| Show STATUS OF THE INDIAN QUESTION TRE THE assurance that there is no immediate danger of an indian uprising unless the red men are I 1 uto revolt by the belligerent actions of unscrupulous white people seems to be gaining gro ground und statements to this effect are emanating from authoritative sources individuals divi duals who are probably interested in precipitating au ao indian war are however endeavoring to break the force of these pacific assurances by spreading sensational reports about indian depredations which have never occurred for in correspondent of the new york auh writes thus oue one man who may prove to be as big a liar is as the rest reat of the population of pine ridge reports today that the school houses along medicine root creek have bave been destroyed by the indians the same correspondent also says it seems probable that the terrible fear of the indians has been construed here as a confession of hostility but it is safe to say that unless dunles goaded into war there is no in the the sioux of pine biogo and rosebud than there is in the Seneca new york state the ilie rosebud indians have again shifted their camp and are now said to be at the mouth of wounded knee creek some of them have crossed white river and the alarmists alarmiste alar mists sa say the whole band is rushing to the bad ba lands I 1 where it will make a fight A lean white pony will a sore more back which is said to have been taken from their camp was dragged up tip before agent royer and all the military last night an examina examination lion it was said had revealed war paint on the hati haunches of the beast but if there was any paint there it was probably the work of some young sioux wao an indian spy ghost horse was sent into the camps of big foot and hump on returning he stated that there were several educated indians among anem these the towns and obtained copies of the papers which they read ead to their brethren when the accounts oi of the afie alarm felt throughout the country by the whites was WAB 1 in it blia way bated to the I 1 indians they lost their usual stoicism stud and indulged in hilarious laughter and regarded these fears as an indication that the coming of messiah was near the red men are in great an apprehension P rei lest an attempt be made to disarm them here is an extract from a world special on that point it is reported by frank girard government scout that the rosebud indiana and wounded knee creek will ill be in tomorrow they are the last to come the only onla chance for trouble is that if an attempt is made to disarm the indians rome roine young bucks will not tamely submit and are liable to raise a disturbance he the cowboys on white river kiver have gathered at ben tibbitts Tib bitti tsO ranch for protection and are prepared to fight if necessary essaiy ly mr george bird grinnell an adopted son of an indian chief and I 1 an able and intelligent man gives through thi the new york tribune a direct and sensible explanation of the situation we he here introduce reintroduce an extract from it there is good re reason alson however for believing that thai there will be no uprising at all ail in all times of expected trouble the indians firl finst t of all look out for their women and children I 1 fhe indian bravos are the most affectionate of men and if trouble is apprehended the first they do is to place their women and chi children laren out of the reach of harm there is now no place in the country except in arizona which is not as accessible to the he whites as to the Indi aay and that is too far away the indians know this as well as the whites there is s no grea great section of the country where there are not large me clements tle ments of whites bites aud and where there are nut lines of railway affording quick transportation for troops troop of course there is an element ot of danger in the spread of the doctrine but unless the indians all ail get an idea that they are going to be resurrected and become immortal they will never start a fight the indians know berf perfectly ec aly well that they cannot bland a long fight and the older and wiser heads among them can be relied upon to try to keep things quiet some old soreheads foreheads sore heads like sitting bull the sioux may try to get the young men to revolt but sitting bulls influence to is on the wane and he is nut not much believed in even in his own tribe the greatest danger is that some settlers may kill a few indians and the spirit of revenge may cause an outbreak there is a strong feeling among the older settlers against the indians I 1 do not know so much about the feeling among the new settlers there is a wide gulf between the settler who thinks the indian is a coyote and tho only good indian is a dead one and the eastern sentimentalist who believes 1 ther the indian is an angel tas As an example of the miracles I 1 will tell you jou that while leIVas I 1 was at the cheyenne agency one of the prophets announced that on the day before he had been visited by people who had been dead for a long time and who had brought him a piece of it fat bu buffalo fraio meat now the Ind indiana indrani lani love buffalo meat but they have seen none of it for six or I 1 meven years the prophet told the people that on the follow following night he would feed them with the biff buffalo ralo roat teat hat had been bi ought brought tx to him the next night a circle was as for forriter and the into the centre with a wooden dish full of cooked meat after a dance the dancers filed up and to each one was given a piece of meat although the dancers were many and the of meat few the meat give out how was it done well sleight of hand of some kind I 1 suppose but I 1 discover the trick the late special census agent for nevada has communicated to the acting commissioner of indian affairs at washington what he claims to have learned about the person named occasionally john sides and sometimes johnson but whose real name appears to be neither of these he says the prophet resides in mason var le ley Bs meralda nov nev close to the walker valker river reservation his name is not john sides at reno but captain jack wilson known among an alt indians by the indian indian names of ofee W vo kar and also co we jo an i intelligent fine lookin looking indian of about thirty five years yeara of age who goes into trances or seemingly so from twelve to fourteen hours in the presence of large numbers of indians upon his bis recovery he relates to them what he has seen men he tells them he has been to heaven and that the messiah iscom Is ts com ing to the earth again and will put the indians in hi posses possession ion of this country that thai he las nas seen in heaven a heap lud indiana ians some of are dressed in the white while mans clothes he counsels the indians not to disturb the white yolks folks the same gentleman also say the only fear the nevada indians have is that the government will interfere through tha troops I 1 think it the indiana are lot let alone at the various agencies the whole thing will die way away all of the indians here do not believe in the prophet rop het although josephus the chief at walker alker lake thinks may be oo co we jo is a prophet for the reason that he went twice to this prophet to consult about wates as there was tto rain and walker river was wa nearly dried up and upon each ocoa sion the prophet acx predicted redic ted rain which really came and saved their crops hence their belief in ift this prophet captain dave of the nevada agency and josephus of walker river are better posted upon this indian than any other indians in nevada they are re truthful intelligent and rb reliable liable at a meeting of the american folk lore society Boci ety a few days ago the subject of the indian messiah WM was treated upon A synopsis of the proceedings appeared in the N Y evening St Anthe following bel being ng a portion of what it said eaid in refer once ence to a speech made by dr brinton more interesting per perhaps halg was his mention that the rev kev mr anthony an indian of the delaware tribe once told me the speaker that the word Il lenape Anapel used as ag the native name of if the tribe and generally translated the true man had an esoteric significance the man will come and that this idea was in every delaware indians mind when he engaged in the medicine dance 1 the word medicine it being understood is used in the sense mense of sorcery a witt with occult powers it is interesting to know that the word ILe lenape possessed po a meaning beyond its familiar one which was naturally assumed to themselves by these indians as a tribal designation but the esoteric meaning of lenape is not very verv different ayom that attributed to adam thus the suggestion is started that this name too may not unnaturally have carried an equivalent esoteric significance the man will come 11 then followed the reading of a paper by allee alice B fletcher an au dhority on the dakotas dakota who treated upon the he origin of the present religious excitement among the inmans indians we agato again quote gilt it began it appears in the cheyenne river country six or seven years ago with a christian convert who began to see visions ile he beheld a hunting ing ground with herds of buffalo and a luminous path leading to it by 7 which approached a human figure it threw mide aside its robe disclosing the christian messiah Me nsiah and poin pointing tink to th the crucifixion sears scars said behold what the white men did to me I 1 conic come now to my indian children whom tile the white men have oppressed and despised 1 from this first seer the delusion until others began having visions all alt through the rocky kv mountain country tou and stilt still others made pilgrimages to the places where tile were seen hoping for like revelations elat ions to themselves |
