The Ponca chiefs : an Indian's attempt to appeal from the tomahawk to the courts : a full history of the robbery of the Ponca Tribe of Indians, with all the papers filed and evidence taken in the Standing Bear habeas corpus case, and full text of Judge Dundy's celebrated decision : with some suggestions towards a solution of the Indian question

5O CENTS.

THE

PONG A CHIEFS.

AN INDIAN'S ATTEMPT TO APPEAL FROM THE
TOMAHAWK TO THE COURTS,

WITH SOME SUGGESTIONS TOWARDS A SOLUTION OF
THE INDIAN QUESTION.

IB 3T Z Y !_, 3T IF1 IF.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION

BY INSHTATHEAMBA (BRIGHT EYE£.)

AND DEDICATION

BY .WENDELL PHILLIPS.

BOSTON:

LOCKWOOD, BROOKS, AND COMPANY.
1879.

FANEUIL HALL RESOLUTIONS.

At a largely attended meeting held in Faneuil Hall, Dec. 2,
1879, over which His Honor, Mayor Prince, presided, the
following preamble and resolutions, written by Mr. W. H.

Whereas, Great and inexcusable wrongs have been com
mitted by the National Government and its agents upon peace
ful tribes of Indians, in removing them, against their will and
consent, from the lands they occupied to a sickly and malari
ous climate ; and whereas, the petitions and remonstrances of
the chiefs of these tribes have been totally disregarded ; and
whereas, this action on the part of the government has pro
duced great distress and suffering and death among these
tribes, and has led to wars in which both white people and the
Indians have suffered severe losses ; and whereas, the Indians
have been denied the protection of law in the assertion of
their just rights and privileges, — it is hereby

Resolved, That in the case of the Poncas we recognize the
insufficiency of the treaties and promises of the government
to protect them,- and therefore the necessity of placing them
under the protection of our laws.

Resolved, That the present system of agencies and trader-
ships, placing the authority in the hands of one man, and com
pelling the Indians to sell the products of their labor to him,
and to buy all their necessary supplies from him, is detri
mental to the welfare of the Indians, discouraging to honest
labor, and corrupting in its tendencies to the government.

Resolved, That the only solution of the Indian problem is to
recognize the Indian as a fellow-citizen, and to accord to him
the rights that are declared by the fourteenth amendment to the
Constitution of the United States.

Resolved, That while we heartily commend the Indian policy
suggested by the Secretary of the Interior to educate the In
dians, to convey to them in fee, individually, titles to their
farms, and thereafter to treat them like other inhabitants of the
United States under the laws of the land, we earnestly urge
and declare that immediate measures should be taken to secure
to them their legal rights and due protection and compensation
under the law ; and especially to restore to the Poncas their
former homes and property as indemnification for the wrong
which the Secretary of the Interior says has been done them.

STANDING BEAR AND HIS FAMILY,

1. Ta-du-mon-ie. 2. Ma-chii-nah-zhe. 3. Ma-he-du-ba. 4. Sust

(Walk-in-the-wind.) (Standing Bear.) (Sunshine.) Standing Bet

Orphan grand-son of Standing Bear. Only living child of Standing Bear.

te. 5. Vo-zh6n-ga-du-ba.

's wife. (Light of the way.)
Orphan neice of Standing Bear.

THE PONCA CHIEFS.

AN INDIAN'S ATTEMPT TO APPEAL

FROM THE TOM AH A WK TO THE

COURTS.

A FULL HISTORY OF THE ROBBERY OF THE PONCA

TRIBE OF INDIANS, WITH ALL THE PAPERS FILED

AND EVIDENCE TAKEN IN THE STANDING BEAR

HABEAS CORPUS CASE, AND FULL TEXT OF

JUDGE DUNDY'S CELEBRATED DECISION,

WITH SOME SUGGESTIONS TOWARDS A

SOLUTION OF THE INDIAN QUESTION.

BY Z Y L Y F F,

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

INSHTATHEAMBA (Bright Eyes),

AND DEDICATION BY

WENDELL PHILLIPS.

BOSTON:
LOCKWOOD, BROOKS & CO.

1880.

Copyright, 1879.
By LOCKWOOD, BROOKS & CO.

7/623

Bancroft Library

TO

THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES,

Those who love liberty and intend that their Gov
ernment shall protect every man on its soil and ex-
ecute justice between man and man,

THIS NARRATIVE,
With an Introduction, written by an Indian Girl,

of the wrongs suffered at the hands of the Government
by the Ponoas, in consequence of which one-third of
the tribe died within the last eighteen months, and
the rest have endured and still endure cruel and wast
ing oppression,

18 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,

as a fair specimen of the system of injustice, oppres
sion, and robbery which the Government calls "its
Indian Policy;" which has covered it with disgrace as
incompetent, cruel, faithless, never keeping its treaties,
and systematically and shamelessly violating its most
solemn promises; has earned the contempt and detesta
tion of all honest men and the distrust and hate of the
Indian tribes. WETOELL PHJLLIFS.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

PAGB

DEDICATION, ...... iii

INTRODUCTION, ...... v

I. STANDING BEAR'S FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH

THE INDIAN RING, ..... 1

II. STANDING BEAR FINDS A FRIEND IN THE

EDITOR OF A WESTERN PAPER, . . 17

III. A FLANK MOVEMENT ON THE INDIAN RING, 37

IV. MR. HAYT'S ASSAULT ON STANDING BEAR,

AND THE RJEPLY THE OLD CHIEF MADE, 53

V. THE OMAHAS COME TO STANDING BEAR'S

Am, ....... 62

VI. THE OMAHAS FRIGHTENED AT THE CLAIMS

OF THE COMMISSIONER, . . • .67
VII. STANDING BEAR'S RELIGION— WHAT ARMY

OFFICERS THINK OF HIM, . . .71
VIII. STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL TO THE COURTS, 77
IX. WHAT THE ATTORNEYS HAD TO SAY TO THE

COURT, ....... 103

X. STANDING BEAR RELEASED— DECISION OF

JUDGE ELMER S. DUNDY, . . .106
XL THE ORDER OF RELEASE — STANDING

BEAR'S FAREWELL ADDRESSES, . . 128
APPENDIX, ....... 135

INTRODUCTION.

THIS little book is only a simple narration of
facts concerning some of my people. Many of
the transactions recorded in it came under my
own observation, my uncle, White Swan, being
one of the chiefs who underwent so much suf
fering after being left in the Indian Territory.

Wrongs more terrible than those related here
have been practised on others of my people, but
they have had no writer to make them known.

I wish for the sake of my race, that I could
introduce this little book into every home in
the land, because in these homes lies the power
to remedy the evil shown forth in these pages.
The people are the power which move the mag
istrates who administer the laws.

It is a little thing, a simple thing, which my
people ask of a nation whose watchword is lib
erty ; but it is endless in its consequences. They
ask for their liberty, and law is liberty. " We
did not know of these wrongs," say the magis
trates. Is not that only the cry of " Am I my
brother's keeper?" For years the petitions of

vii

INTRODUCTION. viii

my people have gone up unnoticed, unheeded by
all but their Creator, and now at last a man of
your race has arisen, who has sho vm faith enough
in humanity to arouse the nation from the sin of
its indifference. Thank God, it was only indiffer-
ence, and not hatred, which withheld from an
oppressed and unfortunate race, justice and
mercy.

May those who read this story, when they
think of the countless happy homes which
cover this continent, give help to a homeless
race, who have no spot on earth they can call
their own.

INSHTATHEAMBA (Bright Eyes).

THE PONCA CHIEFS.

CHAPTER I.

STANDING BEAR'S FIKST ENCOUNTER WITH THE

INDIAN KING.

Ix the autumn of 1876, the Indians on the
Ponca reservation in Southern Dakota were at
work on their farms as usual. It was as peace
ful and happy a community as could be found
anvwhere. Most of their children were attend
ing school, and their church was in a flourishing
condition. How these people were robbed of
their wealth and a large portion of them sent
to their graves, through the tools of the Indian
Ring, it is the object of these pages to relate.

One Sunday the Indians went to their church
as usual, to hear the words of the minister, but
some of the words which he said that tribe
will never forget. He told them that he had
heard that they were to be driven from their

1

2 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

homes and sent far to the south, never to come
back again. He said he was exceedingly sorry
for them, as they had been honest, industrious,
frugal, hard-working, and had just gotten
themselves nice houses and farms. He did not
know that he could help them. He could only
pity them. Under all circumstances he advised
them to do that which was right, and trust in
God, that in the end he would protect them
from their oppressors.

Consternation seized upon the whole commun
ity. Runners were dispatched, and in a few
hours afterwards every member of the Ponca
tribe had heard the news. The one universal
sentiment was: " We will not leave the home
of our fathers to go to a strange land, never to
return."

The chiefs and head men came together and
questioned the minister, but he knew nothing
more than he had already told. Somebody had
ordered them to be taken to the Indian Territory.

Soon after a great council was called, and
some men purporting to come from Wash
ington appeared, and said an order had been
issued to take the tribe to the Indian Territory.
Standing Bear, White Eagle and other chiefs
absolutely refused to go. Standing Bear said:

" This land is ours, we have never sold it. "We have

STANDING BEAR AND THE INDIAN RING. 3

our houses and our homes here. Our fathers and
some of our children are buried here. Here we wish
to live and die. We have harmed no man. We have
kept our treaty. We have learned to work. We can
make a good living here. We do not wish to sell our
land, and we think no man has a right to take it from
us. Here we will live, and here we will die."

Then these men told them that the Indian
Territory was a much better country. That
they could raise much more grain and not work
near so hard. That if they once saw it they
would not want to stay in Dakota, and many
other things of like nature. Finalty, they pro
posed that the chiefs should go down to the
Indian Territory and look at the country.
Then, if they did not like it, and did not wish
to go, they might stay where they were.
They told them that if they went down there,
the Great Father would buy their land in
Dakota and pay them for it, and give them
all the land they needed in the Indian Terri
tory. If they would just go down and look at
the country all the trouble would be ended.
They could sell their land then or not, just as
they pleased. After further consultation it
was agreed that ten of the leading men should
go down there and look at the country.

These men took them to the territory.
They showed them a portion of country, and

THE PONCA CHIEFS.

wanted to know what they thought of it. The
chiefs replied they did not like it at all. They
did not think it was as good as where they
were located in Dakota. Standing Bear's
account of what occurred at this time is as
follows:

" These men then talked entirely different from what
they did in Dakota. They said, you shall trade your
land in Dakota for land here. You can go out there
and choose what you want, but you shall trade. Your
tribe will be brought down here, and you may as well
choose your land now. I told them that we could not
come. I had seen that a great many people down
there were sick. The land they showed us was stony,
and I did not believe we could make a living on it. I
was afraid my people would get sick and die. We
could not come there.

"Then the men grew very angry, and said if we did
not agree to come they would go off and leave us there
to starve. They would not take us back home. We
said it would be better for ten of us to die than that the
whole tribe, all the women and little children, should
be brought there to die, and die we all would, right
there, rather than do what they asked.

" Then they went off and said we might stay there and
die. They would not take us back. I sent the interpreter
to them, and told them that they had brought us far from
our own country on the cars, and if they would not
take us back they should at least give us some money
to pay our way. They said they would not give me
one cent of money. They had said they would
take us from the Indian Territory to see the Great

STANDING BEAR AND f HE INDIAN RING. 5

Father. I sent and asked if they would take us to
Washington, and told them if they would, and the
Great Father said we must come to the Indian Terri
tory, then, I supposed, we must come. They replied
that the Great Father had nothing to do with the matter.
They would not take us anywhere. We could stay there
and die. I sent again, and told them if they would not
take us" back, nor give us any money, to give us a
paper that we could show to white men and tell who
we were, so they would not think we were hostile or
intended to steal from them. They replied they would
give us nothing, not even a paper.

"Now, there were two very old men with us, who
could not travel on foot at all. I sent to them and told
them we would walk back, but that these two old men
could not walk and they must care for them. We could
not carry them on our backs, and they must take them,
and I sent the old men to them, and told them to stay
with them. They took these two old men and went
off and left us.

" None of us had a cent of money, and we had no in
terpreter, so we could not speak a word to any man.
The next morning we started on our long journey. It
was in the winter. White men were suspicious of us.
They thought we were vagabond Indians, who will travel
round to beg and won't work. Very few of them would
give us anything. Every day we travelled on we grew
weaker, and had to go slower. We got a few pieces of
bread. What we lived on was corn. We would take it and
pound it between stones. We slept out on the prairie
without shelter. A few times we foiled haystacks to
sleep in. It took us just fifty days to reach the Otoe
Agency in Southern Nebraska. The last few days we

6 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

were very weak, and could walk only a few miles.
When we got there, we found that these men had sent
word to the Agent there to have nothing to do with
us; that we were bad Indians, and if we came there
we should be driven off. But when the Agent saw
how nearly starved we were, and looked at our bleed
ing feet, for our moccasins wore out the first ten days,
he took pity on us, and first gave us something to eat,
and then asked us what bad things we had been doing.
When we told him what had happened, he was much
astonished, and said he would write a letter to Wash
ington, and tell all how we had been treated.

