The New York Herald Newspaper, July 9, 1875, Page 3

THE INDIANS. dilietinprenian An Inside Picture of Ab- original Life. THE INDIANS AS THEY WERE AND AS THEY ARE A Painful Story About the Brother of the President. “INFLUENCE WITH THE GOVERNMENT,” ‘How Indian Stores Are Managed from Washington. do How Outrage Leads to Massacre. AN INTERPRETER SKETCHED. Indians While Live on Ponies and Dogs. Contractors Prosperous, BEGGING FOR BREAD. “Sitting Crow” Addresses the Herald Upon His Wrongs. WHAT “TWO BEARS” SAYS. The Life of the Sioux on the Reservation. STANDING Rock, Dakota, June 17, 1876. A crowa of passengers and Indians were stand- Ing around @ stove iu the leading hotel in Chey- enne two years ago. Among them was & young dandy with his hands full of shears, He oered them to one of tne Indians. As the age siretched out his hand the Caucasian struck ‘him a spiteful blow across the knuckles with tae shears. Hud the Indian knocked him down or shot him there would have been a fight on the spot, aud the citizens would have telegrapked over the country of an unprovoked Indian assault. I have recalled the circumstance many times, and now, on investigating the frauds of this agency, it strikes me as a {air illustration of wns Whole Indian question. The whites are generaily the aggressors, No candid and well informed person on tne frontier doubts that the Indians have been unjustly dealt With by the government and its agents, INDIANS AND WHITE MEN, The President recently told the Sioux chiefs that they had been fed for the last two years gratuitously. This, however, dues not excuse the “Indian Department (or its shamefai management i indian affairs. So long as it pretended to pro- Vide for them itis bound to do its work faitalolly and employ honest agents. ‘tne prevailing seuti- Ment among a certain class is that the Indian has Rorights which a white man ought to respect. They say that he is dirty, cowardly, lazy, cruel, Misnonest and treacherous, The gentlemen wao Gre so anxious to taxe possession of the Black Hulls tegardiess of treaties have a profound ana deadly hatred for Indians and Indian sympa- thizers, in their estimation a yellow dog 1s more respeciavie than ared man. I did heat a man say the other day tnat ne would like to live in a hay- stack all winter with an Indian girl ana a barrel of bourbon, but In other respects he was no friend 01 the Stuux. I was surprised to find the soluiers On good terms with the Indians. They talk and Jaugh with them and race their horses ina most Aamiliar way atthe agencies, aud when they are in trouble they go straight to an officer (or advice. As a rule tle military deals justly with them and treats them kindly, while in most cases the ordinary cituzen looks at them witu contempt and Will have no intercourse with them, espeeially with the males, Still there are exceptions. I will Fay at the outset that Indians steal and lle, and that they are dirty and treacherous; but they are not more so than Waite people would be if placed in their circumstances. Some negroes and whites areas ancieauly, and the average Indian con- tractor ig a8 accomplished @ rascal as the worst of them. THE SUFFERINGS OF THE INDIANS LAST WINTER. Tre HERALD has pubilshed a brief statement from General Cuater touching the suferings of the Indians here last winter. That the public may know more fully about it I will give the re- euit of a few days’ investigation on the ground. I have interviewed army officers and citizens, as Weil as chiefs of the Blackfeet, Uncpapas and Yanktonas, which are of the great Sioux or Da- kota tribe. They call themselves ‘“‘Lakotas,’? and tne word “Sioux” 1s seldom used by them. The sun was nearly down when our steamer came in sight of the lodges of the Yanktonas, four miles above the agency. Two Bears is the bead culef. The eicampment is at the foot of high, grassy hills, which slope back from the timber groves of the Missouri. As the boat swung ma- jestically around the bend a line of Indian boys appeared, sitting on the bank under the luxuriant cottonwoods. They were robed in @ark biankets and most of them had bows and arrows. Other tnceam)»ments caine in sight, and tar away to the south white contcal tents (tepees) dotted the green carpet under the horizon. The bluffs at the land- ing swarmed with Indians of ali sizes and eom- plexious. They crowded the shore, and groups of them extended a ong the crest of the hill for half & mile. ‘The agency buildings comprise a hollow square of hewn log houses, occupying about as much ground a8 a New York block of stores. The Agent's ofice and dwelling quarters ore in the Tight hand corner of the block, and the rest of the rooms are used for Indian and quartermaster store The soidiers live in the houses forming the western side of the square. Tne trader's store stands about 2v0 feet tothe north. It is of jogs, with @ siockade in the rear, Less than one hundred soldiers were stationed here when I arrived. but one ortwo companies from the ola Grand River agency came up to-day te take the place of & company that went to Fort Lincoin yes- terday. Not more than one hundred men are here now. Colonel Poland ts in command, and he begins to erect new quarters to-day, A steam Baw and shingle mill 18 on the ground, anain @ few weeks the troops will be living in houses of their own and no longe! pendent on the agency barracks, ‘This Standing Rock agency was moved hither irom Grand River two years ago. The nt, E. Palmer, furmerly clerk in the Interior Depart- ment at Washington, resigned last fall and sent Nis baggage ahoad, His resignation wag accepted, but no one came to relieve him until late this Spring, when the present agent, Colonel Burk, of Omaha, took charge, There is less open drunk- onness at Standing Rock than in any place of its nage in the State of New York; yet the tittle whis- rey that has already been smuggled in has caused one or two murders and much scandal. The men who have done the most drinking are the agents ani their interpreters, A barrel of whiskey in this Indian country means fraud and blooashed, The largest steamers on the Mis- | fourt River have @ placard in every cabin warn | ing ail persons against selling or traMcoking in in- toxicating liquors under penalty of veing turned ver to the nearest military post. The Indian D partment and the military authorities avo wisely adopted these measures to preserve peace aud Orevent Wolo men and indians irom plunge | kenburgu. NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1875.