The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-09
The Last of the SeminoIes
By Frederic J. Haskin.

K Miami, Fla. Jan. 4.--Three hundred nant of once powerful nation. in- habit the Everglades and the Big Cy- press swamps of Southern Florida. For three centuries the seminoles and the other divisions of the Creek Nation resisted the encroachments of the white man in the great empire of the Southeast They fought a great bat tie with De Soto and Chief Satourioua wrote his name in history in the rich- est of Spanish blood. Three hundred years later the great Chief Osceola led the Seminoles to battle against the Americans. He was the last of the great chiefs and although he was as treacherous a scoundrel as ever assas- sinated . man from ambush, the fc- glamour that will not fade away. There are two monuments to tosceola's defeat that which marks his prison grave at Fort Mouitrfe. and the colony of rich and prosperous Seminoles in the State of Oklahoma. That colony has forgotten Florida and It's ancient em- pire, and is given over to State pol itics and cotton.
 But what of the remnant In Flor AQ1 4hGtt aA totot tGhtothAS AsOs more than 300, perhaps not more than 250. They are free from all limita- tions imposed upon other Indians as wards of the Government. they receive no money from Washington and there Is no agent among them. They have been utterly free, and they have im- proved their freedom by adopting all the vices of the white man, and es- chewing. all his virtues. Drink they will, and deeply. Work. they will not. They live by hunting. by secretly kill- ing the protected birds of plumage to sell to interruptions and law -defying white men. and by the agricultural in- dustry of their wives
 whiskey and disease are the chief enemies of these few remaining Sem inoies, and 1t is remarkable that the tribe. has not been exterminated years ago. Sixty.seven years ago. Gen. w. !. Worth, commanding the United States forces In Florida, reported to Washington that the Seminole war was at an end. It had lasted eight years. had cost over 2.oo0 lives of white sol- diers. and $2o.0o0.0oo in money. It was the longest and the most serious of all the Indian wars. In that report General Worth declared that all the Indians had been exterminated except those who had been transferred to the territory west of Arkansas. and about 300 who had taken refuge in the fast pesses of the Everglades and the swamps. These 800. he believed. would not give any further trouble.
 He was right. The few Indians who refused to leave their home for the West. who preferred the swamp and the saw grass to submission, those few buried the hatchet. Their sons and daughters have not taken 1t up and peace has reigned. They have main tained their numbers practically in- tact, although it is believed that the tribe is now waning in strength. There are three, divisions of the Florida sem inoles.. The Big Cypress Indians 1.-Two In the cypress swamps on the West Coast. and have their communication with the outside world through Fort Myers. The Cow Creek Indians live near Fort Pierce between Lake Oke- chobee and the Atlantic Ocean. The Miamis live in the Everglades not far from the city of Miami.
 Seminoles may be seen at almost any of the Southern Florida towns, but they frequent Fort Pierce, Fort Myers and Miami more regularly. They come down from their hidden homes in canoes dug out of cypress logs. bring ing with them the alligator hides or otter skins which are their trading stock. Those they exchange for ba-