Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-10-31
QUEER TRIBE OF INDIANS.
White Skinned Men Of Unknown
Orioin.


One Of the most remarkable Of the
Indian tribes of America is about to
finally pass out of existence. With
their passing will doubtless go the So
luton to the mystery Of the so-called
white Indians Of the northwest.
There are but few Of the Maldans,
once a powerful tribe Of the Dakotas,
now living, and the medical observa-
tions made ty Hadlicka and others OF
the government investigators show
that the time Of their passing Is not
far off.
The Mandans have been slowly dy-
ing out for years. Almost a century
ago an attack of sn allpox swept the
nation that then numbered 5000.
There were but 81 left alive when the
spotted scourge passed on and left
their lodges In nearly three-quarters
of century their increase has been
remarkably small. These white In
dams" seem robbed Of their vitality
and are placidly waiting the end of
THAR tribal history with the usual
stoicism Of the American aborrigine.
From the time when the first Of the
Hudson Bay Fur company's trappers
stumbled into the Mandan houses up
In the northwest these Indians have
| been something Of an enigma to the
white man. There was an air about
them such as none other Of the Indi-
ans had. They were regal-looking
men, straight, deep chested, heavy
shouldered and they walked with the
characteristic stride of the white man.
Many Of them were blue-eyed and
their skins were dark like the skin Of
a white man who has lived for gen.
Grafton or so in the open.
There are scarcely 100 Of the pure
blood Mandans now living on a wes-
tern reservation. They are generally
credited with being a Siouan race, but
the strangeness of their now almost
obliterated traditions has. always cap
tiyated the mind Of the student. Their
| pale skins and occasional blue eyes
have lent much weight to their story
that their ancestors came across the
great water from the east In a winged
canoe. Like other savages Of North
America they have kept no written
annals Of their tribe, but the tradition
of their coming has been handed down
from one generation to another by the
| wise men of the tribe.
A part Of the tradition Of the COM
| ing Of the Mandans has been verified
by the patient Indian scholars who
have studied the tribes Of the north
and the northwest. They have been
traced back into the Great Lakes coun-
try and traces of their occupation OF
the neighborhood around the height
of land up in Canada have been found.
Certain tradition among the ancient
forest tribe tell of a nation that lived
| in log houses partly under ground.
THE ground house people" they
were called, and this tradition seems
to refer. to the Mandan custom OF
throwing up a bank of earth around
their strong lodges in order to make
them stronger, warmer and less liable
| to take fire.
The patient work Of many investi.
gators shows that they came originally
| from the desolate lands that lie just to
the south of Labrador. There the tale
ends, but such as IL Is 1t bears out the
Mandan myth that their forbears were
white men who came across the waves
| in a great canoe with wings. The
transient manner of life among saw
ages has Prevented any certain evil
dence of their earlier history from
preservation. 1t takes but a few years
| for the forest to obliterate all traces
of a savage nation save a few pots
| herds and an occasional skull that
marks their burying places.
The Welsh have a tradition that
seems to connect the white Indians
Of the north with one Of the savage
episodes Of half-mythical Welsh his
tory. There runs a tale among the
early chroniclers Of the Welshmen OF
a certain PRINCE Madoc, who rebelled
against authority and waged a long
and bloody civil war. In the end ne
and his followers were defeated and
scattered among the hills and broken
country along the seacoast. Rather
than submit to the certain death that
awaited them at the hands OF the VIC
tors, they built for themselves a snip
and embarked upon 1t with their
wives and children. They then set
sail and vanished into the west. For
generations their Nindictive kinsmen
cherished a tradition that they had
sailed around Ireland and struck out
into the unknown Atlantic in search Of
a new land wherein they might found
kingdom Of their own.-St. Louis
Republic.