—TRIPLE SHEET. img the country into a general war, Then, what shall be said when it 1s proved that the first men to Violate the law ana endanger the lives of the setilers are the agents and their interpreters? From etatements that have been seut East { sup- posed that the Inaians drank more whiskey than all the whites in the Territery. Great was my surprise to hear chiefs compiain that jheir guar- dians created most of the distyroances, And when officvrs, citizens and soldiers agreed with them [ thought their statement worthy of belief. That the situatiou here may be fairly understood, 1 will make a brie! explanation. In 1868 Generals Sherman, Harney, Terry and Sanborn came to Fort Kice to treat with tho hos- Ule Sioux and induce them to go on thia reserva- tion, which lies West of the Miasouri Raver, south Of 46 parallel and west of longitude 104, he In- — | Gians would not meet them, and 1t is sald that | the generals dare not journey mto the wilderness alter them, So they engaged Mr. and Mrs. Galpin and Father de Smet to go out and meet them, They went and induced the savages to come in and sign the treaty. General Harmey bad control of all the agence claimed that he gave satisiaction, In July, 1869, the army oMcers Who were “waiting orGers” wero putin charge of the agencies and there was no particular complaint in this region, so the In- dians say. Iu 1870 Congress passed a law torbid- Ing military officials holding civil positions, and then Lhe agencics came uoder the management of the President and (he Church societies, * THE PRESIDENI’S BROTHER, One thing !s certain, when Orville Grant, brother of the President, gained control of the trading stores on this river, the Indians began to starve, and the more power he gained in a mercantile Way the less the Indians had to eat, The Mrs, Galpin, who went with Father De Smet to make peace with tne Sioux, i# @ full-blooded Sivux, and she is a remarkable woman, Her husband was a White man, Her daughters have beem educated im convents at Chicago and St. Louis, Cap- tain William Harmon, who married one of them, 13 a Man of good character notwithstanding what Orville Grant may say to the vontrary. Army ofi- cers and respectable ousiness men speak well of him, and I have seen letters irom mem- bers of Congress and prominent clergymen re- ferring to him in the highest terms. When Mr, Grant began his trading operations on this Tiver the licenses ef the traders were revoked and Mrs. Galpin, who was interesied in @ store at Fort Rice, was induced to sell out. Captain Har- mon, her son-in-law, had @ store at this agency, but his licouse was cancelled and he was forced to give up his goods for what ne could get. Orville Grant said he hada halt mterest in the stores, but of course bis name did not appear on the cards of the firm. He controlled tue licensing », thrvugh his influence with the government, tor this 1t 18 said taat the men who furnished the capital and willingly gave him half of the div- idends, Ars. Galpin’s daughters were then at scnool, but without some way of making money she could not keep them tnere, The law pronibite white persons irom trading with the Indians with- out a license, but 1s allows Indiana to trade among themselves, Mrs, Galpin, being @ Sioux, opened a small store at stand- ing Rock, and straightway the Indians came to trade with her, and sne undersoid the Grant establishment, Then Captain Harmon received @n indignant letter from Orville Grant to the effect that when be bought the goods he was promised that there should be no competition, and he imtimated im strong terms that Harmon had acted in bad faith and was @ diskones: man. ‘The captain replied that no uch agreement was made nor even talked ol, Soon after this an order came trom Washington forbidding Mra. Galpin to sell any more goods, and she was directed to close her store. The Jollow- ing is the substance of a letter written by Captain Harmon to @ memner of Congress about this singular proceeding :— AN ACT OF CRUELTY. . Pont Rice, D. T., Dec. 26, 1874. Dear Generat—! desire to spon attention to the following, trusting that you will sée that justice ts done so far as itis in your power :— Ars. Galpin i8 @ >100X Ludian woman, fifty-one years old. She keeps on hand a smal quantity of Indian goods aud rages with her people at standing Kock, D. T. | the Gomuis: ot Indian Affairs bas issued an order to the ag iw. as well order that no wanner ainong themselves. Cowmissioner of indiau Affairs he that there Was no law to prevent her trom sellit goods to her people. 0. L. Grantis a partmer with A. L. Bontattom in the tradiug store at this agency, and ins sald dru, findiag that Mrs. Galpin wag getting a4 portion of the trade, and they wauung it all, have, in my opition, req ues that au order ed to stop her trom tradiug, Mee Galpin has alwa: the government sud shi nay ddne more than any other i@ peave between the two.raves. Ln ‘verry sud Sanborn 0 4 treaty With the sioux Indi- * ND (slice deceased) and Mrs. Galpin went outto the hostile camp. and, aiter wn absence of nore than & mouth, returwed with the ind- ans, anda treaty Was wade, inainly through her imtu- ence. she has two daughters, thirteen and sixteen years old. She has kept them atschvoi in st. Louis tor the last tive yeury, tnd she hay paid their way throdga her own e: eruotis in trading with ber people and in maxing fudian Curiosities lor sale. Sow the order comes to close her businesa I only mention this one fact. Thus ands know what sae has done to peace and protect White men from murdered. General Harney can youch I have said. and more. General Sanborn, of te knows her, and it has always Leen sutd that we most remarkable of Midian women. dhe