Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-12-23

night they were hanged at the county
jail" he said. Il prayed with them
at least for them-and they were very
earliest times had lived along the
Powder river, and not so easily could
they give up their country and take
up new conditions. They were dumped
in the Indian territory and practically
told to make their own living. Such
supplies as came from the government
were diminished and of poor quality
due to graft. Conditions we're intoler-
able from the first and grew worse
Malaria, a disease to which the
northern Cheyennes were not acclls-
toned, spread to ravage the lodges of
the tribe. In every lodge there was
someone sick or dying. And there were
very few recoverieS for the Cheyennes
did not have the ability to ward off
germs. The moment person first dis
4 played symptoms of the disease, he
was considered dead.
Little Wolf Calls Council
Little Wolf watched his people dying
day by day, and was very sad. One
night he called council.
The white men are very strong,
he told the warriors who listened to
him. I'VE can hardly fight against
them. They do not want us to live
In the country where lie the bones of
our fathers. But it is better to die at
tempting to get there than remain
here and have the white mans sick
ness carry us away!"
There were many who agreed with
him. So on the night Of Sept. 8, 1878,
SO men and 246 women, with their few
belongings on their backs, headed
north in an attempt to reach their
country
They knew their danger: they knew
the instant they left the land upon
which the white man had placed them
the blue-coated soldiers of the Great
White Father would be after them
Which was exactly what happened.
When word came that the CheyenneS
had jumped the Indian territory the
army was called out and started in
pursuit at once. Hundreds of soldiers
pursued the CheyenneS on their flight
across Oklahoma and Kansas.
we must treat the white man as
he has treated usl" Little Wolf told
his followers, and accordingly they
burned, killed and plumdered whenever
possible. News of their coming caused
the whites along their probable path
to flee in terror, and some Of the
scenes of earlier war scares were re-
peated.
With an overwhelming force it would
seem that the soldiers should have had
little difficulty IN capturing the Chey-
ennes, but Little Wolf led the band
with such cunning that 1t was not
until they reached the sandhills in
Dakota that they were overtaken. 1t
was inevitable, of course, that they
feat in so long evading the purSuers
in blue coats ranks among the more
heroic annals of the west.
Surrounded in the sandhills they
saw but one inevitability, and that
was surrender. Weary from the long
flight, they decided to surrender peace
fully.
Preferred Death TO Surrender
All except Little Wolf II do not
ell. II die before the white man sends
me back to Oklahoma There is yet
chance Of escape. The soldiers are
as weary as we; quick thrust at them
ind we can slip awayl''
A small band elected to follow him,
and in the dark they managed to slip
unseen through the soldiers guards.
Those who remained were captured
without much resistance and taken to
Fort Robinson, in Nebraska But they
might as well have taken their chance
with Little Wolf, for they were treated
brIItally.
They were forced into a single
empty barracks room and guarded
while the government tried to decide
what to do with them. The decision
was one of doom-they were to be
The thought of the malaria turned
them wild 1t was the same as SEN
tence Of death to most of them. There
in the barracks room they held a
council TO decide what anwser to give
the white man.
A subchief. whose name translated
into English means, roughly, Wild Pig, |
took control of the situation. To the
he said: I'VE want to live
We will never return soulful"
But the government has decided
the messenger said.
aOur answer to you Is the only
answer we can give. It Is mol Never
will we go back to Oklahoma. We win
die on the prairie first. Tell your
superiorS: MOI I"
you viii be starved and frozen until |
you decide to obey the order"
THE answer is mol"
The messenger left, and there was
much gloom IN the barracks room.
The Cheyennes wondered what their
fate would bA-n the messenger was
right in telling them they. would be
and frozen into submission.
They fond out he was right. That |
dav there was no food issued them. |
There was no wood for heat. and IL |
was now deep winter, with a fierce !
blizzard setting tn. Aiserably, the red /
men huddled together under their !
worn robes and prayed TO their gods. /
IN the dawn the door was kicked /
open and couple OF blue-coated sol
Tiers came In. one OF them called out
SWe nave come for WIND Pig"
wild Pig lifted himself from the /