Show squaw shows her grief in aboriginal style washington the spectacle of an need aged squaw standing ankle deep in snow enow in near zero weather at the grave of her mate and venting her grief by slashing her uncovered limbs with a jagged piece of glass was wag described by superintendent william IL II donner of the fort hall indian agency idaho in a letter to indian commissioner burke donner pictured scenes at the recent burial there of chief pat tyhee tchee a factional leader of the bannock tribe tyhee tchee more than eighty years old and 0 feet 4 inches tall gained distinction as a united states scout in the nez perce war the sixty three year old widow a spare and withered woman known as or the dony bony on one 1 stood for three hours at the grave barelegged and clad in a sleeveless calico dress drees at intervals she hacked herself with the glass in this superintendent donner wrote she perhaps went to extremes but this he continued Is a very old custom among those these people and she being a very old lady it would have been useless to have tried to interfere with her belief and convictions I 1 want to say bay however that the custom Is not intensively practiced except among real old timers 1 I remember attending funerals on this reservation 20 years ago when nhen as many as fifteen or twenty women would practice this custom at the death of a noted member of the family the custom Is gradually lying dying out and will be discontinued in the course of time without any interference on the part of this agency |