"The Otoes gave us horses and provisions, and we
made the journey to the Omaha Agency in five days.
We looked so bad when we got there that everybody
w&s sorry for us. From there we sent a telegram to
the President. The other seven who were with me
went on up to the reservation on horseback, and Mr.
Hamilton, the missionary to the Omahas, sent John
Springer, an educated Omaha, with me to Sioux City to
send the telegram. We stopped at the first station at
which we reached the railroad, and sent the telegram.
It cost $6.25. We asked the operator who sent it if
anybody would stop it before it got to Washington,
and he said, 'No, if they did, they would be put out
of their place.'

"John Springer went on with me to Sioux City, and
we went to see the editor of the paper there (Sioux
City Journal). We told him all about it, and he printed
it in his paper. Springer gave me some money there,
and left me, anjd I went on the cars up to Yankton.
The men who took us to the Territory had returned and
were there. A white man, whom I did not know, came

STANDING BEAR AND THE INDIAN RING. 7

to me there, and said he had heard about our troubles.
He said these men who were there were scoundrels.
He knew every one of them. They were very bad
men who got rich by swindling the Indians. He said
he knew that we had never sold our land, or signed a
treaty to go away, and the best thing for me was to go
back to my farm, go to work, and pay no attention to
what these men said, or what orders they gave, until
some man came who had papers signed by the Presi
dent. He said if these men had land, and another man
should come and order them to leave it, they would
knock him down, and that was the way they ought to
be served !

" I went back to the Ponca Agency and these same
men came there. They wanted to talk again. I said :
' What are you here for? What business have
you to come here at all. I never sent for you. I don't
want anything to do with you. You are all liars. You
are all bad men. You have no authority from the
Great Father. You came out here to cheat and steal.
You can read and write, and I can't, and you think
you know everything and I know nothing. If some
man should take you a thousand miles from home,
as you did me, and leave you in a strange country with
out one cent of money, where you did not know the
language and could not speak a word, you would never
have got home in the world. You don't know
enough. I want you to go off of this reservation. You
have no business here, and don't come back until you
bring a letter from the Great Father. Then if you want
to buy my land, bring the money with you so I can see it.
If I want to sell I will talk to you. If I don't
I won't. This is my land. The Great Father did

g THE PONCA CHIEFS.

not give it to me. My people were here and ownefl
this land before there was any Great Father. Wo
sold him some land, but we never sold this. This ia
mine. God gave it to me. When I want to sell it I
will let you know. You are a rascal and a liar, and I
want you to go off my land. If you were treating: a
white man the way you are treating me, he would kill
you, and everybody would say he did right. I will
not do that. I will harm no white man, but this is my
land, and I intend to stay here and make a good living
for my wife and children. You can go.'

" When I said this he was very angry, and the next
morning he had Big Snake and me arrested. They
took us down to Yankton, and brought us before eight
officers. The head officer said : ' We have heard many
complaints about you. We have had four letters mak
ing complaints. What have you to say? I thought
you were good and all trying to work. I have read in
the papers that you have been badly treated, but these
letters say exaclly the opposite.'

"Then we told the soldiers all about it, and the soldiers
were angry at what had been done, and the head officer
said : ' I will send a telegram to Washington, but you
will stay here until I hear from it. I will not put you
in prison. That land is yours. I have a hard duty,
but I am a soldier, and must obey orders. I would like
to help you, but I cannot. I have known your tribe a
long time, and you have all done well, and learned
how to work. I know that is so. Some rascals are
trying to swindle you out of your land and stock. I
have seen things like this many times. It is very hard
to see this, but I can't help it. When a white man has
land he can stay on it, and if anybody else wants it

STANDING BEAR AND THE INDIAN RING. 9

they have to pay him money for it, and he don't have
to give it up until he gets the money, and I don't see
why the same law will not apply to an Indian who has
land.'

' ' The soldiers treated us very kindly, and after a little
while we went back on the reservation. I don't know
whether the head officer ever had from Washington an
answer from his telegram. Then these men got up
another council. The half-breeds who belong to the
tribe are most all bad men; they are rascals, and go witn
the agents and traders. At this council all the half-
breeds took the side of these men. They all wanted
to go to the Indian Territory. But not one of the
Poncas would agree to go. At this council there was
a white man who came to talk for us. He was a lawyer,
and said he had been watching us for years, and he
knew we were trying to do right. He said be would
not see us swindled out of all we had, and not do any
thing.

"These men said to us that we were thieves and bad
Indians, and the Commissioner had resolved to move us
away from the white people. That the Sioux would
come and kill us all unless they kept many soldiers to
watch them, and that cost the Great Father much
money, and that he did not have many soldiers any
more, and what he had he wanted to fight for the white
people, and not to protect bad Indians.

"Then this lawyer answered back for us. He said
he did not want to call them liars, but he believed they
wera. If they had any authority for what they were
doing, why did they not show the papers. They had
none. They could not show an order of any kind. He
would not say so positively, but he believed they were

10 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

all of the same lot of thieves who had always been
swindling the Indians. That reservation belonged to
the Poncas. They had never gone to war with the
whites, though everybody knew they had cause
enough. Nobody could take it from them. Nobody
could make them sell it. Even the Great Father could
not do that. He said many other things, and talked a
long while. He got very angry at last, and said they
were thieves and scoundrels, and if they were served
right they would every one be hung. Then they would
not let him talk any more.

"At last they said it was no use to talk any more. We
must all go to the Indian Territory, and that was the
end of the matter. It was no use for us to say we
would not, because we must. We told them we would
not go, and the council broke up.

' 'Soon after this the half-breeds belonging to the tribe,
numbering ten men and their families, packed up
and started. This white lawyer told us not to go, and
he did not believe they would try to make us go. He
said for us to do what we thought best, and not rely
on him, but it was his belief that if we went on with
our work and paid no attention to them they would not
do anything. He said, • if you want to go, go, and if
you don't, stay right where you are. It will be time
enough when, they begin to try to make you go. No
body will shoot you while you are at work. If the sol
diers come and give you orders, then you will have to
obey.'

" We talked over the matter very much, and we were
very sad. After a little while some soldiers came to
the Agency, and the interpreter said they had come to
go to war with us, if we did not go. We could not

STANDING BEAR AND THE INDIAN RING. H

fight. We were all farming and had but few guns.
Everybody was working hard. It was in the spring.
Many had sowed their spring wheat, some had planted
corn, and made gardens. The children were going to
school. One day about noon, 1 had just come in from
the field; my brother was still at work, and another man
was plowing for me. My wife was gelling dinner, and
a man rode up. He said the officer liad given an order
that we were to load up everything we had and bring
it 10 the Agency building. I supposed it came from tho
soldiers, aud I unhitched my horses from the plows
and hitched, them to the wagons, and loaded in all I
had. There were some things the government had
given us. I do not count them. They had given them
to us, and I suppose they had the right to take them
back. Among them were the threshing machines, reap
ers, mowers, and the mill. Then I had some things
which I Lad bought with the grain and stock I had
raised and sold. These were mine, and no man had
any right to take them away. However, I obeyed the
order, and took them all to the Agency. Within two
or three days I had them all there. These were the
things which were mine and which they took away:
" One house (I built it with my own hands. It took
me a long time, for I didn't know how very well). It
was twenty feet by forty, with two rooms; four cows,
three steers. ei<rht horses, four hoirs (two very large
ones), five wn<ron-loads of corn with the side boards on
(about 1 30 bushels), one hundred sncks of wheat, nnd one
Wfi«ron-lond loose, which I hnd in boxes (nhout 275 bush
els), twenty- one chickens, two turkeys, nnd one prairie
breaking plow, two stirring plows, two corn plows, a
good stable and cattle sheds, three axes, two hatchets, one

12 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

eaw, three lamps, four chairs, one table, two new bed
steads, one hay-knife, three pitchforks, two washtubs,
and washboard, one cross-cut saw, one cant hook, two
log chains, two ox -yokes, two ladders, two garden rakes
three hoes, one new cooking-stove, one heating-stovei
twenty joints of pipe, two trunks (one very large), one
valise, crockery, knives and forks, and a great many
other things which I cannot now remember. These
things were mine. I had worked for them all. By
their order I brought them all, except the house and
such things as I could not move, to the Agency, and
they put them in a big house and locked them up. I
have never seen any of them since. Our wagons and
ponies they did not take away.

"A few days after this we started to the Indian
Territory. I said I would not go there when I started.
If some man wanted my things and my land, I said I
would go down and live among the Omahas. They
wanted us all to come there, and had land enough for
all. The man who had charge of us said we could go
down there where the other part of the tribe was and
see them, and if we did not like it, we could then
come back to the Omabas. My wife had some relations
who went down with the half-breeds, and she wanted
to go and see them, and so we went on. It was a long
and tedious journey." When we got there the Agent
issued us no rations for a long time. For months we
had to beg of the other tribes. We were all half-starved.
This was all different from our own home. There we
raised all we needed. Here there was no work to do.
We had nothing to work with, and there wns no man
to biro us. We said we would cr» back; that we did
not like it there. Then we were informed that we werje

STANDING BEAR AND THE INDIAN RING. 13

prisoners, and if we attempted to go away from tho
Agency we would be punished. Sickness commenced,
several died. All my people were heart-broken. I was
like a child. I could not help even myself, much less
help them. I hunted for some white inan, who knew
the ways of the government, to tell me what to do. No
man would tell me. At last I resolved I would go
and see the Great Father. I thought surely he does not
know about this. He would never allow it to be done.
I went to see the Great Father and told him what had
been done. He seemed very much astonished. He
said he never heard of it before. He would order it
investigated. Then I talked with him again. He thought
now that we were down there we had better stay. He
told me to go back and hunt for some good land, and
he would have our things sent to us; that we should
be treated well, and he did not think we would be sick
any more, after a little. We would soon get used to the
country, and then we would not be sick. I said ki
reply that I could only obey his orders.

" Then I went back to the Indian Territory and se
lected some land that looked good, and we moved the
tribe on to it. It was now in the fall, and the sickness
was worse than ever. Families had settled on separate
tracts of land, and were scattered around. The whole
family would be sick and no one know it. In some of
these families persons would die and the others would
not not be able to bury them. They would drag them
with a pony out on the prairie and leave them there.
Men would take sick while at work and die in less than
a day (congestive chills).

" There were dead in every family. Those who could
walk around were sick. Not one in the whole tribe

14 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

felt well. I lost all my children but one little girl. A
few more weeks and she would have died too. I was
in an awful place, and I was a prisoner there. I was
not a free man. I had been taken by force from my
own country to a strange land, and was a captive.
Sometimes I thought I had better gather up my people,
send them on ahead, keep my warriors in the rear, and
endeavor to retreat to the mountains, and if the sol
diers came, all die fighting, but I did not want to fight
the soldiers. They had always treated me kindly, and
the officers had taken my part; besides my warriors
were too sick to march or fight. I could see nothing
ahead, but death for the whole tribe. I was much sorry
for the little children who were so very sick. They
would moan and moan, and we had no medicine
and no way to help them. The fall months wore
away, and it was the middle of winter. The sickness
got no better. I resolved at last that I would make an
attempt to save the lives of a few. If I failed it could
be no worse than to stay there. I said I will take a
small party and start back to my old home. If the sol
diers come after us I will not fight. They can do what
they please with us. Whatever they do, it can't be
worse than to stay here. I told nobody of my plans
but those I intended to take along. I brought away
thirty persons, seven of whom were very sick when we
started. We slipped away on the night of the second
of January. We had a small quantity of rations when
we started. I had ten dollars in money, and Buffalo
Chip had ten. We were ten weeks making the jour
ney to the Omaha Agency. I had to buy a little corn
for the ponies.
" We had three covered wagons and one light spring

STANDING BEAR AND THE INDIAN RING. 15

wagon. I subsisted this party of thirty persons for
twenty days on less than a dollar a day. After that
we had no more money. For two days \ve were with
out food, little children, sick, and all. Then I went
to a white man's house and motioned for him to come
with me. He came and I pointed out to him the sick.
He did not seem to understand, but he looked at the
ponies and saw how very poor and gaunt they were.
He went off and came back with his boys and brought
hay and a big bag full of corn. We took some of the
corn, shelled and parched it. He watched us, and
when he saw the children eat it ravenously, he, for
the first time, seemed to understand that we had noth
ing to eat. He went to the house and brought us some
flour, "some meat and some coffee. After that the
white people treated us very kindly. Some gave us
bread, some coffee, and others meal or flour. None
of them refused to give us anything when they saw
we were hungry, except two places, and I don't think
they had much themselves. I kept far out in Kansas,
and frequently changed my course, for I thought they
would follow us from the Agency, and the white peo
ple out there seemed very poor. After ten weeks of
gucli journeying, about the middle of March we arrived
at the Omaha Agency, on the way back to our old
home. The Omahas and Poncas speak the same
iannunge, and we have many relatives among them.
We intended to go back to our own land, but the
Omahas said, you have no plows or tools of any
kind, and you cannot go back there. We will lend
you seed and toois to work with, and help you
start. They gave us land. There was enough broken
to raise what we wanted to live on. Some of the

16 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

men were sick in bed and couldn't work. Those who
were well enough all went to work. Some had sowed
their spring wheat, and some were plowing. I was at
work when the runner came and told us that the sol
diers had come to take us back. Consternation and des
pair seized upon us. We all went down to the Agency,
and found Lieut. Carpenter there. He said we must
go to Omaha with him, and there we could talk with
Gen. Crook. We hitched up our ponies and started
south again. One woman was too sick to move, and
that one was left at the Agency, and came to Omaha
barracks. When we started back the scene among the
women and children was heart-rending. They and
their friends among the Omalias cried most bitterly.
It would break one's heart to look at them.. Many
were still sick, and all felt that we were going back to
certain death. My effort to save their lives had failed."

