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Show Wyoming to investigate the matter. After an absence of about two mouths thesedelegates returned, reporting that they had been prevented by snow from making the journey to the mountains to see the 'LChrist," bubthat the rumors concerning him were verified by the Indians at Shoshone. Great excitement soon prevailed; all'industrial work came 60 astandstill; meetir~gsw ere held in which hundreds of Indians would rise from the ground, circle arountl, and sing and cry unt,il apparently Bxhanshc~. At one time they eveu contemplaterl leaving their reserva-tion in a body to go and seek the.'LChrist.l' During my absence from the otfice last fall on a tour of observation among the Indian agencies all11 schools, which lasted from September 6 to early in December, I had occasion to notice the effect of this craze amoug several tribes, and it was brought up prominently in a council with the Kiowas, Comanches, etc., of Oklahoma. As I stated in the ; ' snpplement to my ar~nnarle port of December 8 last,,I found that among the tribes which I visited the excitement was comparatively harmless, and although it had seriously retarded progress in civilization for the time being, i t had been r e a d i l~co ntrolled and had furuished no occasion - for alarm ; and I added: The only danger to be apprehended is that influences from, without, emanating from those who ia same lnilnner might be henetted by the Indinns upriaing or the movement of troops, or by theexcitement growing oatof " warssndrulnorsof vm," may precipitate a, needless coofliot sucl briov ou a disastrous rand oostly war. ' Of aaurse chis is said in regard to the Indians whom I have dlsited. I have not been &aog the Sioux of the Dakotas. A~nougso me of the Sioux the matter became more serious. Iu August, 1890, Ageut.Gallagherstated that many at the Pine Ridge Agency were crediting the report made to themin the preceding spring that great medicine man had appeared in Wyoming whose mission was to resufrect and rehabilitate all the departed heroes of the tribe, restore to the Indians herds of buffalo which would make them entirely indel~eudentof a'id from the whites, and bring such confusion upon their enemies, the whites, that they would flee the country, leaving the Indians in possession of the entire Northwest for all time to come. Indians faiuted during the performan~es which attended the recital of the wo11t1rous things soon to come to pass, and one man died from the ex-oitetnent. The effect of such meetings or dances was so demoralizing that on August 22, 1J90, when about 2,000 Iudians were gathered on White Clay Creek, about 18 miles from the agency, to hold what they aalle~la religious dance connected with the appearance of this super. natural being, the agent instructed his Indian police to disperse them. This they were unable to do. Accompanied by abont 20 police the agent hiniself visited the place, and on hearing of his approach moat of the Iudians dispersed. Several mcu, hoyever, with Winchester rifles in their hands, and agood storing of cartridges belted around their waists, stood stripped for fight, prepared to die in defense of the new faith. They were finally quieted. |