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About Teton Chronicle (Choteau, Mont.) 1897-1901 | View This Issue
Teton Chronicle (Choteau, Mont.), 12 Nov. 1897, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/sn85053028/1897-11-12/ed-1/seq-2/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
THE TETON 6HR0NI6LE. JOHN E. I O W , rubUsher. _ ____ 1 CHOTEAU, M ONTANA. Let us hop') that the advent of cold ■weather will also put an end to the “ yellow” fever that has recently beer raging in New York journalism. Those Andree pigeons showed re markable discretion in landing in the Indiana gas belt just at a time when other news was mighty scarce and the correspondents were starving. Somebody dropped $3,000 in a Niag ara Falls hotel the other day and foi got to return for it. Don’t worry some hackman, if he notices his los will stroll in and claim the money 01 of these days when he isn’t busy. Weyler said some time ago that th tase against Bvangelina Cisnoras wa in its preliminary stages. At that timi the young lady had been in jail elevei months,the companion of vicious wom en, half starved, and subject to the ut most degradation. There is enough in these facts to warrant the interference of every government and every man and woman having respect for common . decency. Assassination and worse out rages are not war. While the state legislatures of this country have been coping with milli nery matters in the way of theatre hats and feather trimmings the French government has recommended that its horses be put into sunbonnets. The straw manufacturers have been doing a large business in consequence, and summer mortality\ among horses has largely decreased. The amusement awakened in the beholder at this odd gear is but an echo of that a century ago when men first appeared carrying umbrellas. It is painful to read in the New York Evening Post (owned in England) day after day that the people of Europe look with unutterable scorn upon ev erything the people of this country do, themselves or through their represen tatives, and with effusive affection up on everything they unhappily omit; and the more so because the only pos sible remedy is the impossible one of immediately dying in the vain hope of getting themselves born again in some of the many European styles all of which are the only orthodox thing's. According to reliable statisticians, since 1873 there have been cut in Mich igan, Wisconsin and Minnesota alone, 154,000,000,000 feet of lumber, board measure, besides 83,000,000,000 shingles and in the last three-fourths of that ¡period about 200,000,000,000 feet, tab ling the whole country together. New York and Pennsylvania have, next to the three states just mentioned, largo quantities of standing coniferous tim ber, and the amount left in the north ern states is estimated at about 100,- 000,000,000 feet, or half as much aB has been cut since about 1873. in the whole cohntry, and yet there are persons who profess to see no reason for national forest protection and forest reserves. A Russian journal that has recently come under our notice calls attention to the fact that for some twenty years past the inhabitants of a malarial lo cality in the government of Kharkov have used powdered crabs with great success in the case of fevers. The pow der is prepared in the following way: Live crabs are poured over with the ordinary whisky until they get asleep; then they are put on a bread pan in a hot oven, thoroughly dried and pul verized, and the powder passed through a fine sieve. One dose, a teaspoonful, is generally sufficient to cure the in termittent fever; in very obstinate cases a second dose is required. n.ach dose is invariably preceded by a glass of aloe brandy as a purgative. The powder is used in that locality in pre ference to quinine. So says the jour nal. We will not vouch for it. In an address at Ashfieki, Massachu setts, Prof. Charles Eliot Norton of Harvard University considered the “ village hoodlum” and the means for his suppression. The “village hood lum” makes himself more conspicuous than the “ city tough.” When he be comes sufficiently depraved to enjoy his .bad eminence he is a more demorali zing figure than his city cousin of the same tendencies, and lie is more dan gerous to society inasmuch as the offi cers of the law in rural communities are generally less efficient than in cit ies. As a means of suppressing the “ village hoodlum,” Profesor Norton suggested the organization of a body of law-abiding citizens in each village or township to give definite support to the constituted authorities in suppres sing lawlessness in all its stages. By this it is evident from other parts of the address the speaker meant particularly the suppression of petty acts of law lessness by youngsters who are the children of neglectful parents and who have in them the material of which full-fledged “ village hoodlums” ar*- made. INDIAN CORNED ANCE. ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF THE O N O N D A G ^ INDIANS. leb r a t e d on tl»e R e s e r v a t ion Near Syracuse— W h ite M e n A d m itted Upon th e P a y m e n t o f a F e e — H o w tho C e r e m o n y H a s D e g e n e r a ted . HAT heathen rec- o g n i t i o n of the blessings of Divine Providence, the an nual green corn dance, was held by the Qnondaga In dians last Sunday, writes a Syracuse, N. Y., correspond ent. As is custom ary with t h e m , some ceremonies were held in the lat ter part of the preceding week, of which the whites were not made ac quainted. It is said, and it is undoubt edly true, that the real green-corn dance is held on the quiet—although there is a good deal of noise about it— and that the public ceremony, which al ways takes place on Sunday, is to satis fy the curiosity of the whites and the mercenary yearnings of the noble red men. The dance was at first fixed for u week ago Sunday, but was postponed for a week. The reason assigned for the delay was that old Chief Daniel La Fort was ill. The real reason was that ihe number of white persons on hand was too small to make it profitable to the dancers. Your correspondent drove out to the Onondaga reservation last Sunday af ternoon. It lies nine miles down the beautiful valley south of this city. Coming into the Indian settlement you pass numerous houses occupied by the Onondagas, some of which are neat and comfortable and speak well for the thrift of the inhabitants, while others are badly in need of ordinary and ex traordinary repairs. The Council House is in the centre of the settlement and just off of the main road. It is a long, narrow, one-story building, paint ed white, with green blinds and a red roof. Here were found a dozen tall, lithe, wiry, muscular young braves, engaged in the great national game of baseball; that is, they were knocking up and catching “flies.” The ball-players said that there would be a green-corn dance in the afternoon, just when depended upon Chief La Fort. In the shade hack of a house not far away sat this old chief of the Six Nations, smoking a fat and cheap cigar. He was surrounded by half a dozen of the tribe. La Fort is a good specimen of the highest type of the civilized Indian. He is well along in years now, and his hair and mustache are gray. His Eng lish is excellent for one of his limited opportunities. Among the tribes of the Six Nations his word is law. Not only is he the head of the Iroquois League, but he also is the chief of the Ononda gas. All the Indians within his juris diction have great respect for him. He •was at the head of the New York In dians who were at the Columbian Ex position, and he said last Sunday that -a man from New York had been to see him in the previous week about go ing with some of his race to the Paris exhibition, and that he had agreed to go. \We shall have the dance by-and-by, when fifty or a hundred people get here,” said La Fort, in response to an inquiry. Then he added that the In dians wanted to make it pay by charg ing a small admission fee to the Long House. After a while there came a perfect string of carriages and bicycles, ; ;.id by 3:30. when the dance was begun, there were several hundred persons on the ground. •While waiting for the ivhite people to come, the chief spoke about the Onon dagas and their ceremonies. “I have not taken a census of the people on the reservation in three years,” said he. “ The last one showed about four hundred Indians, men, women and chil dren, and the number is about the same now. There are between seventy and eighty families. Twenty years ago there were only 280 persons here, so you see we have Increased in numbers. The state gives lis an annuity of money rod salt. Last year we got $4.44 to each inhabitant, and 150 bushels of salt to the entire reservation. The United States government gives twenty yards of cloth to each family annually; We have our farms and are content. I am the head of the Six Nations and alone have the right to open the Council. I am a man of peace, and have devoted all my life to the advancement of my people. “There are two parties here,” contin ued the chief. “We call them the old party and the new party. The white men speak of the old party as being