INTERPRETER'S CERTIFICATE.

" I certify that I acted as interpreter for Standing
Bear, and that the above is a true translation of his
words, the interview taking place at Fort Omaha the
13th glay of April, 1879. I am perfectly acquainted with
the Omaha Indian language, which the Poncas speak,
and I know many of the facts to be true of my own
knowledge, having resided among the Omahas for
twelve years. »W. W. HAMILTON."

THE PONCA CHIEFS. 17

CHAPTER II.

STANDING BEAR FINDS A FRIEND IN THE EDITOR
OF A WESTERN PAPER.

ON the twenty-ninth day of March, 1879, at
about eleven o'clock at night, there sat in the
editorial room of the Omaha Daily Herald the
assistant editor, who at the time was editor-in-
chief.

The city editor came in and informed him
that he had just returned from Fort Omaha,
four miles distant, where there was a band of
Ponca Indians under arrest for running away
from the Indian Territory.

This assistant editor of the Herald had a
strange history. He said he had been born on
the frontier, never had had any raising, and
did not pretend to be civilized. He was a
thorough newspaper man, and had held positions
as an editorial writer on several leading papers.
He had the medical, legal, theological, turf,
stage and musical terms at his tongue's end.
He carried perhaps the marks of more gunshot

18 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

and other wounds on his person than any other
one man in a thousand miles of him. He was
one of the best shots with a revolver in the
west. He commenced life by enlisting in Jim
Lane's company in Kansas in 1856, and was in
every prominent fight during the bloody wars
which lasted for two years in that Territory.
Part of the time he was in old John Brown's
company. Such was the individual who sat at
the Jler aid editor al table on that night. When
informed of what had occurred at the barracks,
he brought his fist down on the table and said,
"Those Indians shall not betaken back to die in
the Indian Territory."

He was doing nearly double work on the
paper on account of the absence of the editor-
in-chief, and his duties kept him at the office
until the paper went to press at four o'clock
in the morning. That morning he retired at
4.30 A. M., and rose at seven A. M., and immedi
ately started on foot to Fort Omaha, four miles
distant. It was on Sunday, and while others
went to church he went to see these prisoners.
Arriving there he found an interpreter, and
informed Standing Bear that he wanted to hold
a council and print what he said, so that all
the white people could know how he had been
treated. But Standing Bear would not talk.

STANDING BEAR FINDS A FRIEND. 19

He did not think it would be dignified for him
to talk with any one else before he held his
council with Gen. Crook. Persuasion did no
good. He was afraid Gen. Crook would take
it as an insult, and talk he would not. It was
explained to him that it would not be printed
until Tuesday morning, that no paper was pub
lished on Monday, but it was all of no avail.

Here was something that the editor had not
expected, an impassable barrier on the first
day's march, and he sat down and cogitated.
At last he remembered that several years before
he had joined a secret society among the In
dians, and concluded to try the signs on the
old chief. Standing Bear recognized them in
an instant, and the two gave the grip of friend
ship. A council was called immediately, and
the editor and warriors were soon seated in a
tepee around the council fire smoking the pipe
of peace.

Ta-zha-but (Buffalo Chip) was the first to
speak. He talked slowly, making graceful but
emphatic gestures, as follows:

"I sometimes think that the \vhite people for
get that we are human, that we love our wives and
children, that we require food and clothing, that

20 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

we must take care of our sick, our women and chil
dren, prepare not only for the winters as they come,
but for old age when we can no longer do as when
we are young. But one Father made us all. We
have hands and feet, heads and hearts all alike.
We also are men. Look at me. Am I not a man? I
am poor. These clothes are ragged. I have no others.
But I am a man."

Ta-zha-but stopped after saying this, for sev
eral moments, and all was as silent as death. He
then proceeded:

"I have said this, because as I have been sitting in
this tepee thinking since I was taken prisoner, that the
government could not think I was a man, or they would
not treat me as they have. I have hands that know
how to hold the plow handles and to sow the wheat
and corn and gather it in. I have taught them that in
the last. few years.

" When I was young the gun was the greatest friend
the Indian had. With it he defended himself against
his enemies, with it he fed his wife and family, covered
his tepee, and clothed himself and his children. The
gun is not my friend now. The greatest friend I have
is the plow. The game is gone, never to come back. I
look everywhere and I see none. It has vanished away
like a dream when I wake from sleep. But the ground
is here. It can never vanish away. From the ground
the Indian must live. It tells him no lies. It makes
him no promises which it does not fulfil. It is like
Wakanda. All the Indians know this. They are not
blind, that they cannot see. Neither are they fools, that

STANDING BEAR FINDS A FRIEND. 21

they cannot think. So we talked among ourselves 3*ears
ago. We agreed that we would raise cattle, horses,
pigs, and all kinds of stock. We said we would learn
to plow, we would build houses out of wood, we would
learn to do like the white people. They always have
good clothes and enough to eat. We told the men the
Great Father sen-t to talk to us that we would do this
years ago. We have kept our word. We have taught
our hands to hold the plow handles. We built houses.
We raised stock. Now look at us to-day. See these
rags. We have no houses, no stock, no grain, we are
prisoners in this camp, and we have never committed
any crime."

H
Here another prolonged silence ensued, and

then Ta-zha-but spoke again:

"Eight days ago I was at work on my farm which
the Omahas gave me. I had sowed some spring wheat,
and wished to sow some more. I was living peaceably
with all men. I have never committed any crime. I
was arrested and brought back as a prisoner. Does
your law do that? I have been told since the great war
that all men were free men, and that no man can be
made a prisoner unless he does wrong. I have done
no wrong, and yet I am here a prisoner. Have you a
law for white men, and a different law for those who
are not white? '

Ta-zha-but paused and waited for a reply. The
editor found himself cornered. The Declara
tion of Independence says " all men are created
equal." The constitution says there shall be

22 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

no distinction on account of race or color, but
here was a man who had committed no crime,
held as a prisoner. He at last replied that
there was but one law for all alike.

Ta-zha-but. — "Then why am I and my family held
prisoners when we have committed no crime?"
Editor. — "I cannot tell."

Another silence here fell on the council.
The Indians sat smoking a huge tomahawk
pipe, and passing it one to another. Ta-zha-
but spoke again:

"When I worked my farm, my wife, my children
and myself had three meals each day. When I am
forced to live on the government we get but one.
Why does the government insist on feeding me? If
they intend to always feed all the Indians I should
think they would eat all the government had. I seem
to be blind. I cannot understand these things. Here
I am, and those who are with me want logo to work and
raise grain to live on next winter. We don't want to
live on the government. We want to support our
selves. We commence to plow and sow wheat, and
the government sends the soldiers to take us prisoners
and make us live on the government. We would go
right back to our work and make our own living if
they would only let us. "

This declaration of the chief was received
by an emphatic affirmative grunt by all pres
ent. Ta-zha-but then asked if it would not be

STANDING BEAR FINDS A FRIEND. 23

better for the government and them, to be al
lowed to pursue such a course, and why they
could not do it. The editor could give no
reason why they should not.

"If we go back to the reservation in the Indian
Territory," said Ta-zha-but, "we shall have nothing to
do. We must live on the government and will soon all
die. There will be not one left to tell the tale. It would
be better for the government, better for us, to stand us
out there in a line, bring the soldiers and tell them to
shoot us all. Then our miseries would be ended, and
the government would have no more trouble. It would
be better that way."

This was said in a solemn tone, spoken very
slowly, and every one present signified his as
sent. Somehow a feeling of solemnity came
over all. They seemed to think death was very
near in any event. A squaw who held a young
baby, sitting behind the men, pressed the little
thing close to her bosom and rocked herself back
and forth, with the tears running down over her
face. Not a muscle moved on the face of any
of the men. They looked steadily toward the
fire in the centre of the lodge. The first thing
that was said was by Charles Morgan, an
Omaha, who reads and writes, and speaks Eng
lish as fluently as any one. He turned to the
reporter, after some moments of silence, and

24 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

said: "This is awful. These men are my
friends. They are of my blood."

The editor after a few moments asked Ta-
zha-but what he thought ought to be done in
reference to the Indians, how the govern
ment should deal with them. He continued as
follows:

"It seems to me that the government should let the
Indians go on some land that is good, where good crops
could be raised. This land should be given them for
theirs forever, given so that the government could not
take it away, so that the white men could not get it.
It should be the Indians' forever. Indians cannot
make plows and axes and wagons, so the government
should give them some to help them start. All the
Indians will go to farming if the government -will do
this. But they can't farm without plows, and they
can't plow where the ground is all hills and stones like
it is down where the Ponca reservation was. Then
there should be laws to govern the Indians the same as
the whites. A court should be established where those
who do wrong, both Indians and white men, should be
tried. There never would be any rows or troubles
with the whites if we had a court. But we have never
had a court. If white men steal our ponies there is
nobody to punish them. If the Indians do wrong
they make the tribe responsible and the solQiers come
out and kill our people. We want land which shall
be our own, and we want a court: Let those who
do right be protected, and those who do wrong be
punished. If the Indian has land which he knows

STANDING BEAR FINDS A FRIEND. 25

is his own forever, he will build a good house. He
will soon be like a white man."

STANDING BEAR'S SPEECH.
Standing Bear spoke as follows :

" The Poncas and the Omahas are one tribe, and
speak exactly the same language . We saw the game
was gone some years ago, and we resolved to go to
farming, to raise stock and grain like the white men.
Our Agency was in the edge of Dakota. We had many
good farms, some good houses, a school and a church.
But the Sioux made raids on us, stole some of our
ponies, and killed some of our people. It was then
proposed that we come down to the Omaha agency.
There was a great council of the Poncas, the Omahas,
and the Commissioners the Great Father sent. Both
the Omahas and Poncas signed a paper to go to the
Omaha Agency. That is all the paper we ever

Then followed a history, stated briefly, of
what had occurred as narrated at length in the
first chapter. He proceeded as follows:

" We were taken to the Indian Territory. My son
died, my sister died, and my brother there, was near
dying. We had nothing to do but sit still, be sick,
starve and die. I know I never signed a paper to go
there, and after many months of a life that was more
than to die, we concluded to come to our relations and
friends the Omahas. We brought our sick with us. The
weather was very bad and we have little clothes. We
had very little to eat on the way and were very hungry,

26 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

but we never touched anything that belonged to a white
man. I am getting old now, he is old (pointing to his
brother). We have but a little time to live. My son who
died was a good boy. I did everything I could to help
educate him, that when I was gone he could live like
the white men and teach these little ones (pointing to
some little children). I am too old to learn to read
and write and count money. They can learn. I want
to work on a farm, have them go to school, learn many
things, and be like white children. I know how to
plow, how to plant wheat and corn, to raise stock. The
Omahas gave me some land with thirty acres broke. I
can raise this year enough wheat, potatoes and other
things to have plenty to eat next winter. But the gov
ernment won't let me. My boy who died down there,
as he was dying looked up to me and said, I would like
you to take my bones back and bury them there where
I was born. I promised him I would. I could not re
fuse the dying request of my boy. I have attempted to
keep my word. His bones are in that trunk."

At this point Standing Bear's wife, who is a
very intelligent-looking woman, asked permis
sion to speak to the editor. Her eyes were full
of tears. She said:

"My mother is buried there, my grandmother and
another child. My boy was a good boy, and we tried
to do what he wanted us to do. We were just getting
ready to bury him, when the soldiers came upon us.
Won't you go to Gen. Crook and ask him, if we.
must go back south, to let us have time to take him
back to the Agency and bury him?"

STANDING BEAR FINDS A FRIEND. 97

A promise was made to the weeping mother
that such a request would be made. She said:

"My heart is broken. My eyes are full of tears all
the time, and ever since I came to this place there is
an ache here (laying her hand on her heart). If we
must go back these little children will soon die too."

