The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-04-23
DAKOTA INJuNs. HEAP
CIVILIZED. WANT DIVORCES.

x HEAP
CIVILIZED, WANT DIVORCES.
Rosebud Indians. long incorrigibles,
have at last become civilized and
have adopted the ways n manners
of the palefaces. Proof of this state
ment is to be found on b docket OF
the term of district court opening mere
today. Over a score of divorce suits
are scheduled for trial, with too much
married braves and squaws as the
principals. The get divorced quick,
while you wait, mania so long in
vogue in South Dakota has spread
among the Indians. Becoming wise
in the ways of the white medicine
men,, they have discovered that the
.3tie that binds doesn't really do so
and that a judicious expenditure of
wampum to alleviate the itching
palms of a pale-faced lawyer will re
suit in a new sQuaw every moon.
May narrowing tales of martial dis
cord n domestic infelicity are set
forth in the applications for divorce.
Poor Man Boy Star is one of the
braves who has appealed to the courts
for a legal separation from a tickle
aid faithlesS wife. He charges that
his squaw, Jennie, eloped from his
bed and board with one Walking Thun
der and that she is now living with
him. Ghost Hawk is another Indian
who has appealed to the palefaces tri-
bunal for relief from CALLING matrimo-
NAL ties, also charging desertion.
Walking Soldier is named as the core
%spondent in this case n is alleged to
have lured the im~pressionable Bessie
Ghost Hawk to his tepee neal the
Crow Creek reservation. Ghost Hawk
also asks for the possession of his child
Mollie Three Thighs, stating thai tho
mother is not a proper person to rear
the little girl in the way h should
go. Two Sticks and Stalking Bear
have been summoned as witnesses in
the Ghost Hawk suit, while Poor Man
Star Boy hopes to prove his wife's in
fidelity by the testimony of Three
| Moons, Three Dogs and Hicks High.
Another case of desertion, but with
the wife as the plaintiff in the divorce
suit. is charged in the papers filed
in the case Of Alice Good Muskrat
against Henry Muskrat. Flora Walks
as-she Jumps is named as the fair de-
| ceiver who lured Henry from his hon.
The plaintiff asks for the restoration
of her maiden name, Alice High Kick
er, and alimony in the sum of ten po-
MES.
According to his tale of woe, James
Bull Tail is a very much mistreated
man. He alleges that his wife, Bear
Bull Tail, repeatedly abused him., once
beating him so severely that he was
taken to a hospital for treatment. AS
a final charge in h Indictment, the
plaintiff alleges that Mrs. Bear was
too familiar with one Gus Stranger
Horse.
Alleging that ne bought a coffin and
made preparations for her burial
.-l;1a n ,,a~ I'll Tocnnhinn noo Sol
der wants a decree of divorce from
Dog Soldier. The latter is alleged to
have become so incensed at the bad
taste of his wife in recovering from
her illness, after an elaborate funeral
had been arranged for, that he broke
her leg and otherwise injured her.
Anna Buffalo Pipe is named as CO.
respondent in the suit of Holy Track,
a pretty young squaw, against Never
Stampede. Several witnesses, 1nclud-
ing Three Toes and One Tail, will tes-
tify that Never Stampede is now liv-
ing in Wyoming with his new love
and it is likely that Holy Track will
secure a divorce. without trouble.
Elopements and assertions figure
in nearly all the other case on the
docket, including those of His Horse
Standing against White Whirl Wind;
Hail Fast Horse against Mary Hail
Fast Horse, Helen turning bedI
against Fred Left Hand, and Picket
Pin against Mary Picket Pin.
Among many tribes less civilized
than the Rosebuds, divorce suits are
still tried according to h Indian code
of Jurisprudence, without recourse to
the pale face courts. The recent de-
cision of Federal Judge Trieber, hand
ed down at Omaha, abolishing the
Indian court, does not affect the di-
vorce laws, which are remarkably sim
pie. The mother of the squaw is the
court of last resort, and whenever she
deems it advisable Or ~expediant she
can go to the tepee of her daughter
and command her to leave, this action
constituting a legal divorce. Both
parties are tnen at liberty to marry
again. There is no appeal from the
decision of the mother-inlaw of the
brave thus Drived of his squaw, and
those DESTROYS of keeping their wives
are always careful to keep il the good
graces of the maligned mamma-ln-law
Among the many Indians of South
Dakota, the order of Judge Trlebef
dissolving the tribal courts has arous-
ed great dissatisfaction. Especially
is this true at the Pine Ridge Sioux
agency, where three learned j%urists,
Standing Soldier, Thunder Bear and
Fast Horse have long dispensed jus
tice among the 5000 redskins with al
most universal satisfaction.