South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1913-08-15
Son of Beautiful Indian Girl and "Squaw
Man" at Last Comes Into His Own
Special Correspondence.

Special Correspondence.
WOUNDED KNEE. S. D. Aug. Is.
An old romance of the reservation,
back in the days Of the tolerant from
tier and the open range. has just
come to light. And the son Of fam
Gus "squaw man" and a beautiful In
dian girl has at last come into his
heritage
Ben Tibbetts was a Philadelphia
horse car driver who enlisted when
Lincoln first called for troops, served
through the war and then went with
Gen. Sheridan 10 Montana. After
several years service against the In
dams he left the army and drifted
onto the Pine Ridge reservation in
South Dakota.
Tfbbetts now had considerable
property gained in trade with the In
dams
Then he met Alice. the beautiful
half breed daughter Of Wahtela. who
was a full-blOoded Sioux, and Of
"Eccoby the French" who was des-
cended from an old ''voyaguer".
Alice was Is. and had inherited her
fathers good looks. She was living
on Clay creek with her mother. Wah-
tela, and Wah-tela's latest consort.
Nicolas Janise. representative OF the
American Fur Co in the Black Hills.
Those were days of easy unions.
White men bought and sold squaws,
in Indian fashion.
Tibbetts bought-not Alice, but her
mother. Wah-tela, paying Janise many
head Of cattle and horses. And Alice
came with her mother.
For several years the family kept
together. The three lived life partly
Indian and partly civilized. The lib
belts brand became known from Can
ada TO Texas, and he was the wealth
lest "squaw man" on the Dakota
plain And Alice became the belle OF
the reservation.
There was another beautiful half
breed on the reservation, Emily
Janise, who was bright and spoke
English, French and Sioux.
Tfbbetts married her. forsaking
Wah-tel And about the same time
Alice courted by cowboys, soldiers
and officials, married a cOmmissary
department clerk named George
White and went to live with him in
government quarters.
Then came the tragedy of the beau
tiful half-bre girl. Five months
after the wedding she gave birth 20 a
baby boy. Everybody talked. Some
or MS associates IWltleO w ulte dDOul
it, He loved the girl. but could not
stand the shame of II and deserted
her. a broken hearted man.
Tibbetts then came forward, got
Alice to go back with her baby TO old
Wah-tela, and gave Wah-tela $50 in
cash and 100 head of cattle to care
for them.
Tibbetts would have taken the baby
into his own home, but his wife Emily
hated the boy and threatened to kill
him. Wah-tela hid him several days
in the brush through fear. Alice died
not long afterward.
The boy grew up on the reservation,
went to the government school. mar
ried and prospered in a modest way.
His parentage was always in doubt,
though he called himself William
White Tibbetts.
A year ago Tibbetts died and his
wife Emily followed him. He left an
estate Of $50, 600 in money and num-
berlesS cattle and horses still run
ming on the reservation.
The obvious heir was a breed
girl that Tibbetts and Emily had
adopted But William White lib
belts. son of Alice White. asserted his
claim. and a Pennington county cir
cult court jury at Rapid City has just
declared him to be the natural son of
Ben Tibbetts "constructively adopted
by him and cO-heir 10 his name and
estate