
barred. upon their own resources with
the understanding that they must hus-
tie for what they get.
An astonishingly small per cent,
however, of the men who graduate
from the Indian schools, are found in
| employments or degrees OF life. above
/ their fellows on the reservation. On
the contrary, If encouraged with a lit
| tie fire-water, the indian buck as seen
Ns0