Evening star., 1914-04-18
Silent Years Roll Away.

! The talk Of the little children At last
awakened the dormant faculties. the
years of silence rolled away. and before
the party left Spo-pe. no longcr silent.
was talking in fun flood Tie barriers Of
forgctfulness broken down oX the Groom
in. svllabIes OF the little half-blood
woman Then the Hlackfect learned
from his lips the story thciE fathers aud
mothers used to tell-the story OF Spo-pe,
the fearless, the tireless, ;hc hunter ana
warrior. the pious sivenScr-
1t was thirtS-fye Years dSo, they
learned that an officer in command Of
an army post III northern Montana led
his troop morning 10 a blackfoot
encampment and wiped out the entire
village. The braves were all away on
a buffalo hunt and only a few helpless
old men ernained behind with the WON
en- and children In the battle the
most Of these sqEaws and papooses
were slain. the mother OF Spo-T'c among
them.
The officer was reprinanded, as the rec
ords show, buC 2 rs'Prinand could not
bring back to life those whom he and
his men had butchered. And the braves
came baci: from the hunt 10 find only
the Gead ashes of the camp1ires line
charred sticks and bits of skins aud
canvas that had been wigwans. ana
the bodies Of the slain. Through the
world wanGe ed the spirits Of wives and
childI rem fathers and mothers. and the
moaning winds were their voices. calling
to be avenged. or so the Blackfeet be
lieved. Nor could the restless spirits
ind peace until one Of the tibe who
had murdered them was sent TO his
count
IAN eye for an eye. tooth for
tooth and life for life. Suchs was
the BIackfoot beiief-a belief as old as
the law OF Moses And SO Spo-pe took
upon himself the VOWS that demanded a
blood atonement.
He blackened MS face with ashes from
the dead campfires. sang the Blackfoot
out on his mission of duty to the spirit
OF the mother who bore him.
Thirty-fivc Years ago the whites-the
palefaces-were not as many in Mon
to others OF his tribe and race. the few
that he knew We're tribe. he knew
nothing of them as nation. So it
was that when he came upon a fur trad
er .he man was merely one of the trioe
that had murdered his people, and the
man was wiped out Their the soldiers
came again. and the last that Spo-pe's
people ever saw of him he was riding.
bound hand and foot. to be tried for his
life. And the grass grew long over his
trail. and his name was forgotten.
cept by the wife that was left behind,
there in the new village of his people.
Lost to His People.
lie was Only an lDuidii. Dul ttt IdclS
concerning the massacre of his village
We're so well known, and the understand
ing of the situation and of Spo-pes belief
SO complete. that the courts sentence of
death was commuted to one OF life i'm
prIsonment. But Spo-pe. knowing no
word the i)diefdCe 5 language, ulu not
know mat ne was condemned 10 remain
d PRISONER until he uicu; lie ueileved ne
was being taken to the nome oI the wnIte
man. there 20 be SLAM =. nell the Wnite
man saw ut. So he wrapp.a ABOUT hlm-
sea- Il InaTitIc suence anu waited: ne
had done ms duty anu nau siVen rest 10
the spirit oI his .notner- 80 Spo-.Je was
satisfied.
Iaken first to Detroit the prison au-
thorities veneved ms siIen.e was an IN
uIcatIOn u that IoIm INSANITY known
as Ineidncholla. anu as tne& httu ho
clllties There Ior treatment sopo-pe was
sent To ot. Elizabeth. That was thirty
two years ago. Last Sunuay ne Uttered
the HrSt word that mas paSSeu his Hps
IN all those years.
" ednesuay ,ne Biackfcet, accom-
panied py robert j. Hamilton, anotuef
mefnoer The ,I.pe, sIS4teu Spo-pe at
me hospital 1Or tne second time, learn
Ing more details Uf his case. \ pet-
tlon Tor his pardon was DIT once kfe-
ld.ed ana p.acc1 IN The hands OF Com
missioner se-Is. and IL Inole ,lle,-i
prUuau.e thdt ustorc the summer mas
come to the Montana plains and melted
the SHOWS rronl tne tops of Tie noun-
tains where he hunted, years ago, Spo-
pc will be back with mis- people. There
Will nnd the wIfe ne has not seen
since she was u young woman. and the
two daughters. who were babies when
the paie1aceS came and took him away.
one OF his guards at the hospital said !:
=! Ii be mighty glad wnen the o.d
Indian gets mis- freedom, but III be
mighty sorry to see him go. In spite
Of the fact that he never said d word
until last Sunday, he's as fine a man
as ever lived. anu Well miss him here