ans, Wwiclis a greater influence among her people than any other one person. She went to Washim;ton two years ago With an Indian delegation trou tis river, A lew days ago Woops Went down to the agency and atrestod ey one ot tae Indians and serious trouvie, seem ble. them not to attack the troops, uid tnally the soldiers tuok the prisoner away without molestauon. ‘hls order of the Commissioner will create great ais- satisiaction among the Lnuians and at the same time do ‘Mrs. Galpin great injustice, simpry to grutity t cent’s brother. J have no financial interest in th of Mra. Galpin. But she isty wite's mother, and Dot sit tamely by and see this injusuce perpetrated, 1 aim sa Isiled that this act ot Commissioner Smith is a usurpation of auchorily without law to sustain him, If this deerce iy to be enforced by the bayonet, as it will have to be if done at all, {intend that the country shall know of it through the press. Tum very truly, WILLIAM HARMON, Mrs, Galpin did not close her store and she will continue to trade with her people while the law sustains her. Neither Mr. O. L, Grant nor the Comunfusioner, nor the’ President himself, has any more legalright to forbid her trading than they bave to shutup the Palmer House in Ohicago, HOW THE MONOPOLY IS SUSTAINED, The law net only permits Indians to trade among themselves, but it says, in substance, that any white man of goud character and recommend- ations from responsible persous may seil goods to the Indians on paying the license fee, Captain Harmon says that he bas asked for a permit, and I know that his vouchers are good, yet his peti- tion bas not been granted, and it is doubtful if it ever Will be so long as U. L. Grant snd other members of the Ring are in power, Last summer, Mr. Van Valkenburgh, of Hills- dale, Mich., applied for permission to open a store at this same place, His credentials were receiyea at Washington, The agent here wrote to the department saying that the present trader gave satisfaction, and that he did not know Van Val- Commissioner Parker wrote that the applicant had good vouchers; that the policy of the department was to encourage competition for the benefit of the Indians, and that he (the agent) must sign the license im compliance wish the law passed by Congress im 1866, The license was then granted; but before Van Valkenburgn could get his goods on the'ground It was cancelled wita all the otners on the river and Orville Grant came into full power. Now, it must be plain that if white men of intelligence and business experi- ence are cheated and roubed by tne Ring, there is little chance for the Indians 10 optain justice or food, Mostof the stores which sell them goods a ine vita- Sne vent for the diferent Inaians and labored with vresi- is trade dshatl 4 DISGRACE TO A GOVERNMENT that pretends to look after their welfare, Last winter, When the Indians were starving and perishing with cold, the storekeeper at Stand- ing Rock, Dakota Territory, 0. 8 A, charged them $1 a pound for common hard tack crackers and fitty cents @ pound for bacon. This can be proved hy competent witnesses. if the 6,000 Indians had veen white men that store would have been ievelled tv the ground in naif an hour, ‘roe Indian Department, the Commissioner and the President's brother, re/used Harmon and Val- kenburgh hoeasos that tne Ring store might pros) Mra. Galpin, Who has saved handreds of white mon and Woite women irom death, was giving the Indians provisions trom ner \ittle store, which the United States government ordered to be closed, THR SWINDLERS PROTROTRD BY THN GOVERNMENT. The men who pronibit indians from trading on the Missouri River, and it is | with the h other nave nothing to say about 3 | no harness and advice about agriculture, with no | ina chair and took a pipe of the fragrant bark of | by ai the white people, He took the pencil! an@ white swindiers who ply their calling under tne | Protection of the government. It ts such things as these that made Red Cloud tell the President that ali white meu are liars, These outrages are the beginning Of massacres. itis a common say- ing that Indians have no sense of honor, and can- not be trusved, The Hudson Bay Fur Company Bas traded witu the Indians for 200 years, and there 18 no case on record where an Indian has | hart asingie white man employed by that com- | pany. 4 SOLDIER'S OPINION. Inow come to the statements of a prominent and well kuowa officer at Stanaing Rock, whose name can be given if necessary, He stands nigh im the estimation of such men as Terry, Custer, and other leading military gentlemen in the West. The former agent, Edward Paimer, of the Indian Department in Washington, wrote as follows. His letter was dated Graud River Agency, Stand- ing Rock, December 30, 1874:— ‘The quantity of supplies on hand at this agency is le than on former years, partly because of a reduction in some articles and partiy because of the close of paviga- tion, consequently only half rations have been issued fer some time, ar tli Jurther reduction Will be necessary beiore spring. ‘tue officer says that there was: no pork nor bacon in December, Beer gave out in Maren. Io April the agency bought seventy-tive cows and calves, with a lew oxen, They were killed about the Ist of ApriL About the 16tn thirteen steers were issued to the Indians, and ufcer that they reeeived only quarter rations, They had no more meat until the Ist of May. During the lust two weeks in April they got a little sugar, tobacco, salt and beans, whien was ali they nad to ive on exvept thetr ponics and dogs. Flour gave out ou the 18¢ of April, Early in January the Indians began complaining to the soldiers of hanger. They thought that the Great Father intended them to have enough, but it never reached them, They said they were poorer than ever before. Commissioner Smith sald in his last report that he would send men to teach them to farm; that they should have fndvstrial schools and stock, Bat they nad notliing bat promises and starvation. The game was nearly gone, and they had neither horses nor aimmuni- ton. The principal chiefs said that no