Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1895 — DOGS THAT HATE WHITE MEN. [ARTICLE]

DOGS THAT HATE WHITE MEN.

They Are the Companions of Oklahoma Indians and Negroes. Kickapoo Indians are very fond of dogs, both alive and fricaseed. Around their tepees or wickiups or Queen Anne’s, or whatever they call their abodes, there are always half a dozen wolfish dogs. An Indian dog hates a white man as far as he can smell him, and that is saying a good deal. When a white man driving through the Kickapoo country sees a dog by the roadside his natural impulse is to whistle in a friendly way, for somehow in a wilderness of prairie or forest a dog is a comfortable sight. But the instant you whistle to an Indian dog he turns his tail and is out of sight quicker than if he had been kicked. An Indian never whistles at his dog when he wants his beast to come to him; he places his tongue against his teeth and hisses. The colored population of Oklahoma have almost as many dogs as the Indians. Those who live in the blackjack sand hills are dog rich. These dogs have a deep rooted aversion for the white man also. When an old colored cotton planter comes to town some of the dogs are sure to follow, and when the old man walks uptown the dog stays right between his feet like a country dog under a farm wagon. And whenever a white man comes within snapping distance the dog gets busy.