A long silence followed. The mother sat
there with features immovable, but the tears
chased one another in quick succession down
her cheeks. Such a feeling of depression and
utter hopelessness settled down over all that the
editor arose and left the lodge and walked
around outside a few minutes. When he went
back, Standing Bear continued:

" When Big-White-Hair (Senator Saunders) and the
other commissioners came down there last summer, he
asked if we desired to be turned over to the military.
I told him I did not like to say certainly. I could not
read nor talk English, and there were so many Indians
of different tribes, and so many goods to be brought
to the reservations that there must be many things I
did not know anything about. The Indians all thought
that if they were turned over to the soldiers they would
get all the government gave to them, while with the
agents and traders they did not. But some of the In
dians were afraid if the soldiers had control and any
of the young men did anything wrong they would be
too severe. All the Indians who have reservations of

28 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

good land would now raise enough to support them
selves if it were not for the agents and traders. They
don't want the Indians to become like white men.
They are the worst thing in the way of the Indians.
All the Indians know the game is gone. They want land
of their own, they want schools, they want to learn to
work. Wakanda knows I tell the truth. (This sen
tence was said with an upward look and reverent ges
ture.) We want to be under the same law as the white
man. We want to be free. The northern tribes who
have been sent south will all die. All they ask is that
they may have a chance to make a living for themselves,
and have the same law as the white man."

It was explained to him that if he came
under the law he would have to pay taxes. He
thought it over a minute or two, and then
said:

"I don't think for the first year or two we ought to
pay taxes. We would have very little to pay with, but
after that, if the officers would protect us from bad
white men, and punish those who steal, so all our
property would be safe, then we could afford to pay
for it, and let every man pay according to how much
he had. If the Indians are given lands and courts,
with the same law as the white man, a few plows to
start with, and a school teacher for the children, they
need not be turned over to the soldiers, the civil au
thorities, or anybody else. That will be the end of all
our troubles. Ten years from now there will be no
difference from the whites except in the color of their
skin."

STANDING BEAR FINDS A FRIEND. 29

After Standing Bear had closed his speech,
the editor came outside of the lodge. The sun
was just sinking in the west. The city laid
four miles away. There was no way to get there
but to walk there. Not a mouthful of food
had he taken since morning, but he thrust his
note-book in his pocket and struck out on a
five-miles-an-hour gait for the city. He had
an idea in his head, and there was no time to
lose. He resolved he would lay the matter
before as many of the churches as he could
reach that night, and get them to pass a reso
lution requesting the Secretary of the Interior
to rescind the order, and then send a telegram
to Washington. To do it, he must reach the
city before the hour set for services to com
mence. By the end of the first mile it began
to grow dark, and he found he must make
faster time than that. Not a single vehicle
was going in that direction, although he met
several going the other way. He leaned for
ward and broke into a regular Rowell run,
which he did not break until he had made two
miles and a half. He reached the Presbyterian
church, Rev. Mr. Harsha pastor, just in time,
and obtained permission to speak after the
sermon. He then went to the Congregational
Church, Rev. Mr. Sherrill pastor, and spoke

30 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

between the opening hymns. Both of the
churches passed a resolution requesting Mr.
Carl Schurz tc rescind the order under which
this band of Poncas were being returned to
Indian Territory.

Other ministers were afterward seen, and
Rev. Mr. Jameson, who was an old friend and
acquaintance of Mr. Schurz, wrote the follow
ing, which was signed and sent by telegraph:

" OMAHA, NEB., March 31, 1879.
"To Hon. Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior, Washing
ton, D. C.:

''Seven lodges of Ponca, Indians, who had settled on
Omaha reservation, and were commencing to work at
farming, have, by your order, been arrested to be taken
south. I beseech you as a friend to have this order re
voked. Several churches and congregations have
passed resolutions recommending that these Indians
be permitted to remain with the Omahas. Some of the
Indians are too sick to travel. Particulars by mail.

"E. H. E. JAMESON,

" Pastor Baptist Church.
"We concur in the above.

"H. D. FTSHER,

"Pastor M. E. Church.
" W. J. HARSHA,

" Pastor Presbyterian Church.
"A. F. SHERRILL,

''Pastor Congregational Church."

STANDING BEAR FINDS A FRIEND. 31

At eleven o'clock that night the weary editor
reached his home. The first thing he did was
to call for a good " square meal." Having dis
posed of that he sat down at his desk and wrote
out the speeches of Standing Bear and Ta-zha-
but, with such other matter as made a connect
ed history of the affair up to that time an'd at
twenty minutes past 5 A. M. retired.

At seven o'clock he was up. Gen. Crook
was to hold his council with Standing Bear
at ten o'clock, and procuring a conveyance,
he started for Fort Omaha. The council did
not really commence until twelve o'clock, and
was held in Gen. Crook's office. There were
present General Crook, Colonel Royall, General
Williams, Lieutenants Bourke and Carpenter,
and the editor, who was somewhat astonished
to see Standing Bear dressed in a magnificent
full costume of an Indian chief. He had a
red blanket, trimmed with broad blue stripes,
a wide beaded belt around his waist, and wore
a necklace of bear's claws. The other Indians
were dressed in citizens' clothes. Standing Bear
spoke first as follows :

"FRIENDS AND BROTHERS, — The Almighty created
us Indians. We are as he made us. The Almighty
has given to the whites a hook to read, and they have
plenty of things to work with. The Indian has no

32 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

book. He cannot read. Here is where I am weak
and you are strong. I never see a book or paper of
any kind, but I think it is a good thing. It lets you
know all that is going on in the world. I want my
children to learn to read. I want them to go to school,
my friends. A great while ago we came from the
great water to the east. We kept coming, coming,
coming west until we got to Dakota. I made a good
living there. Then some power took hold of me, as
by the arm, and made me to stand up and told us to
go south. They took us to a very bad place. They
took our plows and all our farming utensils and locked
them up. I have never seen them since. After I got
to the Territory I went to see my Great Father at
Washington. When I went into his office he took me
by the hand. I said to the Great Father, ''My people
are much wronged, and I hope you will do something
for me. I am in an awful bad place.' I told him
before I went to the Territory that I had a good house
and barn which I had built with my own hands. I
had cattle and hogs and all kinds of stock, and some
body came and took all my things away, and my
Great Father stood up and said: 'How is this? I
will order an inspection.' I told him I was in a bad
fix. He told me to go and see if I could find some
good land near where we then were. I went back. I
started to look for land. I found some land that looked
good. We moved onto it, but some unseen force came
down upon us and crushed us to the earth. One hun
dred and fifty-seven of our people died right there. A
few days passed by, and an inspector came from Wash
ington. I told him I would like to move back to my
old home, that he saw we were in a dreadful place.

STANDING BEAR FINDS A FRIEND. 33

He answered in this way: 'I will do all I can. I will
try what I can do for you.' He didn't say he could do
anything, but that he would go back to Washington,
and tell them what a bad place it was. But I was like
one in haste. I wanted to save the lives of my people."

Standing Bear then asked permission to
address the officers and others present, and Gen.
Crook gave him permission, and turning to
them, he made the following pathetic appeal:

" MY FRIENDS AND BROTHERS, — I am now with the
soldiers and officers. I want to go back to my old
place north. I want to save myself and my tribe.

"My brothers, it seems to me as if I stood in front
of a great prairie fire. I would take up my babies and
run to save their lives; or as if I stood on the bank of
an overflowing river, and I would take my people and
fly to higher ground. Oh! my brothers, the Almighty
looks down on me, and knows what I am, and hears
my words. May the Almighty send a good spirit to
brood over you, my brothers, to move you to help me.
If a white man had land, and some one should swindle
him, that man would try to get it back, and you would
not blame him. Look on me. Take pity on me, and
help me to save the lives of the women and children.
My brothers, a power, which I cannot resist, crowds
me down to the ground. I need help. I have done."

TA-ZHA-BUT'S SPEECH.

" In the start I knew nothing of what was going on.
I was holding the handles of my plow. I had a home.

34 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

I built a good stable. I raised cattle and hogs and all
kinds of stock. I broke land. All these things I lost
by some bad man. Any one knows to take a man
from a cold climate, and put him in the hot sun down
in the south it would kill him. We refused to go
down there. We afterwards went down to see our
friends, and see how they liked it. Brothers, I come
home now. I took my brothers and friends and came
back here. We went to work. I had hold of the
handles of my plow. It looks this way: The govern
ment wants me to go back, but I think it would be a
better plan for me to go to work and raise something
to live on next winter. Down there it weakens me all
over. My hands drop down by my sides, and I cannot
use them. We all feel sick all the time. I desire to
stay here, where I can work and raise plenty to eat
for my family."

Gen. Crook. — "How long since you went down
there?"

Answer.— "In 1877, May or June."

Gen. Crook.—" I have heard all this story before. It
is just as they represent it. It has long since all been
reported to Washington."

Gen. Crook, turning to Standing Bear, said:

"It is a very hard case, but I can do-nothing myself.
I have received an order from Washington and I must
obey it. They have all the facts in Washington, and
it would do no good for me to intercede. I might send
a telegram, but it is likely to do more harm than good.
They can stay here a few days and let their stock
strengthen up. "

STANDING BEAR FINDS A FRIEND. 35

Standing Bear then said he would like to
say a few more words, and General Crook gave
him permission. He said:

"I have been going around for three years. I have
lost all my property. My constant thought is, ' What
man has done this ? ' Of course I know I cannot say ' no. '
Whatever they say I must -do, I must do it. I know
you have an order to send me to the Indian Territory,
and we must obey it. I have this request to make.
The Great Father orders us to go back to the Indian
Territory. He should give us some money to pay our
expenses and buy such things as we need on the way.
Half of my people here are sick, and of course they
will die before we get there, and they must be buried.
I wish the Great Father would give us money to pay
the necessary expenses."

Gen. Crook. — "All we can do is to give you what
rations you will require on the way down. You will
be permitted to take all your stock with you, and you
can go slowly. It is a very disagreeable duty to send
you down there, but I must obey orders."

At the close of the council Lieut. Carpenter
reported to General Crook that six of the In
dians were \ery sick and needed medical at
tention. Gen. Crook made some inquiries and
found the post surgeon had prescribed for them
that morning.

It was nearly three o'clock when the editor
reached his office. He first wrote out the

36 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

speeches and Gen. Crook's reply, and then
made arrangements to. have them telegraphed
to different papers in New York, Chicago and
other cities. Then he sat himself down and
wrote three columns of editorial matter for the
paper in the morning. At 3.30 A.M. he stretched
himself out on his bed for a sleep, remarking
that he had made some hard campaigns for the
liberty of black men with pistol and sabre, but
this campaign for the liberty of the Indian, in
which the pen was the only weapon, required
just as much physical endurance. Consoling
himself with the thought that the whole coun
try would know all about it in the morning, he
was soon sound asleep.

THE PONCA CHIEFS. 37

CHAPTER III.

A FLANK MOVEMENT ON THE INDIAN EING.

AFTER nine hours of sleep, so deep and un
conscious that an earthquake would not have
disturbed it, the editor arose. He had some
hope, not much (for he knew of the red tape
way of doing things in the departments in
Washington), that there might come a reply
to the dispatch sent to the Secretary of the
Interior. For the next four or five days he
watched his eastern exchanges to see what
effect the telegrams sent out would have on
the country. The first that came to hand were
the Chicago Tribune and Missouri Republican.
Both took strong ground for the Poncas and
denounced the cruelties practised upon them,
and following after came the New York Her
ald, Tribune, Sun, and many others. No word
came from Mr. Carl Schurz, who was the man
that under the interpretations given to the
laws in this boasted "land of the free" could,
by a single word, doom these thirty Indians to

38 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

death and slavery, or set them free. He took
from the shelf the Constitution of the United
States and read the portions referring to per
sonal liberty with greater interest than ever in
his life before, and between the writing of edi
torials on current affairs made up his mind on a
new course of action. He would find out whether
the courts regarded an Indian as a man, or simply
as a brute, whether he " had any rights which
a white man was bound to respect." He found
himself again contending for exactly the same
principles for which he fought twenty-four
years ago, the equality of all men before the law.
To test the case there must be a lawsuit.
But a lawsuit would cost money. Now, every
body knows that an honest, genuine newspaper
man, never can earn more than a support for
his family. If he has money to spare, it is a
sure sign he has been writing up somebody, or
advocating some project for which he has been
paid outside of his regular salary. A news
paper man in the West is expected to work fif
teen hours a day, get from fifteen to twenty-
five dollars a week for it, and take part of that
out in advertising. However, as he had once
routed a battalion of border ruffians by the ex
ercise of "pure cheek" he determined to en
deavor to carry on a lawsuit in the same way.

A FLANK MOVEMENT. 39

There was a lawyer in Omaha who had grad
uated at the same college that he did, and with
whom he was on the intimate terms of friend
ship. This lawyer had been president of the
Nebraska constitutional convention, had a very
large practice, was a hard student, and a man
whose opinions commanded respect in the
courts and outside. He laid the case before
him, and told him he believed a writ of habeas
corpus would hold. The lawyer, Hon. John
L. Webster, took the matter under advisement.