doubt the Great Father had set apart money for them, but it had been stolen. The ration, said the officer, al- lowed them was not enough. lt was one-fourth less than any ration in some things and one-half “less in others, ‘The Indians have good memories, While they were waiting for food they repeated what haa been toid them so often, They 14, “We don’t gee the ploughs that were to be sent us, nor the men who were to snow us how to use them. We did have an industrial school at Grand River; but they told us taat it was not a good place; so they brought us here, where we have nothing.” ‘The Indians complained of not being allowea a voice in the Black Hills Council. They furmisned one- halfot the signers to the Laramie treaty in 1868, Tae Commissioner would not send for them now; he ignored their wishes entirely. BEGGING POR BREAD, When the Indians were out of flour in April thoy came to the soldiers and begged jor bread. They brought in tueir hatcnets and beads and pipes and trinkets and sold them for less than they paid. The little money they received for skins did nos go fir toward buying food wnen bacon was fifty centsa pound gnd crackers eignt cents apiece. A cowhide brought a few dollars but goods were given in exchange at a profit of from 100 to 300 and 400 per cent, One man, an In- ian, paid $1 for a cotton handkerchiel and two yaras of eneap cloth. Fiimsy calico of doubtiul colors was sold at 25 cents a yard. At the opening of navigation this spring the first boat brougit 75 barrels of pork, 2,500 sacks of flour and 200 sacks of corn jor the agency, It was landed before sundown, but tne agent said he had no time to give out any of the provisions, as he had not examined and checked the Invoices, and he told them to come the next morning. Kill Eagle, one of the Blackfeet chiefs, turnea on his heel and told his people that they had starved for one moon and could starve one nightionger. The Uncapas and Yanktonas said that they could do what the Blackieet could, and they went to their lodges. An oficer who indignantly wknessed tne scene says:—‘lt Was the most heroic exhibition of ‘or. bearance that I ever saw. It put the Pennsylva- Dia mivers to shame, and they have committed more acts of violence, Jor less cause, than all the Indians on the Missouri River, Since the treaty was made in 1968 @ thousand starving white mon would have sacked the agency in ten minutes, There were 5,000 Indians, but they went back to their tents and ute their dogs, The soldiers would never have submitted to such treatment,” guid he. The officer spoke warmly of Mrs, Galpin, ‘Alter the Sibley-Sioux war two white women were captured in Minnesota,” he, and “carried away by the Indians to Sitting Bull’s camp, she went out with aload of goods to buy their free- dom. Sitting Buil gave her @ body guard and helped her to flad them, aod the guard accom- Danied her back to Fort Rice. She took the cap- tives to Sioux City, where they met their nua- bands ana were restored to their families, the parior was fillea with people when they came, One of the women threw her arms about Mrs, Gal- pin’s neck and kissed her, and they could hardly be separated, The scene,” said the oMcer, “was so affecting that the men had to leave the room.’ Tais is the Mrs. Galpin whom the goveroment has forbidden to trade with those of her own biood. Congress voted an appropriation fer her. It gave her the price of the goods with which she ran- somed the captives, The oMeer says tt 1s well known that arms, am- munition and whiskey have been brought up the river in- false packages aod sold to the Indians vy the illicit traders at the wood yards, Whiskey from Bismarck bas been sold for enormous prices on the reservations by outsiders who are continu- ally talking about the quarrelsome savages, When the Indians were suffering iast winter Agent Palmer reported that the agency had 500 barrels of pork, 160 barrels of sugar and other articles at Sioux City, but the river was frozen so that the boats could not run. It lay there for six months, When # portion of the pork Was sent up. Strange to say $3.200 worth of the pork nas not Deen heard from to this day at the agency. Per- haps the Ring can account tor it, Notwitnstand- ing the arrival of the delayed provisions, which rightfully belong to the Indians, they gét vo more than the usual ration, which 1s nearly one-fourth less than ine soldiers’ ration, and yet the Ring apologists complain because an Indian eats as much as three white men. THE INDIANS THRIFTY, ‘The officer affirms that the Indians aré not nat- urally wasteful. ‘hey save strings and buttons and all their little scraps of cloth, but many of them do not know how to ase flour and cook it economically, A bakery or an industrial school at this agency would be of great benefit, ne says, and he 1s used to providing for wen and has had long experience in tue army. Such improvements Might not be successfal at the start, but as soon as the Indians saw the advantages of them they would be quick to adopt them. They are shy of new entions, as they were of flrearms when they Grst saw them. RDUCATION OF THR INDIANS, Much has been said about teaching the Indians tofarm, Ii the experiment at Standing Rock is a fair specimen of Jndian agriculture and govern- ment tillage the quicker some other industry is adopted tno better. Tae go-calied Superintend- ent bas broken several patches of raw prairie and the Indians are trying to raise crops, The sods are vbin and anbroken, 1 haye seen bat one place where the land was har- rowed a@ it should be. No white man would try to raise anything but potatoes on such ground. Tne idea of two or three white mon at- tempting to break raw prairie for several thou- sand Indians is simply abaurd, Tae season is very short, and there was froat ik ago; but the sun burns with intense heat in midsummer, ana sometimes the meroury runs up o8 high as 110 ae- grees in the shade, Ti oll should be brokea deep and well harrowed, Indian corm, which matores io an incredibly short time, does woil ordinary corn Would not ripen. But who Cam raise Crops on bare sod With uo