The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-11

uOGIOf when DOSSlDles 1pABtANiAB ea aooai their native medicine man and his rat ting of eourds and beating of drums as a cure-all for every disease. Some of their simple remedies were eminently suc- eessful, as for instance in the case of burn. either from fire or scalding water, and no possible chance to secure phYsi- elan. they gathered the leaves Of the common wild violet (the cultivated sweet violet will answer just as WelD, placed them in a basin of warm water and In few minutes the whole mass of leaves were soft like slippery elm poultiee. This they laid upon the burn, and ban daged 1t. In less than a quarter Of an hour all pain had ceased and the poultice was removed There Is no possible harm in the leaves, and they really do give prompt relief
 Among all the tribes that left Alabama the Cherokees seemed to feel the deepest regret. Like all mountaineers, they were fondly attached to their native land; and a line surveyed around their territory would include the most impressive and beautiful landscapes of the south. They never pronounced the letter r. but called themselves Chellakees. and such was their names when De Soto marched through their lands in 1535 and 1886, nearly S15 years ago. The lordly Tennessee river then bore their name, and continued to do so until the whites took possession.
 At Brandon's station, on the Alabama Great Southern railroad, about 10 miles from Valley Head, a passenger on the train 9 years ago. looking across the valley, could plainly see, in grove of trees, the house that John Ross, the Cherokee chief. lived In for many years before he removed to Chlekamauga Where the city of Chattanooga now stands, was formerly called Ross landing.
 In the presentation of their claims be- fore the United States government the Indians generally estimated the value of their lands as to the good or bad advan- tages for agriculture hunting and fishing, rarely ever making reference to any min erals and it was probably Major George Lowery of the Cherokee delegation, who surprised his audience by a recital of the immense deposits of iron and coal within their domain in Tennessee Georgia and Alabama, and predicted the day would come when these minerals would prove to be their most valuable asset He was born in Tahskeege, on the upper Ten nessee river, near Tellico blockhouse, about the year ITO, and died in October 1852. He was one Of the Cherokee dele gation headed by the distinguished John Watts, who visited President Washing ton. at Philadelphia, Tn 1791 and 1792. He was one of the captains of light horse companies that were appointed to enforce the laws of the nation. in 1908 and 1910. He was a member of the national com mittee, orga nized in 1874. and also one of the delegates who negotiated the treaty of 1919, at Washington also a member of the convention that framed the constitu- ton of the Cherokee nation. in the year 1927, and also that of 1899. He was elected assistant principal chief, under the con stitution of 1928, which office he filled many years, and at the time of his death was a member of the executive council. He was well educated, and plainly told the officials-At Washington that had he the money, he would open mines of coal and iron and build an iron furnace at some point on the Tennessee river and teach his people to quit hunting and set- tie down to work.
 He always took great interest in the translation of the Bible into the Cherokee language, and rendered much valuable assistance to the cause.
 As Elias Boudinot was the first aborigi- nal editor upon the American continent, an account of his struggles under serious difficulties may be of interest. It was a four-page super-royal newspaper, partly in Cherokee, partly in English. Elias Boudinot, editor, Isaac U. Harris, printer. It's heading was at first, Cherokee Phoe- nix," to which was subsequently, added the words, And Indian Advocate" and later on the word Messenger" The first copy was issued on Thursday, February 21 year 1923, the last copy on May 31, 1884. when it suspended for want of funds. Copies of this paper, because of 1t being the first publication in the Cherokee char acters of George Guess (Sequoyah), are in many American museums, and European, and especially in the Boston Athenaeum and the British museum.
 MT. John F. Wheeler, who was the first to set type in the Cherokee characters, gives an account of this paper, in the In- dian Record, Vol. l, No. S. as follows: 'In the year 1927, the Cherokees, having advanced in civilization far ahead of any other Indian tribes in the limits of the United States, resolved in the national council to establish a newspaper.
 "The Cherokee alphabet invented by George Guess, half-breed Cherokee, who could not speak English. began to be discussed and read by the full-blood Indians and for the purpose of dissem- mating knowledge among that class. 1t was determined upon by the council to have the Guess alphabet cast Into type, and as there were a number of mission aries in the nation under the direction of the American board of missions. whose headquarters were in Boston, that city was chosen as the place where the new alphabet could be formed into type. Rev. Samuel A. Worcester, a prominent man in the mission. and who had good edu- cation, was selected, or rather volun- teered, to look after the casting of the new font of type. Very soon after the Cherokee council had decided to establish the paper, Isaac N. Harris, a printer, whose father lived in Sequachee valley, Tennessee, near the town of Jasper. hearing of the intention of the Cherokees, went into the nation and engaged to un- dertake the printing of the paper. Harris, after perfecting arrangements with the Cherokees, left for home, and from thence he came to Huntsville, Ala, where I then lived After Harris stated the con- ditions under which the work was to be done we entered into an agreement to go to New Echota, the capital of the Cherokee nation. and be ready for com mencing the paper by the first of Janu- ary, 1923.
 We arrived at New Echota about the 23d of December, 1927. We found the press, type, etc, had not arrived, they having to be transferred from Augusta, Ga in wagons, a distance of over 200 miles, We found MT. Worcester, with his family. and Elias Boudinot, the editor, with his family, at New Echota, both of whom had just removed there. and in addition to newspaper work. intended to engage in the translation of the scrip lures into the Cherokee language, to be printed with the newly invented charac- ters. Mir Worcester had systematically arranged the characters, which can be better understood as something like the English ba, be. bi, bo. etc., using the Cherokee vowels at the head of each