Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-19
F|REWATER SLAYER
! FREED BY INDIANS.
-.
a.
Murder Under Influence OF
White Mans Liquor Re-
verses Tribal Custom.
By Consolidated Press.

BY Consolidated Press.
EVERGLADES, Fla, June 1S.--
Deep in the swampy wastes of the
Everglades, a stark drama of primitive
Indian life was enacted this week and
brought to a spectacular and unex-
pected climax In the freeing Of Sem
mole brave from penalty Of death for
murder.
While more than 900 Seminoles en-
gagged in the weird gyrations Of their
177th annual Green Corn Dance. or In
dian Christmas, in the Everglades
near here, one stalwart brave stoically
awaited the sentence of death which
he expected in the murder trial that
followed five days of alternate feasting
and fasting.
The verdict of the Indian court
which bows to no dictates Of the white
mans law-almost invariably pre-
scribes death for the accused slayer in
the same manner in which he killed
his victim. SO 1t was that DIR.
John, Seminole brave. who. under
the influence of "firewater," was al
legged to have slain the ranking med
icine man of the tribe, Cor -pat-chee,
last Summer, had awaited his doom
for months until the time of the an
nual Indian court. The slain chief had
been brutality dubbed to death.
Reinstated I'm Tribe.
This strange court ruled that MUIR
der committed under the influence of
the white mans liquor is not punish
able crime among the Seminoles. The
decision was announced by Josie Billie,
Seminole chief and son of Cor-na.pa
chez, who absolved DR.. John of
any "willful reconciliation" in the
crime and reinstated. him in the tribe.
BY Seminole custom, DID. John had
neither fed nor been arrested, but had
lived in the camp with the slain mans
son pending the trial.
The Indians assembled at a point
In the Everglades % miles north OF
this city for the Green Corn Dance, a
ceremony which was handed down to
them from the year 1850, when a band
of Creek Indians from Georgia wan.
dered down to the Everglades. The
correspondent Travelled by OK cart to
reach the spot, and he is one Of the
very first white men who have ever
witnessed these fantastic Indian rites.
The setting for the Green Corn Dance.
a hammock-oasis OF palm trees of
every description. mangors and ban-
boo in a wide waste of swamp, is al
most inaccessible.
The bitter scorn of the tribe during
the annual court was directed not at
DIR. John, the accused slayer, but at
Tony Tommy, known as Ha-thon-har-
chez, self-styled chief Of the Seminoles.
His crime was unforgivable, in the
judgment of Josie Billie, because he
was charged with using his ancestry
10 FIJI his pockets with white mans
gold by seeking Government aid for
the Senlinoles. His fate was Danish
ment from the tribe.
Undaunted Spirit Remains.
Tony Tommy was said to have tried
70 intercede at Washington for the
SeminoIes, and his action was con-
(iemned, because the Indians have
steadfastly refused to admit their al
Iegiance to the United States Govern
ment or be governed by it's laws.
The Seminoles, though they have
dwindled in number, have lost none
of the undaunted spirit of their early
leader, OsceoIa, and the later chief,
Secoffee. While no longer violently
bitter against the Government, the
Redskins do not want any part of the
white mans supervision or his laws
They follow the customs Of their fore
fathers.
Although the drainage Of the Ever
gfades is TO start again and the Ia
miami trail is steadily pushing through
the swamp lands east of here, the
Seminoies are not dismayed.
1--WE are the unconquered Semi
noles," Chief Josie Billie told the
writer. 1--WE ask nothing of the Gov.
eminent, nor do we want anything.
The encroaching of the white man on
our home lands means only that we
shall push farther into the glades.
We are a nation unto ourselves and
will So continue"