Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-22

or as another explained. and with
head dress or hat on"
Mr. Gills experiences in tho role of
Younger brother to red men who have
taken a fancy TO his belongings have
not always turned out as we'll as his
adoption by Seized With His Ears re
suited. Upon another occasion he was
adopted by an Indian who desired to
get several photographs of himself and
succeeded IN doing so.
ION parting with great ceremony and
apparent Affection. said Mr.. Gill, my
elder brother in this instance presented
me with a large and very beautiful elk
tooth which pleased me very much
until found out il was made of cellu-
loid."
Frequently requests come from In
dams to Mr.. Gill for additional photo
graphs upon the ground that when
their wives have died their possessions
have been taken from them. which en-
phasizes n peculiar custom among many
tribes. possibly the outgrowth. Mr.. Gill
believes. of efforts in early years to
stamp out disease BY cremating the
bodies of victims with their household
belongings In these tribes when
woman dies she Is placed in the lodge
of her husband. which is set afre. As
soon the fire has gained a little
Roadway. all of her relatives are at
the flames and keep the relies.
While he has on numerous occasions
been taken into tribes Mr.. GIN be-
lieves that except for a few prisoners
in the early Indian wars who found fa-
vor with their captcrs. hut one white
man in his knowledge has ever hecn
sincerely adopted by Indians. That
man was Frank Cushing OF The Smith
Cushing lived the life of a Zuui Indian.
working into tlrair confidence. gaining
admission at last 20 their secret socie-
ties and being finally made Priest OF
the Bow.
Gushing was a white man who for
the sake of science lapsed for time
into savagery. He learned to chip ar
rowheads, carve turquoise and drill
beads. and he learned the secrets OF
the Zunis. But he died before he had a
chance to give very much of his knowl-
edge to the world.
His hunting of the Indian with
camera has led Mr.. Gill into many
strange and buried corners Of the con-
tinent. He has crossed deserts where
he has found corrals capable of holding
two hundred head of cattle whose
stockades were made entirely of the
carcasses of animals baked to a ma
hogany hardness by the desert sun. He
has explored lost cities on distant des-
ert-surrounded mesas. and on one oc-
caSion w2S confronted in the heart OF
the desert Of the Colorado off the Yuma
trail by one of those desert tragedies
which were plentiful in the early
days of the west.
1t came about when Mr. Gill riding
over the trail one morning. espied half
a mile from the narrow track OF sa fe-
ty what appeared to be n pueblo ruin.
At first his horse, with the fear OF the
desert which seems Migrated into all
mounts TaTnGa1
aside into the shifting sands. but at
last cantered off toward the spot Mr.
Gill wished to examine. Arriving. he
found that what he supposed to he
ruin was merely a natural erosion %
an adobe clay bank outcropp!nE in the
desert. But a clump of trees farther
in the desert caught his attention and
he rode toward it. AS he approached
he saw that the stunted growth marked
no water hole or camp site and was
about to turn back when suddenly his
horse stopped and refused to move.
Mr.. Gill fearing the proximity OF
rattlesnake, examined TIE ground IN
front of him carefully. but could fnd
no trail of reptile in the sand, and
then looking up suddenly he was con-
scious of something directly in front
of him which he had not seen until
that moment.
1t was the body of n man mummified
by the desert heat and probab bly, the
relic of lynching or execution years
before, swinging to a limb of one OF
the trees.
Mr.. Gill dismounted. and knowing
that If he tied his mount to any of the
trees the horse would bolt, he tethered
the animal to a small CROSSWORD bush,
but before he could reach the victim
of the long-gone tragedy the horse
jerked the bush up by the roots and
Mr.. Gill sprang backward just in time
to grab the reins as the horse wheeled
to bolt. and so with the alternative OF
being set afoot in the desert, he rode
back to the trail, leaving the mystery
of the hanging man to the desert grove
which had seen his DEATH