Subscribers enjoy higher page view limit, downloads, and exclusive features.
THE SUNDAY CALL. [ T Ll A 6 s 10400 LR ir first hunt, cowpunchers to go event. So it was » rs rolled out from m blankets and attended the umber of a series of events ne election of chief of the richest uncivilized eart studding the sky, the stars over the domain of the savage. ffs, between deep chasms, e swift flowing y rode the party of The stream drowned other red te men. sounds, but above the sighing of the wind came the wild chanting of the medicine yet far away the flickering light he medicine lodges could be dis- roaching downward on a an excellent view of the camp There were at least one pees stretched in a circle a mile in diameter. The open- faced the center and in them sat a group of In- d men. was a large fire. Around er of Indians, dressed in hey were the medicine men They were all the while go- of queer motions, as if B up a huge pole 1 the assembly as iend. Others would and pull out a burning they would hold in front of ber as long as the flames flames burned straight in the good graces of the f it flickered to one side ce commanded to leave All the while they chanting to the ac- drum. was obtained nu; the han was yet but ige. The Dance Begins. In a short time a tall young redskin, E i Rain Water, ran from the midst of medicine men and circled about in tepees where the reds were 1 He cried out that the dance would mnow begin. Immediately there sh for the nearest posts about No ceremony attended the com- of the Five hundred w braves ined hands and - d in circle, yelling: weing, ah ya! v nce, ah il the mew chief appears.” ance was kept up until nearly t with no special feature. It was ing of the campaign, as it were, e candidates solicited votes. There ny in the assembly of dancers designs on the chieftaincy, but dare to mention it for fear ¢ the Great Spir who have departed so 4 ths of civilization that 1t is 3 ible to retorm them, al- the eps h lately been taken to tizens of the United States, barbarians on woman or child of from the United_ casury the sum of $20,000, and take their pro rata share of 2 amounting to five hundred nd then have som left. The t ed funds amounts nly. Thi y ‘from their land, them in idle 8. ople in the ali the forefathers ® st class of man, inve class of y v o ustoms of their CAGLE CHIFF DEPOSED fop PROGRESSION BIRD FEDICINE MAN wnen in the miast of just such wild orgles as here described, are these same Indians, whom the United States should take in hand and tame. Thirty years ago the QOsages were the truly happy most powerful tribe in®ae West, but smallpox cut down thelrsnumber two- thirds. Then they moved on a reserva- tion south of Kansas and have remained there in comparative seclusion for twenty vears. In this time they have retro- graded. They have fallen into many sav- age traits, such as eating dog meat, burn- ing their dead at the stake and going about naked. Big Heart, the newly elected medicine chief, made these declarations as part of his policy as chieftain: “I will have nothing to do with the e men. They are our worst enemies. 1 will them out if they come here i try to changé our ways of living. We are going bdck to our old habits of life. If the white people do not like this they can get out. In the summer time we will noc wear auy clothes, and we will have all of our medicine dances.” The tribal government of the Osages was organized thirty years ago by Clare- more, a wise o!d warrior. There were a chief, assistant chief, secretary, treasurer and thirty councilmen. The chief was elected by the council for a term of four vears. He appointed his assistant’ and also the two cabinet officers. The coun- cilmen bad the power to pass any kind of a bill they chose, but the chief could kill the bill. The United States is per- mitted to station an agent in the midst of this kingdom, but he has no power over the Indiang. He pays them their in- terest every three months and keeps them frem offending white people—if he can. The land of the nation 1s rich In min- erals and the mountains abound in coal. Along the rivers the farming land is rich. The forests abound in game, but the In- dians are too lazy to kill any of it. Neith- er do they want the white man to come and enjoy the sport. Big Heart, a corpulent full-blood, h: been chief of the tribe for a great many years. Until four years ago he was de- clared by the medicine men to be in bad standing with the Great Prophet, so he was defeated. Instead the tribe chose a young man named Eagle Chief, who fa- vored allotment of land and dissolution of tribal government. The full-bloods were in favor of burning him at the stake for his stand on public affairs. At the present ceremony his name was not con- sidered for re-election. On the morning following the opéning of the ceremoniés the redskins were out of their tepees carly. As soon as the dances had got well awake they went and plunged In a ‘stream which flowed | run ar at the fouc of the dancing grounds. Be- fore the sun was well up other Indians began to arrive. All were dressed in gaudy colors, with their faces, arms and breasts decorated in red and