Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-06-21
Juice OF Mexican Plant Has
Succeeded Bad Whisky
Among Winnebagocs.
TERRIBLE EFFECTS NOTED
Men, Women and Children Become
idiotic Under Its Influence-Drink
Poisonous Drug So They May
See Savior.
Tron the Sioux City Tribune.)

~ I"'aaii va
scious of Inevitable physical d~ecli.:e.
counting death itself in the practice of
n strange and weird religion and in the
hope of seeing lost friends and the pa
tron deity of their nation. more than 200
Winnehaso Indians are slaves OF the
m"scal tea habit. ut once the most nor
rible of Indian orgies and the very
latest vice OF TIE red men.
The slaves of the mescal have organ
lied the "Mescal society,"" which the In
diais claim is Il religious o.glniZatiOn.
and from the effects of the drug only
"a few weeks. nearly IL dozen children
are dead. n buck has succulnbed. ;.nd
over eighty squaws and bucks are
physical and mental wrecks.
the sufferinSs of the Winnebago In
dams at the hands of the white men
when they were driven across a blizzard
cursed western waste to face famine in
Nebraska; disease in it's every sorm
which has threatened to carry off the
last member of the once noble race;
poisonous liquors sold by designing
traders. are all as nothing as compared
10 the ravages of realizing religious &C.
stacy by means of the mescal tea. the
popularity of which has increased with
startling rapidity since the habit of
drinking the liquor made from the bud
and bark of the mescal was introduced
on the W~innebago reservation a year
hSO ny IL NItNICdu luuliIl lTtucT.
Helpless to Stop Habit.
And while the Indian authorities see
the "Mescal society" PROSECUTING among
the members of the Winnebago tribe,
the wealthiest and at one time the most
industrious and intelligent Indian ma
ton In the world. the are helpless to
check the spread of tine habit. Indian
superinteidents and teachers must
watch silently while little children he
,nty,e SIn y.,S nf tho huhit and tho [! r.Apt
White Father in Washington is without
authority to forbid the sale of the mes
,al or to put a stop to tho orgies. which
are OF weekly. almost daily occurrence.
Congress has failed to take any ac-
tior. The Legislature of Nebraska lid
not meet this year. and the leaders of
Ike Mcscal society and designing
raiders who make handsome profits
selling the wealthy Indians. are free to
.ntice men. women and children into
using the liquor. which means certain
destruction to everyone who uses 1t.
and before a law can be passed to IRE
vent the use of the drug more than
half the tribe of 100 Indians will suffer
he effects of mescal using.
Children Given the Poison.
Superintendent McFattridge. OF the
W~innebagO reservation, says he has
exhausted his resources to discourage
the habit; he has pleaded and threat
cneu tue duuil3 ulO pidtCu NuC III
dren in the boarding schools, but so
persistent is the religious frenZ of the
Mescal society that the children are
stolen from the schools. carried to the
meetings of the strange society. where
they are given the mescal liquor until
they fall to the earth. some of them
never to rise again.
The effects OF using the liquor are at
once apparent on those who become
addicted to the habit. Already there
are more than $50 who show plainly
the physical havoc which the drug has
wrought. Their faces arc drawn and
ashen white: the pupils of their eyes
are contracted as though mornhine had
been injected I'm the veins: their lips
are parched. n they resemble mon
and women dying of consumption.
Chatter Like Monkeys.
Thc mental effects are apparent to
Superintendent McFattridge. who has
watched closely the working of the
drug. Men and women who were
among the brightest and most intelli-
gent Indians on the reservation when
MIR. MclFattridge took charge of the
comprehension. driveling idiots who
chatter like monkeys. speaking neither
English nor their native tongue intel
ligently.
Disa strous, indeed. arc the influences
Of the habit and the superstition upon
u IL IN anu AlS - INV
more crime. more RIGHTEOUSNESS and
more devil -may-care wildness among
the Indians than there has been among
the peaceful members of the Winne-
hago nation since they we're driven
from their former home MSWisconsin.
Trader introduced Meseai.
john Rave, a nall -br&ed trader. was
the first to introduce The mescal. its
delights and its death-dealing horrors
to the WinnebaEo Indians. It's advent
into the wigwam n hut of the In
dians in Nebraska followed a campaign
by Commissioners Francis NJ. Leupp. of
the Indian department. against selling
liquor to the red men. Scarcely had
the last flask OF whisky bee de-
Stroycd by the government authorities
until the mescal came from New Mex
ico. and with 1.-THE story Of the strange
relation. -
The Indians. craaed by a burning
thirst for liquor and strong intoxi-
cants. were eager to obtain. anything
In the way of a substitute.
The mescal. which is used to make
the ten, though sometimes called q
bean. Is really the bud Of a plant which
grows i'll Mexico and New Mexico. The
Ow-white bud unfolds within Il burr
resembling that of a chestnut or ar
acorn. 1t Is this bud. IN it's rough
burr. which is picked by the bushel and
cent to the WinnebaKo Indiana. It Is
said j few Mexicans make a tea by
boiling the burrs N allowing the
liquor to fermcnt I'm the sun.
Heirs Brew Quickly Done.
But the Winncbaso Indian has ne
patience to allow the. liquor to ferment
The Indians make II ovcr a fire at
their huts: p0ur II INFO bottles and