The Ellensburg dawn. [volume] (Ellensburg, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1909-07-15


t'~cct crs had arranged with
thrm to BALD an iron r. I'd. with
"..Cr q that ate wood. hrcIthed llrc
II Il smoke" to draw wagons and EN-
llrHntS quickly across their country
To Oregon. Washington and California,
toward the setting sun. With pleasure
the" agreed When this road was
| built II was Only as wide as his out
stretched arms. but the man in the
| dark" hal taken from them lands
twenty miles in width for hundreds of
miles.
His arguments, as | see them now
! covered every one that the unscliiSh
| advocate of communal existence can
advance. practicable when the So coil
ed "civiliZcd man" has become as con
tented ms were the primitive chii...sn
of prairie land and forest. but, lacking
which, this survival of the tittcSt
seems To decree the fate of the iulian
and control he relative prosperity If
the white. The fire horse caused
prairie fires. His attendants increased
until they ca,ac with shovel. spade and
carpenter tools They first erected
tcpces got lonely and brought their
squaws. Their friends soon came to
Join them. and soon wooden tcpc"S
were built and camps became villages
and villages towns until cities were
filled with crowds Of people. such as
Bismarck. Nandan. ct. Then the
IMAM in the dark" sold the land
Later. when the crops failed and the
lessee did not pay, he Kicked the tenant
out and resol the land He took the
money back in the dark toward the
rising sun. If poor man had no
money he could not ride. hu; there WAS
plenty of room: he had to walk often
to die by the roadside of hardShlps or
starvation. If some Samaritan Indian
did not feed him. The man in the
dark" never came there when he and
his chief made complaints 40 phS
was responsible. They We're to!! 70
send letters or speak by the lightning
to the IMAM IN the dark" but he never
answered. When the government trca
ties were broken IA similar diScourtcons
lack of consideration occurred M
chiefs and me. who signed. We're al
ways here. The great fathers head
men General Harvey and others We're
not They never returned New white
chiefs took their places. and every four
years new great fathers tool; power and
their men laughed at what their prrde
cessors had done"
The breaking Of treaties so frequent
ly and the invasion of the Black Hills
and other sections by the gold seekers.
prospectors and trappers became the
cause of constant Irritation. leading to
+ almost continual contests. raids and
massacres. This condition had really
brought on the war of 1906. resulting
in the Custer fight as we'll rs its many
succeeding clcanups.
The forfeiture of the Black Hills ana
injudicious reductions of rationS kept
discomfort alive. When In 1850 con
grcss passed law dividing the Sioux
reservation into many smaller ones so
as to isolate the different tribes or
clans of the Dakota nation II treaty
was submitted to their vote whereby
by reinstnting the cutoff ratiunS and
paying for ponies captured or destroy
conditions they ceded about one-half
their land-11 100000 acres. Fulfill
ment Of conditions was delayed. post
poned- forgotten. almOst-by congress.
At this time. through some myst"r
GUS mountain phantom or trickstcr.
the "medicine men" became easy vie
tins of craze. This was based on
the assertion that the Messiah thc
Manitou) was coming back on earth to
use his miraculous power in favor Of
the red man to crush out the whites
to restore everything to the idcalistic
condition Of former years. rcStock the
ranges with big game buffalocs. elk,
deer. etc This created universal
fanatical fervor. and not alone among
the Sioux, but affected all Indians
on this continent. Former foes be
came fast friends. and from the va
Quis I'm old Mexico to the Alaskan
tribes In the far north the religion;
ghost dance festivities famed the
flames of war The ",ncdicinc mems"
preaching that the holy medicinal
ghost shirts would protect the wrarcr
turn the white mans bullets. was ac-
cepted and made recruits by thou
sands to the cause. The dHnrin"
frightened the settlers. shocked the re
licious. philanthropic friends of the
Indians and was officially ordered
stopped EASY Ordt *. ch:" Instead
II they had bean allowed ~ dance
even If sorlc did so {" the death. OK
hgustit II. Ike Il boilers sHfctY valve
ami an aftcrthought MIGHT soon have
made II appear to them in the ride
ulous light that so effectively kills alb
surdities.
| was at the time In Alsacc- I.nrrainc
with my exhibition and had with me
scvcnty-nve travelled Indians. We had
all the facts ard myself AMI partner
decide to close camp the rest of the
outfit in an old castle near Stlns burg
Renfeld) with II large domain. and |
myself left by fast steamer via Eng
land for New York whilc M ior RurLn