The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-08-29
,phvE PRIEST WINS
SIOUX INDIANS TRUST
Boston Sunday PostD

ciouy Indians at the time of the fo
Inns battle of Wounded Knee in 1901
and today. through his courage in nre-
,.sutinE that famous Indian FIGHT from
tocomiag complete utilization of q n
.be sioux tribes, a We friend of Cen
,ral Brooke. then uand. after
ard governor OF "a Gather Int
I. iustnow one OF t.e most nteresting
sqrres among the member ~ the Fed
oTated Association of Roman Catholic
Societies here.
or the stirring days when the band
of Big Foot. the chief. was slaughtered
At Wounded Knee, Father Jutz has
rerhaps the most accurate and vivid
recouectjon Of any living man.
Al that time he was in charge % che
HOLY Rosary mission at the Pine Ridge
roye~ument agency, a humble Jesuit
Hriest. ~sho during the SIX previous
Years had spent his time working
mons the Indian tribes
IN telling of his experience during
,baf last stand Of the western tribes
against the enCroachments of the pale
ace. Father Jutz says:
AT that time, about Dec 8. 1890 I
mas in charge Of the Pine Ridge mis-
sion had built ii up from the ground
sn5 had q school Of about 200 Indian
children.
THE Indians, melted by The Ghost
Dances. were assembling on the Dor
5srs of the bad lands under Big Foot.
.ba chief. and General Brooke, acting
,,r7er the supervision of General Miles.
had assembled his troops at the Pine
Ridge agency and was seeking to con-
fer with the hostile tribes.
THE uprising had been melted by an
Indian medicine man in Utah, who had
declared that the Indian Messiah was
coming. Some of the chiefs of the bad
lands even travelled hundreds of miles
m hear the message of this medicine
man.
when they returned to the tribes the
ghost dances began.
Il was personally a witness of these
horrible dances and stood alone within
The circle Of the 600 madly raving In
dian chiefs. braves. squaws and chill
d~en while they were enacting these
terrible performances.
81 knew them all. Some were from
-he Pine Ridge mission and some from
The Rosebud mussion, at both of which
r'sces I had worked. While the specta-
e'es that I then witnessed were both
terrifying and heart-rending in the ex-
-cne. felt no personal fear, for the
Indians. once their confidence is OBJ
famed. are 10 be trusted wholly.
IN the afternoon these wierd and
thrilling dances began.
Forming themselves in 2 great cir I
c'a with hands resting on each others |
shoulders, this ring of savages began |
70 dance slowly. at first. singing al |
ways. Ate che yelo,' so the Father said /
Ne must dance. Then little by little |
the ring began to move faster. Soon |
every participant of the wild orgie be- |
gan to loose their senses. Wild cries
rent the air. The flying clOJ~1s of dust |
shr0uded the uncanny moving ring of |
raging human beings. The plaintive |
ny ATE che yelo' rose higher and |
higher
For hours the circle moved round
and round. At last madness began to
seize many of the figures.
The weaker lost their heads COM
p'etely and for a time became insane
Many fell down on the ground as if
6aad Far into the dusk the mad dance
Kept up until every participant was
completely exhausted.
After one of these dances I called
some Of those who had lain on the
ground i'm a stupor and asked them If
they had seen the Messiah in their
visions. as it had been predicted. I Of
frred them one two& three, four and
finally five dollars. a large sum to an
Indian. 10 tell me of they had seen
anything strange. They only smiled
saeepshly and could tell me nothing.
And SO you see how foolish are
these wild Dances I said. Then they
would shake their heads and later an
other of these orgies would begin.
Shortly after the opening of these
dances. the hostile tribes, as I have
said, assembled on the edge Of the bad
lands
IT was while they we're there and
General Brooke was with his troops
hear at hand that ] voluntarily went
INTO the Indian camp to try and bring
the Indians up to the mission, where a
inference might be held They would /:
receive no other persons. They refused (
'os9utely 10 treat with the general
I entered the hostile camp alone. Be .
eath the big chiefs tepee / met the :
eaQers Of The band.
] said. Now. if you viii go up to
General Brooke at the mission no harm t
SUI come 10 you. / viii assure you Of Z
bat ,
Then they made me Ftand up and
Wear that what I said was true by the /
treat Spirit. In the end forty of the F.,
.'ei mon cousented to 90 with me. All 7
IRE armed as I rode with these /
lalge. silent savages around me to- {
'a.lS General Brooke's headquarters. 1
But father, they will take away I
-F guns. one Of the Indians said as /
came ia sight Of the government /
i.luge
and 7 said: IF you will do as I tel v
Z. no larm viii come to you and c
'.n.ng viii be taken from you Y
"Aen we came to the generals \
a1quarters ! bade them ali stand S
.5E guns IN a line along the side Of a
y 0uleng. Then we entered and the Il
inference began.
rs result Of that meeting the In
ans ot this band went back to their
-a'a3meat and later withdrew into
z reservation.
=. 10 vas due to the approach of an Y
H.I band from the north under Big a
10. coming 10 join Short Bulls hos v
~ tribes that the battle Of Wounded b
.-, creek was brought about. %
-Ne battle occurred about two 4
as after the conference that / have II
,'h'd. The Indians were approach n
s rom The north when they were /,
.,,.. aded by the American soldiers.
81. /" 10 Tired the first shot which re-
,.,le SO terribly for the Indians is not
'snN. may have been an Indian; =
may have been soldier At any !
nearly III the band, consisting or -
IL 4