The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1906-07-22
BY CAPTAIN. HENRY INMAN.

u
have often heard the people of the
Far. West discuss the old Indian custom
of scalp taking and speculate on its
origin l doubt if they ever satisfied
their curiosity, for, as far as l have been
able TO learn. and / have had years of
experience on the frontier, what little
is known Of the brutal custom is vague
and indefinite. Nearly every tribe has
some wild, weird legend to account for
the custom, but these traditions vary
widely as to the cause. That raising
the hair" of an enemy is of great an
tiquity there is no doubt, for in the
Bible it is related how the soldiers tore
the skin. from the heads of their van
quished foes.
With the North American savage
| there appears to be some close affilia-
ton between the departed and his hair.
l have often asked many a blood be-
grimed warrior why he should care for
dead mans hair. and invariably a
number of reasons has been assigned.
1t Is an evidence to his people that he
has triumphed over his enemy The
scalps are very prominent factors in the
incantations of the medicine lodge
feature of religious rites. The saw
ages believe there is wonderfully in
herent power in the scalp of an enemy:
all the excellent qualities OF the vic
tim go with his hair the moment it is
wrenched from his head. If the victim
is a renowned warrior. so much great
er is the anxiety to procure his scalp,
for the fortunate possessor then in
herits all the bravery and prowess of
it's original owner.
never knew of but one instance in
all my experience among the Indians,
covering perior of more than a third
of a century, where white man, taken
prisoner in battle, escaped death. 1t
was great many years ago; the party
dear friend, still living, a grand old
mountaineer but the homeliest man on
earth. probably. He was. red faced
wrinkled, and pockmarked, with a
mouth as large and full of teeth as a
gorilla, and there was no more hair on
his head than there is on a billiard ball
He was captured in prolonged fight
and taken to- the village of the tribe
where the principal chief resided That
dignitary gave one Disguised look at
the prisoner and said that he was bad
medicine" and. If not the "evil spirit"
himself, closely related to it. The chief
ordered his subordinate to furnish the
prisoner with pony. loaded him with
provisions, provided him with a rifle,
and told him to go back to his people.
For the reasons stated the Indian
of the great plains and Rocky Noun
tains would rather take one scalp of
a lohiOuS scout OT ARMY OIQCer VINO has
successfully chastised them-for ex-
ample, Custer, Sully, Miles or Crook
than dozen scalps of ordinary white
men.
In 1867 a party of Indians took up a
rail on the Union PaGific Railway and
laid distractions on che track After
dark freight train ran into the trap
and was wrecked. The engineer and
fireman were instantly killed. The con-
ductor and brakeman jumped off to
find themselves beset by a band of yell
ing savages. They ran into the dark
ness and all escaped except one who
was pursued. shot and fell. The In6ian
who had fired dismounted from lis
pony, and straddling that unlucky
mans body, scalped him, stripped him
of all clothing but shirt and shoes, and
rode away.
Early in the morning another freight
train was tagged by hideous- looking
object, which turned out to be the
brakeman who had hssa shet Through