The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1909-06-17
A WOMAN WINS.
Subdues Drunken Indians in South.
ern California.

Subdues Drunken Indians in South
ein California.
Away down in the tiptoe corner OF
the United States in the furthest
end of southern California there
dwells or rather roams tribe of ma
tives known as the Mission Indians.
For years the Mission Indians have
been a thorn in the flesh of the gov
ernment. Lawlessness of all kinds,
wherein murder was of frequent oc-
currence, was the rule. The Indian
agents were powerless to control
them.
And the greatest evil, the root Of
all other evils, was whiskey. OF
course, as all know, it is crime to
sell whiskey to Indians. But there is
a certain class Of unscruplous white
men who pander to the thirst OF
these barbarians.
And nowhere did this evil flourish
more than among the Mission In
dians on the Morongo reservation OF
southern California. The Indian Of
fee at Washington offered them
every inducement for a better life.
There was put at their disposal the
fairest lands of the continent ready
to bloom like Eden did they only put
their hands to the work. But the
call of the bootlegger who sold the
contraband stuff, the lure OF liquor
was too strong upon them. And that
was the condition two years ago
when Francis E. Leupp, commission
er of Indian affairs, went West and
thrust his probe into the state OF
things there. He found much that
needed his executive surgery, but
none more thar the deplorable con-
ditions among the Mission Indians.
They had degenerated into tribe OF
drunkards.. 1t was sad state OF af-
fairs. The commissioner returned to
Washington, shut himself up with
himself and thought hard and long.
And this is what he determined:
Some years ago there taught at
the Indian school of the Rosebud
agency, among the Brule Sioux in
South Dakota, a quiet, unassuming
little woman, Clara D. True. by
name. She was from Kentucky, and
while without any bravado that
marks many of the folks of that good
state she had all the sterling quail
ties that have made Kentuckians
known for their nerve and sticking
qualities. And when the problem OF
the Mission Indians confronted Com
missioner Leupp he found the solu-
ton was Clara D. True.
Il looked over all the field for the
Il looked over all the field for the
best man." said the commissioner, a
short while ago, "and I found he was
Miss True" -...
So to southern California, among
the drunken Mission Indians, Miss
True was sent as superintendent o.:
the half dozen schools there on the
Morongo reservation. Her position as
superintendent made here ex-ofacio
supervisor and chief police officer OF
the reservation. AND the. first in
struction the commissioner gave her
was to break up, at any cost, illicit
liquor traffic of the bootleggers, now
grown so fragrant.
For a year and a half Miss True
studied both Indian and bootlegger.
She knew that the way to make a
lasting impression upon the mind OF
the Indian was to strike a telling
blow with a dramatic setting. She
waited the proper time-and the
time presented itself at the big
fiesta" at Palm Springs on the Nor
ongo reservation, on February 8 OF
last year.
Miss True, who was living a short
distance away, at Banning, started
fer the scene of the fiesta. Nearing
the spot she came upon one Dol Mar
tin, an old offender in the whiskey
selling line and bad man who had
several murders to his discredit.
Miss True walked up to his buggy,
reached for a jug, pulled it out and
emptied it's contents on the ground !;
another and another she disposed of
while the outlaw sal dazed at her
conduct. The Indians were still more
bewildered. When the last drop of
whiskey had been drunk by the earth
she turned to the astonished outlaw,
sitting stiff with astonishment:
You are under arrest" she said,
"and you are going to be tried and
sent to the penitentiary." With that
she moved on through the dusk to
where several hundred drunken In
dams were rioting around huge
fire. One huge and whiskey sodden
buck, who had learned Of the strange
doings concerning Dol Martin, ad-
vanced toward her in a threatening
manner. There was no word spoken
as Miss True whipped out a pair of
handouts and snapped them around
the wrists of the astonished brute.
Before he realized what was going
on he found himself ANONYMOUSLY
chained to the wheel of a nearby
wagon-and very much sobered by
the incident.
Miss True walked to the flreside,
where more than 800 drunken
braves who had watched her dealing
-