Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-06-07
INDIANS WANT DIVORCES.
Twenty Cases Doeketed In Circuit
Court at Bonesteel, S. D.

Twenty Cases Docketed In Circuit
Court at Bonesteel, S. D.
Taking advantage of the new di-
vorce law that was enacted by the
South Dakota legislature last winter,
many Sioux Indians upon the Rosebud
reservation, following the example Of
their white brethren, have instituted
suits for divorce this spring, says a
Bonesteel s. D., telegram to the Chi
cago Chronicle.
Within q few weeks twenty petit
tions for divorce were filed in the cir
cult court there by full-blooded In
dians. In most Of these petitions the
defendants are charged with desertion
and in most Of the cases Of desertion
elopements figured.
James Ghost Hawk has sued his
squaw Bessie for divorce on the
ground that she was an habitual fiirt
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
and William Stalking Bear.
In another petition Alice Good
Muskrat charges that her husband,
Henry Muskrat, eloped with Flora
Walks-as-She Jumps, a 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
of ten ponies. She also wants her
maiden name, Alice Hlgh-Kicker, re-
stored to her.
Poor Man Star Boy sues for a 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 and
Three Moons.
Josephine Dog Soldier alleges in her
petition for divorce that her husband,
Dog Soldier, bought coffin when she
was i'll, and made preparations to bury
her. His preparations to bury her
made her so angry that she made q
brave fight to get well and did gel
well.
Her recovery. she recites in her Pc
tition, so enraged him that he made g
| vicious attack upon her, breaking hel
| leg and otherwise injuring her, thai
he threatened to murder her and by
drove her from his tepee.
Dog Soldier wished to get rid Of her
she alleges, because he was enamored
of another squaw. After he had driv.
en- her from his home he pressed hi!
suit and sought to persuade 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 a 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 a legal separa'
ton from Mary Picket Pin that she
was faithless to him and left hin
without sufficient cause.
His Horse Standing, one Of the bes
known and most intelligent Indians
on the reservation, sues for divorce
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 divorce
suits are we'll known Indians on the
Rosebud reservation and the suits ir
which they are involved will be prose
cuted and defended precisely as are
similar suits in which white men and
women figure.