ploughs nor implements to work with? Tho Indian Depart: menis atylo is to send the Indians Wagond, with seeds. A most ineiancholy smile breaks on an In- dian’s face when he relates what the government | has dove jor him in an agricultural way. Ifthe departmeat would seud a dozen good, honest furmers of intelligence out here, and haye them teach Jorty Indians the first principies of farming, agriculiure would become contagious among the | tribe in a few years. The trouble 1a | that @ little skinning is done here and there and a few whiskey speculating ‘“iarm- ers” are put over @ large number of Indians. Except in rare cases the result 18 a shame to the department. The whole thing is & fraud on its face, The men who turn the sod and leave it for Indians who have no ploughs must Know that little or nothing can be raised. The officer wno is In command here would do more in | One year with & company of suldiers toward | | teaching them to farm than the Agricultural and | Indian Departments combined. The Indians can read character, and they soon discover the triders. Waen they are sick and hungry they go | to the officers, because they know that they are | men of responsibility and action. The agent walks | “around his barracks With acane and talks vaguely | about tilling the soil and living on tobacco una | beans, while bis superintendents apasmodically wrestle with the sod and look alter their smuggled whisker, ‘The Indians are successful in raising horses, and they could make fortunes with cattle, Stock rats- Ing Is the solution of the Indian questionin wy opinion, The history of the races shows that men were first hunters, then keepers of herds, and, lastly, tillers of the soll, ‘The philosopsers at Washington would take the wild hunt &. of the plains and make them farm- ers at once, It is contrary to the laws of nature and of civilization. Men descend in the order that they rise, The dissipated young farmer who goes to Texas becomes a herder, then @ bunter, and, finaily,a desperado and a vaga- bond, But the Indians are not so vicious as many suppose. When they mix with the bad whites they become corrupt and immoral. ‘The Indian who shoots a white man on sight for @ cuuse may be honest and orave in his wild way. ‘Yhe real Sioux of ‘he plains are not the drunken beggars who hang around railroad stations and live by gambling and stealing. The piissiclan who has been at this place for several years says taac | the Sioux women, as a class, are more virtuous than the whites, especially the unmarried squaws. OMicers and soldiers corroborate the statement. Among the 5,000 indians here there are less tuan @ dozen prostitutes, and they are mostly qarried women. The married life of a squaw is hard, She bears so many burdens and performs so much dradgery that she grows despondent and sells her vircue for money to buy cloth wad trinkets. The chastity of the maidens is tne subject of frequent remark among the whites. But if any one wants to marry them taey are ready for proposals. After a charming ¢éte-d-(ete with Two Bears he asked tne interpreter toshow me his daughters: Ipurveyed them and told him taut they painted beautilully. Their faces showed more vermillion than a city belle’s, Some of the squaws are splendid specimens of physilogical architecture, and the irames of the “bucks” are tho finest models in America, THE INTERPRETERS. I knew it was useless to rely on the agent’s in- terpreter when I visited the chiefs, He is igno- rant, dissolute and immoral. Oriicers and citizens say that he bas caused much trouble here. 1 asked him the number of Indians encamped around the agency and he could no: tel. Finally he said “a good many.” I am grieved to gay that he 18 @ Jull-biooded negro, His wife ig o Sioux, und bis children are What may be called works of art, They sing like an Indian and dance like a negro. ‘he character- wstics Of the two races peep ous in singular eon- trast, and between the turba@and the blanket one ig almost bewildered. While the daugnter handies the bake kettle her brotner gives the war whoop | and swings his tomahawk, The interpreter’s | name is Black Hawk, and he is about as fic to be an interpreter as he is to take charge of an art gallery. Tho militury claim that he smuggies whiskey and has already caused the death of une man in his own house at @ midoight orgy. His log cavin is a jew rods west of the agency build- ing. The officers say that he keeps @ house of prostitution, and furnishes iiquor to the Indians and soldiers who frequent it. Most of the Indians, and especially the chiefs, call him a bad man. The other interpreter, who 1s employed by Colonel Poland, the commanding of_icer, has been a teacner in the Indian schools at Cheyenne Agency, near Fort Sully. He is intelligent. After studying at Ann Arbor he served his time m the war. Agent Palmer was against him, and would not allow him around the agency, When Colonel Burk succeeded him the young man came over the river and was stopping near the quarters when he received orders from that gen- Ueman to leave or be would send him to fort Sally, He did notgo, Colonel Poland was then Tequested to puthim under guard and send nim to the fort. Now, the Colonel knew the inter- preter and liked him, and, baving obtained per- mission to ¢mploy him for the goverument, he told the‘ageut mat while ne was in his charge and did his duty he should protect him, ‘The agent intimated that he haa exclusive control of the reservation and that the military had no right to interfere with his aifuirs, The agents are very friendly tothe soldiers if there is danger. Last wioter when the mercury ‘was twenty or thirty degrees below zero Colonel Poland was sent forin great haste. The agent feared @ massacre. ‘Ihe soldiers made a forced maren down the river from the point where they were stationed above, The first might they camped at Cannon Ball Creek on tue Missourt. Tne cold was intense and wild storms were sweeping over the Plains, The next morning they began their march early, and at miduignt thelr bugies Tung Out on the wintry atr of Standing Rock, The agent and his friends