The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1907-08-27
THEIR TELEGRAPH CODE AN IN
TEREsTiNo STUDY.
INDIANS VERY RET|CENT
And Tell But Little OF Their Talk
with Sticks and Stones-old
Scouts and Traders Who Have
Lived With Them for Years

Guthrie, Okla, Aug. 26.-The sign
language of the Indian tribes of the
southwest and especially the methods
by which different bands communi
Gated with each other while ON the
march, Is an interesting study, and
one In which new features are being
dug out all the time. with the as
sistance of the old-timors who rode
the trails In the days when the In
dians were the owners of the broad
prairics of Oklahoma. Ordinarily
very little information of the sort
Is to be obtained from the Indians
themselves, and most of it must be
traders.
John ]. Dunn. living near Arapahoe
! Okla. who claims to be the first
white man now living In this country
who ever traversed its praries, val
leys and mountains, has great
store of knowledge of that sort,
CLEANED during his association with
the various Indian tribes during the
early days In what is now Oklahoma.
lie made his first visit to Oklahoma
! in 1868. when he left Buffalo Station,
/ reXas. with a troop of soldiers and
made raid on t.ie Indians along
| the Washita aud Canadian rivers.
/ rhc expedition proceeded on to the
Antelope hills whore tn ewater played
out and they turned back toward
the south.
Near Fort Cobb they came across
| a band OF Toukawa Indians which
| had received rough treatment from
| the kiowas and Comanches, who
were not on the war path with the
whites There were only about 100
warriors left in this band. beaten
aud bruised up and crippled from the
battles they had just gone through.
/ The troop of soldiers picked them up
and took them back to Fort Griffin,
where the survivors and their de-
. sccndaats sul live.
/ II was ON one of his earliest Wis.
| its to oklahoma that Mr. Dunn ran
across one of the peculiar methods
of signaling used by the Indian tribe,
when they would so out on big
raid The warriors who were to par.
/ ticipatr in the raid would all gather
at one point and would there con.
struct a mound with as many stones
| in IL as there were warriors They
would then scatter into small bands.
When any band returned TO the
mound. il they had lost in hight aud
/ the others were not there. the lead
err would take from the mound as
many stones as he had lost warriors
Thus the other bands, on returning
10 the mound. could tell just how
many men had been lost
4 rather more complex system
was used by the Pawnees to tell their
fellow trihesmen OF their success in
battle In one sign of that sort which
is told of by an old scout, sixteen
| buffalo skulls were set in a semi.
| circle. with their noses pointing
down the river near which they were
placed. In the center of the circle
was a skull on which We're painted
thirty.siN red lines Near the skull
were TWO small sticks placed up.
right in the ground and at the top
/ of each stick were tied two bundles
ot hair.
The Interpretation was that thirty.
/ six PaWuee Indians had camped
there. They had made a raid against
a camp OF Comanches containing
/ sixteen tents or lodges, and had tax
en four scalps They were now re
turning home down the river, To
/ the white man who was unyersed IN
. the indian methods OF communica.
tions the tumble OF skulls and sticks
conveyed NO meaning at all, but to