New Britain herald., 1923-08-10
INDIANS TO HONOR
SERVICE OF FRIEND.
Five Thousand Sioux to Help
Honor DR.. Edward Ashley

new York, Aug. 10.-F'ive Thousand
Sioux Indians will do unique honor to
a pale faced brother in the heart of
the South Dakota prairie on August
10, when Rev. DR., Edward Ashley,
friend of Roosevelt and Custer, of
Rain-in-t Face and Sitting Bull and
the long line of Dakotan braves who
were famous In Indian warfare, will
round out his fiftieth year of service
as missionary among the Red Men.
DR.. Ashley is the sole survivor OF
the trainers of the treaty of 1876
: which opened the Black Hills country
to gold seekers, stripping the Indians
OF their hunting grounds and Incl
dentally leading to the Custer mass
acre at Littl Big Horn. Later he was
present on the Cheyenne River reser-
Walton during the Ghost Dance, or
messiah Craze, WHICH eliminated in
the battle of Wounded Knee, where
the Federal troopers avenged the
slaughter of Custer and his men. Still
later it fell to his lot to lead to Chris
tianity Chief Gaul, one of the chief
participants in the Little Big Horn
affair.", of whom he gives testimony
that for the rest of his life he was
a conscientious Christian"
AS a boy, DIR. Ashley came to Mich
igan from England to practice the
trade of carpenter. But the mission
field attracted him, and within few
months he was on his way to the Da-
kotas where he entered service under
the late Bishop Hare. In the ensuing
fifty years his life was spent among
the Indians, counselling and advising
them, acting as intermediary for them
in their relations with the govern
ment at Washington, serving on their
tribal councils, ministering to them
when they were i'll, acting as peace
maker, drilling them In the ways of
civilization. He has been the personal
friend and confdant of such noted
chiefs as White Bear, Bad Lodge,
Drifting Goose, Rain-in-the- Face, Sit
ting Bull, Dull Knife Gaul and 9th
ers. He has mastered half dozen
Indian dialects, and for his services
In preserving the language of the
Yanktons Sissetons and other tribes
of the Sioux nation he has received
the degree of LID. from the univer-
sity of South Dakota.
On the occasion of the anniversary
which will mark also the meeting of
the Niobrara Convocation of Chris
tianized Indians, of which Dr.. Ashley
is the archdeacon, there will assem-
BILE 5000 Sioux who live under the
jurisdiction of Rt. Rev. Hugh l..
Burleson, Episcopal bishop of South
Dakota From a radius of five hun
bred miles around the Indians will |
come to White Horse, which is TWEEN
ty miles from the nearest railroad |
station, in automobiles, in prairie |
schooners, on horseback, or in primi- |
tive conveyance made from tepee |
poles; and in the heart of the Great |
American Desert will erect a city of |
tepees, in the center of which will be !!
thrown UP an open-air tabernacle and
altar. .... III.
Here for four days these Christian
Indians will hold daily worship, dis
cuss the business affairs of their
church, make their annual donations
for its support, consider tribal affairs,
and on the final day of the Convoca-
ton, will give fitting observation of
the half century of service of the man
whose life has been devoted to their
temporal as we'll as their spiritual well
fare. In large measure, 1t will be
final meeting of the past and the pres
emit, for the Indian whom DR.. Ashley
knew when he first went among them
has passed on. This will be meeting
of farmers and herders, of mechanics
and shop keepers, even of bankers
and wealthy business men, for these
Sioux have finally been
absorbed into the civilization of the
great west. Those who come in
leather leggings, buckskin and feath-
cred headpieces will simply emphasize
The fact.