| Show INDIAN CHIEFS IN washington the indian delegation arrived here today consisting of young man afraid of bis horse spotted elk american horse two little wound gump hump big road js spotted eted horse orse he dog fire lightning fast thunder r high hawk and high pipe they have been specially selected d by general miles as represent log ing all a sides of the indian grievances they have traveled in a special car the doors of which have been closely guarded all the way to prevent newspaper men from interviewing them the high officials being determined that the government shall be the firotto first firs tto to hear what the indians have to say since bince the arrival of the delegation the same game vigilance has been kept up no one being allowed to approach the braves they are now undergoing a process requiring the services of bath attendants the skill of the barber and perfumer and that of the tailor and it 1 ie 8 said in one week the noble reds will be turned out in the best beat prevailing styles some wearing entire suits patterned after civilized classes while others will appear in a combination partly indian and partly white in face of the fact face that the govern ment officials acting under instructions from the interior department have exercised such watchfulness to prevent newspaper men med from interviewing the delegation the washington star of last evening contained a lengthy correspondence from its representative at pine ridge who succeeded I 1 in n getti getting rig together most of the head bead chiefs and from their own lips line through means of interpreters heard their complaints and as five of these same chiefs are among the present delegation it will perhaps be interesting to your readers to be made acquainted quain ted in advance with their grievances as told by themselves the following is a synopsis of what each chief said at pine ridge on the just the correspondent having sue ceedee in getting thena then together to talk YOUNG MAN so called for short complained of f the last two agents they would take away wagons and harness and farming implements whenever it suited them because perhaps the indian that used them would not exactly please them and would give their farming tools to other indians this made the indians feel bad that inai went wem away with buffalo bill to make a little money were not allowed to keep their work cattle aa and wagons which had been given to them sometime before they went they were taken from those indian fa families I 1 bilies and given to other indians which had caused bad feelings among the indians themselves if an indian misbehaved himself or if these agents thou thought ht he misbehaved himself they would would take up the I 1 indians ration ticket so go that he COU could id got get no rations and the conse quence was that he and his family suffered and this would make them feel bad young man afraid conceded that indians were not always good neither he said were white men when an indian was bad he ought to be punished but he held that because an indian might have trouble with the agent who perhaps did not understand what had led up to the cause of the indians misbehaving himself the indians indiana family should not be punished and starved in consequence nce when an indian had his ration ticket taken away from him then he and his family were thrown on the good indians to ke keep until it was restored to him and akyi as all the indians did not have half enough to eat this kind of thing only tended to aggravate the troubles they got their rations once a wee kand what they got only lasted three days when they had a feast in consequence of the a scarcity of beef they had bad ta t eat boiled saag d dog he e said all indians ID In liana lians were very saving gi of f their rations so that their women and chil children drea would not dot have to suffer too much he complained also of abuses the indians had to suter suffer from white people living in the villages LITTLE WOUN D another another ogallala chief spoke next his people he said were served rations once a month and what they got only lasted them two weeks the balance of the time they had bad to go hungry which made the indian heart feel bad this was strait talk when the rations were all eaten with no crops from fallu failure re and no game to kill they felt mighty bad the beef they got wu was poor consisting of two year old texas cattle one for thirty people this was bad enough when beer beef was rat fat but too bad when poor years ago the beef aped to be good but last year the agent only turned out one poor beef animal for sixty people indians indiana could not stand this and they made trouble about it many of the indians left the agency believing if they made a big noise the great father would bear them fand land rectify the wrongs done them at one oile time they collected enough money to send himself and red cloud to washington to see the great father about these tings but big belly agent galligher Gallig ber would not let them go indians he said cant stand to see their women and little children suffer for want of food makes them feel bad BIG ROAD BOAD also an ogallala his remarks were chiefly confined to the character of the ghost dance people he said do not understand this danco dance because the truth had bad not been told them most moot of the indians belong to the church in fact they hid many church houses this dance was like religion it was religion those who introduced this dance among them thein from the west said the dance was ike going to church white people pray because they want to go V ti heaven so do indians and they prayed for booi enough to keep them out of heaven until it was time for them to go indians believed glaven vas ovas a nice place for white man wanted to go there white man liked everything good go ao did indian we prayed and danced that we might go goto to b h aven and that we might live forever and that everything replanted we planted might t grow up tip anti and give us plenty and happiness there was no harm in the dance the messiah told us to send our children to school to work on our farms all the time and dot do the hebest best we could he also told us not to drop our church we and our children could dance and go to church too that would be like going to two churches idever I 1 never heard that the indians should be supreme or that the white man were to lie be killed we never pray that the white people may be destroyed the rhe dance was not a war dance for none who went in it was allowed to have a scrap of metal on his body the interpreters it was who told the lies about the dance I 1 never believed that bullets fired from guns could not go through shirts there might have been some foolish indians who lid did believe such things for there are some foolish indians as there are foolish white people but I 1 never heard beard such a thing as an indian in he dance sy that his shirt would protect him from bullets agent royer boyer and the indian police were the cause of the dance trouble because they lied about it god made the indian as well as the white man and we want the white man to live a great deal more than the white arm wants us to live I 1 get rations every two weeks but they only last five days the rest of the time I 1 starve very much am careful with my food I 1 eat a little morning noon an aej night we never waste our ra eions at a feast or dance there is not enough even for a small feast we eat dog wild ps and cherries at our feasts now five years ago we had bad better beef and more of it we have been promised more but the promise to is uke like tae the wind we dont like old and lame and big jawed cattle when we know we