Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1939-12-29

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
pursued the Cheyennes on their flight
across Oklahoma and Kansas.
I'VE must treat the white man as
he has treated usl' Little Wolf told
his followers, and accordingly they
burned, killed and plundered 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 it was not
until they reached the sandhills in
Dakota that they were overtaken. 1t
was inevitable, of course. that they
should have, been captured, but their
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. Il do not
surrender yeti" he called out in coun-
Gil. Il die before the white man sends
me back to Oklahoma There is yet
chance of escape. The soldiers are
is weary as we; quick thrust at them
and we can slip away
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
brutally.
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
returned south.
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.
subchief, whose name translated
into English means, roughly. Wild Pig.
took control of the situation. To the
messenger he said: I'VE want to live
on the land of our fathers-or Gle.
We will never return SOUTH,
But the government has decided
the messenger said.
Our answer to you is the only
answer we can give. 1t is no! Never
will we go back to Oklahoma. We will
die on the prairie first. Tell your
superiors: MOI"
You will be starved and frozen until
you decide to obey the order"
THE answer is no!'
The messenger left, and there was
much gloom in the barracks room.
fate would be-if the messenger was
right in telling them they would be
starved and frozen into submission.
They found out he was right. That
day there was no food issued them.
There was no wood for heat, and it
was now deep winter. with fierce
blizzard setting in. Miserably: 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
diers came in. One of them called out:
I'VE have come for Wild Pig"
Wild Pig lifted himself from the
floor and came forward in dignity.
Il am Wild Pig. What would the
white man have of me?"
You're under arrest. You are to be
put in irons and tried at military
court
On what charge Wild Pig did not
ask, but he and all the rest of the
Cheyennes knew it was because he
had answered no to the orders sending
them south Still dignified, with his
frayed buffalo robe about him, Wild
Pig walked out of the door between
two soldiers. His friends never saw
him again.
Cheyennes Prepare to Resist
For a time after he left there was
a stunned silence, then the Cheyennes
reused in fear. And there followed the
curious spectacle of prisoners fighting
to remain in prison. There were many
concealed knives among the Indians,
Of course, and now they we're produced
In the open, and preparations made to
resist the efforts Of the soldiers to