OCR Text |
Show - ' , lis! : ''': v-'.-.. :. -v. V: xr?" ?v 1 (J. H By ELMO SCOTT WATSON A 4-SUv" r-ST LIES before me as I ' t K'vTj write a little old-fash t Z H 2 " V lm1 ionod b00k nilh the sfiSf !, " 4' word "A u t o g r p h a" fc I . A v ''.I stllll'ed uPn lts ""Jed WVf , ' v - "id stained gieen cloth tVAVx&A fP r ' WlSlV s'-tY cover- You Know th jpCM ifi i - - ,. SiWw-'j kind of book it Is and -JjJfft jf R&&$ARS"J&-2C&rJZAzr'' you can easily guess its -tfi-rnwiT . c . contents page after 1 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Vtaad-T LIES before me ns I fc'5a fl;:' write a little old-fash-loncd book with the' jiff jjjr word "Autograph s" K nI l J stamped upon Its frayed find stained green cloth 'i'-S X'-'i cover- You know the fokwygl kind of book it is and you can easily guess its contents page after page on which are written in the fine Spencerian handwriting of the "Ele-Eunt "Ele-Eunt Eighties" some such "sentiment" as "In the present age, boys ha'e grand opportunities ; may you Improve yours that no regrets shall mar your nianliood. Your teacher, Elizabeth ." Or in a sprawling schoolgirl school-girl hand, signed "Jennie" or "Minnie" or "Addle" is the declaration that My pen Is poor. My ink is pale; Bly love for you Shall never fail! If such were all that this "autograph "auto-graph book" contained, it would be no different from the thousunds of others which were once cherished by our fathers fa-thers and mothers and which now and then come to light again as we ransack sn attic or delve Into an old trunk. But this particular book contaius an autograph (or perhaps I should say, an "autoportrait") which makes it unique. On one of its pages is a pencil pen-cil sketch, colored with bright purples pur-ples and reds and blues, and signed by the Indian who drew it, "Brave Bear." And so as American Indian day (September 23, this year) draws near and as I look at this little autograph with Its unique "portrait of the artist by himself," I am minded to tell again the story of Brave Bear, a warrior of the Sioux. If there be left any who ouce knew Brave Bear, perhaps it may not seem quite appropriate to make American Indian day, which is observed ob-served In many states "in recognition of the contribution of the American Indian to our national tradition," the occasion for retelling the story of an Indian who was notorious rather than famous. For, from the point of view of the white man, Brave Bear was a "bad Indian." But there were In him some of those qualities, characteristic of the American Indian, which no one, whether he be white or red, can help admiring. Wapaypny (Brave Bear or the Fearless Fear-less Bear) was a member of the Cut Head band of the l'anktor.ai tribe of the Sioux in North Dakota. lie rirsl appears in history as the boon companion com-panion of the famous warrior, Bain-in-the Face, popularly (and erroneously) knowu as the slayer of Ceneral Custer Cus-ter at the Battle of Little Big Horn. In his declining years Bain-in-the Face told the story of his life to Dr. Charles A. Eastman, an educated Sioux, and it Is In Doctor Eastman's book, "Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains," published pub-lished by Ljttie, Brown & Company, that Bain-lu-the-Face tells how he, Brave Bear and Uohay, the Assinl-boine Assinl-boine captive of Sitting Bull, made a daring attack on Fort Totten, N. D., In the summer of 1SCG. Here Is the story as Uain-in-the-Face told It: Wapaypay, the Fearless Bear, who was atterward hanged at Yankton, was tho bravest man among us. He dared Hohay to make the charcre. Hohay ac-certed ac-certed the challenge, and in turn dared th other to ride with him through the aijency and right under the walls ot the fort, which was well garrisoned and strong. Wapaypay and I In those days called each other "brother-friend." It was a llfe-and-death vow. What one does the other must do; and that meant that I must be in the forefront of the charge, and If he is killed, I must fight until I die alsol I prepared for death. I painted as usual like an eclipse of the sun, half black and half red. Now the signal for the charge was given! I started even with Wapaypay but his horse was faster than mine, so he left me a little behind as we neared the fort. This was bad for me, for by that time the soldiers had somewhat recovered from the surprise and were aiming better. Their big gun talked very loud, but my Wapaypay was leading on, leaning forward on his fleet pony like a flying squirrel on a smooth log! He held his rawhide shield on the right side, a little lit-tle to the front, and so did L Our war-whoop war-whoop was like the coyotes singing iv the evening, when they smell blood! The soldiers' guns talked fast, but few were hurt. Their big gun was like a toothless old dog, who only makes himself him-self hotter the more noise he makes. How much harm we did I