South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1913-10-27
GREAT BATTLE Of
MOVIES SOON To
co ON SCREEN
Story of "Wounded Knee" is
Told by Famous Survivor
Himself, Philip Wills.
BY GERTRUDE VI. PRICE,
The News-Times' Moving Picture
ExnPfT

/
! PINE RIDGE RESERVATION,
! 5. D.. oct. 27.-On a peaceful little
/ farm. away back in a corner Of the
| big Pine Ridge reservation. where to-
! day those famous last battles between
/ the whites and the redmen for great
Americas supremacy. are being re-
enacted for the worlds movie fans,
there lives today the most interesting
survivor of all these versatile Indian
wars,
! He is a small. spare man with griz-
zled hair; a face that is weather-beat-
en- and eyes as direct as a child's. He
might pass for only an ordinary per-
son without claim to a second thought
| But a keen eye soon detects some
thing unusual about his face. a great,
semi-circular scar Of strange pattern
I all across his nose.
I This quiet man is Phillip +. Wells,
| chief of the American scouts, who
/ had his nose cut off in the massacre
/ Of Wounded Knee, more than 20
/ years ago.
The story of this incident in his life
I is also the story of the massacre I'm
\ Wounded Knee-a massacre which
many white men still deplore as a
I needless waste OF human life. And
I the question as 10 how it happened
! seems to be never settled.
Tell me how you got that scar" 1
said TO Wells. who is the official In
/ dian interpreter in the re-enactment
( of the Bad Lands fights here.
well. it's a long story-but you
/ shall hear part of it," he answered.
/ If you like.
u was Interpreter for Col. Forsythe
at the time of Wounded Knee. Dec.
2S. 1890.
place right after the first shot was
i fired in that memorable encounter.
II had been talking for Col. For
syth to Chief Big Foot. the Indian
commander Col. Forsyth spoke
through me, in part as follows:
You tell Big Foot that he tells
me that his Indians had no arms,
when yesterday at time ofssurrender
they were all we'll armed. / am sure
he is deceiving me. Tell him, Big
/ Foot. that he need have no fear in
giving up his arms as / wish to treat
| him with nothing but Kindness
Then Big Foot answered. they
/ have no guns, only such as you have
/ found. ] gathered up all my guns at
| Cheyenne river agency and turned
! them in and they were all burned up
Then Gen. Forsyth answered: You
are lying to me in return for all my
! kindness to you
Big Foot answered in substance as
] before. The soldiers began 20 search
! the Indians. The old Indians said
| How and permitted this. The young
/ bucks sat silent.
/ About this time "A medicine man
/ began q silent ghost dance; throwing
up his hands and occasionally pick
! ing up dust and throwing il towards
1 the soldiers. After the ceremony had
! been going on for some time. / turned
/ to Mai Whitside and said That man
/ ls making trouble He told me to go
/ TO Gen. Forsyth and tell him about
/ it, And the general. in turn. told me
| to go to the Indian and tell him TO
! sit down.
/ After the Indian had sat down
and the search for arms among the
! other Indians was renewed, l heard
some one TO my left call out, Look
| out, Look out!
AT that instant. as / turned my
nsad, l brought my arms the port,
/ and then saw five or six young bucks
! throw off their blankets and pull out
! their arms from under them and
|
/ Indians in the circle rose up and the
! farther end of the circle. some 40 feet
away was hidden from my view.
/ heard a shot fired from the midst of
/ them as | started 10 cock my rifle,
I throwing my eyes TO the right TO see
/ the treacherous fellow whom L sus-
peCted. He. or some one like him
| from that lot, had come 20 within
! three Of four feet of me with a long
I-h E,ff fn a g nnfnt
raised TO stab me.
Then the fight between him and
me prevented me from seeing any
thing else at the time He cut off
the end of my nose. 1 managed to
keep him of till / could swing my
rifle to hit him. BY this time the fight
between the Indians had become gen
eraR
Up To that time the women and
children in and around the tepees
were not fired at. until some five or
six of the bucks ran amongst the wo-
men and children and began firing
from there The fire Of the soldiers
was directed towards them.
That was all that l saw positively.
as I was bleeding profusely and was
led Off Later when ! went back onto
the held ] heard Gen. Forsyth yell
ing, quit shooting at them
The rest OF the story you know
Today Phillip Wells. whose nose
was almost miraculously sewn up and
made whole again. after the battle.
lives on the farm with his wife and
his children.
He is still the friend Of the whites
and the brother Of the Indians.
in the re-enactment OF Wounded
Knee. which is apart OF the big his
torical moving picture now being
made by the EsSanay company. Chief
OF Scouts and Interpreter Wells Is
playing his part over again.
HEARING ON THAW.
CONCORD. y. H., OCt. 21.-GOv-
Felker Monday announced that he