The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-09-16
BRULE SIOUX
CHIEF ACTORS
Rocky Bear, an 0gaIIala, Tells
of a Massacre of Soldiers
in Wyoming in 1854.
TROUBLE AROSE OVER CALF
DARK TRAGEDY OF OVER HALF A
CENTURY AGO.
TROUBLE AROSE OVER CALF
Especial to The HeraldD

Especial TO Inc HeralO-l
Cheyenne Wyo.. Sept. 15.-Fifty- three
years ago Lieutenant Grafton and a de-
tail of twenty-nine men were massacred
| by the Sioux at point on the south side
of the North Platte river nine miles below
Fort Laramie. at that time the chief out
| post of civilization in the western coun-
| try. Today Chief Rocky Bear of the
! Ogallala Sioux, an eyewitness of the mas
sacre sat in a newspaper office here and
! in the cultural language of his tribe re-
| lated his recollections of the incident Act
| ing as interpreter was Batiste Fourier
! the celebrated big Bat" of frontier his
| tory, between whom and the chief there
| is a friendship of thirty years standing.
Indians Story of Massacre.
1T was the day of Oct 5, 1884, said Big
| Bat, translating the story of Rocky Bear.
that a party Of immigrants had heifer
! go lame as the long train of wagons was
approaching Fort Laramie. The heifer,
she could walk no more, and the people
| they leave her beside the trail. There she
is find by Sioux, who try to make her
walk. but she cannot; so the Indian he kill
her and butcher the meat. which he take
to the camp. where coo the Ogallala and
the Brule Sioux they are gathered for a
sun dance These Indians are peaceable
and not seek harm to do the white man.
| Chief Conquering Bear he command the
Brules and Spotted Tail he is a lesser
| leader
The next morning. the October 9Th. the
immigrants they send to find the crippled
cow, and they find her not. They return
to the fort and they complain to the COM
| mander demanding not pay for the cow
but the man who have take her The
Lieutenant Grafton he is detail to visit
the Sioux camp and demand the man, and
he Is given Twenty-Five men to go with
| him. Also they have one cannon. which
| is of the popularity that it have a black
walnut hub.
Interpreter Cot Drunk.
-Four mile above the Indian camp the
soldiers stop at COOney place and drink
much. The interpreter he drink too much
/ and is drunk. Then they go to Indian
camp, where the sun dance it is in prog
/ resS. The Indians are very friendly Lieu
| tenant Grafton demand the man who
| butcher the immigrants COW. A chief he
| reply that the Indians ready to pay for
! that COW. but that the man he cannot be
| have Lieutenant Grafton demand again
| the man saying not pay but him is want
ed; he have killed the white mans COW
and he must suffer. The chief reply that
all Indians have eaten of the cow and all
/ are guilty as that man: that they are very
| ready to pay what is the value of the
| beef.
BruIes Did the Killing.
The Lieutenant Grafton he is very i'm
patient and once more he demand the
man. The Indian which has taken the
| COW he is in his tepee and he hear and
| call for the soldiers to come and get him.
| The chief know what that mean and re-
| strain the man. but the soldiers they grow
! impatient and the commander he tell them
/ to shoot. They shoot, these thirty men
against 1.000, all into the tent where is
| Chief Conquering Bear, who is hurt so he
/ die in three days. Then the Brule Sioux
! who are led then by Spotted Tail, they
are wild and they attack the soldiers with
arrow and with tOmahawk. In an In
slant it is overall the white men they
are dead with arrow and with toma ha wk
Sioux q hp
/ mouth and do not die. The Ogallala Sioux
/ stand and watch and have no part in the
massacre.
Escape of the Indians.
Then the Indians they stop the dance
and they move from that spot. knowing
the soldiers will come in strength. They
1 cross the river which is low and go away
on the other side. But first they drag that
cannon to the river and throw him in
When Lieutenant Grafton he not re-
| turn. the fort is alarmed and the soldiers
go to where the Indian camp has been and
| there find the dead men. The Sioux they
are gone and there is no more fight but
the dead men they are buried in one big
grave. AL except the Lieutenant Grafton
who is carried to the fort.
1t was the fault of the interpreter who
was drunk. He talk more for the white
men than for the Indians, although he is
| himself Indian, and he make the trouble
| The Indians had not intend to kill the
white men and the Ogallala Sioux thew
have no part In it. OF them Rocky Bear
/ is one
Three Skeletons Missing.
| The noted scouts Interpretation of the
| old Indians simple tale was listened to
1 by Joe Wilde of Fort Laramie who in
| 1891, under the direction of Lieutenant
! NickersOn. disinterred the bones of TWEEN
| ty-siX troopers and prepared them for
! shipment to the national cemetery at Fort
/ Mcpherson. Wilde substantiated Rocky
/ Bears statement that the men were bur
| led in one grave. saying he found the
! bones in great confusion, and superin-
! tended the placing of them in twenty-six
| different collins. The skulls still bore
/ the marks of the tomahawks, and arrow
| heads were sticking in many Of the bones
/ He calculates the number of arrowheads
| in the grave and near il at 1000. and SAYS
! he carried away more than go. Three
! skeletons were not found.
Big Bat, Rocky Bear. Pete Ricard AMI
several others came to Cheyenne from
| Henderson, S. D.. in connection with 81 800
/ which Mrs. Fourier has coming from the
| estate of her father John Richard, who
| died several years ago. The money is in
| custody of the district court and in the
! absence of Judge r. n. Matson they could
/ not collect il, but will be compelled TO
| return later. They departed for the Pine