pagan and the new party as Christians. I am of the old party, but we are not pagans. A pagan, does not believe in God. We believe in a Supreme Creator and Ruler of the universe, who, so far as I can see, is like the God of our The side walls and ceiling of, the Council House are of oiled matched pine. Two chandeliers hang from the ceiling, each having three globes col ored red, white and blue respectively, probably a conceit of the government agent. On the floor and around the long room are double rows of benches painted yellow. The spectators at the dance completely filled these benches. To see the dance there were men, wh in eu and children. Just as the dance was about to begin the bell at the In dian church, not far away, rang, call ing the Christians to Sunday school, and Chief'Tom Lyon, the head singer at the dances, remarked that the Chris tian Indians seldom came to the so- called pagan ceremonies. Three young Indians took seats on a low bench in the center of the room. The dancers formed a circle around them. They were dressed in their us ual fantastic costumes. The men on the bench began to beat their rattles made of mud turtle shells, and one of them tapped a kettledrum. Soon to this was added the accompaniment of the stamping of one foot and the sing ing of the war song. All this was be gun lightly and slowly, and the vol ume gradually increased, when sud denly one of the dancers uttered a war whoop, which was echoed by the oth ers, and the dance began. They danced in a circle around the players, and FORMATION FOR THE DANCE. brothers who have been won over to Christianity. Our, ceremonies of recog nition are, o f ’ course, very different, but the two parties get along peace fully and harmoniously. There are eight clans among the Onondagas—the Beaver, the Wolf (my own), the Deer, the Bear, the Eel, the Mud Turtle, the Swamp Turtle and the Snipe. “We have four celebrations during the year. In January comes the burn ing of the white dog, the big day of the year, which is as much the recog nition of the adyent of the new year as anything else: In April and May we dance because it is time to plant our crops; in September we give thanks if the crops are going to be good, and in November we celebrate because they have been good.” Then La Fort walked slowly over to the Council House, where a crowd of white people were impatiently waiting. He addressed them and used a white man’s excuse for charging an admission fee to the green-corn dance. He said that times were bad. Then, by way of extenuation, so far as he was con cerned, he added that the hard times had not affected him, as he had as much as he ever had, but he wanted -to help the dancers. La Fort then sold tickets at a window, which a young brave took up at the door. their performance consisted chiefly of a great stamping of feet and waving of arms, with an occasional war cry, which was the signal for a pause for rest. Then came the green-corn dance. The bench in front of the Council House was turned lengthwise with the room, and the three Indians who sat upon it not only shook their mud turtle rattles, ■but also pounded with them upon the bench. They samg a wilder song, but •Chief La Fort said that there was no meaning to it—just mere words, which fitted the wild tune. The gyrations of the dancers were about the same as in the previous dance. Toward the end of the dance the Indian women joined in, but they were rather undemonstra tive as compared with their swarthy, gaudy male companions. The squaws were not in costume. Then came what was announced ax an “all women dance.” The men sat on two benches facing one another, and sang and pounded with their crude mu sical instruments, while the women, keeping shoulder to shoulder, danced with a sort of hitching motion around them. The song which the braves sang for this dance comes the nearest to melody of those that were sung in the afternoon. The squaws soon grew weary and so A GROUP OF THE INDIANS IN THE ONONDAGA CORN DANCE. (Chief Daniel La Fort on the l'ait.) did the spectators, and they were all glad to get away from this stuffy room with its swarm of flies. After the dance the young Indians played la crosse on the green near the Council House, and really the game was more interesting than the dances. JESSE JAM ES’ SON. H o w H e G o t W o r k fro m th e Son o f th e H a n W h o P r o c u r e d Ills F a t h e r ’s D e a t h .' Ex-Gov. Thomas T. Crittenden of Missouri was recently asked-if the story was true that he had employed in his office Jesse James, Jr., whose father,the outlaw, was killed through