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Show But the dances continned, and. October 12,1890, Agent Royer, who had just taken charge of the agency, reported that more th?tn half the Indians had already joined the dancing,and when requested to stop would strip themselves ready for fight; that the police had lost control, and if his endeavors to induce the chiefs to suppress the c;aee should be nuavailing, he hoped for hearty coSperation in invoking military aid to maintain order. Aboutthe same timetheCheyenne Riveragent re1)orted thatRigFoot7s band were much excited about the coming of a '' Messiah," were hold-ing '<ghost dances" and, armed with Winchester rifles and of very threatening temper, were beyond police control. A similar conditiou of affairs existed among the Rosebud Sioux. Agent McLaughlin also reported from Standing Rock October 17, as follows : I feel i t m.r dut.y to rerrort the oresent orsze lrotl nature of the exoitament rxiatin-p amaug the Sittmg Bull faation of Indians over the expected Indian milleu~um, the annihilation of the white man and sopremsoy of the Indian, whioh is looked for in the near futore and promised by t h e n d i a n medioiue men as not later than next spring, when the new grsas begins to appear, and is known among the Sioux as . the '' retnrn of the Ghosts." They are promised by some members of the Siouxtribe, who hsvelately developed into medioine men, that the Great Spirit has promised them that their ponishment by the dominant race has been auffioient, and that their~lumbershavingnow beoome so deoimated will be reinforced by all Indiana who are dead; that the dead are a11 returningto reiohabit this earth, which belongs Lo the Indians; thatthey are driving baok with them, an they return, immense herds of boffi~lu, snd elegant wild horses to have fbr thecatching; that the Great Spirit promises them that the white man sill be unable to make gunpowder in future, and all attempts at such will be afail-nre, and that the gunpowder now on hand will be useless as against Indi&nq as it will not throw a bullet with soffioieot force to pass through the skin of an Indian; that the Great Spirit had deserted the Indians for alongperiod, bot is now with them and againat the whites, and will oover the oarth over with thirty feat of additional soil, well sodded and timbered, onder whioh the whites vill all be smothered, and , any whites who may escape these great phenomena will beoome amail fishes in the rivers of the country, but in arderto bring about this happy resolt the Indians must do their part and become believer8 and thoro~ghlyo rganize. It'would seem impossible that any person, no matter how ignorant, oould be 1 ' brought to believe anah absurdnonsense, but as ;, matter of fact s, great many of the , Indians of thia agency actually believe it, and since this new doctrine has been en-grafted here from the more southern Sioux agencies, the infection has been wonder- / ' ful, and so pernicious that it now includes some of the Indians who were formerly . 1 numbered with the progressive and more intelligent, and many of the very beat In-dians appear dazed aud undecided when talking of it, their inherent superstition 1 havine been thorou-ghl"v ar oused. ! ~i t tyngB ull is high priest and leading apostle of thia latest Indian absurdity; in 1 a word he is the,ohief miachisf-maker a t thin a-m no.r., sod if he were not here.. this craze, ao general among the Sioux, would never haw gotten a foothold at tbiaagency. Sitting Bull ia a man of low oonulng, devoid of a single manly prinoiplein hisnature, or an honorable trait of character, but on the contrary is ailpable of iostigsting and inciting others (those who believe in his promise) to do any amount of mischief. He is a aawerd and lattks moral coorage ; he will never lead where there is danger, buk is an adept in influencing his ignorant henchmen and followers, ltnd there isno koaw-ing what he ma.y direct them to attempt. He is bitterly opposed to having any sur- |