The next day when the editor called, Mr.
Webster said:

" This is a question of vast importance. A petition
for such a writ must be based upon broad constitutional
grounds, and the principles involved in it underlie all
personal liberty. It is a question of the natural
rights of men, &uch as was discussed by the fathers
and founders of this government. I am not satisfied
that a writ would hold, on account of the peculiar re
lation of Indians to the government. They have al
ways been treated as 'wards,' as incapable of making
contracts, etc., but it will do no harm to try. It seems
to me that there ought to be power somewhere to stop
this inhuman cruelty, and if it does not reside in the
courts where shall we find it? My services are at your
disposal, but on account of the magnitude of the ques
tions involved I would like to have assistance. If Hon.
A- J. Poppleton will assist me, I will go right to work
and draw up the papers. I know of no lawyer in these

40 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

United States, who can handle these underlying, fun
damental questions of government and human liberty
more ably than he."

The editor started to find Mr. Poppleton.
He knew he was considered without a peer in
the legal profession in the State, and that as
an orator there were few in the whole country
who could so entrance an audience.-

Mr. Poppleton had just returned from the
east. He was given a printed account of the
treatment of the Poncas, and the matter left
with him. The next day he was called upon,
and he said:

" I believe you have a good case. I think we can
make the writ hold. It is true that these Indians
have been held by the courts as ' wards of the nation,'
but this writ was intended for the weak and helpless—
for wards and minors. A ward* cannot make a con
tract, but it does not follow from that, that the guard
ian can imprison, starve or practise inhuman cruelty
upon the ward. The courts always have, and always
will interfere in such cases. I will undertake this
case, and you can inform Mr. Webster that I will give
to it close attention and my best efforts."

The form of the petition was given as care
ful study as the necessity for haste would per
mit. The Indians were likely to be started
south at any moment. Judge Dundy, before

A FLANK MOVEMENT. 41

whom the case had to he brought, lived a hun
dred and fifty miles away. Considerable tele-
garaphing was done to reach him, and find
where he would hear the application. After a
day or two it was decided he would hear it in
Lincoln.

The form of the petition was as follows:

"In the District Court of the United States for the
District of Nebraska.

"Ma chu-nah-zha (Stand ing Bear) vs. George Crook, a
Brigadier-General of the Army of the United States,
and commanding the Department of the Platte.

"In the matter of the application of Ma-chu-nah-zha
(Standing Bear), etc., for a writ of habeas corpus.
"To the Honorable Elmer S. Dundy, Judge of the

District Court of the United States, for the District of

Nebraska.

"The petition of Ma-chu-nah-zha (Standing Bear),
Ta-zha-but (Buffalo Chip), Shan-gu-e-he-zhe (Yellow
Horse), Nu-don-ah-gaz (Cries for War), Wa-the-ha-
cuh-she (Long Runner), Wan-chu-dun (Crazy Bear),
Me-tha-zhin-ga (Little Duck), Ta-the-ga-da (Buffalo
Track), Ka-wig-i-sha (Turtle Grease), Min-i-chuck
(Walk-in-the-Mud), Ta-do-mon-e (Walk-in-the-Wind),
Me-gah-sin-de (Coon's tail), E-tun-kah (Big Mouth),
Wah-thi-ga (Swift), Ta-wau-oo (Buffalo Cow). Ma-
shnd-da-de (Feather Crazy), Ze mon-a (Walking
Yellow), Oo-moo-ah (Good Provision), Susette
Primo, Laura Primo, Ta-nigh-ing-ah (Little Buf
falo Woman), Kre-ah-du wah (Midst-of-t he-Eagles),
Me-he-da-wah (Midst-of-the-Sun), Za-zi-zi (Yellow Spot-

42 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

ted Buffalo), No-zha-zhe (Grown Hair), Wa-gang-wah,
Who respectfully show unto your honor, that each and
all of them are prisoners unlawfully imprisoned, de
tained, confined and in custody, and are restrained
of their liberty under and by color of the alleged au
thority of the United States, by George Crook, a
Brigadier- General of the Army of the United States,
and Commanding the Department of the Platte, and
are so imprisoned, detained, confined, and in custody
and restrained of their liberty by said George Crook at
Fort Omaha, on a military reservation, under the sole
and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, and
located within the Territory of the district of Nebraska.
That said imprisonment, detention, confinement and re
straint by said George Crook as aforesaid are so done by
him, under and by virtue of some order or direction
of the United States, or some department thereof, and
which order or direction is not more particularly
known to these complainants whereby they are unable
to more particularly set the same forth, save that the
complainants are informed and believe that said order
or direction is to the effect that these complainants be
taken as such prisontrs to the Indian Territory.

" These complainants further represent that they are
Indians, and of the nationality of the Ponca tribe of In
dians, but that for a considerable time before, and at
the time of tteir arrest and imprisonment, as herein
more fully set forth, they were separated from the
Ponca tribe of Indians, and that so many of the said
Ponca tribe of Indians as maintain their tribal rela
tions are located in the Indian Territory.

" That your complainants at the time of their arrest
and imprisonment were lawfully and peacefully resid-

A FLANK MOVEMENT. 43

ing on the Omaha Reservation, a tract of land set
apart by the United States to the Omaha tribe of In
dians, and within the territory of the District of Ne
braska, and were so residing there by the consent
of said Omaha tribe of Indians, and on lands set apart
to your complainants by said Omaha tribe of Indians.
That your complainants have made great advancements
in civilization, and at the time of the arrest and im
prisonment of your complainants, some of them were
actually engaged in agriculture, and others were making
preparations for immediate agricultural labors, and
were supporting themselves by their own labors,
and no one of these complainants, were receiving
or asking support of the government of the United
States.

"That your complainants were not violating and
were not guilty of any violation of any law of the
United States for which said arrest and imprisonment
were made.

"That while your complainants were so peacefully
and lawfully residing on said Omaha Reservation as
aforesaid, they were each and all unlawfully impris
oned, detained, confined, and restrained of their liberty
by said George Crook, as such Brigadier-General, com
manding the Department of the Platte, and as such
prisoners were transported from their said residence at
the Omaha Reservation to Fort Omaha, where they
are now unlawfully imprisoned^ detained, confined, and
restrained of their liberty by said George Crook, as
aforesaid.

'•' Wherefore these complainants say that their said
imprisonment and detention is wholly illegal, and they
demand that a writ of habeas corpus be granted, di.

44 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

reeled to the said George Crook, a Brigadier-General
of the army of the United States, commanding the De
partment of the Platte, commanding him to have the
bodies of (here followed the list of names) before
your honor at a time and place therein to be specified,
to do and receive what shall then and there be consid
ered by your honor concerning them, together with the
time and cause of their detention, and said writ, and
that the complainants may there be restored to their
liberty.

" Ma-chu-nah-zah (Standing Bear), his X mark.

" Ta-zha-but (Buffalo Chip), his X mark.

"Ma-dele-chu dun (Crazy Bear), his X mark.

" Shan-ga-he-zhe (Yellow Horse), his X mark.

" Ma-chu-dun-ah-gaz (Cries for War), his X mark.

" Wa the-ha-cuh-sbe (Long Runner), his X mark.

" Ta the-ga-da (Buffalo Track), his X mark.

" Me-tha-zhing-ga (Little Duck), his X mark.

"A. J. POPPLETON and JNO. L. WEBSTER.

" Atttfsfor Petitioners.

"UNITED STATES OP AMERICA, )
"DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA. vss.
"DOUGLAS Co. )

" Ma-chu-nah-zha (Standing Bear), his X mark.
" Ta-zha-but (Buffalo Chip), his X mark.
" Ma-del e-chu-dun /Crazy Bear), his X mark.
" Shan-ga-he-zhe (Yellow Horse), his X mark.
" Ma-chu-dun-ah-gaz (Cries for War), his Xmark.
"Wa-the-ha-cuh-she (Long Runner), his X mark.
" Ta-the-ga-da (Buffalo Track), his X mark.
"Me-tha-zhing-ga (Little Duck), his X mark.

A FLANK MOVEMENT. 45

being first duly sworn, according to law, do severally
say the facts stated in the foregoing complaint are true.
" Ma-chu-na-zah, his X mark.
" Ta-zha-but, his X mark.
"Ma-dele-chu-dun, his X mark.
" Shan-ga-he-zhe, his X mark. '
" Ma-chu-dun-ah gaz, his X mark.
" Wa-the-ha-cuh-she, his X mark.
" Ta-the-ga-da, his X mark.
" Me-tha-zhmg-ga, his X mark.
" Witnesses.

"T. H. TIBBLES, W. L. CARPENTER, TJ. S. A.
"Subscribed in my presence, and sworn to before me,
this the 4th day of April, A. D. 1879.

" HOMER STULL, Notary Public"

[RETURN.]

" To tlie Hon. Elmer 8. Dundy, U. S. District Judge,
for the District of Nebraska, —

"As directed by your writ of habeas corpus, dated
April, 8, 1879, requiring me to take and have the bodies
(list of names) by me "imprisoned and detained as it is
said, together with the time and cause of such imprison
ment, and such detention within ten days after the ser
vice" thereof, and to do and receive what shall then and
there be considered concerning the said persons, and
to have them and this said writ; I have the honor re
spectfully to state and return in obedience to, and with*
the said writ, that the bodies of the aforesaid persons
are as required produced.

"That the time of their detention at Fort Omaha,Neb.,
is from the 27th of March, 1879, as appears by the report

46 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

of the commanding officer at that Fort; copy of which,
and of the special order therefor, is hereto attached and
made part of this return, with like effect as though fully
set forth herein; that I am the Brigader- General U. S.
A. commanding the Military Department of the Platte,
and all officers and soldiers stationed therein, and as
such commanding officer, subject to the orders of my
military superiors.

"That the cause of the detention of aforenamed
Indians is the request of the Secretary of the Interior,
and the orders of my commanding officers, General Sher
man and Lieuten ant-General Sheridan, based thereon.
" Which orders were to me communicated and directed
by the first and second endorsements on the copy of the
letter of Hon. C. Schurz, Secretary of the Department
of the Interior, dated March 7, 1879, and addressed to
the Secretary of War, enclosing a copy of a telegram,
dated March 4th, 1879, addressed to the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs at Washington, D. C-, and signed
Jacob Yore, Indian Agent, copies of which letters&and
telegrams and of said indorsements, are also hereto
attached and made part of this return, with like effect
as though fully set forth herein, whereby it appears
that the Hon. Secretary of the Interior requested the
Secretary of War 'that the nearest military comman
der (to the Omaha Indian Agency) may be instructed
to detail a sufficient guard to return these Poncas
where they belong.'

" Wherefore the undersigned asks to be released from
said writ, and that said Indians maybe returned to him
for the fulfilment of his orders concerning them.
"GEORGE CROOK, Brigadier-General.

" Commanding Department of the Platte."

A FLANK MOVEMENT. 47

" STATE OF NEBRASKA, )
" COUNTY OP DOUGLAS, f "

"Personally appeared before me, Brigadier-General
George Crook, U. S. Army, who, being duly sworn
according to law, deposes and says that the statements
made in the foregoing return are true so far as they
are within his knowledge, and as he is officially informed
and believes, of such facts as are stated as based on
official information.

"GEORGE CROOK, Brigadier- General U. 8. Army.

" Sworn and subscribed this llth day of April, 1879,
before me.

[Seal.] " WM. K. BOWEK, Notary Public."

[COPY.]

"HEADQUARTERS FORT OMAHA, NEB.,
"March 26th, 1879.

" To the Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the
Platte, Fort Omaha, Neb.—

" SIR, — In pursuance of instructions of the 19th inst,
from department headquarters, I have the honor to
report the arrival at this post on the 27th inst., from the
Omaha Tndinn Agency, of twenty-six Ponca Indians, con-
sistingof eight men, seven women, and eleven children.
Several of the Indians are sick with chills and fever,
and it will be necessary for the entire party to remain
here for a few days so that their ponies may recuperate
sufficiently to enable them to proceed on their return

48 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

to the Indian Territory. I am, sir, very respectfully
your obedient servant,
(Signed.) " JNO. H. KINO.

" Col. Qth Infantry, Commanding."
" Official copy.

"E. WILLIAMS, Ass' t Adft General."

[copy.]

"HEADQUARTERS FORT OMAHA, NEB., )
" March 20, 1879. f

' ' Special orders, No. 33.

" In obedience to instructions from headquarters, Pe-
parlment of the Platte, of the 19th inst., First Lieut. W.
L. Carpenter, 9th Infantry, with a guard consisting
of * * * * * * will

proceed without delay to the Omaha Indian Agency,
Neb. Upon arrival thereat, Lieut. Carpenter will call
upon the agent in charge for the thirty Ponca Indiansiwho
are reported to have recently arrived at that Agency
from the Indian Territory.

"Upon receiving these Indians Lieut. Carpenter and
the guard will bring them to this post.

"The quartermaster's department will furnish the ne
cessary transportation, consisting of our four mule
team and three saddle horses.

