The Conservative [[microform].], July 21, 1898, Page 15, Image 14

About The Conservative [[microform].] (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902

Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE

                
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Che Conservative.
ficc : "Go out into the storeroom and
get three phigs of tobacco ; bring them in
and give them to the old fellow. " The
messenger soon returned and handed the
three pings of tobacco to the indignant
advocate. Immediately he whirled to
wards Furnas and looking at liim with
indignation flashing from his great , dark
eyes , said in a tone of intense scorn :
"As I told you a little while ago , I have
traveled a great deal ; I have seen all the
headmen and braves among the white
people and the great chiefs among the
Indians on the plains all sorts of men
wliite men , red men and black men I
have seen all over this country. " Then ,
loolcing still more intensely wrathful
and bending his huge form over until
his hand nearly touched the floor , he
said : "But , " ( looking straight at Fur
nas ) "never before did I see a man only
about that high. "
The distance of his hand from the
floor of the agency office when this re
mark was flung into the face of the
agent was so small that neither Tom
Thumb nor any other Liliputiau could
have marched under that indignant and
trembling hand.
WHITE cows The foregoing
LAST REQUEST did not , however ,
OF GOVERNOR disturb the ami-
FURNAS. cable reintions be
tween Indian and agent. A few mouths
after that event , during a very severe
storm in midwinter , a messenger called
at the agency and informed Furnas that
Wliite Cow was very sick and near unto
death and desired his immediate pres
ence. It was a night of storm , wind
and snow , and the thermometer was
away below zero. But the demand for
his presence was so importunate , and
supposedly coming from a man just
about to depart from this life , that Fur
nas immediately through the blinding
blizzard found his way to the habitation
of White Cow. The old Indian was
laid out on a pallet of robes and skins.
Ho was much emaciated. But after be
ing bolstered up ho shook hands with
Furnas and expressed his gratitude that
he should have come to him in that su
preme moment. Through the interpre
ter he again repeated the story of his
lifelong friendship for the whites and
finally wound up by stating that having
been so long on their side ho felt in his
heart like a soldier of the government
and that therefore he desired as a last
favor that Furnas should promise him
that he should be arrayed for the grave
in the uniform of a cavalry soldier of
the United States. Ho said ho wanted
one of those short , round-about coats
with yellow stripes on it and across the
sleeve ; that.ho wanted pantaloons such
as the horse soldiers always wore with
yellow stripes down the sides , and that
then ho would bo "ready to go to the
happy hunting grounds in the way that a
man of his note and long service to the
white people ought to go.
Governor Furnas adnu'ts' that the
scene was pathetic and that his heart
was really touched by the words of the
aged and emaciated man , for "Tho tones
of dying men enforce attention like
deep harmony. " And so ho promised
White Cow that his request would bo
granted and that he would bo buried in
the attire which ho had described.
Again White Cow renewed his strength
of voice and said : "My brother , I feel
sure that you would not tell me u lie at
any time ; and I am very certain that
yoii could not tell a lie to a dying man.
But when a man is dead ho cannot tell
what kind of clothes he has on ; ho don't
know anything about them. So I wish
that you would send a man right up to
the agency and get those clothes for me
now and have me put right into them.
Then I shall die happy and Icnow that I
am going into the other world dressed
just as I wish to be. "
This appeal was too much for the sym
pathetic heart of the agent. Immed
iately a messenger was dispatched for
the cavalry suit and in due time re
turned with the same , and into it , after
a good deal of a struggle , the limbs and
body of Mr. White Cow were placed.
With a smile of supreme satisfaction
the old man laid down again and soon
passed into peaceful slumber.
Two weeks afterwards , however , Gov
ernor Furuas was very much surprised
to receive a call from Mr. Wlu'te Cow ,
who lived to enjoy and wear out that
suit of clothes with great comfort to
lu'msolf. During its use , however , he
did secure from Governor Furnas a
promise that after his death he should
be buried in a sitting posture on a high
bluff of the Missouri river just above the
city of Decatur in Burt county. Ho de
sired to be placed in a chair facing down
the channel of the Missouri river. Ho
said he wanted to sit there forever and
see the boats coming and going , to see
the white people crossing over into Ne
braska and making homes , putting trees ,
orchards and hedgerows all over the
great plains where he had in his youth
so many times hunted the buffalo , the
deer and the antelope. And again his
appeal was triumphant , for Governor
Furuas promised him that he should bo
so buried. And the day came and the
life went out of the first , original ,
famous and great orator of Nebraska.
Precisely the promise made by Gover
nor Furnas was fulfilled and the mortal
remains of Mr. White Cow were dis
posed of as he desired they should bo , on
the high bluff of the Missouri river , the
waters of which are seldom now dis
turbed by steam craft. There in a se
dentary posture the remains of tin's ab
original orator are enclosed by brick
masonry. This final resting place over
looks a portion of Iowa and the city of
Decatur , and its occupant may not wait
many years before the waters of the
Missouri river shall bo vexed by the bot-
: ems of barges which may bo towed
: o St. Louis or New Orleans by light
draught steam tugs. The utilization of
this great stream for the transportation
of the staple commodities of the North
west to the Gulf can not much longer
be delayed.
But later in the history of Nebraska
other distinguished barbarians have ap
peared as orators and elicited the atten
tion and admiration of those who were
among their auditors.
GENERAL , GEORGE had perhaps as
i > . CROOK good knowledge
of the intellectual ability and moral
trend of the prominent savages of
northwestern Nebraska as any man liv
ing in his day and generation. To him
the author is indebted for the following
specimens of eloquence from the tongue
of Spotted Tail.
During the Hayes administration it
was determined to reform the Indian
Bureau and to so manage its affairs that
the annuities and the goods due the Ind
ians should bo honestly distributed. A
first step in this direction was to ap
point only Quakers and Episcopalians to
the office of Indian agent. Tin's policy
was carried out quite rigidly for some
time. During its domination a special
commission to interview the Sioux Ind
ians at Camp Robinson arrived at Gen
eral Crook's headquarters. In due time
the council was held. Eastern philan
thropists who laiow notliing of Indian
character , except from Cooper's novels
or "Hiawatha , " appeared to give advice
and instruction to the Indians then and
there assembled. Long speeches were
made relative to the dignity of labor and
the necessity of constant work for every
human being. A tedious speaker in
formed the Indians that the white man ,
his wife and his children were always
well housed , well fed and well clothed
because all wlu'to men labored. The
speech was lengthy and didactic and
very tiresome. When it was finished
SPOTTED TAIL said :
"My brother , the words you have
spoken sink deep into my heart. You
say all white men have good houses ,
good food and good clothes Taecauso all
wlu'to men work hard. Those words
burn in my heart. Go back to our
Great Father in Washington. Tell him
that I have heard what you have said
and remembered it. Tell him therefore
that I want him to send out to my baud
of Sioux Indians a whole lot of big
tables with square legs , tables which are
covered with green cloth on the top and
which are always accompanied by red
and white balls and long arrow-like
sticks with which to punch the balls.
Tell him that when these tables and
sticks and balls get to the Sioux wo will
all go to work punching balls all day
long , and sometimes far into the night ,
just as his headmen and braves do down