The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1909-01-22
A Peacemaker.

For many years he hDO'cd Win
and made promises to the Indians, ar
gued with the whites and made repre-
sensations to the great father at Wash
ington. Since the Indians were not
the aggressors the whites would not
desist. and. the great father 1T Wash
lngton being too busy to pay attention
to the agents communications, the
trouble went on.
Slowly the Indians began 10 prepare
for revenge and resistance. They did
not do so openly, but Durham could
see that, to use nautical expression,
they were clearing the decks for ne
ton" Then one night a settlers shack
was burned and the settler and his
family murdered The Indians were
called upon to produce the culprits,
but avowed that they did not know
them. few days later another set
tier was murdered then another and
another. Burnham reported the mat
ter to Washington, with the result that
small number of tro0ps-all that
gould be spared from the then meager
United States army-were sent to ''pac-
ify' the Indians.
All this happened when an Indian
war was a serious matter. The troops
sent to conquer the redskins were n
mere drop In the bucket Of what were
required Burnham knew that If the
war opened in earnest the government
would have to send n dozen times
their number, and even then, owing to
the nature of the country, it would be
a long while before the Indians were
reduced to obedience. He wrote out
an agreement on the part of the gov
eminent to redress the wrongs that
had been inflicted, which he designed
to submit to the chiefs, but he had so
long put them off with promises lie
was not permitted to fulfill that he
had no hope of persuading them to
accept the proffered terms.
The railroad was then being laid
across the continent and ran some
fifty miles north of the scene of these
troubles. Burnham had occasion to
go to the terminal for supplies. one of
those wild west places where there are
gambling and dancing and all manner
OF shows. He stopped before one of
these shows and viewed the perform
ers, among whom were vent"liOquiSt
and a conjurer AS he looked a plan
occurred TO him of keeping The peace
with the Indians. lie made the ven
triloquist and the conjurer Il liberal
proposition TO go back with him, and
they accepted.
AS soon as he had returned he an
nounced TO the chiefs that he had
proposition from the great father at
Washington to make to them and in
vited them to conference. At the
appointed hour they appeared at the
place designated. an open space In
closed by timber. and In order to be
prepared for treachery brought an
ample number of warriors. When they
were all seated cross legged Burnham
announced that the great father had
sent two of his sons to give them evil
dence of his power and introduced the
conjurer.
Then followed wonders such as the
simple Indians had never conceived of.
The coniurer took Burnhams watch,
rammed 1t into the mouth Of blunder
buss and fired 1t at a target where
1t hung In perfect order suspended by
hook Then he bred rabbits so fast
that they tumbled over one another
trying to get out of the basket where
they were born. These marvels were
continued for some time. when the per-
| former took hat, set 1t on box be-
fore him and proceeded to extract
from it munitions of war al libitum.
Pistols. cartridges. cannon balls fol-
lowed one another in endless profusion.
BY this time the Indians were duly
impressed with the great fathers mar
velous powers. and Burnham concluded
to give them n talkwonder that would
include some good advice. The ven
triloquist stepped forth and sat on a.
camp stool. holding on his knee an
! image that he introduced as the great
! fathers grandson. The process was
necessarily slow. since the performer
was obliged to speak through an in
terpreter. but there was not much TO
interpret and that was to the point.
"What has the great father to say TO
the chiefs?" asked the ventriloquist OF
the image.
"To have confidence I'm the promises
OF his servant. the agent. The great
father will see that his promises are
carried out"
"And what will the great father do
II his red children put on the war
paint?"
"He will send his son to make pow
der and ball for the soldiers"
"Has the great father any other mes
sage for his red childrenr'
"No The great father does not talk;
he acts
This ended the show and the con-
ference as well. The Indians had
been struck dumb by the marvellous
powers for making destructives dis
played by the great fathers son. and
the words OF his grandson had deeply
impressed them. They signed new
treaty then and there. They asked to
be shown more wonders done by the