*******
"By order 0/CoL. JOHN H. KING, 9to Infantry.
(Signed.) " "J. M. LEE.

"Fifst Lieut, and Adft, Wh Infy, Post Headquarters,
Dept. of the Platte."

"Ass'T ADJ'T GENL'S OFFICE, . }
"FORT OMAHA, NEB., April llth, 1879. J

" Official Copy.

"R. WILLIAMS, Ass't Adft General."

A FLANK MOVEMENT. 49

[COPY.]

" DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, )
"WASHINGTON, March 7th, 1879. )

"The Honorable, the Secretary of War:

" SIR, — I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy
of a telegram, dated Omaha, Neb., March 4th, 1879,
addressed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs by
Jacob Vore, U. S. Indian agent at Omaha Agency, Neb.,
and by the Commissioner referred to this department,
with the information that thirty Ponca Indians who
have left their agency in the Indian Territory without
permission have just arrived at the first named Agency.

" lu accordance with the desire of the Commissioner,
I respectfully request that the nearest military com
mander may be instructed to detail a sufficient guard
to return these Poncas to the Agency where they
belong. Very respectfully,

"(S. D.) "C. SCHURZ, Secretary."

" A true copy.

" H. B. BURNHAM, Judge Advocate, U. S. A."

[COPY TELEGRAM.]

"OMAHA, NEB., March 4th, 1879.
"To the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C.
"The Poncas have just arrived, thirty in number; had
them arrested ; they promise to remain for orders; have
no place to confine them. I await instructions.
" (S. D.) "JACOB VORE, Indian Agent.

" A true copy.

"H. B. BURNHAM, Judge Adwcaie, U. S. A."

50 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

"Edorsements on copy of letter of the Secretary of
the Interior dated March 7th, 1879, to the Secretary of
War, transmitting copy of telegram from Jacob Vore,
Indian Agent, OmaLa Agency, of March 4th, 1879,
stating that thirty Ponca Indians have just arrived at
that Agency from Indian Territory, and requests de
tail of a guard to return them to their Agency.

"Official copy referred by General Sherman, March
14th, 1879, to Lieut. -General P. H. Sheridan, Com'g.
Mil.Div. of Mo., to comply with the request of the In
terior Department.

"Ref erred by Lieut. -General Sheridan, March 17th,
1879, to the Com'g General Department of the Platte
for action."

" HEADQUARTERS DEP'T OF THE PLATTE, )
ASS'T ADJ'T GEN'L'S OFFICE,

FORT OMAHA, NEB. , March 19. )

"Respectfully referred to the commanding officer
Fort Omaha, Neb., who will please detail an officer
and a guard of enlisted men, to proceed to the Omaha
Agency, and return the Indians to their Agency in the
Indian Territory, as directed by the General of the
Army. If the Indians referred to came mounted, as
they probably did, they will go back in the same man
ner, and in this event it will be necessary to provide
horses for the detachment of troops returning with
them.

" By command of BRIGADIER-GEN'L. CROOK.

(Signed) "R, WILLIAMS."

" UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, )
DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA, y

"I, Watson B. Smith, clerk of the District Court
of the U. S., for the District of Nebraska, certify that

A FLANK MOVEMENT. 51

I have compared the annexed copy of return, in
case of TJ. S. ex rel. Ma-chu nah-zah (Standing Bear),
et al., vs. George Crook, Brigadier-General, etc., with
the original on file in this office, and that the same is
a correct transcript thereof, and of the whole of said
original.

" In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of said
court to be affixed, at the city of Omaha, in said
District, this 25th day of April, 1879.

(Seal) " WATSON. B. SMITH, Clerk"

By the consent of court, and agreement of
parties, the following amendment was inserted
in the body of the return:

" That the said complainant, Standing Bear, is an In
dian Chief of the Ponca tribe of Indians; that the other
petitioners are members of said tribe of Indians; that
said complainants have not dissolved, but still retain
their tribal relations with said tribe of Ponca Indians,-
and owe allegiance to the tribal head of said Ponca
tribe of Indians ; that said complainants have not adopted
and are not pursuing the habits and vocations of civil
ized life; that these complainants are not illegally re
strained of their liberty, but were arrested on the
Omaha reservation, where tbey were in violation of
law, and were arrested in pursuance of the authority
herein set forth for the purpose of returning them to
the Indian Territory, wrhere they belong."

This being inserted in the body of the re
turn, appeared on the record over the signa
ture of Gen. Crook. To this, through the

52 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

Judge Advocate of his department, Col. Burn-
ham, he protested. He did not wish his name
signed to any such document, or statement,
and he had never authorized any one to sign
it for him.

The court explained that he was not signing
it as Gen. Crook, personally, but as a Briga
dier-General of the Army, and for the Govern
ment. Gen. Crook continued to protest, and
Judge Dundy explained again. The General
never did give his consent that his name should
go to it, and yet that is the way it appears on
the records of the court. Such are some of
the ways of the law, and yet Gen. Crook no
doubt to this day cannot see why it was neces
sary for him to sign a statement which was
not true.

THE PONCA CHIEFS. 53

CHAPTER IV.

ME. HAYT'S ASSAULT ON STANDING BEAE, AND

THE EEPLY THE OLD CHIEF MADE.

DUEING the ten days intervening before the
trial, several things happened worthy of rec
ord. Commissioner Hayt published the follow
ing letter:

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 10th, 1879.
TJie Honorable flie Secretary of the Interior: —

"Sm, — I have the honor to forward herewith a brief
statement of facts regarding the Ponca Indians, who
recently went from the Indian Territory to Nebraska.
By the treaty of 1868 the Sioux were given lands in
Dakota to the east bank of the Missouri River, which
included the Ponca reservation. As the Poncas and
Sioux had been at feud for many years previous, it
became necessary to remove the Poncas from their
reservation to save them from the destruction that
would be likely to overtake them from the location of
the Sioux on the Missouri River. By the Indian Ap
propriation acts of August 15, 1876, and March 3, 1877,
Congress provided for the removal of the Poncas to
the Indian Territory, and in pursuance thereof they
had to be so removed, and were located on the Quapaw

54 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

reservation. They, however, expressed great dissatis
faction with the place to which they had been sent,
and undoubtedly with good reason, and upon their re
quest they were permitted to send a large representa
tion to Washington to make known to the President
and to the department their grievances and wishes.
There being no way by which their request to be sent
back North could be complied with without action of
Congress in the matter, they were permitted to make
their own selection among the best lands in the Indian
Territory. A delegation of chiefs was accordingly
sent with an Indian inspector, and, after a careful ex
amination of various points, they selected an eligible
location at the junction of the Salt Fork and the Ar
kansas River. There is probably no finer location for an
Indian settlement in the Indian Territory, and in all re
spects it is far superior to their old location in Dakota,
from which, in previous years, they had themselves
ask^d the department to remove them.

"I visited these Indians during the month of Octo
ber last, and found their condition very much improved,
both as to their outward circumstances and their feel
ings. Every effort was made, and large sums of money
were expended to provide for their comfort, and they
received a sawmill, timber and all appliances for
building houses, as well as an abundant supply of
cattle and agricultural implements, and they entered
upon the work with a good deal of determination, and
are undoubtedly succeeding as well as any Indians
could under the most favorable circumstances. It is
true that during the first four months of their resi
dence in the Indian Territory they lost a large number
by death, which is inevitable in all cases of removal

STANDING BEAR'S DEFENCE. 55

of Northern Indians to a Southern latitude. They
have, however, been in the Indian Territory long
enough to become acclimated. Their sanitary condi
tion is vastly improved, and henceforward they may
expect to have as good health as they would in any
other location.

"During my visit to the Agency above referred to I as
certained that Standing Bear was dissatisfied, but that
he was the only one among the chiefs who showed a
bad spirit. He was constantly grumbling, and held aloof
from the other chiefs,' and .seemed full of discontent,
which he took no pains to conceal, while the other
Poncas were at work. The agent informed me that he
expected that Standing Bear would leave the Agency at
the first favorable opportunity. It was not thought ex
pedient at that time to put him in confinement, as one
chief out of ten or twelve was hardly of sufficient im
portance to deal with in that manner. Soon afterward
he made his escape, and at the present time, as may
be judged from current reports, endeavors to attract
public sympathy by grossly misrepresenting the cir
cumstances of the case. The removal of Northern In
dians to the Indian Territory was probably not good
policy, but it was done in pursuance of laws enacted
before the present administration came into power.

" There is no law at present for moving these In
dians back to their old reservation or to any other
place. If the reservation system is to be maintained,
discontented and restless or mischievous Indians can
not be permitted to leave their reservation at will and
go where they please. If. this were permitted the
most necessary discipline of the reservations would
soon be entirely broken up, all authority over the In-

56 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

dians would cease, and in a short time the Western
country would swarm with roving and lawless bands
of Indians, spreading a spirit of uneasiness and restless
ness even among those Indians who are now at work
and doing well. The government should be, and un
doubtedly is, willing to redress all their real grievances
as far as they can be redressed ; but it must, in my
opinion, be done in such a way as not to subvert all
control over the Indians, or to put all arrangements
made in pursuance of law and with large expenditures
of money at the mercy of the caprice of mischievous
individuals or bands among the Indian tribes. The
task of transforming the nomadic habits of Indians
into habits of permanent settlement and steady and
self-supporting work, is a very difficult one at best, re
quiring the introduction and maintenance of certain
rules of discipline which cannot be enforced in every
case without sometimes producing individual hard
ships, and which cannot be abandoned without detri
ment to the best interests of the large majority of our
Indian wards.

" I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your
obedient servant. E. A. HAYT, Commissioner."

This letter was shown to Standing Bear, and
he made the following reply :

" The Commissioner says our lands w^ere given to the
Sioux. Who had any authority to give our lands to the
Sioux? The land belonged to us, and not to the Com
missioner or General Sherman. What right had he to
give it to the Sioux? The Ponca tribe was never in
formed of any such transaction, and never agreed to

STANDING BEAR'S DEFENCE. 57

do anything of the kind. What would the Commis
sioner think if some man should give his land to the
Sioux. He says we are not sick any more in the Indian
Territory. I will only point you to these lodges.
There are now seven very sick people in them, out of
this small party. The army doctor who is attending
to them will tell you how sick they are, and that they
caught their sickness down there. Seven persons out of
thirty very sick, and five or six others not well enough
to work, proves that the Commissioner's words are not
true. There is the same proportion of sick in all the
tribe. The Commissioner says I show a bad spirit!
He must have changed his mind about me. I will show
you a paper signed by his own name, and you can
judge whether he told the truth then, or whether he
tells it now. "

Standing Bear then went to a trunk and took
out a large roll of papers. Among them was
the following:

"DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR )
"OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, >•
"WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 18th, 1877. )
" This is to certify that Standing Bear is a chief of
the Ponca Indians. This tribe is at peace with the
United States, and Standing Bear is recognized as a
chief of said tribe, whose influence has been to preserve
peace and harmony between the Ponca Indians and the
United States, and as such is entitled to the confidence
of all persons whom he may meet. * * * *
(Seal.) " E. A. HAYT, Commissioner."

It was remarked that " Mr. Hayt gave him a

58 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

good character." Standing Bear did not seem
to understand, for he replied, "The Commis
sioner did not give me a good character. I got
my character by a long life devoted to the ad
vancement of my tribe. Many years before
other white men have said the same about me.
They could not say differently if they told
the truth." He then showed the following
documents:

"To whom it may concern:

" This is to certify that Standing Bear, the bearer
hereof, is an Indian, full blood, of the Ponca tribe,
and a chief of said tribe. He is a reliable and trust
worthy man, of industrious habits, and rare zeal in set-
ting a good example to the Indians and inciting them
to industrious and civilized habits. He and bis wife
are one in the good work of providing comfortably for
their home and children, who are likewise taught to
work^and respect all who do. If the Poncas had no
other councilors but such men as Sta'nding Bear, their
condition would not long be one of helpless dependence.
I most heartily commend him to the kindness of all to
whom he may present this.

'•'A. J. CARRIER, U. 8. Indian Agent."

"Ponca Agency, D. T., March 30th, 1876."

' ' To all whom this may come:

" The bearer, Ma-chu-na-zha (Standing Bear), is one of
the liead chiefs of the Ponca tribe of Indians. He is
civil, quiet and well-behaved, a warm friend of the
whites, and loyal to the government. He is deserving

STANDING BEAR'S DEFENCE. 59

of respect and kind treatment from all to whom he
may present himself whenever traveling through the
settlements.

. H. HUGO, First Lieutenant, TJ- S. Army"

Standing Bear exhibited a large number of
these documents, all speaking of him in the
very highest terms, some of them dating back
as far as 1865. After they were examined
Standing Bear remarked: '"You see that the
Commissioner did not give me my character;
he only certified to what was true."

The translation of the letter was continued,
and that part was read where Mr. Hayt says:
"There being no way whereby their request to
be sent back North could be complied with,"
Standing Bear smiled and said: " No one asked
the Commissioner to send me back North. All
I wanted was permission to come. Now I am
already North, and that difficulty is overcome.
If the Commissioner can't send me North, he
seems to know of a very quick way to send me
South."

