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

pattern for A case to accommodate an alphabet containing 86 characters could be found. l then proceeded to making cases with boxes corresponding in size to the alphabet. one being about three by three and half feet in size. This brought all the yowels. six In number. in the lower, or nearest boxes, but the letters in the latter part of the alphabet were In the upper boxes and hard to reach. It took over 100 boxes for figures, points, etc, 10 each case. There were no capitals. The Cherokee font was cast on a small piea body. and as several of the Cherokee characters were taken from the English caps. the small caps of small pica were used The press. small royal size, was like none I ever saw before or since. It was of cast iron, with spiral springs to hold up the platen, and at that time a new invention. MT. Green, the secretary of the mission board, came out the samo time that the material arrived It was part Of his business to put up the new press It was very simply constructed hand press, and any country printer could have put it together. At that day we had to use balls made, of deerskin and stuffed with wool, as it was before the days of composition rollers.
 The first number of the Cherokee Phoenix Crsa-la-ge-T -Tsi-le- -hi-sa-nf-hD was issued about the middle of February, 1928. There were three hands in the office Harris, myself and John Candy a na- tive half-blood, who came as an appren- tlee He could speak the Cherokee lan- guage, and was of great help to me in giving words where they were not plainly written
 Harris had abandoned the learning of the Cherokee alphabet, and the setting up of the Cherokee type fell to my lot We had no imposition stone, and had to make up each page of the paper on 8 sled galley, put 1t on the press, and take proofs on slips of paper, and then correct 1t on the press, very tiresome way of correcting foul proof, which was the case with my first efforts at setting Cherokee type. It was very foul proof, and 8 very hard task to correct 1t, as I did not Know or understand a word of the lan- guage. But after a few weeks I became expert in setting up Cherokee matter, and as every letter or type had a thick body, 1t amounted up pretty fast Trans lation from English into Cherokee was very slow business, therefore we sell dom had more than three columns each week in Cherokee The first number of the paper was issued and sent out through the mails to subscribers and to the leading papers of the country. Elias Boudinot, known among the Cherokees as l<a-la-ki-na Buck the male of the deer), an Indian whose father and mother could not speak English. was the editor of the paper''
 The following account of this illustrious Indian editor is from an article by Mr. George E. Foster. entitled "Journalism among the Cherokees,' which appeared in the Magazine of American History, Vol. IS, pages 65 to 70:
 But if the newspaper Cherokee Phoe- nix) died ingloriously Cfor the want of money to sustain it), far more so was the fate of it's editor, Elias Boudinot. Tn his early life he was 8 very promising lad, and attracted the attention Of some mis- sionaries His Indian name was Weite, but he was given the name of Elias Bou- dinot, after the governor of New Jersey, and the president of the American Bible society, for 1t was the custom of a. Cher okee youth to be given an English name when he entered an English school Elias Boudinot was one of those placed in the mission school at Cornwall, Conn. He was good-lool<ing and pleasing in anu NdS W6tCOn1cQ 1nIO the homes of many of the good families in that quiet village. Among the maidens of the place was Hattie Gold, ''the village pet" who was given somewhat to roman tic ideas. The young Indian, so the story goes, was frequently received at he1 fathers house, and, unthought of by the parents mutual attachment sprung ur which ripened into love- It was not long before the little village of Cornwall was stirred to fever heat by ths announce ment that Hattie had plighted troth with Boudinot. Her parents were fiery in their opposition, but tears or entreaties were of no avail, and the words were spoken that linked their fortunes for life Talk ing his bride to Georgia, Boudinot dwelt among his tribe, conspicuous as a scholar end one favored by the Great Spirit His life was busy one, as he aided the mis- slonaries In their work, translating DOT tions of the scriptures. tracts and hymns. During the administration of Andrew Jackson, he took a prominent part in administering the affairs of the Chero- kees and especially toward the last took leading part in making arrangements for his people to emigrate from the land they loved so well. Precious to these sons of the forest were the homes and the burial places of their fathers. While a,Sew favored the treaty of 1885, the ma 1ority did not It is a matter of historical record that prominent people like the Pagers, Ridges, Bell and Boudinot, and others who signed the treaty, very sud- denly changed their minds in respect to the policy of a removal. They had been as forward as any of the opposite party in protesting against the acts of Georgia, and as much opposed to making any treaty or sale of their country up to the 4t,1
 any in the nation Suspected of treachery. bribery and corruption. the opposition was so fiercely aroused that on June 22, 1889, these men were cruelty assassinated MT. Boudinot was decoyed from the house he was erecting a short distance from his residence, and set upon with knives and hatchets. He survived his wounds just long enough for his wife and friends to reach him, though he was insensible." :" Of his children. two became editors, and were prominent one, William P. Boudi- not, having been a delegate at Wash ington
 During the civil war. quite a number of CherolSees fought on the Confederate side, and were conspicuous for their bravery. As matters have resulted the treaty proved a very fortunate one for them They bore to their western home the same desire for education that, in the first faint dawn of civilization. inspired them with high ideals. and lifted them to the summit of intelligence among the Indian tribes, even in the early days of the republic, and drew to them the atten- ton and applause of the learned men of Europe. Had some Sequoyah arisen in the remote past we would today possess a history whose key seems now lost for ever.
 Blount Springs, Ala, September 30, 1909