Show TALES aa L E S by OP OF THIE editha edi ha CHIEFS L L watson JOSEPH chief joseph of the net nei porco tribe has been famed ni 13 ono one of the most moat remarkable indians indiana in the united states no ito was waa tall straight as tho the proverbial arrow and as impressive Impress ivo as ho he was waa handsome al lie ile was n great leador and a successful warrior when fortuno fortune was with him but his retreat toward tho the 0 a n a dt 11 a n border worthy to bo be remembered joseph joaeph with that of Xeno ten thousand 11 Is always recalled when josephs name Is spoken ito iio was born in oregon about 1840 and was a hereditary chief of the nez verce ills ilia natural gift for oratory was of considerable uso use in his dealings with tho the whito men inen and though it la Is said that ho he never spoke in RugUs li hla his translated speeches aro are worthy of notice and have been quoted many times ills him father joseph the oder elder was waa careful to teach him not to sign treaties nor to sell the land of ids hla this was ad hered to by tho the chief and it was the cause of tho the war between lite people and the iman according to jo own story a nez perce called lawyer assumed rights which lie ho did not possess and sold the tha wallowa gallowa country belonging to Jo josephs band with all tho the rest of tho the noa nez land outside the reservation to tho the whites the elder joseph find and fits son who did not want to part with the land had oo no share in this treaty and felt that they were wronged then the old chief died and wax was burled buried in tho the beautiful valley where lie he had lived and this was ono one more tie binding josoph joseph to his country 1 I love that land more than all the rc rest st of the world A man who would not love lite his fathers grave Is worse than a wild animal more afore and more sternly the white men demanded that the nez nea perces should leave the valley and go on their reservation each time the in deans reiterated that they had not sold the land and continued to io live there hoping for or aw an adjustment in their favor the white men moved ever closer and took more land the indiana complained but were told to go on the reservation finally affairs came to a both sides were guilty of attacks and depredations war was declared tho the whites suffered severe losses at first is as josephs generalship and use of tactics were brilliant it later became necessary for or tile the indians deans to retreat and this movement is one of tho the most famous in the his tory of indian warfare war fara with abouav warriors their wives dived and children the band started for canada hoping to join sitting bull behind thorn them was general howard and colonel sturgis and his indian scouts were on their flank colonel miles that adept in the art of indian warfare was rapidly marching in to intercept thorn them before they could reach the border almost 2000 miles through enemy territory the remarkable leader brought his people their few warriors were by nearly seven times as aa many soldiers their conduct was praiseworthy as they did not commit depredations fighting only when they encountered troops finally fresh troops in front compelled a halt and for four days the nez peres perca battled against the soldiers general howard had come up to join colonel miles and the odds were too great to be longer re resisted a isted eighty coven warriors almost half of whom werft were wounded 18 1 women and almost as many children were the remnant who submitted to tho white soldiers joseph sent a message of surrender ln in which lie he lamented the boes woes of his people and closed by saying hear me my chiefs my heart to Is sick and sad mad prom from where the sun now stands I 1 will tight fight no more with the white roan man after their surrender mhd chonea porco were taken to indian territory where they longed for their idaho lands and about halt half of them were later allowed to return but joseph and tho the rest were sent to the tha colville reservation in washington here he became interested in the advancement people under gove government rule and bent all his energies to furthering tho cause of education and discouraging drunkenness aud and gambling in 1807 worried by engrof aching whites the grand old chief went to washington on behalf of his tribe however general miles tho the only white man whom he trusted promised him that his people should remain unmolested and he returned to the reservation er confident of peace six years later joseph made another trip to the capital this was a friendly visit burth durllie which he took part in an indian exhibition this was to be bit tilte list last journey for or he died september 22 1901 cyrus townsend Ton send brady writing of the famous chief has described his death as follows tho ile other day a 4 gray calr halrid cd old chief nodding by the ore fire dreaming perhaps of days of daring and deeds of valor by which savage though he be was he had written hla his name on the pages of history slipped quietly to the ground and fell into ills his eternal sleep ll 11 0 1831 1932 stern newspaper union |