The Washington herald., 1912-06-02
d WILRERT 2. EIsELE.

NJ WILBERT Z. EIsELE.
Whsro the slopss q the iuintahS
Lea snuthEard g the sun,
Whsre the SPARKLING iof-eoio Nateu
BouthWArd rppling mn;
Where tho Sep my blossoms
And adoEns the cesfrt sSnd
Whei the CoNboy and the Indian
Roam az WI n he NLlle5 Land.
Lies an Ibdan. hrOksa-hsartsd.
Cr1zsd b. g1ief, the story -gocsi
Naked lies he IN the nge brush,
And has lain for many snOEA
Rsno-.. has held him al thess yssB;
Dvrrfed his mind and num6ed his brain.
Htld him always chained and heipisS
Ma the storns and snow and Eain.
CrouchinE among the powders, half
hidden witE sage brush, near the foot
hills Of the Uintah Range Mountains,
IN Uintah County, Utah, is one OF the
most wonderful, yet at the same time,
most pitiful sights OF the former Utntah
Valley Indian reservation-in fact, II u
to be doubted II another such being ever
existed for similar period Of time since
the creation OF the world
Once strong, influential, brave and gen
erouG, he has now for more than twenty
years lain entirely nude two miles north
OF the Uintah and Ouray agency at
White Rocks, Utah; his hair disheveieo
and matted, and his skin as hard ana
thick as that Of an alligator, impervous
alike to the scorching summer sun ana
the icy blasts Of winter, the temperature
ot the latter in the White Rocks latitude
sometimes ranging from 25 to 30 de-
Rrees below zero. Needless OF the
passage Of time, stonily Indifferent 70
the seasons. poor Inipegant-or, as the
name signiies the Crazy One'-his
soul still lingering in mortal tene-
out" his sole desire apparently being
TO live his life in peace after his own
fashion, untroubled by the society OF
his kind.
Killed His Mother.
No tent shelters him, no clothes cover
him; no fire warns him, excepting it
may be a few smoldering embers upon
which he occasionally cooks a morsel
Of food pro7ided by some plying friend
or distant relative.
As the story is told, Inipegant acci-
dentaIIy shot and killed his mother
some twenty-five years ago. Deserving
a once happy home, a loving sweet
heart, and the playmates Of his youth
he vowed to do penance in this way for
twenty-five years for his unhappy deed,
and surely penance he has done, never
having spoken to any one since that
time nor showing any sign Of intelh-
sence other than that manifested by the
lowest types Of animal life, with the eX-
ception of the Adam-born prediction
for 'penuckey"-the Ute term for
money-which he never refuses when
rendered him by visitors, though II is
only the inherited tendency so deeply
implanted in the race which causes his
GesiEe for money, he having no use for
il.
svmpathizing visitors view him almost
daily; the cameras snap him; the In
dians reverence him the white people
pity him, but Inipegant sleeps on, an
object lesson, as 1t were, picturing with
dark derision the folly Of human pride,
from which all humanity is suspended
save by but a slender thread
Once his relatives thought TO termi-
nate his hapless existence by taking him
many miles into the recesses of the
mountains, there, in the deepest canyon,
securely binding him to q tree. Thus
they left him alone, as they thought, to
die. When they returned home on their
horses, imagine their surprise and cha
grin upon beholding that Inipegant had
preceded them on foot, and was again
sduatting by the side Of his smoldering
fire in his rude wickiup, in exactly the
same spot he had occupied for years
and years before.
Since that time he has been regarded
as a supernatural being by his tribes
men and his name-h ever spoken by
Indians-is pronounced with trembling
and awe.
Indian Dances Seen.
1t vas the fortune of the writer to
spend the spring and summer months
several years ago in the old Uintah VAL
ley Indian Reservation, situated in the
northeastern corner of the State of
ag-E- NJ nF@Fr urTVNn
gion he had exceptional opportunities Of
studying at first hand the North Ameri-
can indian and Of noting his traditions,
sign language, habits, and mode Of life
while on his native heath, which in for
mer years was the stamping ground
Of unnumbered herds Of buffalo. Here
also, in the sun-kissed valley Of the
Uintah River, at an elevation above sea
level Of between 5000 and 1000 feet, he
witnessed the annual games Of the reser-
vation Indians, their dances. and cere-
rnonial rites, the latter symbolic Of va
rious phases Of the old-time life Of the
rowing red men. such as the bear dance,
turkey dance, war dance, and sun dance,
which have been practiced by the Indian
tribes Of the far west from time i'm
mortal He has since visited other In
dian agencies, meeting and conversing
with different tribesmen through inter
preters and by the medium Of the
aboriginal sign language, and has
cleaned from his travels a number of
Interesting facts with reference to the
Indian which have never before appeared
in print
Few persons are aware Of the won
derful beauty OF the Indian country. To
one who has traversed thoroughly that
broad section OF the North American
continent lying west OF the Missouri
and Mississippi rivers, what host Of
memory pictures are evoked by the very
words, THE Far West!" Here, indeed,
has nature spread her wild magnifcence
around; the limitless, ocean-like great
plains, at first sight wild as an Indian s
dream; the grand, majestic mountain
ranges, where golden rivers rise amid
peaks Of eternal snow the rugged can
yons, titanic ehasms and gorgeous
painted desert-all AFFORD many scenes
Of Wild beauty lonely grandeur, and
savage subHniity.
Can See Many Miles.
The panorama of mountain, plain. and
weed prairie, from the Uintah Indian
agency, is one of marvellous beauty,
rs here the eye, aided BY the thin,
transparent atmosphere, ranges without
difficulty for hundreds OF miles In every
direction. This so-called weed prairie, /"
as q recent writer has observed, is for
many months Of the year a natural wild
flower garden. nearly every square foot
OF many areas being tinted with red.