Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1890 — EXPECT THEIR MESSIAH. [ARTICLE]

EXPECT THEIR MESSIAH.

INDIANS WAITING FOR THEIR PROMISED DELIVERER. They Expect that All the Whites Will B« Killed and the Earth Given Over to ths Red Men—Sitting Hull Stirring Up Trouble Among the Sioux. [Washington dispatch.]Reports just received by the Interior Department from the Standing Rock Agency in North Dakota indicate that the “Indian millennium" craze is fast increasing. The greatest excitement oyer the matter exists among the Sitting Bull faction of the Sioux, and they promise that the millennium will come next spring when the grass begins tc grow, and that the white man will bo annihilated and the Indian restored tc his former power and prestige. Tills superstition, Agent James McLaughlin states, is derived from the more southern Sioux, and is no doubt the same craze that has been agitating the Shoshones in Wyoming and the Cheyennes and Arapahoes in the Indian Territory. Sitting Bull appears to be the high priest and leading apostle of this latest Indian absurdity, and he is the chief mischief-maker at the agency. Other Indians prominent in the matter are Circling Bear, Black Bird, and Circling Hawk, of the Standing Rock Agency; Spotted Elk, of the Cheyenne River Agency: and Crow Dog and Low Dog, of the Rosebud Agency. Sitting Bull’s influence as a disturbing element seems to have grown worse during the last year, and this is partly accounted for, the Agent Intimates, by the presence of a woman from Brooklyn, Mrs. C. Weldon, who vent to the agency In Juno, 1889, announcing herself as a member of Dr. T. A. Bland's society, the Indian Defense Association. She, with Dr. Bland, bitterly opposed the ratification of the sale of the surplus lands of the Sioux Reservation by the Indians, and that gave the Sioux Commissioners at the time a great deal of trouble. Mrs. Weldon, the Agent reports, bestowed numerous presents upon Sitting Bull; and after her departure she kept up w correspondence with him until last spring, when she again returned and located outside of the reservation and about twenty-five miles fiom the agency. Sitting Bull has been a frequent visitor to her home, and Is reported to have grown more Insolent and worthless every visit, Mrs. Weldon’s gifts enabling him to give frequent feasts to the Indians, thus perpetuating old customs and engrafting upon their superstitious nature tills additional absurdity of the “now Messiah" and tho “return of the ghosts.” Concerning the now craze of tho Indians. Agent McLaughlin, In a letter to Commissioner Morgan, says: They are told by some members of the Sioux tribo, who have lately developed into medicine men, that the Grout Hplrlt has promised them that tholr punishment by tho dominant race has been sufllclenL and that tholr numbers now having become so decimated, will be re-enforced by nil Indians that are dead; that, tho dead arc all returning to reinhabit tbl < earth, which belongs to the Indians; that they are driving back with them as they return Immense herds of buffalo and great herds of wild horses to bo had for tho catching; that the Great Spirit promises them lhat the white man will bo unable to make gunpowder In future, and every attempt at such will bo a failure, and that tho gunpowder now on hand will bo useless against Indians, as it will not throw a bullet with sufficient force to puss through the skin of an Indian; that tho Great Hplrlt had deserted tho Indians for a long period, but is now with them and against the whites, and will cover the earth with thirty feet of additional soil, well sodled and timbered, under which the whites will bo smothered, and any whites who may escape this great catastrophe will become ornill fishes In the livers of the country. Hut In order to bring about tills hoppy remit the Indians must do tholr part, and bo3ome believers and thoroughly organize. It would seem impossible that any person so matter hew Ignorant, could be brought to believe such absurd nonsense, but as a natter of fact a great many Indians of this agency actually believe It, and since this now doctrine has been engrafted hero from the southern Hloux agencies tho Infection has boon wonderful, and so pernicious that it now includes some of the Indians who were formerly numbered with the progressive and more intelligent, and many of our very best Indians appear dazed and undonlded when talking of it. t’.olr inherent mporstltions having been thoroughly arous id. Agent McLaughlin gives Sitting Bull a very bad reputation, Maying: Hitting Bull is a polygamist, libertine, habitual liar, active obstructionist, and it xroat obstacle in tho way of tho civilization of those people, and lie is so totally devoid of any of the nobler traits of character and so wedded to tho old Indian ways and superstitions that ft Is doubtful if any change for the bettor will ever coino to him it Ills present age of 5(1 years. He has been a disturbing element here sine.) his return from confinement as a military prisoner in the spring of 1883, but has been growing gradually worse the last year, which is partly to be accounted for by the presence of a lady from Brooklyn named Mrs. N. 0. Weldon, who camo In June. 1889, announcing herself as a member of Dr. Bland’s society, the Indian Defense Association, and opposed to the Indians ratifying tho act of March 21, 1889, demanding of me permission to pass through the Sioux Reservation to Cheyenne River Agency and to take Sitting Bull with her. The Sioux Commissioners being then engaged negotiating with the Indians at the southern Sioux agencies. I, as a matter of course, refused to permit her either to pass through the reservation or to allow Sitting Bull to accompany her, and compelled her to cross the Missouri River at this point and travel over the public roads outside of the Indian Reservation, in consequence of which sho was very hostile towards me, and wrote several letters to different parties in condemnation of my course of action. While here she bestowed numerous presents upon Sitting Bull, considerable being money, which had a demoralizing effect upon him, inflating him with his importance. Notwithstanding the prohibitory orders of the agent the “ghost dances” are frequently held and the excitement over the expected millennium is spreading. These dances are characterized by the agent as “demoralizing, indecent and disgusting,” and under their influence the Indians act in tho silly manner of men intoxicated. The officials of tho Indian Bureau here ook upon the situation as serious, Personal Notos. Mr. Cleveland, during his visit to Washington last week, entertained at dinner J ustiee Lamar and Thomas J. Semmes. Daniel Oyster has been nominated for Congress in Pennsylvania, but he ! should not be discouraged. It is at least i better than being a claim. 1 Senator Morrill of Vermont is the third man who lias been elected for a fifth term in the United States Senate. i The other two wore Benton of Missouri. ’ and Anthony of Rhode Islaiqi.