The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-10-24

Chief Bird Necklace, sitting on a
trunk in a Bijou theater dressing-room,
took far look into the past and told
Of the beginnings Of things in the north
west-of the days when he was literally
"afraid of the cars'' and when it took
a brave who was indeed brave to fire
= Bird Necklace is 81 years Of age-the
Old Man of his people, the Ogalalla
playing at the Bijou this week, in
West. - Time has chiseled his face
like the buttes among which so much
of his life has been spent, but it has
not dimmed his eye nor blanched his
hair. He was second in command at
the fierce fight in which the gallant
Custer and his band were wiped out.
Further back, he hunted the buffalo
with bow and arrow and figured in the
tribal wars. In his own life, he has
passed thru all the, phases of life which
have marked the American Indian from
present. Now he is reservation In
dian and his heart is good. Thru with
raids and hard riding, he can see the
past in clear Tight. He remembers
when Minneapoliso wasi not and then
when the frst' village by the Falls Of
st. Anthony was founded. -:
"When I was a young man, many
days journey to the west from here, -
he said, thru Antoine Provost. the in
terpreter, "a report came to US that
| men with white faces had made a vii
| lage by the falls on the big river to-
! ward the rising sun. We did not know
| if this were true, as it was very far
away. We knew that somewhere In
dams Of another tribe lived by a big
water, which was bitter to taste, and
that men with pale faces had come
among them many winters before, but
we did not think that they would ever
journey to where we hunted the buffalo.
Zone life is a short time. for man
it is good. What could the Indian do
but fight when the white man Games
It is not easy for man to change his
life as I have done; as my people are
doing.
"When white traders first came
among us, we were as little children.
His hatchets we did not understand,
but strung them on. thongs for neck
laces. The white men laughed, as dc
now, at our foolishness. Guns we
feared. First time we got gun we
! set up three sticks and tied the gun to
them Then we tied a long thong to
| Cne Trigger, aha WueH We ptuleu ~, we
ran like hell. Zone of the few Eng
lish words in the chiefs vocabulary
But we got over our fear and the
white man can say whether the Sioux
is afraid Of gun. The railroad
frightened us. When I rode over q
hill with my warriors and train came
yelling at US we turned and rode fol
our lives. My horse threw me, but
kept on running on foot. Now I like
to ride behind the thing which fright
ened me them. 1t seems to me thai
it is much for a man to learn to use Sc
many strange things in one life.
"No, the Indian will not fade away
He will learn the white man s way ant
be as a white man. I am too old tt
learn his speech, but my young men ar
not. 1t is right that the Great Faith
er should give to each Indian SOM
land for his own, The Sioux will no
be farmer, but he will raise cattle
it is the proper thing for him. But tn
Great Father should do more. The In
dian can do other things that whit
man can do. He can be a medicin
man after the way Of the white man
He can be one Of the talking men il
the court. It is wrong to stop teach
ing the Indian when he has Learned
the white tongue. He should be laugh
further, for he can learn to do tn
things the white young man learns am
he must make his living as the whit
man does
1T am too old to see the time, bu
the day will come when the red nal
lives as other men in the land Of hi
fathers. .""}' ...'....- -.