Coming to that part where Mr. Hayt says
"large sums were expended," Standing Bear
said, "That may be so, but all the money we
ever got was $6.25 a head. There was a good
deal of money at the Agency. I know that we
never got it. Besides I don't want the Com-

60 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

missioner's money. All I ask is to be allowed
to make my own living. I can take care of
myself if they don't keep me under arrest.
The statement of a supply of cattle and agri
cultural implements is untrue."

In regard to the disaffections of other chiefs
against Standing Bear, he said:

"In every tribe of Indians there are two parties.
First, those who understand that it is necessary, if the
Indians are not all to be exterminated, to go to work,
to learn to read and write and count money, to be like
white men. Those who think about these things at
all, know that the game is all gone, and that our mode
of life must change. Then there are always some who
believe in the old traditions, who think the Great
Spirit will be displeased with them if they do like
white men. They want to retain their old habits and
religion. They hate to work. They want to lie in the
shade in the summer, and near the fire in the winter,
and make their women wait on them. These two
classes gather around the chiefs who represent these
two things. There are a few of these Indians who do
not want to work among the Poncas. They have a
chief, and he don't like me, because I tell him and his
band that they are not good Indians, and if the tribe
should follow his advice there would soon be not one
Ponca left to tell what had become of us. The bad
agents, half-breeds, and all those who make their liv
ing from the money which is sent to tribes which are
not advanced enough to make their own living, give
a great deal of encouragement to this sort of Indians,

STANDING BEAR'S DEFENCE. 61

and pretend that they have a great deal more influence
than they really have. I represent in the Ponca tribe
the foremost of those who want to support themselves,
to send their children to school, to build houses, to
get property and all kinds of stock around us, and to
be independent. It may be that those lazy, bad In
dians told the Commissioner that I had no influence.
They would do so if they had a chance. But if I
could go down to the Territory, and tell all the tribe
to follow me who wanted to work and send their chil
dren to school, nine out of every ten would come with
me. A few would object, but there are not more than
fifteen or twenty of them. White Eagle thinks the
same way about these matters that I do. He is a good
man, and has great influence in the tribe. The Com
missioner may have intended no wrong to me in mak
ing the statement. He may have been so informed,
but if he had issued an order for my arrest he would
soon have learned whether I had friends in the tribe
or not. There might have been trouble, for I could
not have been with them to have told them what to
do. My voice has always been for peace. Some
others have advised differently."

62 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

CHAPTER V.

THE OMAHAS COME TO STANDING BEARDS AID.

THE next day after tliis conversation, the fol
lowing petition from the Omaha tribe was re
ceived. The petition was drawn up and
forwarded by Chas. P. Morgan, who is a full-
blooded Omaha.

OMAHA AGENCY, April 21, 1879.
" To the friends of the Poncas now held as prisoners at

Omaha barracks:

" We, the undersigned, Omaha Indians, for ourselves,
and on behalf of the Omaha tribe, wish publicly to
declare that in consideration of the relationship exist
ing between our tribe and those Poncas, and under a
sense of the dictates of common humanity to our race,
we are anxious for their return to our reservation, nnd
are willing to share with them our lands, and to assist
them until they can, by their industry, support them
selves. They are our brothers and our sisters, our un
cles and our cousins, and although we are called sav
ages we feel that sympathy for our persecuted brethren
that should characterize Christians, and are willing to
share what we possess with them if they can only be
allowed to return and labor, improve and provide for

RELIEF FROM THE OMAHAS. 63

themselves where they may live in peace, enjoy good
health, and the opportunity of educating their children
up to a higher state of civilization. They came here to
our reservation about the first of March, from the In
dian Territory, and as they believe from the jaws of
death, even bringing sickness with them. We received
them kindly and hospitably, and afforded- them such
assistance as we could in the way of land to raise a
crop this summer, and they were preparing to go to
work to sow and plant when they were arrested and
taken from us by soldiers without any just cause or
provocation that we or they know of. Having learned
with thankfulness that the good people of Omaha, and
the friends of humanity and justice deeply sympathized
with and enlisted in the cause of these Poncas, we feel
encouraged to appeal to you for a continuance of your
efforts in their behalf, until their right to live among
their friends and brothers and enjoy the fruits of their
labor is restored to them.

" Fire-Chief, Standing Hawk,

" Yellow Smoke, Hard- Walker,

"Ga-he-ga, Shon-ga-skah,

' ' Paw-nee-num-puzzhe Du-ba- mo-ni,

" Ta-o-ka-hah, Um-pa-tun-ga,

" Wah-ha-wn-ne, Mowad-da-na,

" Num-ba-du-'.a, Hog-ga-mo-ui,

" Gali-ke-a-mo-ni, Wah-jap-pa,

" Wah-ke-da, Nah-ha-wa-kah,

" Mah-pe-a-hog-ga, Ta-noo-ga."

The New York Herald made the following
comment upon this petition:

" The appeal of the Omaha Indians in favor of their

64 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

kindred, the Poncas, is one of the most extraordinary
statements ever published in America. Whether some
portion of it may not be the work of a white man we
are not prepared to deny ; but the facts are of more
consequence than the rhetoric, and these are simply
that a tribe of Indians, nominally civilized, but still
savage in the estimation of many whites, are willing
and anxious to recieve the Poncas on their reservation,
allot lands to them, and assist them until they can
make crops and support themselves. Many white men
in Nebraska might have made the same offer without
hurting themselves, and the news of such a deed would
have gone through the entire Indian country with
benefit to the dominant race. But white men did
not do it. Church members talked and petitioned,
but not an acre of laud did they offer. It was re
served for a band of heathen redskins, who have
hardly yet forgotten the war-whoop, to emphasize
that sympathy which civilization and religion have
talked about— and only talked. The world moves,
but civilization seems sometimes to stand still, while
savages pass to he front and into the position of
honor."

Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, who is engaged in
linguistic labors, preserving various Indian lan
guages, was at the Omaha Agency the day the
Poncas were arrested. Long Runner refused
to obey the order to go. He was surrounded
and a gun was placed at his head. He told
them to kill him there, for he would rather die
than go back. He was' tied and a guard placed

RELIEF FROM THE OMAHAS. 65

over him. Word was sent to the others to re
port and be ready to start at noon.

Mr. Dorsey wrote a letter to Col. Meacham,
editor of The Council Fire, who was at the
time in Washington, in which he said:

"I saw them leave to-day. All but the prisoner
(Long Runner) went about half a mile in advance of
the soldiers without a guard and without a struggle,
save that which was going on in their own hearts. Their
appeals to me were* touching. Said Standing Bear:
' My friend, you know us. We can't live down there
where the Great Father put us. So we came here to
live and work the land."

Mr. Dorsey asked Col. Meacham to see the
Secretary of the Interior and Commissioner
and appeal to them in Standing Bear's behalf.
Col. Meacham made the following report of
his interview with them:

"They gave me a patient hearing. I read your
(Rev. Mr. Dorsey's) letter to them a second time. Mr.
Schurz remarked :

"That is a sad case. I feel deeply for the Poncas.
They are peaceable and quiet, and I wish I could better
their condition."

Mr. Hayt — "There is no use of talking about the
Poncas going North. They must remain where they
are. We have expended large sums of money for
them in their new home. They have become ac
climated (we//). They are there by law(?). They
cannot be sent North without authority of Congres

66 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

They must stay where they are. Those who have left
must be taken back. If we allow them to stay away
the others will follow."

Col. Meacham— "If a mistake has been made, we
made it. The Indian was in our power. He was help
less, and is still helpless. He is at our mercy. He
should not pay the peDalty of our mistakes. We
have it in our power to relieve him of the wrong.
True, we cannot call Lack the dead, but we can do
justice to the living. Let us do right became it is rigid"

Mr. Hayt— "Right is for the Poncas to stay where
we have placed them. If we suffer them to leave their
homes, the Pawnees, and Cheycnnes and Ncz Perces
must go next. We cannot do that. It was a mistake
to give the Sioux the Ponca country. This mistake was
made by Gen. Sherman before our administration
began. I am sure Congress will cot consent to send
all these Indians back North. We must reconcile them
to stay where they are in the Indian Territory."

Col. Meacham — "Gentlemen, I submit that there
is a principle involved in this matter. I doubt the
right of any man to say that another man shall not
live where God placed him. If the Pawnees, Poncas
and Nez Perces cannot live in the Indian Territory we
ought to move them out. "

Col. Meacham closes his report of this inter
view with these words:

" The Commissioner insisted that the Poncas must
return. I will make another effort. Ever yours, for
God's children, "A. B. MEACHAM."*

*Note:— Mr. Meacham afterward visited the Poncas in the Indian
Territory and made reports which greatly injured their cause.

THE PONCA CHIEFS. 67

CHAPTER VI.

THE OMAHAS FRIGHTENED AT THE CLAIMS OP
THE COMMISSIONER.

WHEN the letter of Commissioner Hayt was
published, the educated Omahas were fright
ened, because it claimed absolute power over
their bodies, to remove them anywhere, at the
will of the Commissioner, and one of them
wrote a letter to Omaha, inquiring if the Com
missioner, just because she was an Indian, could
order her to the Indian Territory, New Mexico,
or any place he pleased, and she could not ap
peal to the law for protection. She stated that
if it was true, rather than live in constant
dread of such a fate, she would go to Canada
and live under the protection of the British gov
ernment, where this Commissioner could not lay
his hands on her. She was informed that
the object of this suit was to ascertain that
very thing.

Actuated by a similar feeling, another Indian
girl prepared a statement concerning the Poncas,

68 THE PONCA CHIEFS,

which she proposed to publish. Not knowing
the nature of the document, she was requested
through Mr. Dorsey to forward it to the editor,
that it might be submitted to counsel. The fol
lowing is a verbatim copy of her letter and the
statement which she prepared, excepting the
blank for the name:

OMAHA AGENCY, April 29th, 1879.

"MB. , DEAR Sm. — Mr. Dorsey requested me

to send you the inclosed copy of a statement
made by the Ponca chiefs at my house on their
return from the Indian Territory about two years
ago. We had it published at their desire in one of
the Sioux City papers at the time, and I kept the
original, thinking it might be of use at some future
time. I send also the telegram which the chiefs sent
to Washington about the same time. On reaching
their home after leaving here, they were ordered to get
ready to go to the Indian Territory, and soldiers were
sent to them to force them to go. I feel a deep interest
in the subject, as White Swan, one of the chiefs who
was taken down, is'my uncle. My father and I went to
Columbus to bid him and his family good-bye on their
way down, and the soldiers were with them there. My
uncle says they never signed any paper, petition, or
treaty to be taken down to Indian Territory, although
it is said a petition signed with their names was seen in
Washington. The chiefs told us that when the white
men were trying to make them sign the paper, they
were asked to allow the Ponca tribe to live with the
Omahas. They, the white men, told the chiefs, 'No,
the Omahas are to be taken down too.' The chiefs

THE OMAHAS FRIGHTENED. 69

then asked to be allowed to live with the Sioux and
mingle with them as one people ; that the two tribes
were formerly enemies, but they had made peace with
them and would rather live with them than be sent to
Indian Territory. This also was denied them, and they
were told to get ready to go.

" The statement shows how much they trusted in the
justice of the white people, believing that the wrong
done them had been done only by a few, and without
authority. I do hope some action will be taken in the
matter soon. Yours respectfully,

" BRIGHT EYES."

STATEMENT OF PONCA CHIEFS.

"We, the Ponca chiefs -and principal men of the
tribe, desire to make the following statement of facts
concerning ourselves in all good faith, hoping it may
come to the ears of the President of the United States,
whom we are glad to learn is a good man and anxious
to do justice to all.

" Some time ago there came a man to our reserve,
who said he was sent by the Great Father at Washing
ton to make a treaty with us for our land. We said the
President was our friend, and this was our home, but
we would hear what he had to say. If he wanted our
land we would go to Washington and talk about it.
He told us he was ordered to do what he did, seemed
sincere and friendly, and to satisfy us he sent .a
telegram to Washington, and after getting an an
swer, he said he would take ten of our chiefs to see
the Indian Territory, where we could select a new
home, and that the money for our present journey
would be furnished from the Sioux's funde .

70 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

" We got ready and started, wishing first to visit the
Omaha reserve, but this was not allowed us. After
some days we reached the country of the Osages, and
looked over the country and found it stony and broken,
and not a country that we thought we could make a
living in. We saw the Osages there, and they were
without shirts, their skin burned, and their hair stood
up as if it had not been combed since they were little
children. We did not wish to sink so low as they
seemed to be."

The remainder of the statement is only a
repetition of that of Standing Bear, made in
the first chapter. The statement is signed by
White Eagle, Standing Buffalo, Standing Bear,
Smoke Maker, White Swan, Big Elk, and Ga-
he-ga.

The following is the telegram which Stand
ing Bear said that he and John Springer sent
to the President, and which was also enclosed
in the letter of Bright Eyes.

