The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1912-01-04
OUT OF THE
SAVAGE STATE
B. DAVID WALTER CHURCH
copyright By Amssican Press AsDo.
citation. 1911.

From the time America was discov-
cred to. say, half q century ago there
were repeated cases Of white children
being carried away by Indians and
Cr"isht up in the tribe. Those that
were raised by red men were boys. At
ans rate. never read Of girl having
=. rived such treatment. Doubtless
a.. girl falling into their hands was
killed. Savages are not overburdened
with respect for the value Of women.
Some forty years ago was young
1 .'"nant in the -th L. 5. cavalry.
ali my principal business about that
l....r was fighting Indians. In one Of
or furnishes with the Sioux we cap
nrd one Of the white boys who had
i""u brought up as an Indian. lie
vas Il handsome little fellow. tall and
>;-lgh,. about fourteen years old. and
rs originally white skin from having
be" exposed had turned brown He
rud speak only the Sioux language:
r"''i not remember any life hut that
% IN Indian, any father Or mother or
"'.r relative. When captured he was
I;'.l'!n. like a little devil,
~ colonel turned him over to me
4" see II could discover his identity.
questioned the Indians who had been
e" Nnred with the boy. hut they knew
G"'hlng Of his anteccdents. since they
had captured him from another tribe
whrn he was about four years old. I
inru questioned the boy himself
,:s:.i.gh an interpreter found that
he ii Il once been shown the clothes In
which he had been captured and some
trIak"ts that were taken from those
10 whom he had belonged. These were
u r"cketbOOk, a gold watch aud chain
ara various other things the boy could
uui remember. They had been kept
by an old squaw. who received them
"a; the boys second capture from an
oth'r >quaw, to whom they had been
'i;"n by the chief Of the tribe who had
taken the baby from his parents.
Having reported this to the colonel
he directed me to ride under Tag Of
trur 10 tho main body Of the Sioux
s~,sc the articles and bring them
eayk II possible. he authorized mo Il
rny 80 for them. II necessary. wenl
I" the Sioux camp. purchased the a.
ticlcs for q song and brought then
back with me.
Besides the watch and the pocket
bvvk was Z tintype Of a baby. and Z
reese nlblance could be traced between
1t and the boy. There were also some
lace aud Z bunch Of keys on a silver
ring. ! examined the contents Of thu
tn~'k"tbook. It was a long leather one
such Us u used to carry untoIded bills
II there had been any bills In It they
We're not there when looked into It
There were papers the Use Of which
were very plain to me. but would
mem nothing to an Indian For In
stance. there was a decd to II lot n
the county Of Cook, state Of illinois
There were a draft on hnnk in Sar
t'nnrisco and two little books that
ru Ognized rs savings bank books.
reported the find to the colonel
ard he forwarded my report to Wash
incton. After a long period. during
which we kept the boy much against
his will-at Fort G.. to which we re-
turned after the campaign. the colo
mel received an order to detail some
ole To take the boy to the places indi
cared by the deed and 'hr savings bank
books, with a view to learning who nc
Was. The colonel gave me the job.
l.ooking on the map of illinois,
discovered that Cook county was the
site Of Chicago. Onc Of the bank
books indicated an account in a bank
At Peoria and another IN Quincy, both
in the same state
| set or IN company with the boy,
N'ln by this time had learned little
English, and on reaching Chicago
found the lot In question 10 be In the
heart Of the city. The deed was In
the name OF Edgar Kyle. This also
was the name on the savings bank
books and the draft on San Francisco.
The draft was for S3,VD. the accounts
| in the savings banks amounted to an
aggregate OF sC.743. and the lot in Chi.
cago had within few years become
worth about 100000.
Pursuing my investigations. discov.
cred that Edgar Kyle some twelve OF
thirteen years before had enigrated OF
i started in a plains schooner for Call
fornia with his wife and baby. but had
never been heard from after leaving
the Missouri river
felt very sure that they had been
murdered by Indians. their baby car
ried OF. that now had him under my
care. and he was doubtless heir to a
very good property. But I saw very
little hope Of his possessing 1t.
On his baby clothing were the initial
letters "E. K" and on this evidence
| collected the draft and the amounts