Show I oriC th Lh I 4 1 tk W Released by Western Newspaper Union Paradox in Bronze THIS is the story of a paradox cast in bronze In the museum of the Chicago Historical society stands the statu statu- statuary statuary ary ar group shown below y r r. 1 f J t S 'S tS t'S 1 C 1 s si j i b f y yO O J Y 2 f sty It represents an incident which is supposed to have taken place dur dur- during during during ing the Fort Dearborn Massacre on August 15 1812 At the left with up up- upraised upraised upraised raised tomahawk is a fierce fier e young Pottawatomie brave The stalwart figure at the right is the noble Chief Black Partridge who is warding off ofT the murderous blow aimed by his tribesman at the young woman in inthe inthe inthe the center She is the step-daughter step of John Kinzie the trader and the wife of T. T Helm of Fort Dearborn's ill-fated ill garrison The word supposed is used in inthe inthe inthe the statement above because it is very doubtful indeed if this dramatic event ever took place It was first recorded in Mrs Juliette A. A Kinzie's book Bun the Early Day of the Northwest published in 1856 But because of the many inaccuracies cies in her account of the massacre historians discount it heavily as a reliable source of information So the first paradox connected with the Fort Dearborn Massacre statue is that the sculptor should have chosen an apocryphal happening to immortalize in bronze when he might have used some equally thrill thrill- thrilling thrilling thrilling ing and more authentic incident He was vas Carl Smith Rohl-Smith a Dane who came to Chicago while work on the Worlds World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 was in progress He was com com- commissioned commissioned commissioned by George M. M Pullman the sleeping car magnate to prepare a model for a group commemorating ing the Fort Dearborn Massacre At that time a party of Sioux In In- Indians Indians Indians who had taken part in the Ghost Dance uprising of 91 1890 in South Dakota were being held as prisoners of war at Fort Sheridan Sheri Sheri- Sheridan Sheridan dan north of Chicago From Gen Nelson A. A Miles military commander of that tha t district 1 the sculptor ob ob- obtained Short Bull Cull tamped permission permission permission sion to have two of these Sioux act as models for the principal Indian figures in inthe inthe inthe the group They were Short Bull high priest of the Ghost Dance and Kicking Bear a noted warrior who had h d helped him spread its doctrines among his people According to lo a contemporary writ writ- writer er the newspapers give some amusing am u sin g ac ac- accounts a accounts c- c p. p counts of their demeanor in the ki studio stu d. d 10 their tl e I mixture of do do- docility doZ Z nI self as- as assertiveness etc It chanced that that Ir teg the real dispo disposition dispo- dispo disposition of the two J- J principal mod mod- models s r. r els cIs were the th re re- reverse re- re reverse ik verse of their o assumed char char- characters chara act a c t e r s and a n d Kicking Bear Kicking Bear who when wearing his native dress and war paint carried a string of six scalps was amused that he was assigned the more humane part Me good Injun he cried Him bad had Injun and and he laughed loudly at the jest So that is the other paradox of the Fort Dearborn Massacre statue Short Bull the dreamer the man manof manof manof of peace who urged his followers to refrain from hostile acts against the the whites hites is depicted as a murderous young young brave But Kicking Bear the ruthless warrior who used the new religion as a means of inciting the Sioux to rebellion is the noble red man saving a white womans woman's life And thus they are perpetuated in enduring bronze i C The Fort Dearborn Massacre monument mon mon- monument monument was first erected at the foot of Eighteenth street near Lake Michigan for it was among the sand dunes at this place that the Potta- Potta swooped down upon Capt Nathan Heald's little command and an killed 20 26 soldiers as well as 27 ci civilians CI- CI CIvilians civilians who were accompanying the military on their retreat from from Fort Fort Dearborn to Fort Wayne in Indiana It stood there for many years until the ravages of vandals made it necessary necessary necessary essary to remove remo the statuary statu gr group up to the historical society building |