OCR Text |
Show veys made on the reservatido, and is oontinbally agitating and fosteriig opposition to suehourveys amonghisfollo~vers, who are the more'worthless, ignorant, obstinate, m3 non-progressive of the Sioux. On Thursday, the 9t,h instant, upou an invitation from Sitting Ball, an Indian named Kicking Bear, belonging to the Cheyenne River Agenoy, the chief medicine man of the Bho st denae smong the Sioux, arrivgd a t Sitting Bull's/camp on Grand River, 40 miles south of this agency, to inaugurate a ghost dance and initiate the members. Upon learning of his arrival there I sent s, detachment of 13 policemen, including the aaptein mnd second lieutenant, to arrest and escort him from the reser-vation, but they returned without executing the order, both oEeers being in a dazed oondition ;~n dfe aring the powers of Kicking Bear's medicine. Several members of the force tried to induce the officers to permit them t,o make the arrest but th$ latter woold not, allow it,, but simply told Sitting Boll that it was the s,geut1s orders that Kicking Bear and his six companies ~honldle ave the reservat,ion and rettlru to their agency. Sitting Hull was very insolent to the officers and madeaome threxts soninat some members of the force, but said that the visitors would leave the followiug day. Upon return of the detachment to the ageuoy on Tuesday, the 14% I immediately the lieutenant snd one Inan back to see whether the party had left or not, and to notify Sittiog Bull that thisinsoYence and bed behavior wonld not be tolerated longer, end that the ghost dance must not be contiuued. Thelieutensut returnedyesterday end reported that the party had not started back to Cheyenoa before his arrival theFe on the morning of the 15th, but left immediately upon his ordering them to do so, snd that Sitting Bull told him th%t he was determined to continue the ghost dance, ss the Great Spirit had sent a direct measage by Ki akln~B ear that oo livs they must do ao, bot that he would not have any more dancing until after he had come to the agency andtnlkad the mettorover with me; but the newscomes in this morning that they aredanoingagain and it is participated in by a great many Indians who become silly end like men intoxicated over the excitement. The dance is demoralizing, in-decent, and disgusting. Desiring to exhaust all reasonable means before resorting to extremes, I have sent s message to Sitting Bull, by his nephew One Bull, that I want to see him at the agenap and I feel quite confident that I ahall succeed in allaying the preaent excite-ment and put a, atop to this ahaurd ''coreze for the present at least, but I would re-speoffullyreoammend the removal from the reservation and confinement in some military prison, some distance from the Sioux country, of Sitting Bull and the pariiea named in my letter of June 18 last, hereinbefore referred to, some time during the ' coming winter before next spring opeun. At other S~oiixa gencies the Messiah craze seems to have made little or no inlpression. At Lower Brul6 it was easily checked by the arrest by Indian police of twenty-two dancers, of whom seventeen were im-prisoned for eight weeks at Fort Snelling. The Crow Creek, Santee, Yanktou, and Sissetou Sioux, through schools, missions, and industrial pursuits: had been brought to give too valuable hostages to civilization to be affected by such a delusion. This alleged appearance of a 'Messiah was not an entirely new thing. Some 6 or 8 year8 ago one of the Pnpallup Indians claimed that in a trance. hc had been to the other world. As a result oE his visions a kind of society was formed, churches were built, oneof the Indians claimed to be the "Uhrist," and the band became so infatuated and nu-lnansgeable that the agent was obliged to imprisou the alleged "Christ," punish his followers, and discharge a number of Indian judges and policemen in order to regain control. During the past six months ghost dances have almost entirely disap- |