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Show 'The Crazy Ute' of 1886 Is Subject of WPA Writers' Project (From the files of the Utah Writers' Project WPA) White settlers in the Uintah Basin in 18S6, first decided that there was a quirk in the mind of Inipicut, Inipi-cut, a young Indian boy, when he submitted to having his hair cut by the government school teacher it Whiterocks without the howling, howl-ing, and fighting which had be-:ome be-:ome traditional for all Indian students first shorn, Inipicut, only scowled and sulked. He went on sulking, both among his own people and the Whites. By the time he reached his eighteenth birthday, he had become an iconoclast icono-clast of the first water, refusing to abide by either tribal or White customs and rules. Resented Assistance Members of both races, intent 3n showing him the light of reason, rea-son, were met with a hail of rocks, clubs, or anything which happened to be at hand. He liked sleeping in the sun and eating; no one ever saw him do any work, or attempt anything other than to fill his belly. He stole food from White and Indian alike. Like the unsupported revolutionist in any civilization, he was deemed a menace to all society, and was at length expelled from the tribe, taking up a solitary abode in the hills. Relatives from the tribe attempted at-tempted to supply him clothes and shelter, but he burned the blankets and the tepee, preferring to forage for hhnself. As the years rolled on, Inipicut developed an amazing resistence to the elements, often sleeping burrow-Ike in snow drifts, or lying ly-ing near-naked on the frozen surface. sur-face. It is reported that several times passing Whites chopped his hair loose when it had become frozen to the ground. After a few years, Inipicut abandoned all clothing, refusing even to wear a breach cloth. The naked savage so upset the region that government govern-ment agents attempted to take him to the asylum at Provo. During Dur-ing the journey he escaped and outran their horses back to his former abode. In Exile 25 Years For more than 25 years, Inici-put Inici-put maintained his exile in the hills two miles north of White-rocks, White-rocks, ranging over the countryside country-side in search of food, and shunning shun-ning the society of his fellows. He died in 1917, and like so many rugged individualists whose mental men-tal workings remain a mystery to the world, his life passed into the limbo of legend, and many fantastic fan-tastic tales of the exploits circulate circu-late hither and yon through the Uintah region. It is reported that he could outrun any human ever known, and many times out-distanced horses, even on short laps. Native Whites in the region, maintain that he had one time murdered a member of his tribe, and that his long exile was in expiation of his crime. The Indians of today carefully avoid the spot where Iniciput's ragged tepee stood foi so many years, answering al queries with, "heap bad spirit live there". |