sald it was a most joyful sound. Ine Indiana suffered for montus after that, but they offered no violence. Taere were 600 of them and less than 100 soldiers, PASTORAL LIFE IN THE INDIAN COUNTRY. Colonel Poland said his interpreter was entirely trustworthy and that he was at my service. I en- gaged the gentleman and we started for tue Yanktona lodges, tour miles up the river, The scenery along the road was like a panorama, The jung green siopes and the undulating meadow lands of the bottoms were alive with ponies and Gccasional groups of Indians, As we galloped around the battlements of a tgh biuif that com- manded the country for twenty miles a broad valley Opened among the hills and at the further end of it a tract of ploughed ground appeared. it was & lovely Sunday afternoon. Bands of dusky maidens were playing with their brothers by tho roadside. Here and there an Indian sit high up on the ‘blu gazing pensively on the evening landscape, The turdid Missouri gleamea like sliver in the sunlight, ana @ delicious zephyr floated up from the southwest, nat fleld of ploughed ground, with the ladians at work in it, was worth going ® long distance to see. The sight Was ludicrous and pathetic at the same time. | fhe painted farmers were digging up the soil with clamay implements that looked like grubbing hoes, The ground was unfenced, and the patches belonging to different lodians staked of with short pea brush. A boy with @ horse ana small turning plough can dv more good work ia haifa day than twenty Indians wita their thick bladed noes. The tract had been broken once, and it was im better order that any other [ had seen, TWO BRARS AT HOME. ‘The chief lives in a log Louse which stands ona gentle deelivity in the meadow. Delicate verdure covers the surrounding hills, and hundreds ot ‘White tepees cluster about 16. It did not seem pos- sible that war and tamine could ever come to such spot It was like a description im Lalla Rookn. The picturesqueness of tno landscape and the soit enchantment of the atmosphere reminded me of ‘thowe wonderiul parks in the Rocky Mounta: Mr, Two Bears was roolining on a couch of buf. falo roves, supported by @ rude bodstoad. A sprig Wagon stood in the yard, Uno or two of the neighbors bad dropped in for a social chat, and Mra, Two Bours fitted between her baby and the stove, woere she was preparing tea Taney all the oster wiliow. 1t 1utoxicates the senses and ts Muck more genteel than tobacco. The pipe was Passed irequently, and after hearing the object of my visit tue distinguisned chief made & pro- found salutation. It suould be said that he bas been faithful in his friendship for the whites, and be has savea many lives ana has maca Induence in controlling his warriors, He is a large, be- nevoleut looking man, well advanced in years; but still a power/ul and active chief. He fre- quently rides down $o the agency, with some of his family, in a spring wagon, He is the good patriarch of his trios, aud ne was a kind word jor all his friends, With a gentie admonition to a boy Wio Was nolsy be passed the pipe and spoke as lollows :— TVO BEARS’ STATEMENT. Since we have had fathers to provide for us twenty years have passed away. Ihave known the iathers from the beginning. During the frst ten yours we had enough. Since then we have not lived well. The Great Spirit created us and placed us on this ground, and itis ours, Iam walt- ns to hexr good words from the Great Father in Warhington, | am meditating tn which way my eniidren can grow up and become good men, Alas! for tne bad deeds done tm my country. Lam Not responsible for them. I bave been near the Whites for a long time and [ have tried to doas they said, There are foolish Tidians about me and they create disturbances sometimes, 1 have been here two years and have been treated badly by the white faces. We bad a father (agent) last winter, but he did nothing tor us. We have listened and ceased our rovings. We still linger and do nothing but wait forthe white man to keep his promise. Our father gave us rations, which he sald We should eat for seven days, It satisfied our hunger only jor two and for Ove days we starved. i have tweniy-chree children and four wives to feed. We suffered last winter aud Il have not re- covered yer, We ate our ponies and dogg—157 ponies and neariy 1,000 dogs. We killed what antelope and praine chickens we could, but we had little ammunition; otuerwise we could have killed more. When [ went to the Peace Counct! at Fort Lin coln afew days ago, I tolt the « Mcers tuat we were bull hungry. The agents always leave us with pienty of money, They cheated us and their Interpreter works with them. Last winter we got three tin cups (pint cups) of sugar, two Nttle pans of flour, two pounas of pork, and only enough coflee for three boilings, but plenty of tobaeco, Of soda We only had naif enough, They gave as plenty of soap and a quart of beans, The rations were issued once a week. ‘There way no pork for forty-five days and no beef tor two montus, We bad great patience and sirength when we were +o bungry, or we could mot nave borne it. The general eeiing was that we would have to fy trom the agency or dio, Itold my people to wait. “Our Great Father 1s alive,” 1 sald, “and he will hear us and send some ove Who will treat us justly.” They answered well ana walied. Once, when food came on the boat atsundown, and the agent wouid not serve us untll the next day, we feltlike Wild beasts, and it is beyond our Knowledge how we restrained ourselves from taking the provisions by force, The father who lett us (agent Paimer) was a bad man. His soul was bent to drink- ing whiskey and makivg trouble. He paid No heed to our sufferings, ana, in roply to our prayers, he said he would use bis own judgment in handling us, When [ asked the chief if he know for cortain thag one of the agents stole their goods a sm_le of sar- casm kindied on Nis fice, and he said:—I cannot write with my flogers and I speak no English, but I have eyes aud brains, and I know that he kept back What was ours. Iam sure that he workea with the traders, They walked together