do not know, but we made things lively for a time; and the white men acted as people peo-ple do when a swarm of bees get into camp. We made a successful retreat, but some of the reservation Indians followed us yelling, until Hohay told them that he did not wish to fight with the captives of the white man, for there would be no honor in that. -There was Dlood running down my leg, and I found that both my horse and I were slightly wouded. After that daredevil feat, Brave Bear drops out of sight, at least so far as history records any of his doings. The next written Wicord of him is in the book, "My Friend, the Indian," published by Houghton Mifflin company, com-pany, and written by the late Maj. James McLaughlin, who as Indian agent on the Devils -ake and Standing Stand-ing Hock reservations in North Dakota Dako-ta had occasion in botli places to know Brave. Bear. In 1S73 Brave Bear and a companion named The Only One entered en-tered the stable of a settler named DeLorme near Pembina, N. D., for the purpose of stealing horses. When two of the owners approached the stable, the two Indians shot and killed both and mortally wounded a third man. Then they entered the DeLorme house, shot and seriously wounded two women wom-en there and after rilling the place and taking several horses escaped into the Missouri river country, passing througn the Devils Lake reservation as they did so but keeping away from the agency. As soon as Major McLaughlin, Mc-Laughlin, who was then Indian agent at Devils Lake, beard of the crime, he reported it to the civil authorities of Dakota territory, but they were unable un-able to capture the murderers. Five years later (in the winter of 1S7S) Major McLaughlin learned that Brave Bear and The Only One had returned to Devils Lake and were living liv-ing among their people, the Cut Heads, in the western part of the reservation. res-ervation. Accordingly lie arranged to capture them in the early spring before be-fore their ponies were in condition to start out on their usual raids against white settlements. He called a council coun-cil of their band, feeling sure that they would not dare absent themselves from the council, and asked Capt. James M. Bell, who was stationed with two troops of the Seventh cavalry cav-alry at Fort Totten to be on hand for the council and make the arrest His plan worked well, for as soon as the two Indians had entered the council room Lieut. Herbert J. Slo-cum Slo-cum with a file of soldiers surrounded them. As they passed out of the building build-ing under guard, The Only One made a desperate attempt to escape.' He was shot by the soldiers as be bounded bound-ed across the prairie, but when they approached he sprang up with a knife in his hand and died fighting. Brave Bear was taken to Pembina for trial but escaped from the jail there and made his way to the Pine Bidge reservation. reser-vation. Fearing arrest if he stayed there, he stole a horse and started north. Near Fort Sully he waylaid a settler named Johnson, killed him and taking the man's rifle, escaped into Canada, where he joined Sitting Bull's band of fugitives. In the summer of 18S1 Sitting Bull returned to the United States and surrendered and Brave Bear had no choice but to return with him and take his chances of escaping punishment punish-ment for his crime. Sitting Bull's band was settled on the Standing Rock reservation. That fall Major McLaughlin took charge at Standing Rock, and Brave Bear, knowing that the major would be sure to have, him arrested again, laid his plans to escape. es-cape. ' But he delayed too long. A white man who had agreed to help him escape betrayed him and Brave Bear was made a captive for the last time. He was sent to Yankton, then the capital of Dakota territory, placed on trial for the murder of Johnson, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. -. While he was in the jail at Yankton awaiting execution he was the object of considerable interest for white visitors vis-itors who had heard much of the Indian In-dian desperado. One of them, a rancher named Payne, took his smali son, Whit Payne, with him to see Brave Bear and when the boy asked the Indian to write his name .in his autograph book, Brave Bear not only did that but also drew the picture which is reproduced above. The end of the story of Brave Bear is told in Major McLaughlin's book as follows : When Brave Bear was hanged for hii crime, his father, an old Indian of tho Cut Head band of Sioux, came and sought me at the agency. "Is my son dead?" asked the father. "He is dead," 1 answered. "Are you sure he is dead?" persisted the old man. "1 have a telegram saying that ho was hanged yesterday," said I. "It is well." rejoined the old man. "We are glad, his mother and myself, for he was a bad son." And this frightful declaration was as near eulogium as was ever pronounced on Brave Bear. |