The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1907-06-19
INDIANS WANT DIVORCES.
Twenty Cases Docketed in Circuit
Court at Bonesteel. S. D.

Court at Bonesteel. S. D.
Taking advantage Of the new di-
vorce law that was enacted oy the
: South Dakota legislature last winter,
! many Sioux Indians upon the Rose
| bud reservation, following the exam
pie of their white brethren, have in
/ stituted suits for divorce this spring,
says Bonesteel, S. D, telegram to
the Chicago Chronicle.
! Within a few weeks twenty petit
i t:ons for divorce We're filed in the
circuit court there by full-blooded
Indians. In most Of these petitions
the defendants are charged with de-
section and in most Of the cases Of
desertion elopernent figured.
James Ghost Hawk has sued his
squaw Bessie for divorce on the
ground that she was an habitpal firt
and eloped with Walking Soldier, an
Indian brave living near the Crow
Creek reservation. He asks that he be
awarded the custody Of their child.
Mollie Three Thighs Ghost Hawk.
The witnesses who will testify against
the woman are Thomas Two Sticks
ard William Stalking Bear.
In another petition Alice Good
Muskrat charges that her husband,
Henry Muskrat, eloped with Flora
Walks-as-She Jumps, young Indian
maiden Of many charms and with a
| penchant for flirting, and has since
the elopement failed to contribute to
her support. She asks that she be
given a decree of divorce and alimony
or ten ponies She also wants her
maiden name, Alice High-Kicker, re-
stored to her.
Poor Man Star Boy sues for di-
vorce from his wife, Jennie, on the
ground that she ran away and is now
living with a worthless brave, Walk
/! ing Thunder, Who paid open court to
her at her home. He will call as wit
nesses Three Dogs, Kicks High a14
Three Moons.
Josephine Dog Soldier alleges in
Fer petition for divorce that her hus-
band, Dog Soldier, bought coffin
when she was i'll, and made prepara-
tions to bury her. His prepara lions
to bury her made her so angry that
she made brave fight to get well
an6 did get we'll.
Her recovery, she recites in her pc
tition, so enraged him that he made
vicious attack upon her, breaking her
leg and otherwise injuring her. that
he threatened to murder her and by
cruel ard inhuman treatment finally
drove her from, his tepee.
Dog Soldier wished to get rid OF
| her, she alleges, because he was en-
a.mored Of another squaw. After he
had driven her from his home he
pressed his suit and sought to per
suade this other squaw to live with
him, but when she learned how he
had treated his wife she sent him
away.
Hollow Left Hand sues for divorce
from Left Hand on the ground Of de-
sertion. She recites in her petition
that they had been married and lived
| happily together for number OF
years, when he grew tired Of her,
treated her unkindly and finally de-
serted her.
Picket Pin charges in the petition
wherein he asks for legal separa-
ton from Mary Picket Pin that she
was faithless to him and left him
without sufficient cause.
His Horse Standing, one of the
best known and most intelligent In
dams on the reservation, sues for di-
vcrce from White Whirl Wind on
similar grounds.
Sweet Horse alleges IN his petition
that Clara Sweet Horse deserted him
because she had ceased to love him.
Most of the parties to these di-
vcrce suits are well known indians on
the Rosebud reservation and the suits
in which they are involved will be
prosecuted and defended precisely as
are similar suits in which white men