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Show 158 X. DINE BIKEYAH the agent caught the killer. Then he had to face a white mob that wanted to lynch Fatty and drive all Navajos back across the border. Only a careful plea from the agent avoided a battle. There was trouble near Mitchell's in 1893, too. Black Horse and his followers harassed the owner of a store and operator of a wood-ferry on the San Juan. They also took two hundred dollars from the trader. Once again, the agent had to do some quick talking to prevent a fight. Ba 'ililii As the 1800s drew to a close, whites pushed farther and farther across the San Juan mesas. Conflicts became more substantial. Instead of a few roaming miners and remote trading posts, there was a rapidly growing society in the San Juan region. Threatened by that society, the Navajos defended themselves and their way of life. One medicine man, in particular, led a strong group. That man was Ba'ililii. Ba'ililii was born about 1859 in Canyon de Chelly but moved to the San Juan River east of Aneth before being sent to Fort Sumner. In the period after Bosque Redondo, he gained notice as a resourceful young man. By the late 1800s, he had become a wealthy medicine man. His name meant "One with Magic Power" or "Knows Many Ceremonials." He knew the Night Chant well, and "he became famous for his skill on the last night of the Mountain Chant." At the same time, though, Ba'ililii's fame also caused fear. When the People returned from Fort Sumner, he was suspected of being a witch. At that time, many Navajos were accused of being witches, and some were killed. Ba'ililii also made enemies because he never backed down from a confrontation or looked for a compromise. At least once, he was chased out of the Aneth country. While he was away, he learned English and the white way of life from the Mormons to the north. Forceful and smart, Ba'ililii became a leader. His group believed that the old way of life was sacred. They objected to the high-handed changes that the whites sometimes ordered. When agents chose to push the matter of forced education in San Juan County, Ba'ililii and his followers opposed them. Like their southern kinsmen at Round Rock, they refused to send their children many miles away to a school which could teach them little that the parents thought worth learning. |