Show ALES of the J CHIEFS by EDITHA L WATSON SITTING BULL probably no indian Is more widely known than sitting ni put bull and certainly no indian has hai had as many conflicting stories told a bout about him IMA in turn we find him called a hero a coward a politician an old lawag and the finest type of indian the times X A in which he be lived have given him so some roe of 0 these sitting bull names the changed values of 0 a later day others perhaps lie he was all ol of these one thing Is certain he was colorful the year of his birth in south dakota I 1 1834 Is almost a hundred years ago south dakota was a wild country then inhabited by sioux who fought the other plains tribes incessantly the shoshone Shosho oril nl and the crows knew the valor of this tribe and as time went on young sitting bull became noted far and near as a warrior of the sioux certainly his youth was not that of a coward he distinguished himself in hunting buffalo calves at the age of ten and at fourteen he be had gone with his father on the warpath karpath and counted his first coup coups are counted in three ways killing an enemy scalp scalping scalpel ll g an enemy or being tb the e first firs t to st strike r k e an enemy As he grew older sitting bull was often consulted in the role of peacemaker he a leader in war was also foremost in peace but this did not extend to the white men for them sitting bull always had a sense of disdain and hatred it shows in hla his picture glaring out from his indian eyes lt it showed most and ana always in his life his first important engagement against the whites was at fort buford in the next nest three years found indians from various tribes flocking to his standard then came seven years on the warpath karpath war path when the band was never at a loss for a fight there were frontier posts to swoop upon Shosho nl to battle with or crows to raid then the seven years of joyous warfare came to an end the government stepped in this was no longer an indian land where the red man might do as he liked i peace was the word of the day and peaceful indians went on reservations and behaved themselves yes but sitting bull was not a peaceful indian I 1 the battle of the little III big horn born where custer and his men fell Is of course the most famous engagement in which sitting bull Is named here one may always start an argument about him was he be a coward ile he Is said to have bate fled with the women and children on that eventful day or was he the mighty medicine man who stayed in the hills bills and prayed tor for his his people alt although bough his heart inclined to the thick of battle who tho can tell gall and john grass fought bravely trained in the same school which had taught sitting bull the lessons of war many other indian in dia n warriors fought bravely also Is it believable that he be who had spent the last ten years on the warpath karpath had fled from the handful of white men especially when he had already predicted the indian victory but with general miles hot on hla his heels afterwards no one can blame him for escaping caping into canada general miles was another sort of enemy with an uncanny manner of achieving his ends in the face of all sorts of opposition the year 1881 saw the return of sitting bull to his own country ile he had been promised amnesty and surrendered at fort buford where 15 years before he be had made his first great fight against the whites it Is almost impossible in describing the sioux leader at this time of hla his ute life to avoid using the expression a caged eagle it so exactly fits him his fighting heart was not tamed even II if his power was wag limited was this a martyr who urged his people not to yield to the white men a prophet who foresaw the fall of his race or an old lawag with an insatiable desire to make trouble the me truth no doubt lies somewhere la in between there Is something a little sad in sitting bulls death the chief was of more than middle age his eloquent opposition was his only effective weapon against the whites two troops of cavalry with two hotchkiss guns gung and 43 trained indian police were sent at night to take him they woke him where he slept and told him to go with them and bitter heart that he was lie he berated them as he made his preparations he was shot as he went out with his captors fearful that his foli followers i might effect a rescue the indian I 1 policeman at his side bide killed him in trout of his people who had crowded around to save him killed by men of his own race sitting bull died as he had lived hating and despising the white men and their ways to the last 0 ifal lo 10 west weal TO era newspaper per union |