Mr. Critten den’s instrumentality. The ex-gover nor replied: “If I were to, build a monument of denials as high as that erected to Washington at the capital, I don’t suppose I could effectually stop the continued existence of, this story. The facts in the case are that several years ago my son, Thomas T. Critten den, Jr., then a real estate dealer in Kansas City and now county clerk of Jackson county, in which Kansas City is located, advertised for a boy to work in bis office. On the morning following the advertisement a number of boys were on hand and my son resorted to a kind of civil service examination to test their merits. The boy whose pa pers were best was called forward and asked his name. “ ‘My name is Jesse James, Jr.,’ he replied. “My son was more than amazed, and said: “ ‘Do you know who- I am?’ “ ‘Yes, sir; you are Gov. Crittenden’s son.’ “ ‘Well, then, you go home and tell your mother all about this, and if she is willing for you to work for me and at the wages I offer, come back tomorrow morning.’ “Very well, sir. I have got to help my mother and sister, and I’ll be back.’ “And back he was the next morning. At this time Mrs. Jesse James was liv ing in the suburbs of Kansas City. Now let me tell you what became of this boy. He remained with my son for sev eral years, being honest and faithful to a degree. Then my son ’secured him a place in Armour’s packing house in Kansas City, where he is now employed respected by every one and having a number of men under him. And he is but 20 years of age. This' is the whole story.” SLICK SCHOONER, ABLE SKIPP A Sight on th o R lvor T h a t \Won t h o A d m iration o f South Stroot L o u n g e rs. From New York Sun: There are fashions in painting ships’ bottoms as in everything else. In recent years a pink shade has been thought the prop er thing, but in some cases green looks slicker still. The other day the South street loungers looked admiringly at a big schooner coming down the East river, and looming up all the bigger because she was light. She was white above the water line. Below she was painted a clear, lightish green, and she was high enough out of water to show a good hit of it. Her masts were scraped bright and her mastheads were painted white. She carried a boat on davits across the stern, and this boat was painted white and green, too. Take it altogether, she looked as trim and handsome as a big schooner could look. But admiration for the schooner could not lessen the pleasure the loungT ers felt in the way in which she; was handled by the big tug alongside of her. The captain of the tug halted with her just off the slip, and slewed her round, and then took her into the slip. She was a good big schooner, 4C0 tons or so, but the captain of the tug laid her alongside the wharf so gently and eas ily that you couldn’t tell when she touched it; there was nothing to do but hand her lines over the side. The tug lay just beyond her in the slip, her dark, bronzed copper dripping and glis tening as she rolled and lifted slightly in the water. The schooner, before she had all her lines made fast, sagged off a little with the tide, and then the captai nof the tug pushed her again as easily and as gently as before. Then when she was all made fast the captain of the schooner on his quarter deck and the captain of the tug in his pilot house saluted each other. And the captain of the tug rang her out of the slip and pointed her down the river and pulled the jingle bell. S igh tseeing Sim p lified. There is always room for a new ap plication of an old principle, even so old a one as that of the division Of labor. Millicent—How long did your Easter trip to Rome occupy? Made line-—Oh, a week altogether—there.and back. Millicent—And you saw every thing? Madeline—Oh, yes; you see there were three of us. Mother went to the picture-galleries, I examined the monuments, and father studied local color in the cafes.—Roseleaf. A L ib e r a l C o r p o r a t ion . New York Weekly: Grateful Citi zen—I was delighted to read in the papers-that you had refused to raise the price of ice. President of Ice Com pany—That is true. We shall make no change in the price. The only change will he in the lumps.
The Montanian
(Choteau, Mont.), November 12, 1897
The Montanian
(Choteau, Mont.), November 12, 1897
The Montanian
(Choteau, Mont.), November 12, 1897
The Montanian
(Choteau, Mont.), November 12, 1897
The Montanian
(Choteau, Mont.), November 12, 1897
The Montanian
(Choteau, Mont.), November 12, 1897
The Montanian
(Choteau, Mont.), November 12, 1897
The Montanian
(Choteau, Mont.), November 12, 1897