black patht. The Indfans who camé brought their tents with them. The ground where they were camped was worn smooth by being tram- pled upon. Pull Many JHorses went about crying that the young men would hold a dance shortly. He was entirely naked, except for the breechcloth. His slender body was painted in red and white. Just below his knees he wore a string of slelgh bells, whith jingled merrily as he rode through the town. His long, black hair was held in place by a war bonnet made from beaver skin and decorated with turkey feathers. Around his long sinewy arms he wore brass bands, and his neck bore a string of beads. Other young men as- ted him, and there must have been at 1last 10 who were dressed about in the same manner. The young men gathered in a circle and commenced to dance. Each carried a tom- ahawk and went through motions sup- posed to depict their actions in battle. Then the drum was started and they danced and sang songs for an hour, while wie ola men gat about watching in delight. Big Buffalo, a chief who was once a war- rior, then jumped into the center of the ring and called to them in a loud voice: “It pleagses me in my heart to see you all here ready. The sun is high, and we muset take now courage. We are about to call upon the Great Spirit to choose us a new leader. Young men of my bosom, do PUFFALO MEDICINE CEIEF not be deceived, for you will not have a traitor to rule you again. The crow has spoken to me in my dreams, and he says we will be happy after thi: It pleases me in my heart to see you so full of joy. You must learn the dance good in your heart. I am done. My name is Big Buffalo.” Then the drum sent forth wild strains, and the young men leaped and shouted o SOME CURIOUS STORIES ABOUT EN TERPRISING SPIDERS. T I8 a curious Tact that these floating H threads from the webs of spiders will take the blui off a gun barrel. I have been unable to find out why. The threeds of the big tropical spiders are dis tinetly bitter to the taste, but though the first thought a man has when he tastes anything bitter is that it must be good for medicine, the only use the healing art makes of sviders’ webs is to use them: to stanch the flow of blood. The kind of web used for that grows under the coun- ters of groceries and it was one of these spiders that caught a mouse. I will ad- mit, right in the beginning, that this looks like a pretty large story, but it is sub- stantiated by no less a personage than the late Proctor Knott, who was then Geverpor of Kentucky, though his greater claim to fame was his speech in Con- gress about Duluth, ‘the zenith city of the unsalted seas, as he humorcusly called it, which is very far indeed from being anything nowadays but a plain statement of fact, as he lived to see. Governor Knott made a signed statement of the event and sent it to Professor Mc- Cook, whose authority on the spider gues- tion noLody wul dx%)ule. He saw the a splder shortly after she had snared the mouse by the end of its tail, and while it was still alive and struggling half-way oft the ground, and he saw it after it had been hoisted nine inches from the floor and all wrapped up in sik. He calls particular attention to the way the spider Kept stirring up the mouse by biting it ge as to get another line on it. I can just imagine that spider after she had worked all day hauling on lines and huiloaing ‘Yohee! to her children that _were helping her—if, indeed, they didn't stand around and let her do all the work. ‘Law!’ she gasped, when the prize was finally landed In the nest, ‘I'm just dohe out! But, my! 'Twas worth it! Plew! ‘Why, come in, Mrs. Lidyphia. Hain't seen you I don't know when. Children, get up and let Mrs. Linyphia set down. Ain’'t you got no mannérs at all? Run along now and don't be gawking at the company like you never scen nobody be- fore. Yes, 1 done it all myself, and it just about tuckered me. Mrs. Linyphia. 1 den’t know's T'll ever get over It. I strained my back turrible lifting so hard, but I thinks to myself, “I'll mébby never git another chance to git so much meag ¥ in to once, and my family is such turrible caters.” * “And this adventure with a mouse i3 not the only case on record where spiders have done deeds of high enterprise. The Hon. David E. Evans of Batavia, N. Y., | saw a striped snake nine inches long sught and kiiled by a spider, its mouth shut up with threads of silk and its tail tied to a knot so as to form a loop tirough which was reeved a cord as strong as sewing silk made of muitiplied threads and run up over a sort of pulley of which a dead fly was the core. Maybe you think that is a pretty able-bodied yarn, but what do you call the state- ment that a Dolomedes spider has been scen to catch and land a fish? No, I'm sure I've got it right. It wasn't the fish fhat caught the spider. There wouldn't be any story in that at all. It was the spider that caught the fish. It leaped on the fish's shoulders and bit and bit and swung. ashore and fastened lines till it warped the fish out of water. It wasn't a very big fish, 1 grant you, if one may g0 by the picture in the book, but it was a-fish, and that is wonderful enough in itself "—(Harvey. Sutheriand in “Ains- liel » again. the wa,' sorg The bells on their limbs jingled, but in the din were scarcely heard. Their painted faces were wreathed in fiendish smiles. The sun, even though in winter, was warm enough to melt the paint on their faces, and it trickled down their faces in little furrows. The sun was hiding behind the cliff when they quit the dance. Bhen the women went forth and killed the fat dogs for the evening meal. It Is the duty of the women to do most of the work about the camp, and as dog meat is ome of their favorite dishes they were put to work slaying the canines.. The feast was held in the open, and lasted until they had eaten their fill. That ‘required several hours, so there was no dance on the second night. The three leading chiefs, Humming Bird, Rain Water and Big Buffalo, had during the feast disappeared into the bark medicine lodge for the purpose of talking with the Great Spirit during the night. Their actions caused much sup- pressed excitement among the redskins. In the hands of these three men rested the decision as to who should be chosen for the next chief. s Annouancing the Choice. The young men rode about on their ponfes until quite late. They were all dressed in gay colors and sang love songs to the pretty young girls who accom- panied their parents. But the old men of the tribe were restless. They lay out- side of their tepees and chanted to the Great Prophet to make the decision of the medicine men a wise one. It was a peculiar circumstance. Here were love making and devetion, but both of a very different nature. All night this was kept up and few in camp slept. = Before daybreak the hum of voices awakened those present .as spectators. Three hundred men and women had as- - sembled on the smooth circle. They haa not slept at all. A number of men sat about the edge of the tircle and held long poles to which were strung pieces of cloth. In the center was piled a large amount of clot o blankets, saddles, cloth and cheap jewelry. This was their offering to the Great irit. When the pile had reached enormous proportions and each Indian had contributed, it was set afire. While it was burning the In- dians watled and moaned most piteously. They kept this up until the pile of costly offerings was a mass of ashes; then they arose and ate. About noon the medicine men came from their bark lodges, weak from fast- ing and sweating. They called the dians together and told them they chosen Big Heart for had their next chief and Rolling Pony for his assistant. When the announcement was made not a cheer fell from the lips of the 600 assembied redskins. It was not their way. Instead, they made preparations for the dance. While the warriors: and medicine men were painting thetselves for this dance the women gathered up the banners of the sacrifice dance and went in for a little dance alone. Finaily the chief med- icine man commanded them to stop that the principal dance of the series could commence. This was the last act in the selection of a new chie: Big Heart, accompanied by Big Buf- falo, entered the center of the dancing circle. Quickly the other danecers closed in about them. The dancers were thinly clad and were painted. in many colors. Each carried 2 whistle. upon which he blew constantly. They joined hands and circled to the right, singing: “Our Father, make our new chief, “Oh, make him a wise man “Let us live happy “And have many feasts.” A few days ago the tribal election was held and the whole tribal vote was legally cast for Big Heart. Such is the crude manner in which a chief of the Osages Is chosen. While few know of it, it is generally believed that they abide by the nominations made, but, as in many political conventions, every- thing has been cut and dried long before- hand. Traits of Siamese Cats. Stamese cats, with their curlous mark- ing and loud, discordant voices, are now favorites with fashionable women in Eng- land. In many respects the animals of Siamese breed are unique among cats They follow their owners as a dog would; they are exceedingly affectionate, and in- sist upon being nursed, and they meow icudly and consiantly, as if trying to talk, and to a deaf person at that. They have more vivacity than usually falls to the lot of cats and less dignity. In color they vary from pale fawn through shades of brown to chocolate. There are two varieties, the temple cats and the palace cats, about the oniy diffe-- encé between the two varieties being that the palace breed is darker in color. The only sacred temple cats that ever left the land of their birth were given to Dr. Nightingale as a mark of special favor by the King of Sfam. They were named by their new owner Romeo and Juliet, and are now the property of Lo:d -Marcus Beresford. They are very expen- sive, moderate specimens selling for 38 and finely marked one bringing %5 to Now that many ladles of rank in Enz- iand have catteries, the price of high-bred cats_is_constantly increasing. Champion Lord Southampton, ' a white Persiar, owned by Mrs. Greenwood, was sold for $350, and 3250 was refused ' for Zaida, a former cat show champion.—Chicago la- ter Ocean.