The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1912-01-03
Picturesque and Interesting Sights
IN Connection With Big
Convention
NOTED ABORIGINES
ARE IN ATTENDANCE
They Walk the Streets of the Cap
ital City the Wonderment of
the Shopping Throngs and Are
Rudely Stared at

WASHINGTON, y. c., Dec. so. -
The gathering of Indisn chiefs from
all sections of the country where
the red man stll has foothold, and
the organization by them in Wash
fngton of the new Brotherhood of
the Indian tribes, is one of the most
picturesque and interesting events
that has recently taken place in the
Capital.
Most of the aborigines who Jour
ueyed to Washington on this occa-
sion were men great among their
fellows, men adhering to the customs
and traditions of their tribes or ma
tions, and they wore the garb of the
plains Indian, or of the particular
tribe to which they belonged. Not in
war paint, but in the everyday dress
they had always worn, with mecca
sined feet toeing in. they walked
along the principal streets with the
peculiar tottering gait of those unac-
customed to the hard pavements, the
wonderment of the shopping throngs
who doubtless looked as queer to the
bronzed Indians as the latter did 70
the so-called civilized persons who
rudely stared at and commented
about them.
Addresses All Interpreted
The idea of an Indian Brotherhood
has appealed strongly to the red men.
In answer to the call to organize,
there have come to Washington rep
resentatives Of the Blackfeet. Sioux,
Apaches, Comanches Walla Wallas,
Cherokees and many other tribes or
'nations." The Indians have gath
cred in secret council, where they
have been addressed by various chiefs
and others. So diverse are the In
dian tongues that at no gathering
were there many Indians who could
understand the speakers Conse-
ouently there was need for interpret
ers AS the speaker of the moment
rolled out his periods, the interpret
ers, all talking at once, repeated to
little groups around them what had
been said. and then the orator de-
livered himself of another sentence.
SO the proceedings went on from day
to day An interesting feature of the
session was the attendance of the
"braves" at a Mass especially for
their benefit. Once they were en-
tertained at a buffet luncheon" and
the Indians true to theis customs,
carried with them under their blank
cts cooked maize and other food.
Whites Honorary Members
Several white men have been
made honorary members of the
brotherhood Among the first to be
so honored were Col. D. G.. Collier.
president, and Percy H Goodwin, di-
rector of the Panama California In
ternational Exposition, to be held in
1915 at San Diego. They were in
troduced by L. S. Curtis the cele-
brated photographer of Indians, who
has lived among them, and whose
lectures about them have made him
famous. and by DR.. F. w. Kelsey,
president of the Archaeological In
stitute of America, which is taking
deep interest in the plan to hold at
the San Diego Exposition great
congress of all the native tribes of
the Western Hemisphere. This will
be the only time that this will have
been done, and th-re will probably
never again be such a gathering of
hbor1sines, dwelling in the fashion of
their forefathers, following native
customs, clothed in native garb,
practicfng the handicrafts and Occur
pations that their ancestors had de-
reloped and perfected
Were there no other feature in
fine San Diego Exposition, this alone
would serve to draw to to the beau
tiful city whose capacious bay always
refiects summer skies, and whose
encient calm has yielded to the on
saught of commerce, such throngs
of scientists, students and seekers af-
ter the new, the curious and the in
terestlng, as would tax its far-famed
reputation for hospitality. One could
hardly be wrong in prophesying that
the San Diego Congress of Aboriginal
Peoples will be one of the great
events of the new century.