are entitled to good beef we know the difference between good and pour poor beef LITTLE WOUND corroborated what big road said about the dance policemen squaw men and other indians indiana had bad lied about them those indians he said wanted to be chiefs and they hoped to get to be chiefs by lying and making trouble and talking with the agent mention of the word agent again brought young man afraid to his feet we want he said a soldier agent maybe after a time we shall want a man who is not an officer we dont want any more indian police either they always make trouble scouts can do the work and they wont make trouble because they will be under the army we want the government to do what they promised give us plenty of beef our blankets and things up too ought to be here when the leaves fall fail a bomin on her way last winter for her annuities was frozen to death we got our blankets in time twelve years ago said fire thunder not dot since then in answer to a man afraid skid yes some of our children ran away from school but that is not strange white children often do the same me but we want them to go to school little wound said paid that thab at medicine root boot school the children are often ver hung hungry and their clothes poor ibm t maun many left eft the school because the there wa a less to eat there than at home I 1 have ve asked the teacher to send to the great father for more food and clothes little wound also said that his people would rather have red and white and blue and green blankets and not all the time have black blankets that indians like bright it hurts no 10 one if they do have pretty blankets and then he said we ought to havea little tobacco as we cant raise it this was the correspondent says ingenuously put as it was the sign for another smoking bout this ended the talk of the Ogal lalai lag and the baules were next heard from TWO STRIKES so go named after knocking two of his eDer enemies nies off their horses complained of four of their young men conniving with the agent half breeds and police to have the agency moved from the rosebud some twenty five miles nearer the missouri river where there was less timber and less water simply because the agent wanted to do it it and he worked these young you ng men for that purpose this was the reason he be left the agency CROW DOG also complained about the agent taking away from them plows and wagons and things to work with when bad indians would tell him lies also about the lack of food N I 1 ine ne years ago there was enough rations all the year round now they get half enough and no game in the hills the beef too he complained oom com planed of it was often poor and tough and it was a common thin thing to fulls have big jawed animals and bulls turned over to them white people would not have these but anything was good enough for an indian they had twelve school houses at rosebud but they would rather have less school houses and more to eat better have a satisfied stomach anu and know little of school learning than to starve half the time and be very liae indians indiana cant learn to be happy and good on an empty stomach indian dont feel good when he is hungry the agency farmers would often take away their things and give them to other indians indiana which makes us very mad sometimes a mare or ox would get hurt by no fault of the indian and the agent would put the man in the guardhouse guard house we have tried to complain to the bead agent about these things but he wont hear us his policemen keep us out of the agency these thebe things chiw make us leave rosebud big road he be said told the truth about the dance we did not want to fight the chius the police at rosebud lied about the danue he complained also about the lateness of the arrival of the annuities and about the agent refusing to pay them cah for hauling goods to the pays orders on the store and the post traders get too much and the indian not enough years ago they received one beef for every ten people now they receive one beef for thirty and not so good beef either fexas texas two year olds are small and poor indian dont like lem em spoke highly of captain jesse M lee as the best agent they ever over had bad if he crow dog bad stayed at rosebud it would have resulted in a fight therefore he came to pine ridge for he and others were very mad especially ally the way their young men were acting he denied that the indians had destroyed furniture and schoolhouses half breeds and bad white men did it and said it was indians he asked that the half breeds and whites who always try to get them in trouble be charged and men be given them such as captain lee empl employed LONG BULL a sioux who escaped from the battle of wounded knee told how the big foot indians indiana came to leave cheyenne river after telling about bad treatment short rations etc be said red cloud sent word for them to come to pine ridge where they would perhaps get gel better treatment they were at their home when a white man came to them whose indian name was red beard and told them the soldiers were coming to fight so we better get out then we came to wounded knee and had that fight we did not want to fight the soldiers said we must give up our arms and some of us did I 1 had no gun then the soldiers went into our tepees and kicked the beds about and upset everything a great deal some indians had guns under their blankets hiding them for indians think much of their guns the soldiers used the indians very roughly and made them mad until by and by sits site strait the medicine man gave the signal to shoot big foot did not want to fight he was sick we were prisoners all all the night before in our tepees and we talked peace indian like white man gets mad when white man hurts him and tears his clothes and takes his bis gun away that made the fight HUMPS ACCOUNT hump is said to be one of the best indians in the northwest previous to 1877 he was a hostile of the most pro bounced description but in that year he surrendered to general miles and has at since nee fought with the army agat against nat the nez perces big foot lie he said left cheyenne river because he wanted to dance red bed cloud and others had been writing him to come to pine ridge and big foot thought there would be fighting there there was waa a great deal of discontent among big foots indians indiana at cheyenne river agency rations were issued once a month and they were very small consisting of a little flour and beef sometimes there was a piece of bacon as big as my hand annuity goods were much as aa promised promise dand and they did not come till late in the winter the agents all the time keep on promising to give more and gave less only one crop in three is good I 1 think big foot came to pine ridge thinking chinking to get better treatment or to fight I 1 dont like the government to change good agents when we know a good man he is taken away and some man not so good put in his place would rather have a soldier officer for agent because soldiers when not fighting the indians treat them good indians are willing to work many ways but agents say they must farm whether they know how to or not the agent only gets his favorites among the indians to freight goods in from the rail road and that does not give as many indians a chance to work as would like to we want more rations more wagons more tools and more ways to work all white men are not farmers even where the land is good and grows mur much h our land is not good we must have something to eat while we are working and waiting for the crops that so often do nt na come there to is no DO bunting and many of us would like to be soldiers G washington D C jan 29 1891 |
