Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1912-02-29

the rivers bank, they hesitatedS and
! then snorting and beIlowing plunged
/ into the swift running current and
4 swan to the opposite shore. When
i the Stockdale' reached point nearly
opposite the Elk Horn grove, excite
lnent rose to a high pitch on board,
for the buffalo became so thick in the
water that the boat could not move,
and the engines had to be stopped. In
front the channel was blocked by their,
huge shaggy bodies. Many became
entangled with the wheel, which for
q time could not be revolyed without
breaking the buckets. To Captain
Marsh and others on the 'Stockdale'
it seemed almost as if they would
overwhelm the boat. Several hours
elapsed before the 'Stockdale' was
able to break through the migrating
herds and resume her journey, and
they still were crossing when at last
she passed beyond view" g
Probably the last great slaughter Of
buffalo was organized and conducted
by a representative of the United
States government, in which 5000 ami
mails out of herd of $4,000 We're
slain in two days by 600 Sioux In.
dians near the Standing Rock Agency,
Dakota, in June, 1882. The hunt
was led by Major Jas Mclaughlin,
then agent in charge of the Standing
Rock Reservation, but now United
States Indian Inspector, whose juris-
diction, after service of forty years,
covers the entire western country.
A whole chapter of his recent book,
MY Friend, the INDIAN" is devoted to
a recital of that slaughter, and Major
Mclaughlin regards that buffalo hunt
at Standing Rock" as the cornerstone
of his proverbially friendly relations
with the red men, who everywhere re-
gard him as good medicine" Per
haps the end justified the means, and
perhaps the beneficial influence which
this remarkable man has exercised so
long over the nations wards was
worth the sacrifice. Major McLaugh.
lin at Standing Rock says he had to
deal with nearly 5000 Indians, over
half of whom had been out with sit
ting Bull in active hostility for several
years misce cellaneous crew, infn5. gs.f
! them fresh from the life Of vagabond-
age, and not few as hostile at heart
as any Indians ever were.
OF his concilliatory purpose in or
ganizing the assault upon the buffalo
herd, he says:
at was in the spring of 1882, after
hard winter, that was inspired to
take the people on buffalo hunt
that would at once show my faith in
them and give them the healthful ey-
ercise and the natural food they were
pining for"
He comments thus upon the results:
':The slaughter had been awful but
not wsnton, and was impressed with
| the fact then that the Indian displays
more restraint in hunting, even though
! his desire to kill makes his blood boil,
than does the white man. | never
have known an Indian to kill game
animal that he did not require for his
needs. And | have known but few
white hunters to stop while there was
game to kill. This hunt stopped when
5000 buffalo had been slain"
Five of the animals sell before
Major McLaughlin's own rifle, SO he
got very nearly his share. Before the
hunt opened he had expressed a de-
sire to have a live buffalo calf, and the
next morning when he awoke and look
ed out of his tent he saw twenty-five
captured buffalo calves tied to stakes
about 1.-THE Indians response to his
request for a single one. And that
was less than thirty years ago, long
after the crest of the supply on the
western plains had receded. Where
can a like sight of twenty-five buffalo
calves ever be witnessed again?
In after years when there We're too
few buffalo to minister to the red
mans innate hankering for the chase
Of the shaggy game, It was proposed
that Indians beef should be issued on
the hoof, and that the braves or near
braves should have a chance to stan-
pede the white mans steers and cows
over the prairies. and kill them as
they ran, and In this manner counter
felt the sporty excitements of the old
en- days 1t was urged that what had
made them good Indians once might
still be effective. But the Philadel-
phia peace society and other high
brows put the kibosh on the project
and Poor Lo had to take his Uncle Sam