The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1907-01-23
FIRST INDIAN TO WEAR TOGA
SENATOR-ELECT CURTIS OF KAN
SAS is A REAL RED MAN.
Remarkable Life-Story of a Product
of the Plains. Prominent Men
Who Have Indian Blood
i'm Their Veins.

Who Have Indian BIOod
in Their Veins.
For the first time in it's history
the senate will have a real Indian
who has been a member of tribe
on its roll as a result of the republic
can caucus action of few days ago
in Kansas declaring in favor of rep
resentative Charles Curtis as the
next senator from that state Rep,
resentative Curtis will fill out the
unexpired term of former Senator
Burton. whose seat is now being
filed by Alfred w. Benson by gu
bernatorial appointment.
Representative Curtis is from the
Kansas district embracing Topeka, is
now rounding out his seventh sue
cessive term in cOngress-fourteen
years-and holds a certificate for an
eighth. He is a lawyer by profess
sion, an earnest and accomplished
speaker and the most conspicuous
'friend at court" of the red man.
Much of the practical legislation for
the Indians in the last thirteen years
has been based upon his initiative
and Judgment, and in all recent en-
actments concerning the Indian Ter
ritory he has had large share.
Call Him Indian Prince.
He is we'll known in Washington
as the Indian Congressman" and
the Indian Prince" and both nick
names are based on truth. He is
essentially a self-made man. He was
bootblack, newsboy, railway sand
witch peddler, hackdriver, jockey and
hostler. In these varied callings he
made money enough to support and
educate himself and to help his fam
lily. When he was 16 years old
turfman who had seen the boy ride
offered him So a month and eXpen-
ses to ride for him. The temptation
was great, but the boy advised by
his old Indian grandmother, refused
it and devoted himself to his studies.
He worked his way through school
and then studied law with Judge
Case. He was admitted to the bar
in 1881 and was elected to congress
in 1892
Works for His People.
ron1y n tho oh al
man of the house committee on In
dian affairs, and it has been in that
committee that he has accomplished
so much in legislation for the Indian,
Mr.. Curtis is a Kaw Indian and is
representing a district which a little
more than fifty years ago was own
ed and controlled by his Indian an
cestors. He has been a member of
the Kaw tribe, which in the earlier
DAYS. ruled eastern Kansas. His
mother was of the Kaw tribe and
his father a Frenchman. Mr.. Cur
tbs mother died when he was about
three years old, and he went to live
with his Indian grandmother near
Council Grove, Kan. This grand
mother is mentioned in the treaty
with the Kaw tribe in 1925. By
this treaty she and her sisters were
given what is known as 'Kaw Mile
Four" the tract of land upon which
the city of North Topeka is now
built. In the homestead of this tract
of land Mr. Curtis was born in 1860
and his fine new house marks the
place of his birth, forty-seven years
ago.
Saw an Indian Battle.
Mr.. Curtis has a vivid memory of
one incident of his childhood. He
was eight years old and was coming
home from school in Council Grove
when he saw war party of naked
Kaws, painted and in war feathers,
mounted on their ponies, swoop
down from a hill overlooking the
town and dash through it toward the
hill on the other side. Childlike, Mr..
Curtis wanted to know the cause of
all this, and one of the chiefs
paused long enough to tell him that
they were on their way to fight their
hereditary enemies, the Cheyennes,