The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1914-07-12


him when he was ridiculed by other
members of the tribe.
GLOW can paper be made to talk"
WAS a burning question with brother |
end sister, and, as they constructed |
a mark for each sound in Cherokee, |
eighty in number, and put these
marks, or characters, together into
words, forming the Cherokee alpha !
bet, and worked together until they |
were masters of the characters, and |
had the former Cherokee dialect re-
duced to writing, then they came |
forth and made their accomplish |
ments known.
Their friends, and especially the |
chiefs, were mighty skeptical about !
this wild theory, as they termed it,
and in order to prove their conten-
tions, they were separated, letter
was dictated to Sequoyah, who wrote
it down, and this was taken to the |
sister, who readily read it, much to |
the surprise and chagrin of those who |
thought the idea was preposterols,
that an Indian man should become |
as the white man, and that an Indian |
woman should become as white |
woman, was too much for the poor, |
untutored mind, and the consequence |
was that this Indian boy and his sis
ter were banish9d from Indian society |
and were dubbed cranks by their un
letter companions.
The war council thought that they |
must be witches or something of the |
kind, and dangerous characters |
among their people, and many of the
night hawks to this day, attribute |
the passing away of the Cherokee |
tribe at midnight, June 80, 1914, to
Sequoyah and his alphabet.
"a thought expressed cannot be |
stopped, and this character, express
ed in Cherokee words grew and null |
tiplied, books We're written, spoilers
and definers were composed, and |
the New Testament was translated. |
The tribal government was establish
ed on a civilized basis.
Schools of a high order were es-
tablished in 1851. One of the grad |
uates, well known to me, was living |
in 1909, and the diplomas given the |
graduates were not of sheepskin, as |
they are now, but bows, or rather a
sash of wide ribbon of rich and fancy
colors, two of which l saw 80 years
after they were issued.
"Sequoyah was afterwards reward
ed with a medal by Thomas Jefferson,
which he wore continually around his
neck and had it upon his person on
that ill-fated day when he saddled |
his pony and rode out of the village, |
never to return. From that day ne |
has been lost to the world Nothing |
definite was ever heard of him, al |
Though at various times, remains of |
Indians have been found, some bear
ing medals and other trinkets, yet the
resting place of SeQuoyah, like that
OF Moses, is unknown.
Although unhonored during his |
life, in September 1905, $4,000 voters
on the Indian Territory side of the
state voted TO name the new state
after him, and his bust in marble was
FIRST of the two placed in statuary
hall in Washington from the new
state.
1T was during this campaign for
separate statehood, led by Senator
Robert l.. Owen and Ex-Governor
Haskell that the single state press
of the territory of which there were
many opposing separate statehood for
the Indian Territory and Oklahoma
sides, published the story that no
state should be named for him. Al
though he was an Indian, and had
invented the Cherokee alphabet, they
tl'liltAllltu slldl ht was an lllllNlNI,
and cursed the day he' made the al
phabet, because the missionaries had
used it to translate the new tesla
ment, religious songs and tracts into
the Cherokee tongue. These State
ments were denied by Rev. Walter \.
Duncan, then living at Park Hill, a
few miles from the capital at Tah-
lequah, who averred that Sequoyah
was not only a believer in Christian
ity, but took an active part in all
such work.
About six years after the removal
of the nation to the Indian Territory,
the nation began the publication of
the Cherokee alphabet. one page print
ed in English and the other in Cher
okee. This paper was sent to every |
member of the tribe whose address |
was known, AMI was mighty fac .