Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-06-28
whlsksy Destroying indians.

Indian who had received his allot-
ment OF land could purchase all the
whiskey he wanted, it sounded the
death kneil of the Winnebago In
dian tribe in eastern Nebraska, on
the Missouri river. Already besotted
and degraded by lax morals, and
cursed with an unquenchable taste
for intoxicsnts, the Winnebagoes
aud Omahas were fast going the
pace which led them further into de-
bauchery, but the decision of the
court, by which the saloons are prac-
tically thrown open to them, will, in
the opinion of those most familiar
Ath the Indians, accelerate their
descent and will, in few years, lead
to the extermination of the entire
nation.
''It will be but few years until
every able. bodied man on the reser-
walton will drink himself to DEATH"
says Superintendent Wilson of the
Indian agency. "It means the finish,
morally and physically, of this tribe
of Indians"
The Winnebagoes and Omahas
were the early friends of the pioneers
of the Trans Missouri country, and
always assisted their white allies in
the wars with the Sioux and Chey-
ennes. For years they were the
most powerful tribes, with the ex.
ception of the Sioux, in the West,
and they absorbed more civilization
than any of the other tribes.
But along with the good of civili-
zation, the Winnebagoes and Omahas
sAlso acquired taste for whiskey,
until any member of the tribe would
sell his very soul for a bottle of
"forty-rod," the meaner the whiskey
the better the Winnebagoes liked it.
And this state has descended, with
increased strength, to the present
day Indian.
For years the reservation of these
two tribes has been surrounded by
saloons and "bootlegging" has been
carried on by numerous parties. The
United States Court at Omaha has
been burdened for years by number
less cases for selling liquor to In
dians, and the penitentiaries are
crowded with it's convicts..
Years ago, before the love of whis-
key became tribal vice with the
Indians, the Winnebagoes and Oma-
has were the most progressive tribes
in the West. When their lands were
divided into farms and allotted to
them, each man receiving deed to
his property, these tribes (or rather
tribe, for the Winnebagoes and Oma-
has early consolidated into one tribe)
we're we'll to do and were pointed to
by the Indians Rights Association as
an example of what could be done
with the red man by kind treatment.
But when the Indians began to re-
ceive money for their farm products,
the "bootleggers" recognized that
their harvest was ripening and small
saloons sprung up all around the
reserve. 1t was unlawful to sell an
Indian whiskey, but the profits were
large and temptation great. The
fsaians got the whiskey and the
"bootleggers" became wealthy.
Soon the profits of the whiskey
4 were not enough for the "bootlegger"
and different schemes were resorted
to in order to increase his profits.
Indians were piled with whiskey and
while under it's influence, gotten to
sign orders on the Indian agent for
cash due them; they were induced
to sign deeds to their lands; i'm
mense bills of machinery, groceries,
goods, ETC., at fabulous prices,
We're sold the intoxicated savage
auntil the tribe was almost destitute.
\ And as the taste for whiskey in
lcreased, the moral nature of the red
4 $$men degenerated. Marriages, even
according to the Indian customs,
Mwere not considered sacred. Young
8'bucks" would marry, live with their