The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-11-21
The PASSING Of
The SEM|NOLES
People ofthe Everglades May
Go West
OKLAHOMA RESERVATION
Tiger Tails People Are Peaceable and
and contented-They Seem to
Be the Only People Who
Can Live In Swamps.
OKLAHOMA RESERVATION

From the New York Telegraph.
report comes from Florida that the
last survivors of the Seminole tribe,
headed by Chief Tiger Tail, will soon re-
move to Oklahoma, going upon the Sim
mole reservation in that state and aban-
doning the Everglades. where they were
born and where their fathers fought SO
WE'LL
While there may be some little truth in
the Florida Siminoles would gain any
thing by making such transfer. For
one thing, the Seminole reservation In
Oklahoma has been allotted and subdi-
vided, the lands not taken for members
of the tribe have been bought by white
men, and there would be no place to put
Tiger Tails people If they went.
Then. again, why should the free and
happy followers OF Tiger Tail even think
of going to crowded state, among the
whites, with no means of making a live
lihood, no chance to do anything but
struggle along amid strange conditions
and strange faces2 The Florida siminoles
would be hugely foolish to make the shift,
and their better sense will probably keep
them where they are.
Tiger Tails Band.
Tiger Tails band Of Seminoles leads the
most comfortable, oare-free life magma
BILE. Right there In Florida. close to the
winter resorts and the hum of civilized
existence, they carry on their hunting
and their forest rovings exactly as they
did 100 years ago. They are wild Indians
of the widest sort, and yet are wholly
ba ~
glades house them we'll, they interfere
with nobody. and should be left alone tn
adorn the landscape and add color to the
picture.
To this very day little is known of the
Everglades. Swamp hummocks, jungles
and waterways, they lie In silent splen-
dor, picture of greens and blues, I'M
Travelled by the white man, and apparent
~ impossible of penetration save to the
Seminole. Tiger Tails men go and come
in their canoes, gliding up and down the
waterways, finding their road amid the
sawgrass and the jungle lanes, never got
ting lost and never doing injury to other
people. Without them many an adven-
turous hunter and foolhardy tuorist would
die an awful death amid the solitudes It
often keeps Tiger Tails folks busy fish,
ing tourists out of the swamp, and there
has never been a case where the SINH
mole robbed the lost traveller, mistreated
him or failed to bring him to their camps
with royal hospitality.
Number Not Known.
The number of Tiger Tails people has
never been known, but government agents
estimate the number at SIS. Floridians
think about 400 Seminoles live in the
swamps. the number increasing but little,
certainly not diminishing. They are full
bloods, clad in the cool and comfortable
Indian dress OF the southern tribes, we'll
armed, intelligent and good looking.
When Osceoa stirred the Seminoles to
war In 1895 they numbered about 5000. In
seven years of fighting the government
caught and sent west 1929 of the tribe,
while the death list of soldiers totaled
1896. Add to this the inoffensive citizens
who were slain, and 1t will be seen that
the balance was much In favor of the red
men. In 1912 1t was supposed that only
348 Seminoles were left, and these were
allowed to stay in the swampy everglades.
A few years later these went on the war
path and some 80 or 60 were caught and
sent to Indian Territory. Ever since the
tribe has lived It's strange existence in
the swamps and has behaved like set
of gentlemen and good fellows.
Some of the Seminoles who went west,
headed by Coacooohec, a wonderful war
rior, broke away and fed to Mexico,
where a few of them yet remain. The
rest stayed on the reserve, learned the
arts of peace. and intermixed with the
white men, When their lands were al
lotted q couple of years ago, they num-
bered-ful and mixed-bloods together
about 220O They are well educated, hard
ly distinguishable from the whites around
them, and have only language and tradi-
ton to link them with the plumed hum
ters of the Everglades
Common sense would dictate that the
seminoles stay where they are. They are
in no ones way. and, In fact can be made
valuable In the exploration and settling
of southern Florida. while their honesty.
good nature and wonderful knowledge of
the swamps and tungles ought to make
them indispensable.