Connecticut western news., 1920-07-08
Litehfiela county's Tribe of Indians
(New York Evening Sun)


 Three Indians on a 1,000-acre res ervation and one of them Civil war veteran living alone in mountain shanty, amusing himself with hunt ing rattlesnakes and attending Me morial Day exercises, and all within few hours ride of New York City, is the story that comes from the Scaticook Mountain Reservation near Kent, Conn.
 Scaticook, spelled a dozen or so ways, including Schaghticoke, the United States Geological Surveys choice, and pronounced Indian fash ion P'ska' tikuk, is interpreted to mean "At the River Fork" This name arises from the fact that the settlement and reservations lies at the joining of the Ten Mile and Housatonic Rivers. Here in 1730, or a few years later, a Pequot In dian named Gideon Mauwehee, or Mauhwehee, established himself and invited the broken Paugusset, Un- cowa and Potatuc tribes further down the river to join his colony, which they did.
 Calamity has followed the settle ment throughout most of its eyis- tence. Tn 1743 the Moravians es- tablished mission among it's people, and later induced many of them to migrate to Pennsylvania. There they sickened and died in numbers, the remnant struggling back to the Scaticook home, where they lived on, neglected and poor.
 They were too weak to take any part in the French and Indian war, and by 1752 had dwindled to IS families. The dimunition continued until 1786 there were but II per sons, in 1901 but 35, in 1849 only 8 CT 10 full blood Indians and 20 or 30 mixed, in 1903 but one full blood and IA mixed. Today there are but three of any kind. The last descend ant of the founder, Eunice Mahwee, died in 1870.
 One of the survivors is Cogswell. He has already survived for 84 years and seems in fair way to continue to do so for some time. Cogswell's favorite sport is climbing to the rocky ledge 900 feet above and al- most directly overhanging his cabin to catch rattlesnakes. Nothing de- lights him more than when his friends from the reptile house at the Bronx Park Zoo come rattler hunt ing and ask his company on the climb and the bagging.
 He went on such a trip on the Sun day before Memorial day and was so little the worse for the exertion that on Memorial day he took part in parade of veterans, the village band and school children at Kent. He is proud to number himself among the five surviving veterans of Rents TOO population. He marched with the parade and assisted in dec orating two cemeteries. Not satis- fled with this as good start for the week to keep him from getting old he planned a trip to New York to visit the reptile house and there see the prizes of Sundays catch behind the glass plates.
 He was shown a nickeled case con tained a phial of potassium perman- ganate, rubber hgature, scalpel with a hair splitting edge, hypoder- mic syringe and phial of anti-venom- ous serum from a Brazilian labora- tory. The use of all this apparatus was explained to him but the Indian only shook his head to him and said, ''No good"
 Pressed for an explanation of his lack of confidence in the white mans precautions against the poisonous bite of the rattlers the old Indian grunted out his opinion. Man bit ten, rattlesnake, he die. No cure now. Prohibition" To which bit of up to date facetiousness he added in a moment: Big sport now hunt rattlesnake. No cure"
 FIFTY nxy