The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1913-03-01
Indians in Ceremony on Washington Day

NEW YORK, Feb. 22.-Twenty-
nine full-blood Indian chiefs from
Western reservations, decked in the
regalia of their rank, marched stOlld-
ly up the hill at Fort Wadsworth,
Staten Island, today with their Great
White Father President Taft and
members of his official family. At
the crest of the hill, the highest
Point on the Atlantic coast between
New York and Florida, they form,
ed silent group as the President
upturned a spadeful of earth, break
ing ground for the National Amcri-
can Indian Memorial, a siXty-fOOt
bronze statue of an Indian warrior
which will tower 165 feet above ne
highest elevation around New York
larbOr, tribute to a vanishing race
The guns of the fort roared Ma
tiOnal salute of tWenty-One guns at
the moment the President placed his
foot on the spade. AS he stepped
back, Chief Hollow Horn Bear of che
Yankton Sioux, came forward from
the group and upturned second
bit of earth with the thigh bone OF
buffalo. That done, the chief re,
piled with a speech.
AS Hollow Horn Bears voice died
away, the Stars and Stripes were run
up a great fIagpole near by, to the
ryhthm Of Indian folk songs, sung
by the chieftains. When it reached
the top the band broke out with
The Star-Spangled Banner
The gathering of the Indians mark
ed the last time, perhaps, that 50
many native chiefs will assemble in
the East. Most Of them are between
seventy-five and eighty years old,
Some of them fought against Gus
ter, among these being Chief Hollow
Horn Bear, who stands six feet tour
inches tall, and Chief White Mani
Runs-Him, more than seventy yeas
old, tall, straight as a pine tree and
che of the finest specimens of the
Indian alive today. White-Man-RuDs,
Him was chief of the Custer scouts.
Others were: Chief Two Moons,
eighty, nearly blind and almost hid
den by feathers bespeaking his Prov,
ess, and Pretty Voice Eagle, of The
Sioux, seventy-Odd, who carries in
his body tWenty-one bullets picked
up in seventy fights and skirmishes
with government troops and neigh
boring tribes.
A distinguished gathering witness,
ed the memorial exercises. The plan
had it's inception several years ago.
The monument is being erected un'
der authority from Congress by com
mittee of which Rodman Wanamaker
is the head.
President Taft's address was brief
For two centuries he said, "the
North American Indian has had a
right to be treated, not as a relic of
prehistoric man, but as an existing
force with great and immediate and
direct influence upon the settlement
and development of this country hy
the white races
In his reply the Indian chief SAID
that he and his companions conSid'
cred themselves from this day for
ward citizens of the United States.
"To the end of our days." he said,
1--WE will encourage our children to
take the advice of the white men.
We ask him to join us and help us
get out of the -rut in which we have
existed SO many years. We thought
that when the white man came he
came as a visitor, but we found ne
came to rule us. We see now that
he was fated to come and improve
our country and teach us civilization
The first of the new nickels show
ing the American Indian on one sije
and the American buffalo on the 9th
er, were put in circulation today
among the crowd that witnessed this
ceremony.