and thought togetuer. The traders take a doliar’s worth of our skins and five dsa half a dollar’s worth of goods, which cost them only half of what they sell to us for. We gave them a beef hide and they gave Us & hana’s Dreaath Of scarlet cloth (felt fannel), We take our buffalo ro.ea to the store and get goods which $2 or $3 will buy. Foran elk skin tneyjgave us $1 50 or $2 worth of goods, Deerskins brought fifty cents and $1 in goods. For beaver they paid us $1 and for otver $2 In goods. They tried to stop Mrs, Galpin ftom selling to us, but we would pot stand that. John Dillon a former trader, and Captaiq Harmon treated us Well, but the government sent them away. It 13 hard to choose between the agent last winter and the one here now. The old one tried to starve us and the new one came with fair promises, but nis deeds do not prove them, He (Colonel Burg) nas never visited us in odr lodges, and fe knows nothing about us, nor how we sumer, The former agent came and counted us, but ne did little to help us. Iwent to see the Great Father with thirteen chiefs, and in all of the long jourmey no one tn- sulted us nor scoffed at ua, We were treated well everywhere, But here the white men are not the same, Aranch was started across the river last win- ter and Whiskey sold to the Indians. The traders here don’t sell it, but they drink it, Tney abuse us and talk badly tous, About seven years ago something Was stolen at the store by a white man and it was laid to our people. Then the traders raised their prices and gave us less for furs. They gad they Would do this until tliey had made up the loss. Long Soldier once went into the white men’s end of the store (here the distinguished chief ordered his children to take less noise) where the Indians had frequently g ne before, but he was ordered ott. He rad nothing and obeyed. Theo he entered the Indians’ side of the room aud told tie trauer that when he came with furs he was glad to see him In any part of the building. The trader replied that all Indians were liars, abd that he did not care whether they orougtt any furs or not. Long Soldier has always been a good triend to the whites, and te has olten done them service. Itry todo as the Great Father wishes, My sol- diers and the men under me listen to my voice when I speak, The people otf the white pation geld me good words, and I will give them to my people, But we don’t get the money and food that is sent us. I pray to my friends among the whites that they will take pity on us and forbear, and re- metiber that a cold and long winter will come soon, We have little food and fow blankets. We hope the Great Father will let us buy powder, so that we can kill game ff the agent will not provide forus. Ho should at least sell to the friendly In- dians Who starve. These soldier chiefs (the millltary) are speaking good words for us, and we hope that tiley will see that we liave powder or justice, We are not here to quarrel with our neighbors, but we must speak of the wrongs which havo been done us. We speak only for ourselves, an are not responsible Jor the hostile Indians. In answer to how he would like to be fed by the militury he said, T Gan’t speak for all, but 1t would please me to have the soldiers provide for us, and Ihave no doubt my people Would like it, Ihave thirteen bands and thirteen calefs and 700 warri- ors under me, Tasked him what he thought of railroads, &o, He said:—“I have meditated much on the smok- ing boata and the iron wagons and [ have con- cluded that the men Who make them are very wise and know how to get money. They pay out @ great deal and they must be great men, Steam- boata move slow, and 1am afraid that the river will ireeze up before they bring us food,” CORRESPONDENT—W bat do you talok of the white squawa? ° Mr. Two Bears—They are very fine and splen did. They like One dressés, When | went to taix with the Great Father in Washington 1 saw ilttle children at play aod heard them laugh, and my heart was sad, I thought of my own papooses, far away beyond the trail of the iron wagons, As the chief spoke 1 looked out and saw a dozen bright-eved boys and maidens playing Indian croquet on the grass, and as far as I could there Were other compani:s of cbildren chasing each other through the meadows. They laughed, like white children, and While tho oid man was talking 1 forgot that we were io @ wiidernoss ana thought | was io the States and that school chii- dren wore playing around tho door, untu 1 itited my eyes and the dream Was broken by distant hills and the white tepees. Said “How” and eXtended their hanas. The in- lerproter seated nimself by your correspondent Ttold the chiet that he muss put his no what he had spoken, as it Would ve svon and read held it exactly a8 we bold it, and this is whas be wrote:— TWO BEARS’ SIGNATURE. AMONG THE DLACKPRET. ‘The next morning the interpreter cvlled withs couple of Indian ponies, and we started tor thé Todges of the Blackfeet, two miles Lelow the tort, Many of the tepees were made of tanned budal¢e hides, and at a aistance they looked like white canvas, The larzer lodges were twenty feet bigh and ffteou or twenty feet in diameter at the base, Jonn Grass or The-man-who-intercepts-the-beas ig the chief, His cousin, woo was at the lo ‘ge, pointed to the South and sald that he nad gone to plant. “How fur’! asked. “Away behind the hIN, three or four miles,’ ae said, Up at the jort alotof the Indians were dunens. The grout chief himself had gone to pur in his crops. But there was another chief on the ground who acte in bis absenee. Tho interpreter sent for him, and we went to The-man-who-intercepts-the-bear's mother’s tent to await his coming. She bade ut welcome, and we took seats on purple blankets, Her daughter wore a thimble and was mending an ordinary‘coat sach as is sold in the stores, Hew daugtter-in-law was reposing of a bufftlo Otto man which was spread in a little boudotr cun ningly partioned off in one stde of the lodge. ‘Ynere were two or three trunks and other evi fe dences of civilization. The culef soon came, put out his hand and said, “How-w-w,” There seven