The daily sentinel., 1907-07-20

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Some months since Mrs. Spencer
saw an Indian letter printed in the
st. Nicholas magazine which had been
translated and explained by Thomas
H. Tibbles. She Immediately forward
ed a photograph of the rock to the
magazine with the request that it be
turned over to Mr.. Tibbles for ex-
PLANTATION. Tibbles lives at Omaha,
and is quite a noted writer on politi-
cal enconomy and Is also an ethnol-
ogist of considerable note. st. Mich
olas turned thee photo and Mrs. Spen-
GERS letter over to Mr.. Tibbles and
that gentleman had comparatively lit
tie difficulty in interpreting the writ
ing The Omaha World Herald Sc
cured the translation and photo
graph and published them in its Sun
day issue of recent date. T. r. Por-
ter an attache of the paper forward
ed a clipping of the story to Mrs.
Spencer. Mr.. Tibbles' Interpretation
is presented herewith:
MANY years ago there came from
out of the south a nation of men. A
large camp was made in a land where
there were elk and deer and bear, and
the nation remained at that camp one
year and seven f'moons", months.
| Then the party moved to another
camp which was made on a river
that flowed toward the south. Here
they grew powerful and claimed a
large portion of the country, where
there were deer and antelope. A party
was sent out far to the north and
there were many strange animals and
much small game. A camp was made
for two moons. Another hunting party
went to the east where there were elk.
] -, -
theast and found traces of a people
with six toes (There is legend
among northern Indians that some
where in the southwest is a race with
six toes.)"
'"Fhe tribe lived for long time
many years. They hunted for elk and
deer. The elk were to the west and
beyond range of mountains, while
the deer were to the south and east
on the plains. Hunting parties were
sent out to the north and the east.
"Then the tribe divided and made
separate camps. One portion lived
long time at camp where there
was spring in the center of the en-
campment. But some great disease
greatly reduced them in numbers.
"Then they moved to the north
east and made a new home around
the headwaters of. a stream. The
stream at the old home flowed toward
the south. The new stream flowed
northward. After making several
more moves. they finally settled on
the south side of a lsrge river into
which many small streams emptied.
"Then n great tragedy and catas-
trophe occurred. There came a great
war party out of the west and attack
ed the camp. More than half of the
people in the camp were killed, the
surprise being complete. The remain
ing Indians fled to the east and were
pursued. Others We're killed. Final
ly the fleeing indians took refuge be-
hind some obstruction, either a river
or range of mountains, which was too
formidable for the war party to attack
and the remnants were saved from de-
struction."
Here the story ends.
But along with the picture writ
ing of the Indians, there are signs
which Mr.. Tibbles says were never
made by Indians of any northern type
nor, so far as he can tell, were made
by any Indians at all. Whether some
wandering tribe from Central Ameri-
ca made these hieroglyphics. Mr..
Tibbles will not venture to say. Sew
eral of the signs were undoubtedly
made by white people, as no Indian
ever made a sign like that.
The story begins at the upper left
hand corner and goes downward on
the rock instead of across the page"
After reaching the end of the line the
story moves to the right and then go
es upward, finally ending at the long
white line near the center, right. This
line is the formidable obstruction"
behind which the remnants of the
tribe took refuge and the camp can be
seen in the small round sign at the
lower end of this line"