OCR Text |
Show ; V -' W i'i. "1 i ; , YYS 'i h ' J By ELMO SCOTT WATSON A Jjw3 i;'' 1'- le j-T LIES before n,e ns I fe CVmvlMtW n h F33 write a little old-fash- MfciZ. ; .: jyUy loned book with the jMX? mWS ,. feftp M word "Autographs" -fmfcX WiVMr-iMa Vy:: V H 11 stamped upon its frayed m-B-SSXt.my'' I M nnd stai"fd g:een cl,f r 'iTf cover. iou know the -feWo y U V ' "' ""' ' ' f'vv"'' :' x 1 s roH kind of book it is and ) 'JS-JOQSSiC?"' i j you c;m e;isjy guess its -roBggpiplu ... .cL., contents page after " . paje on which are written in the fine ' r. t ,s By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ' Cj-mglT LIES before me as I K'ja pM write a little old-fash-hjLfMlA ioned book with the i- r word "Autographs" 7 9 PI stamped upon its frayed t nnd stained green cloth r ' 'ri f $A cover. You know the s iwm!i tind of book it is and i J you c;m e;isjy guess its contents page after r paje on which are written in the fine , SiiPncerinn handwriting of the "Ele- pint Eighties" some such "sentiment" as "In tlie present age, boys have jrand opportunities; may you improve jours that no regrets shall mar your Manhood. Your teacher, lilizubeth ." Or In a sprawling school- firl hand, signed "Jennie" or "ilinnie" or "Addle" is the declaration that i i 11 y pen is poor, My ink ia pale; ily love for you Shall never fail! If such were all that this "aut r.:ph buuk" contained, it would be no different from the thousands of others which were once cherished by our fathers fa-thers and mothers and which now and tliMi come to light again as we ransack an ultic or delve into an old trunk, tut this particular book contains 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 H the Indian who drew it "Drave Lvar." And so as American Indian day (September 28, this year) draws near ami as I look at this little autograph itli its unique "portrait of tlie artist liy himself," I am minded to tell again the story of Brave Dear, a warrior ol tlie Sioux. If there be left any who once knew Brave Bear, perhaps it may l:"t seem quite appropriate to make American Indian day, which is observed ob-served in many states "in recognition uf the contribution of the American '"'Hun to our national tradition," tlie occasion for retelling the story of an Indian who was notorious rntht'r than lauous. For, from the point of view f Hie white man, Brave Bear was a "l'd Indian." But there were in him fume of those qualities, characteristic " the American Indian, which no one. whether he be white or red, can help admiring, :ia.Vay (Brave Bear or the Fear-css Fear-css IScur) was a .member of tlie Cu; K':lU "'d of the Yanktonai tribe of Sioux in North" Dakota, lie first "I'l't'iirs in history as the boon com-I'Mion com-I'Mion of the famous warrior, Kain-in " I' ace, popularly (and erroneously) K"wu as the slayer of General Cus-,r Cus-,r "I the Battle of Little Big Horn. n '"s declining years Kain-in-tlie Fac '""I tlie story of his life to Dr. Charles l'-"-stiiian, an educated Sioux, and it In Doctor Kastmn'fs book, "Indian .'"'"OS and Great Chieftains," pub-W pub-W by Little, Brown & Company. ;"'t R:iii-in-ti,p---;,ee tells how he, ,lilve Bear and Hohav, the Assini-'""!e Assini-'""!e captive of Sitting Bull, made a '""'S attack on Fort Totten, N. D.. J( '''e simuner of IStiC. Here 'is tlie "' s Hain-in-the-Kace told It : aVyr,ay' the Fearless Bear, who (li,. I ; ,envuri hanKcd at Yankton, was Hohn, ,Vesl man anions us- Ha dared .,,.''' m:ke the charpre. Hohav ac-th ac-th "e ""nntlenKB, and in turn d;ired Wb- " ride wiln him tliroimh the ' "nd right under the walls of the fori, which was well garrisoned and strong. Wapaypay and I in those days called each other "brother-friend." It was a life-and-death vow. What one docs 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 also! 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 loft me a little behind as we neared he fort. This was bad for me, for by that time the soldiers had somewha recovered 'rora 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 I. Our war-whoop war-whoop was like the coyotes singing in the evening, when they smell blood! l'he soldiers' guns talked fast, but few wore 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 1 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 Hoiiay told them that he did not wish to fight with the captives of the white man, for ther'j would be no honor in that. There was olood running down my leg, and I found that both my horse and I weie slightly wounded. After that daredevil feat, Brave Bear drops out of sight, at least so far as history records any of his doings. The next written record of him is in the book, "ily Friend, the Indian," published by Houghton Mililin company, com-pany, and written by the late Maj. James McLaughlin, who us Indian agent on the Devils -aUe and Standing Stand-ing Bock reservations in North Dakota Dako-ta had occasion in both 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. Wiieu two of the owners approached the stable, the two Indians shot and killed both and mortally wounded a third man. Then they entered the Del.orme house, shot and seriously wounded two women wom-en there and alter riiiing tlie 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, heard of the crime, lie reported it to the civil authorities of Dakota territory, but they were unable un-able to capture the murderers. Wive years later (in the winter of 1STS) Major McLaughlin learned that Brave Bear and The Only One had returned to Devils Lake and were living liv-ing among their people, th-e Cut lieads, in the western part of the reservation. res-ervation. Accordingly he arranged to capture them in the early spring be- I 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 i they would not dare absent themselves from the council, and asked Capt. James M. Boll, 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 bad entered the council room Lieut. Herbert J.' Slo-cum Slo-cum with a tile of soldiers surrounded them. As they passed out of tlie building build-ing under guard, Tlie Only One made a desperate attempt to escape. He was shot by the soldiers as he bounded bound-ed across tlie 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 tlie Pine Kidge 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 rille, escape into Canada, where he joined Sitting Bull's band of fugitives. In the summer of 1S81 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 Bulls band was settled on tlie 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 lie delayed too long. A white man who bad 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 bad heard much of the Indian In-dian desperado. One of them, a rancher named Payne, took his small son, Whit Payne, with him to sen 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 his crime, his father, an old Indian of the Cut Head band of Sioux, came and sought me at tlie aijency. "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, i foi he was a bad son." f And this frightful denial ation waa as near eulogium as was ever pronounced on Brave Bear. |