Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-06-02

an assistant to Maj. Forbes when the
latter became the agent to the Devils
Lake Indians in 1871. then sinks from
sight in string of stirring episodes
illustrative of Indian life and charac'
ter. The people of North Dakota who
have so fully entered into their inner
itance of the Indian country will, In
reading the work, have brought home
to them the fact that they are but q
generation removed from the time
when the red man was a savage and
unregenerate. The country about
Devils Lake now peopled by peace
full agricultural race, was a few years
ago the habitat of a spirit conjured
by the fancy of the red men, and Maj
Mclaughlin tells many stories of that
country and its original possessors
In 1881 Major Mclaughlin was trans
fered to Standing Rock as agent and
that portion of the book which deals
with his life on that reservation has
the peculiar attraction of dealing at
first hand with such notable Indian
personages as Sitting Bull, John Grass,
Gall, Rain-1n-the-Face, and other big
chiefs whose fame was grounded on
their participation in the stirring
events which presaged the occupation
OF this country by the white man. The
pathetic story of the love affair of
Crow King, the blood feuds of the Te-
tons and other agency tales, are drawn
from the life and indicate a keen ap-
probation of Indian character. And
the facts that these tales were in fact
lived in that time when Maj. McLaugh-
lin was carrying on his life work of
bringing the hostiles who had been
out in the Custer affair, does not at
all detract from their interest. They
bring the very atmosphere of life on
the reservation into the book.
1t was while Major Mclaughlin was
serving his second year at Standing
Rock that Sitting Bull and the rem
nant Of his band was turned over to
him to be broken to the harness OF
The major knew Sitting
Bull only from having been brought
into contact with him when he was
brought to the agency on his way to
Fort Randall, after his surrender in
1881. The life of the old medicine
man is followed from that time until
it's close on the morning of December
10, 1880, when he was killed while re-
sisting arrest at the hands of Major
Indian police. The
story of the ghost dancing that led up
to the killing of Sitting Bull is told
as 1t has not been set down before
and the real story of the killing of
Bull is now told in detail for the first
time, supplemented by the official cor
respOndence in the matter. The ma
]or sets at rest all Of the speculation
that has been INDUCED in by writer's
who were rather less than we'll in
formed.
Major Mclaughlin was intimately
acquainted with nearly all of the In.
dams who had prominent part in
the Custer battle and his version of
the sanguinary affair, while not in all
things agreeing with earlier writer's,
carries an air of versimiltude that is
convincing. It is unique in that it is
supplemented by the story of Mrs.
Spotted Horn Bull, the widow of the
sub-chief of the Hunkpapas, who was
herself on the bloody field and who
told the story for the first time to the
major and his editor one night in
June, 1905, Mrs. Mclaughlin trans
[ating the tale, which is dramatic
Other great events in Indian
history treated in the book include
he marvellous retreat of the Nez Perez
chief Joseph. with whom McLaugh-
lin was on most intimate terms, the
Modoc war and the last buffalo hunt
On the Standing Rock reservation.
Some considerable part of the work
is devoted to describing the treaty.
making with the Indians-and the
treaty breaking. Major Mclaughlin
has made all of the treaties entered
into by the government with the In