The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1910-01-11

Just after the birth of yesterday.
while the night yet wrapped the earth
in darkness, the spirit of Chariot,
hereditary chief of the I'latheads. took
flight To the Happy Hunting Ground.
Tife proud old ehief-a born aristoerat
gave up the fight reluctantly, stern
and stubborn to the very end; he
faced death as unconccrnedly as he
had faced the foes of earthly mould
i'm the so years of his life: the journey
to the home of the Great Spirit was
as fearlessly undertaken as had been
a walk tn a council fire. where Chariot
sat al the head Of his chioftains.
In the modest little frame house
back of the agency at Jocko. where
Chariot had lived all the years since
his removal from the Bitter Root. he
passed away. Death came at 2 o'clock
yesterday morning: it was not unex-
pected, as the old chief had been for
weeks wasting away. yielding stub
bornly but surely to the relentless as
sault of age. There had been no acute
illness; 1t was just the wearing out of
the sturdy frame that had for four
score years buffeted the hard blows
of fate and the deceit of supposed
friends.
Funeral Wednesday.
There was no one with Chariot when
he died except his immediate family.
The arrangements for his funeral have
been made and the burial will take
place Wednesday noon at the agency
Several of Charlot's Mssoula friends,
including Major Catlin. Judge Woody
and Judge Sloane. will attend: there
win be a great concourse of Indians.
as the old chief was the most cele-
brated figure on the reservation. Burial
will be by the fathers of the Catholic
church.
Chariot never regarded with favor
the opening of the reservation: his
unhappy experience in connection with
the departure of his people from their
ancestral home In the Bitter Root had
made him suspicious: he had never
fully believed that his tribe would be
squarely treated in the present OPEN
ing. and. had 1t not been for the as
surance given by his old friends. Judge
Sloane and Major catlin. it is doubtful
If he would have given even the
grudging assent which he accorded 10
the allotment of lands. 1t was. per-
maps. the kindliest act of fate in all
Charlot's life that he was taken away
before the reservation opened and the
triba! life of his people ended. He
died a chief, as he had lived
A Son Of chieftains.
Chariot was hereditary chief Of the
Bitter Root Indians. he was the son
of old Chief Victor and the grandson
of Three Feathers the chief who met
Lewis and Clark when they entered
the Bitter Root valley at Ross hole
on their trip across the continent He
was about so years old he did not
know. himself his exact age.
Speaking last night Of Charlot's life.
Judge Woody said: 4 don't think he
was quite eighty. though he may have
been. | had him on the witness stand
once in a Bitter Root land ease and
l asked him how old he was. He said
he didn't know. Then | asked If he
was present at the great council in
Grass Valley. when the Stevens treaty
was signed-that Was July Is. 1850
and he said he was. l then asked If
he was a boy or Il man AT that time
and he said: i was man. / WAS
married That would probably make
him close to eighty.
At the time of the Stevens treaty.
Charlot's father. Victor. was chief.
That treaty. signed at Grass Valley,
defined the present boundaries of the
Flathead reservation and the five con-
federated tribes We're assigned to this
reserve as their home. Victor's peo-
pie. however. We're exempt from the
agreement: they had acquired homes
in the Bitter Root and most of them
had become farmers after their fash
ion. They were allowed TO hold these
lands.
The Garfield Treaty.
Upon the death of his father. Chariot
succeeded to the chieftaincy; he was
the head of his tribe when General
Garfield came out to make the treaty
of 1s72. which provided for the re-
linauishmsnt of the Bitter Root lands
by the tribe and the transfer of the
people to the Jocko valley. The lands
were to be sold by the government and
the proceeds were to go to the owners
as recognized at the time of the re-
moval. This treaty was signed by all
of the head men but Chariot: he al
ways insisted that he did not sign it,
though the government representatives
claimed that he had done SO.
This experience embittered the chief.
He had always been warm friend of
the whites; he had prevented trouble
many times when warfare threatened
and had many intimate associations
with his white neighbors. He insisted
that he had not signed the treaty and
he refused 10 be bound by il. He
would not leave the Bitter Root. There
We're 40 families of his tribe who re-
manned with him and stuck to their
Bitter Root homes