Show I f THE DISAPPEARANCE OF LO I The onward march of or civilization as is well known and admittedly a fact has got the scalp of the American Indian to toI the extent that there arent very many of him left anywhere What hat Is true of the live Indian is also true of or another species of his race with which everyone is familiar unless his memory Is short in indeed Indeed deed dero and that is the wooden Indian that used to stand guard in front of ot cigar stores and tobacconists shops In the good old days a cigar store could not be a cigar store at all unless It had a warrior bold at the door These warriors bold were of a type that made Fenimore Cooper famous and were Indeed an im improvement Improvement Improvement provement even on that gentleman s amazing conception of an Indian That they made of wood was all the bet better better better ter on wood the war paint adhered all the more They were armed with toma tomahawks tomahawks tomahawks hawks that were uplifted to strike down apparently the first fellow who talked politics and in their belt they carried knives of the pattern now used by the American party in its Us peace coun councils councils ella and other doings If It all of ot the Indian chiefs that graced or disgraced as one prefers It depends on ones view yiew of or the Indian the fronts of Salt Lake cigar stores ten years ago were turned loose on the plains they the could have made It decidedly Interesting for any pass passing passIng passIng I ing immigrant for both in numbers and andin andIn andIn in ferocity were they the most alarming What has become of ot them is nearly nearl as deep a mystery as is that surrounding the Identity of or the man who struck Billy Patterson or the possible reason teason for the local Republican ticket being In existence Well VeIl said one of the prominent deal dealers dealers ers era who used to own a tribe of ot Indians I dont know just what did become of them They seem to have dropped out of sight just as the real Indian does when the white man thinks that a piece of land quite big enough for tor two Theres There s two of them down In the cellar now but bet a pretty bad looking lot I 1 dont don t know why the dealers took them in I suppose it was because b cause they needed the room Im glad the wooden wo den Indian Is 15 gone said another dealer He surely was a nuisance Every few weeks wed have to paint him In spots that were representative representative of ot wounds received in battle with gentlemen in the early hours of the morn morning mornIng morning ing who resented the belligerent and threatening attitude of or the warrior Every year ear hed crack more or less and wed have to stuff him with putty Now you ou cant make a good Indian out of cracks and putty putt can you Every Ever once in a awhile awhile awhile while one with a new knife that needed teething came along and shea off a feath feather er or two from the th the chiefs head dress It used to cost us a lot of money mone too to keep our Indians within hailing halling distance because there was always a party of three or four at 5 S in the morning who Insisted that the Indian was one of them and ought to be taken home Anyway the Indian is gone It Is doubt doubtful doubtful doubtful ful if even one can be found round in Salt Lake today Some of them cost hundreds of dollars and were more or less representative tive of a certain or uncertain school of or art Some were six seven or eight feet tall and built in proportion while others in comparison were little just beginning bE to grow They were all male Indians the idea probably being that wo women women women men had no business loafing around cigar stores at all hours of or the night anyhow Why Thy the wooden Indian was supposed to indicate the presence of tobacco Is not clearly understood The accepted theory appears to be that the Indian was the first fellow to smoke a pipe and that he communicated his pernicious habits to Sir Walter Raleigh and a lot of other ex explorers explorers explorers who came over oyer here In the earlier centuries to see if It they turn an honest hon st penny or two and usually did After Arter the passage of ot the wooden Indian some of ot the dealers erected cute little Pucks and things of that sort but the people take kindly to them and they the too have wended their way in the inevitable direction It would be an nn Interesting bit of Idle Information if It a census of all the wooden Indians in the United States had been taken during the time when they flour flourished flourished for the purpose of or comparison with the number of ot real genuine live Indians as they are today toda What hat is said here about the wooden In Indian Indian Indian dian applies only to the wooden Indians as they the were related to and attached to cigar stores There are said to be still a vastly large number of wooden Indians in existence most of whom are engaged In tn politics |