The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1914-08-25
CHIEF SAYS
WHITE BLOOD
RUINED NEPHEW
sYou viii Never Amount to Any.
thing" Old Chief Told His
Relative
TELLS OF LAST
CREEK TRIBAL EXECUTION
Honor Brought "Bravest Man He
Ever Saw" One Rosa, Back
To Be Shot

RINGLIN, Okla. Aug. 25.-"You
will never amount 10 anything; you've
got too much white blood In YOU"
The statement was made by Crazy
Snake, the present chief Of the Snake
band OF the Creek Indians, who
gained notoriety throughout the ma
ton few years ago by leading his
tribesmen In rebellion against the
United States government. He ad'
dressed his nephew, Alex Harjo, who
has Just been convicted I'm the district
court at Joplin. Mo. He was SEN
fenced to serve seven years in the
| penitentiary at Jefferson City for
stealing team OF horses In Joplin
year ago
The team was sold In Oklahoma.
And that was not all, II Is alleged
that Harjo first stole two teams In
| Oklahoma and sold them In Joplin;
In each instance liveryman was the
victim.
Alex Harjo was arrested in Logan
county nearly year ago by Sherin
John Mahoney, and he was held In
the old federal jail at Guthrie for
several months until the authorities
u0Cl0Cu WhStnCt uC ohouAu pS ShOt
In Oklahoma or Missouri. Harjo has
long prison career. having served
| three terms I'm Oklahoma prisons and
making three hair-raising escapes.
| On his right hip he carries today q
deep groove which was made by q
Winchester rife while he was leading
the convicts In the Guthrie reform
school In an attempt to escape. He
Ii the cunning type of half-breed In
dian.
II was after Harjo had been
whipped by order OF the Creek In
dian council for stealing keg Of
whisky that Chief Crazy Snake, the
old warrior. said you will never
amount to anything; you have too
| much white blood In you" The
nephew had FASTENED to his all-pow-
| erful uncle, hoping to have him inter
| fere with the Creek authorities, but
/ he was dismissed from the old mans
| presence with the above quoted re-
| mark.
Harjo has always been faithful to
Crazy Snake, however, and FASTENED
/ to his uncle's rescue when the federal
| and state troops were on his trail
| Later Harjo succeeded In getting
Crazy Snake out. OF the United States
and into Bolivia, where, according to
. Harjo, he Is living today with the
| Mage Indians near Lake Titicaca,
the old home OF the founder Of the
| empire OF the Incas. sss
"A sentence OF so lashes on the
| bare back always meant 100 lashes,
said Harjo recently, while In jail at
Guthrie awaiting trial. i was
| whipped because with two other In
| dian lads I had stolen keg Of whis-
ky from q wagon. We drank part OF
| the liquor, then swung the keg be-
tween two horses with rope and
| galloped about the country with II.
We were caught tried and sentenced
to be whipped. 30 lashes each. l
| thought my uncle would save me,
but he didn't try.
"Our hands were tied above our
heads In tree forks and our feet Sc
curely fastened at the bottom Of the
tree. Two men, each with whip,
executed the sentence. AS was gen.
orally the rule, so lashes meant 100,
and our backs were bleeding profuse-
~ when we were finally released. Il
| watched them prepare the other two
| boys for the whipping. believing my
uncle had interfered In my behalf,
but suddenly they grabbed me too,
and was soon unclothed and fas-
tened to tree not far from the
others.
II remember well seeing the last
death sentence carried out by the
Creek tribe. The victim was Rosa,
and he was shot for stealing the
third time. That was about 20
years ago. He was fine young fell
low, too, generally considered honest
and upright, and his third offense
should really not have been consid-
cred q crime. He had been twice
whipped for stealing. One time he
rode away on pony that did not
belong to him; his own father told
on him and he was tried and whipped,
and the second time he took enough
corn to feed three horses, and was
whipped again.
"Kosa was a hard working Indian
and had gone to the vicinity OF Great
Bend, Kan, to work. While there he
received word that his sweetheart
down In Indian Territory was very
sick and might die and asking him
to come to her at once. He rode his
pony to the Sac and Fox country,
near Stroud. The little animal was
tired out, SO he left his pony and
took another, leaving card on his
pony's neck telling what he had done
and promising TO send the borrowed
animal back In three days.
"The Sac and Fox Indians reported
him. however, and he was arrested
\ tried before the tribal court, and
sentenced to be shot, for II was his
third offense. Then he was released
\ on his own recognizance to return In
|, the fall when his crops were made
He then married his sweetheart, who
4 had recovered, planted, tended and
harvested his crops, returning on the
\ day he was TO be shot
Rosa was the gamest man, Indian
4 or white, that / have ever seen. He
. walked calmly to the. execution tree
4 sat for awhile on q rock with his
\ back to the tree and then kneelet
/, after he had sung a religious hymn
The squad that was to do the frint
! was In place, and looking up at then
while still kneelins Rosa said:
/ Don't cripple me. but shoot tt
i kin
"The bullets went to their mark
Kosa's heart--and death was instan
taneous. His body didn't even fal
over, but just his head fell forward
and he remained I'm that position un