The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1905-09-26

For HIS Own Tribe by the Smartest
Thief Among the Crows.
All Indians who use horses are very
fond of horse racing and not only race
their own horses against one another,
but they race their own against those
Of other tribes and used to do this even
In the wild era of the buffalo and Of
constant warfare. Even at that time
friendly tribes and bands Joined In the
two grand buffalo hunts of each year
and after the hunting was over pltted
the fastest horses of the various bands
one against the other. AT one time not
so very long ago the Blackfeet had the
very fastest horse that any one knew
of, the fastest horse Of which any one
could tell or which any one had seen.
He was a source of wealth to the tribe,
for Indians are very fond Of betting,
and this animal always won every
thing that was bet against him. You
can imagine how proud the Blackfeet
were of this creature. You can also
imagine how envious were the Stoneys,
the Crows, the Sioux, the Creeks and
all the other Indians of the plains.
Stealing Is considered fair between
tribes, and IL 1t can be successfully
done those savage people think 1t very
honorable, even glorious. The Black
feet. therefore, kept the wonderful
race horse In a tent at night. They did
not dare leave him out with their other
horses. They bought string of bells
at the Hudson Bay company's nearest
fort, put the bells around the horses
neck, tied him to tepee pole inside
big tepee and set four men to sleep in
the tent with him. This was the rule
every night, and on no night did the
men forget to close the door of the
tepee and "cinch" 1t tight with thongs
of buckskin. Whoever could steal that
big white beauty of horse had to be a
very clever thief, they thought; but in
truth, they never dreamed that he
could be stolen.
The smartest thief among the Grow
Indians told his chief and the head
men that he was going to try to get
that horse away from the Blackfeet.
One evening he crawled through the
grass to the tall bluff along the Bow
river north of our Idaho, l think, was
the locality, where the Blackfeet had
their camp. He saw the noble horse
led into a certain tent, and he saw the
four watchers go In and close the door
Night fell, and he crept down the
clanfin0 hit,P into tho oa,Yr Tho onIv
thing he had to fear was the barking
Of some dog. If dog saw or heard
him and barked, that would set all the
other dogs barking. and he would be
obliged to run for his life Stealthily,
as only an Indian can move on his soft
ly moccasined feet, this arch thief Of
the thieving Crow Nation crept into the
Blackfeet camp. He had to step over
several sleeping dogs, and he did not
awaken one. He came to the tent Of
the white horse. He looked 1t all over
He went to another tepee and took a
travels from its side and carried it and
set it up against the horses tent.
A travels is the wheel-less wagon the
Indians use In the summer. 1t is made
of two long poles with the upper ends
near together; the lower ends spread
apart and drag upon the ground. You
see by this description that If travels
Is stood on end 1t can be made to serve
as a sort of ladder Thus the arch thief
of the Crows used the one he put up
against the horse tent On 1t he climb
ed to the top of the tepee, and from
there he got view of the interior,
looking down between the tent poles
that form the sides of the chimney
hole. He saw the horse dimly, and
even more dimly he saw the four men
beside the horse. all asleep. He climb
ed upon the tent poles; he poised his
body very nicely in the chimney open
ing; he dropped fairly and squarely
upon the white horses back.
The instant he felt himself on the
back of the beast his knife. which was
in his hand. swept through the cord
that tethered the horse. His heels shot
In against the horses sides, the bells
rang out sharp and clear, and the horse
snorted with surprise. But the pres
sure of the thief's heels urged the ami
NAL forward, and as he took one step
the man reached out and slit a cash
straight up and down through the fas-
tened door. which was only buckskln.
The four Indians leaped to their feet,
but the horse and his captor were now
out in the open ground and like the
wind shot away from the camp. The
watchers ran and yelled, the dogs
barked, the whole tribe rushed out of
the tents, and every man sprang to
horse. But what was the use? There
was no horse that could catch the ami
NAL, and so they all turned sadly home
again after mad ride of a mile or
two. The thief rode In triumph home
to the tents of the Crows. and from
that day his tribe owned the great
white horse, and his fame and their
riches inereased-FromJ Julian Ralph's
Stories Told by Indians in st. Nicho