nations of the Stoux. The word mean@ allies or confederacy, The principal tribes are Mtui-ka-ojus (Minneconjous), Sins-arcs, Hunk-pa- pas, Yunktoaas, Blackfeet, two-Kettles and Sal tees. Tunis chief 1s named Setting Crow and bis nation 1s the Blackfeet. He calls himsel! the head Soldier of Tue-man-who-lntercepts-the-pear, I should have gone and interviewed the latter where he was planting, but the boat was already at the lafding and anotuer would not come for several days. Setting Crow took @ soat, passed the pipe and began as follows :— WHAT SETTING CROW. SATD. We have 100 lodges, about 1,000 people. We have been around the agency one year. (The Biackfeet have been known as hostile.) ‘The father of Phe- man-who-intercepts-the bear is dead. He was one of the first to help the Commissioners. I (Setting Crow) wag one of the fourteea chiefs who visited the Great Fatner tn Washington, We were prom. ised four kinds of antmais—cows, sheep, hogs and enickens, We have seen only cattle. | have vis ited the agencies along te river, aud find that where there {3 only one bana the Indians get” along better and have more toeat. Years age we selected the Minds on the Moreau River (fifteen miles below the mouth of Grand River, on the Missouri). We like that coun:ry and want to go there to live and pliant our crops and have no other Indians around us. There are many tilt breeds who would live with us ana help us to farm and raise cattle. I am very glad to have some one come from the great white mation and geta true statement, We like to have the good waited visit us. We want to obey the Great Father and do what is rigut. We have many fathers placed over us, but they play with the yoods sent us by the Great Father on the boats, They put them away in diferent rooms avd we never get al! of them. They say that we lie and nave plenty to eat. Loek in our lodges and tell the white nation what you see and how much we have to jeed our wives and children. The Great Father sends og food for seven days; it lasts us three days and we starve four, We were hungry early in tho wtuter. We want a fatuer who wili not put our goods be- hind nim ana let us starve. One agent used our rations to hire our squiws for his own use, He prostituted them, His whiskey caused one of our young men to kill another. One man looked intv Lis door when he Was drunk, Ue fired. The young man rap. HH» 1ap after him and fred again, This agent not only drank himset, out he allowed whiskey to be brought ta the agency. Weare sure the traders worked with theagentand he withtue traders, They were constantly together. Tne trawer’s trea® ment of us condemns tim, He gives us what he calls $3 for & beef bide, but be pays us in goods which are high. He gives us fora hide twelve yhrds of poor calico, or six pounds of sugar or six pounds of bacon. He asks $20 a pair for blankets Which cost $8. The white men cutowr hay and -wood, dnd in the winter sell tt to us, if we get it at all, The traders give us oaly $3 or $4 for buffalo fobes, $1 for beaver skins, fifty cents for deer, and they charge flity. cents a pound fur sugar, The trader has @ coutract for cutung our timber, aud we want pay jorit. He charges high for nw tnings; let him pay for ours, We go to the stores, ‘They care nothing for us; and if we linger in gomg out they abuse us, except when we hive iurs to sell, then they are friendly. We have balf breeds who would sell our wood to the steam. boats, but rich white men come and take it away and we get nething. I know what I have scen with my eyes and heard among iy people. Tue agent who ts now gone hired our women Jor a night and so Gid the trader, 1 speak tratniully and without jear of any man, I speak for our women and our children, The soldiers have not always used ua well, Sometimes one scorns and treats us badly. One of our young men was shot, but whiskey, jure nished by the agent’s interpreter, did it, and suppose the soldiers were not to blawe, The officer who is the head soldier bere seems to Lave @ good mind and to lean Kindly toward us, The Blackfeet come last on tac agent’s list, and whem ‘here 19 Hot enough food to go around we suder and starve. We hope the great white nation will hear our voices and send us help and honest men, It makes my weart very glad to Know that the great hewspaper maker sends to have us speak the trutn, We know that our word will touch the sgodd heart that ts in the white nation, We want to go to the Moreau country and raise cattle and horses, It is our only hope of saving eur helpless and aged. It was the business of the agent to let us have a voice in the Black Hills council, But hq cared nothing for us. Nome of us are willing t@ sell it, We might be willing if we could see une Great Father and know, his wishes, He saié that no one shovid take it irom us or bug it without our consent. And because of these, the words of tne Great Father, I wish J could have gone and talked with him. He has said he woula show us the good path to walkin. So we want to be at the Moreau, where we can control our young men and keep them ‘rom mixing witm bad Indiahs. The soil and grass are good there, Im otner places things won't grow. We did nog receive all the cattle sent tous. Some were sold to the white men, ness were to come with each wagon. We ot none. We have interpre ters who read the papers and teil how much ie intended for us, but wo never getit. Our eye don’t lie to us, Sometimes they weigh the cattle, and sometimes they don’t. Two hundred head Were kept in the corral until they died of starve. tion. ‘then they were given to us, Tho Small Fathor at Washington (tne Commusioner) agreed to send us teachers and show OW to plant. Where are tuey? A small paten of grownd ta broken, but what will grow in it aniess it ty hare rowed? ‘the farmer and nie men never show us how to plant and raise toings. When I wasin the white nation I saw good farmets who looked honest, Why don’t they send such mon, instead Of thesé WhO ToD us and A thelrown pookets ? We ate neatly 20) horses iaat wincer and ail of owe oye but the pots. Taaked the Uhief HOW mach the Binckiees san