Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-10-17
ADVENTUROUS PARsoN.
Brought Up Among Fighting Saw
adAs.

ages.
It is safe to say that no preacher
on the American continent has had as
thrilling a life story as the Rev. Jo-
seph K. Griffis of Cleveland, who has
recently added another interesting
chapter during a visit to the Indians
of the Florida Everglades, where
men are still tabooed by the descend
ants of Americas first inhabitants
Mr.. Griffis's mother was a quarter
breed Usage woman. His father was
a white mana scout known all over
the frontier by the name of California
Joe. Their home was near the pres
ent site of the city Of Gainesville, in
Texas.
A band of Kiowa Indians raided
that section when Mr.. Griffis was but
a babe and carried into captivity
large numbers Of the inhabitants.
They killed his mother, and Chief
Zepkho-eete Of the Kiowas took the
baby with him, back to the country of
the Kiowas, and presented him to his
wife, who decided that his name
should be "Tahan," which means
Texas man." The story Of his cap
ture was told the boy long years af-
terward by an Indian Of the tribe who
participated in the raid.
The boy loved his foster-parents as
though they had been his own, and
they took the same care OF him as
they did of their own children. He
tells many interesting stories Of how
they taught him obedience to his
parents, respect for the only gods
they knew anything about, and of his
fathers instruction in hunting buffalo
and other game and in horseback rid
ing and long-distance listening.
He also tells many stories Of priva-
ton on the southwestern plains and
how they drank water from the buf-
falo tracks and ate their meat raw.
He learned how to kindle fires in a
pouring rain without matches and
how to tie a horse to hole in the
ground; also how to tell the tribe to
which an Indian belongs by the shape
of his moccasin as left in the dust
tracks.
Tahan witnessed the so-called bat
tie between the Indians and Clusters
seventh cavalry along the Washita
river, in what is now known as the
state of Oklahoma. The captives, Of
whom Tahan was one, were driven on
to the settlers camp, and it was just
following this that Tahan learned he
was not a Kiowa Indian, and that the
chief and his wife were not his real
parents The white men contended
that he was not an Indian, and that
he was a captive among them, and
the story Of the raid into Texas then
came out.
The Indians were compelled to give
him up, and one of the white men
took him into Texas, where he slept
in the quarters of the horses. One
night, however, he became so lone
some and homesick that he took one
of the horses and hit the trail toward
the Kiowa country, and eventually
found a road which led him to the
camp and to his old Indian compan-
ions, where he remained until he was
sixteen.
AS time went on the Indians began
to mingle quite freely with the whites,
who were constantly becoming more
numerous on the frontier, and the
Kiowas were invited to attend an agri-
cultural fair and horse race at Mus
kogee. In one of the races Tahan
riding his pony Buckskin won, and a
government officer who witnessed the
race Immediately sent for Tahan and
arranged with him to enlist for special
duty as a scout. For two and half
years he served in this capacity, when
one day he was insulted by a young
lieutenant. Then he and another SOL
dier, known as Gee WhiZ," deserted
and fed to the Cheyennes.
Thav wara aDtnrai pOnrt RI In l.
ed and sentenced to death. Impris-
oned at Fort Reno, awaiting the day
of execution they cut hole through
the prison roof and escaped into the
darkness of the night. For three years
Tahan was a wanderer, suspicious and
afraid of everybody. Toward the lat
ter part of his wanderings he crossed
the border into Canada, and one night
in London, Ont, stopped to listen to
the Salvation Army on the street. He
went to the meeting in the Salvation
Army hall, became a member of the
Salvation Army, and was later pro-
NOTED to be a captain.
After some four years work with
the Salvation Army he took up work
as an evangelist Independently. He
was subsequently ordained into the
Presbyterian church and became pas
tor of the South Presbyterian church
of Buffalo, church of some 800
members. While pastor of that
church he started other missions in
that city which have since grown into
churches
He was attending a missionary
meeting in Buffalo one day when the
pardon for the technical offence he
had committed while a savage was
brought to him by the Rev. Mr.. Ward
pastor of another Presbyterian church
i'm that city. The Rev. Mr.. Griffis had
told a few of his friends of the tech
nical charge which was hanging over
him, and they took it up with Presi-
dent Cleveland, who, when he had
heard all the circumstances. quickly
granted the pardon. Following his
conversion, Mr.. Griffis was for a time
also a missionary among the Indians.
He spent a year and half among the
Semocos in New York state. He has
visited the Chippewas in Minnesota,
the Sioux in Dakota, the Utes in
southern Colorado, the different tribes
in Indian territory and the Ojibways
in Canada.
His latest visit to an Indian tribe
was Just a few weeks ago when he
was among the Indians of the Florida
Everglades. These Indians live on
hummocks or islands just south of
Lake OkechObee. In 1858 all the