The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-06-09
HOWLETTER SAVED
INDIAN TRADER
HARD HORN, eros VENTURES
CHIEF, HAD SOFT HEART,
THIS STORY PROVES
Kindness Won Affection of Red Man
in the Old Days Just as it Has
Moved White Men and Other Races
Through All of History, Tale of
Pioneer Shows.

Moved Wh1te Men ana Otner Races
Through All of History, Tale Of
Pioneer Shows.
1 am telling this little tale fol
the purpose of showing that the hui
| man heart is pretty much the same
wherever it may be found. The same
: emotions hat move a white man to
pleasures or sorrows sway the Indian
in much the same way. Kindness
wins the love of an Indian to the
same extent as those of other races
and he will show his appreciation
with as much depth of feeling as the
most highly educated white man.
Human characteristics are much the
same in all races of people, except
that some are more keenly developed
than others.
This story tells of some eros Ven
tres who lived in eastern Montana in
the fall of 1881. l was in the mail
carrying business and had the con-
tract to carry mail from Glendive to
Fort Buford. l had been doing this
for some time, but that fall a band
of eros Ventres moved into the vicin-
ity of the Yellowstone below Glen
dive. These Indians had been hunt
ing and trapping and they had a good
supply of skins, furs, etc., and a
friend Of mine advised me to go down
there and start a trading post and
exchange foodstuffs and merchandise
for the skins and furs that the In
dams had. I considered this, and
finally decided to try it; so | bought
about 5000 worth of provisions and
such things as would attract the In
dians and went down to their camp
and set up shop. This was at Thir-
teen Mile Creek and there were about
forty lodges in the camp.
Hard Horn was the chief. He had
a son whom the government had sell
ected to go east to a military school
for education and training. He was
sen to the school at Hampton, Vir-
ginia. Hard Horn had not heard
from his son for a long time and the
separation and failure to hear from
the boy was almost as much as the
Indian chief could endure. One day
Hard Horn, accompanied by Irish
Mike, came to my store. Irish Mike
was a white boy whose parents had
been killed by the Cheyennes when
NllhS was d SlIdll IVY. liz hdu OCth
raised by the Indians and had always
lived with them. He still remember
ed his mother tongue and was their
interpreter. Hard Horn wanted to
know, through Mike, if I could find
out about his son and if he were
alive, and all about him, so l prom
ised him that I would do what I
could for him. I Immediately wrote
a letter to the president of the col
lege at Hampton and sent it out by
the next stage. Hard Horn thought
that by some strange means of COM
m~unication I should hear from my
letter at once, so the next day he
came back to find out what I had
learned of his boy. / tried to explain
about the long distance and how
much time it would take, but he
couldn't understand it at all. He
came back every day for several days
after I had sent the letter and I, of
had no news for him and he
became disguised with me and got
mad. He said my tongue was forked
and that I talked two talks" evil
IDENTIFY meaning that one kind of
talk passed out over one fork and
another kind over the other fork. In
other words, | was two-faced and de-
him. This was embarrassing ]
to me and / tried my best to. explain, s
but it was of no avail. / was very
anxious to hold the good will of these
Indians, because my bread and butter
depended upon their friendship to
some extent. However, 1 was DOOM t
ed to failure. Hard Horn lost no '
time in spreading my faults and he {
the Indians to quit trading t
with me and he was causing me lots a
Of worry, and also making my store t
a lonesome place. q
This thing went on for a couple of q
weeks and business vas getting bad
indeed, when at last one day | re- T
,eived a letter from the president of h
he college. This was the thing | 4
lad been patiently waiting for to re- v
ieve the depression in my business &
to restore me to my former place A
If esteem among the redmen. The h
also contained n from Hard e
Horns son, written in a childish Il
land, as well as a photograph of the tt
boy in his college uniform.
ent for Hard Horn to come, but he
wouldn't come. 1t was up to me to II
make all the overtures, SO / went to tt
is tepee. He had two squaws. 1t D
vas the custom in those days for an n
to keep as many squaws as b.
e could provide for, SO I guess Hard a.
Torn considered two enough to hunt N
God for. When I went into the lodge m
be squaws looked up but would not q
ay a word and continued with their 4
Tork, seemingly W that | was 2
1 the world. Hard Horn gave me A
o more attention than If I had been
omewhere else. I proceeded to read
the presidents letter, then the pt
on's. He said nothing, looked Moth kl
lg, didn't wen move. Then I play b,
d my last card. I held up the boys W
;of,ro In fropt of uorI IIorp,c faap h,