Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-09-30
BY GEN. SIR ARCHIBALD MACDONALD,
in Toronto Saturday Night

BY GEN. SIR ARCHIBALD MACDONALD,
in Toronto Saturday Night
9TH Secret of the Sioux" an article
by Chief Buffalo Long Lance, which I
read recently in a United States maya
zine brought wildly to my mind stories
l had gathered in the early nineties. 1
was then inspector of the Northwest
Mounted Police, in command of the Wood
Mountain post in the Northwest Terri
tories. There stories concerned Major
Walsh's meeting with the Sioux at the
Whitemud where it crosses the Interna-
tional boundary line and becomes Known
as "~Frenchman's Creek" They had an
intense interest for me as a young officer,
and / diligently picked up all the infor-
nation / could gather from any n with
whom I came in contact who could help
me. The yarns which / heard from
various sources coincide in their main
features, and were corroborated by eye
witnesses, SO that I believe them to be
substantially correct. My informants
were the officer / had succeeded IN the
command; the telegraph operator and
Sioux interpreter. Jimmy Thompson. an
ex-mounted policeman who was there
at the time, and was married to a Sioux
squaw; Humfry Gaudry. the French
Canadian freighter, also with a Sioux
wife; Jean Louis Lagarry. the trader Of
Willow Bunch; Paul and Johnny Cap
lette, who had been interpreter to Major
Walsh, and old Chief Black Bull, q Sioux
who steadily refused to return to the
United States, and who deserves a special
note of introduction.
Every officer who had ever command
ed Wood Mountain post had been charged
with the duty OF inducing Black Bull
to return to Montana, with his following
Of some thirty lodges. Many pow-wows
were held, but the old chief, who picked
up some English n understood more,
always ended them in the same fashion.
Mountain. How do, Bull? How do, Bull?
Good fellow, BULL" M making the
circuit Of the room he would shake
hands in q friendly way with each one
present, commencing with the officer.
He had been wounded many times, and
limped badly from having his right thigh
shattered by a bullet. which made his
progress painfully dramatic.
Then he would say. Bull. Jean Louis
Lagarry Teepee," Il. e., Willow Bunch)
and repeat the performance.
Hating in the center Of the room
he would then say. Bull wax Pomanee
Teepee Ct. e. Montana) -" Bulll'
Using fearful language. he would pass
his right hand across his throat, and
hold 1t straight up over his head to
indicate that he would undoubtedly be
hanged If he wen there. III to any
further arguments he turned a deaf ear.
My predecessor had obtained his de-
faulter's sheet from the American Indian
agent at Poplar Creek reservation. 1t
was appalling. Beginning, 1 remember,
with seven unarmed lumbermen killed
and scalped on the Missouri, it was a
consistent record of savage murder.
I found a note among the papers left
by the former commander, saying that
when Black Bull called for the first time
he was to be given a small present Of
tea. sugar, flour, and bacon: but this
gift was not to be repeated on subse-
quent visits. My first meeting with him
was rather interesting and amusing.
After the interview, hi suddenly said,
You got squaw?"
Being very proud of my little wife. I
went to the officers quarters at the end
OF the orderly room buildings, and
brought her in. Bull limped round her,
like a horse dealer appraising the points
Of a purchase. which tickled me ire
~mendously, and then said, Mice squaw.
Nice squaw. How many squaws you got?"
"One." I hastily beloved at him.
He thought for a moment and then
said, One squaw good. Two, Three. four
squaws. no good-pull hair. jealous
which conveyed to me that all was not
entirely salubrious in an Indian Teepee.
Later on he visited mi again, and
Wnen ne saw no present. IOrJncOmlng ne
said, mo sug, NO tea. no flour. Toe bad
Think So"
/ said, Eyes, / think sol"
But to return to the coming of Sit
ting Bull, after the battle of the Little
Big Horn, commonly called THE Custer
Massacre"
When the American columns under
Generals Terry, Gibbons, and others be-
gan closing IN the Sioux and their con-
federates, the Indians eventually broke
northward, hotly pursued by the Ameri-
can cavalry, who halted at the interna-
tional boundary mounds between the
United States and Canada, whilst the
Indians crossed over.
Major Walsh was In of the
small stockaded Mounted Police post AT
Wood Mountain, some eighty miles south
of where Moose Jaw now stands. He had
only twenty-five men when up to full
strength, but he had a couple of brass
t~hree-pounder guns said to have been
used in the Abysinnian expeditions, and
Indians from time immemorial have
hated to attack defended ~stockades.
Walsh, with the small party Of police,
Humfry Gaudry, and Paul Caplette, at
once set out for Whitemud. Accompanied
by Paul Caplette and tour mounted po-
licemen, he galloped into the Sioux en-
campment. Some of the outposts fired
at the party. but Paul. by the majors
orders, called out loudly who the officer