Show TALES B I 1 OF THE editha CHIEFS L watson As he was lighting his pipe a young shawnee Bh awnee suddenly went into a a trance tian no one expected such a thing of him ho he was dull dul and given to drinking to excess and trances were so rare that perhaps the shawnee la in that village had never heard beard ot at them so they took it tor for granted that he was dead lamented loudly aft after er the fashion of th their air tawa people and prepared for a funeral nothing was waa further from their thoughts than that the supposed corpse would revive and one ona may imagine their consternation when the indian spoke again however he had that to tell which caused them to forget their fears 1 I have seen heaven call the nation together that I 1 nay may tell t them em what has appeared to me mel I 1 he announced that he had been given a wonderful new revelation from the master of life he had visited the spirit world and seen behind the yell veil of past and futures future he had bad fo found und that evil Is punished and good rewarded there and he also learned that the indians were not living a good life here he denounced witchcraft and strong drink and stated that those who continued to drink would have a fiery punishment hereafter the pain of burning would be theirs and flames would shoot from their mouths sorcery and medicine were also wrong the prophet stated but other of the old indian customs were the right ones onea and should be reinstated the old should be respected and the infirm taken care of property should be owned in common as had been the case in ancient times white men should not be allowed to marry into the tribe and in tact fact civilization should be rejected ead entirely rely the shawnees should return to the old ways waya of life as they were before the white men came and thus said the revelation happiness would come onee once again to the red mans heart hla his indian hearers received these commands with considerable excitement the belief in a messiah was strong in every one of the vanquished race and this seemed to be a message of hope the strong personality of the prophet impressed them and although he was blind in one eye the other seemed to hold bold a magnetic power the name he be now assumed was the open door and he become became known to the whites simply as aa the prophet it la Is doubtful from his intrigues if he had any real belief in his trances ile he would have appeared more genuine if he had avoided politics however he adroitly directed suspicion of witchcraft against those who spoke emoke in his disfavor and sometimes went too far in his zeal thus harming his cause greenville ohio was the site chosen by the prophet for his headquarters here the campaign assumed a businesslike air indians from other tribes flocked to hear the vigorous speak akel ei and his representatives were sent from the blackfoot country to florida spreading the report of his marvelous marve loua supernatural messages an eclipse of the sun occurred in 1806 had predicted this event and the fulfillment of his words served to stamp him as aa a true prophet the other tribes accepted him without further question and began to work along the lines he had planned there were two outstanding points about propaganda within four years he said some awful catastrophe would happen and only those who believed in the prophet would be safe this added to the tha numbers gathered around him then the northern tribes advanced the idea that a confederacy could be formed which would drive the white men back and this idea was eagerly adopted at the battle of tippecanoe in which more than a thousand converts to the Prop prophets bets creed were engaged harrlson harrison won a decisive victory over the indians causing them a considerable toss loss As aa had bad claimed that he could avert death in battle this blow was a severe one and he lost his prestige on this account his work however had bad acquired too great an impetus to to stop the war of 1812 brought this ferment to its height the british were quick to see the advantage of such an indian league on their side and made good use of the opportunity the creek war of 1813 was another result of the prophets teach teachings after the war of 1812 1312 was given a pension by the british lie he lived for some years in canada finally returning to the united states and died in kansas in november 1837 its his burial place Is unknown 0 19 hi 32 western union |