"To the President of the United States:

" Was it by your authority that the men you sent to
take us down to the Indian Territory, to select a home,
left us there without money, and without an interpreter
or pass, to find our way back as best we could? And
did you tell him to say to us: 'If you don't select a home
here, you shall be driven from your present home at
the point of the bayonet?' Please answer, as we are in
trouble.

THE OMAHAS FRIGHTEKED. 71

" We have been fifty days in getting back as far as
the Atoes ; tired, hungry, shoeless and footsore, and
with heart and spirit broken and sad."

This was signed with the same names as
the above statement.

Perhaps it would be well here to refer to
the remarks of Gen. Crook, at the close of the
council" with Standing Bear, when he was first
brought to Fort Omaha. After Standing
Bear's brief rehearsal of his treatment by the
government, Gen. Crook said:

"I have heard all this story before. It is just as
they represent it. It has long since been reported to
Washington. They haw all the facts in Washington, and
it would do no good for me to intercede. I might sencj.
a telegram, but it is likely to do more harm than
good."

Many who read the report of Gen. Crook's
remarks in the papers, thought he was mis
taken about the facts being known at Washing
ton, that it was almost beyond belief that
the authorities would countenance such treat
ment of the Indians. These documents show
how truthfully he spoke.

72 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

CHAPTER VII.

STANDING BEAR'S RELIGION — WHAT ARMY OFFI
CERS THINK OF HIM.

As much had been said about these Poncas
being savages, Standing Bear was asked to
state his religious belief. Without a moment's
reflection, he spoke as follows:

"There is one God, and He made both Indians and
white men. We were all made out of the dust of the
earth. I once thought differently. I believed there
were happy hunting-grounds, where there were plenty
of game, and plenty to eat, no sickness, no death, and
no pain. The best of the Indians would go to these
happy hunting-grounds. I thought that those who
were bad would never live any more; that when they
died that was the end of them. But I have learned
that these things are not so, and that God wishes us
to love Him and obey His commandments, follow the
narrow road, work for Him on earth, and we shall
have happiness after we die. I am told His Son died
for us, died that we might live. I want to try and do
something for Him, to be like Him, follow in His foot
steps as nearly as I can. I think there is but one God.
I need help to do right, and I pray to Him that he will

STANDING BEAR'S RELIGION. 73

help me for His Son's sake. I do not wish to do any
thing wrong. I wish to follow the 'narrow road. It
is the road of happiness. God never does anything
wrong. He knows what is best for me. No man can
understand God, or know why He deals with us as He
does. Sometimes what we think is the worst is the
best for us. When I was arrested by the soldiers and
brought down here, I thought for a little while that
God had forsaken me, but now I see tnat, perhaps, it
is the best thing for me and my people. If they would
only hearken to His word, they would find that all is
for their good. He sees me all the time . He watches
over me, and knows all I do. He knows my thoughts.
He knows when I think wicked thoughts. He knows
it all. If He did not watch over me, and take care of
me, I should die. I want Him to watch over me, and
take care of me. and I believe He always will. He
helps me. I can do nothing without His help. I love
His truth. 1 hate lies. I wish to follow the truth al
ways. God has control of the whole earth, and every
thing is in His power. He sees over all things at once,
every man, woman, and child, and knows their thoughts
and actions, and everything they do. He watches
over me wherever I go. He sees me here to-day. He
has been with me through all my wanderings, and has
taken care of me. He has seen how I have been taken
away from my land. Through all this He has been
close to me. When I have felt that I had no friends,
I remembered that He was my Father. His people
have been good to me, but the people of the devil are
trying to send me to hell. They have tried to make
me believe that God tells them what to do, as though
God would put a man where he would be destroyed,

74 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

and they have destroyed many already, but they can
not deceive me. God put me here, and intends for
me to live on the land they are trying to cheat me
out of.

"I pray to God every day for Him to help me to
regain my rights, if I am worthy of it. For His Son's
sake I have asked it. He made me and the whiles,
and although we are of a different color, I think men's
hearts are all alike. If I were to go back to my land
to-day, the first thing I would do would be to fall
down on my knees and thank God for it. I think in
the future, as I grow in years, I will try to love Him
more and more every day, do that which is right, and
be afraid to do that which is wrong."

He was asked how long he had held these
views, and he replied, " Since the missionary
came up from Omaha Agency, about eight
years ago, and told me the right way."

" How many of the tribe think the same way on this
subject that you do?"

"Only a few. It is a hard thing to say, but I will
tell you the truth. Some of these have died since we
went down to the Territory. We had no missionary
down there, and no one to talk to us about God. My
boy, who died there, would get a few in a tent and talk
to them sometimes and tell them the right way the best
he knew how. He used to pray with me very often, and
read to me out of the Testament. Some of the people
who were sick prayed all the time when they were dy-'
ing. They asked God to take them away from there
if it was His will, or to end their sufferings speedily.

STANDING BEAR'S RELIGION. 7,3

When any one came to our old reservation to talk of
God, I would always find a place for Mm to speak, and
get the people to come."

By request, Lieut. Carpenter, who was de
tailed to make the arrest of Standing Bear
and his party, made the following statement
in writing:

" On the 23d day of March, 1879, acting under or
ders of my superior officers, I arrested a band of
twenty-nine Ponca Indians, under Standing Bear, at
the Omaha Indian Agency, and brought them to Fort
Omaha, Neb. At the time of the arrest, while holding
a council with the party, Standing Bear made an able
speech to me, in which he reviewed the situation of his
people, and declared their desire to remain where they
were;' although consenting under vigorous protest to
accompany me. He stated that he had alwaj's been a
friend to the whites, and that on one occasion he
found a poor soldier on the plains in midwinter, with
both feet frozen, and nearly starved to death; that he
carried him in his arms to camp and took care of him
for several weeks until he died. 'And now,' said he.
'you, a soldier, come here to drive me from the land
of my fathers.'

"When arrested they were in a pitiable condition
from the effects of chills and fever. Over half of the
adults suffered from this disease on the march to
Omaha, and, notwithstanding the best medical treat
ment while prisoners, many are still in feeble health.

76 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

Before leaving their camp, the women and children
cried piteously at the prospect of going back to the
Indian Territ ory. They must have suffered greatly
during their winter march, but no charge of depreda
tions while en route has ever been made against them.

''From my personal knowledge of these people
•while under my charge, I consider them further ad
vanced in civilization than any other tribe west of
the Mississippi, with the single exception of the Omahas,
to whom they are related by the band of common origin.
The men are industrious and willing to work, at any
thing they can find to do. The children conduct
themselves well, and the women are modest in their
demeanor and neat in appearance and domestic
habits.

"Fort Omaha, Neb., May 8th, 1879."

By reference to the dates it will be seen that
the above statement was written after these
Indians had been under Lieut. Carpenter's
charge over two months, so that he had had
ample opportunities to observe them closely,
and know of their character and habits. Every
man among them able to work has been at
work since their arrival at Fort Omaha, being
employed by the contractors on the govern
ment buildings. One, who worked a few days,
was forced to quit on account of the return of
malarial disease.

THE PONCA CHIEFS. 77

CHAPTER VIII.

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL TO THE COTJBTS.

THE case came to trial on the 30th of April,
1879, and lasted two days, including one evening
session. The following chapter contains a ver
batim report of the evidence:

THE EVIDENCE.

Willie W. Hamilton, sworn on behalf of the relators,
and examined in chief by Mr. Webster, testified as
follows :

Q. You may state your age.

J.. Twenty-two.

Q. Where do you live?

A. At the Omaha Agency. That is where I have
lived for the last twelve years.

Q. What are you engaged in at the Agency?

A. I have been in a store for the last six years, sell
ing goods.

Q. To what people were you selling goods?

A. The Omaha Indians.

Q. On their reservation?

A. On their reservation, yes, sir.

Q. Are you acquainted with the Omaha language?

A. Yes, sir.

78 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

The Court — Do the Poncas speak the same language?

JL. Yes, sir.

Mr. Webster — You are able then to talk with both
Omahas and Poncas in their native tongue?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do you know the parties that are under arrest at
the present time at Omaha?

A. I do.

Q. How long have you known them?

A. I became acquainted with them since they came
down here, twenty-two days ago. .1 saw them when they
came to the Agency, but not to talk with them or be
come acquainted with them.

Q. When was it t-hat they came to the Agency?

A. They came to the Agency in March, I think.

Q. That is last March?

A. Yes, sir, I think it was in the fore part of the
mouth. I won't be certain.

Q. Where does your father live?

A. My father lives at the Agency, or about three
miles from the Agency.

Q. How long has he been living there?

A. For the same length of time I have— twelve
years.

Q. What has been his business?

A. He is- a missionary to the Indians.

Q. How long has he been such?

A. He has been missionary among the lowas and
Oniahas for over thirty years.

Q. State the condition of these Poncas when the}'
arrived at the Omaha Agency, *so far as you observed?

A. So far as I know they were in a very bad condi
tion when they came there.

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL. 79

Q. What property did they have when they came
there?

, A. All they had was their horses and wagons and
tents.

Q. How were they supplied as to clothing?

A. They had blankets, some of them, and some had
coats ; those that had coats wore pants, and were dressed
in citizens' clothes.

Q. DC you know where they came from when they
arrived at the Agency?

A. They said they came from the Indian Territory.

Q. Do you know how they came up from the Indian
Territory to the Agency?

A. They came up in wagons, some of them horseback,
and others 011 foot.

Q. State the number that came.

A. I don't know exactly the number that came — I
think about thirty-five.

Q. How many were men, about the number approxi
mately, and how many were women, and how many
were children?

A. Ten or twelve were men, I think. I don't know
how many were children, or how many were women. I
was not among them much at first, and I did not pay
any attention to them. I think there must have been
between twelve and fifteen women.

Q. You may state whether or not they were divided
into families at the time when they came — whether
they were married and composed families as man and
wife?

A. They were.

Q. And the children were the children of these
families ?

80 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

A- Yes, sir, some of them — some were orphans, liv
ing with their relations.

Q. Which ones do you speak of as being orphans? .

A- There were two orphans came with them. There
is one (indicating a young Indian boy who was present
with the relators in ,the court room) sitting in the
woman's lap. The other is at camp.

Q. Whose son is this one here?

A. He is a grandson of Standing Bear's.

Q. Which one is Standing Bear?

A. That one in the corner (indicating one of the
three Indian men present.)

Q. Who is this woman who sits here?

A. She is the wife of Standing Bear.

Q. The child is the grandson of Standing Bear
and this woman?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. What is her name?

A. Susette.

Q. Is the father of that child living or dead?

A. Dead.

Q. And the other orphan that you speak of, what
relation does it sustain to Standing Bear and Su
sette?

A' Grand-daughter.

[Objected to by counsel for the government as im
material, and not tending to show that these Indians have
dissolved their tribal relations.]

Mr. Webster — Tell us who is that man sitting next to
Standing Bear?

A. Yellow Horse.

Q. Do you know what relation he is to Standing
Bear?

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL. 81

[Objected to by counsel for government as incom
petent. Overruled.]

A. They are brothers.

Q. State what these Indians were engaged in after
they arrived at the Omaha Agency?

A. What little time they staid there they were en
gaged in helping the Omahas put in their crops.

Q. What crops were the Omahas putting in?

A. Wheat.

Q. State what one, if any, of the Indians, the Poncas,
were putting in crops for themselves?

A. Buffalo Chip was helping put in a crop for him
self. His friends at the Omaha Agency gave him land
enough to sow his wheat.

Q. At the time of the arrest, state, if you know,
about the amount of wheat Buffalo Chip had put in on
this land which was set apart for him?

A. I think there must have been four or five acres
sowed.

Q. You may state what the habits of the Omahas
were at the Agency where these Indians were, as to
labor and agriculture?

A. They are all, or the greater part of them, on their
farms. They have a great deal of land broken, and each
one has his farm to himself.

Q. State whether the land is allotted to the members
of the tribe?

A. It is.

Q. State what day of the week it was when these
Indians were arrested?

A. It was on Sunday.

Q. On that day, state whether they were resting from
their labors?

A. They were.

£2 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

Q. State whether.it is the habit of the Poncas to rest
on the Sabbath day from their labor?
The 'Court — Is that necessary?

Mr. Webster — The theory of this government is to
Christianize these Indians, I believe.

The Witness — It is about the same as it is with white
men, some do, and some do not.

Mr. Webster— State how many of these Poncas, ,
during their stay at the Omaha Agency, were engaged
in labor — whether all were so engaged?

A. All that were able, to were.

Q. Those who were not employed in actual labor,
state why they were not?

[Objected to as immaterial by counsel for the gov
ernment. Objection overruled.]

Mr. Webster — You may answer why the others
were not engaged in labor.

A. Because they were sick and unable to work.

Q. How many of their number were sick when they
arrived on the Agency and unable to work?

A. There were hardly any of them able to work
when they arrived on the Agency— not more than one
or two, so far as I could learn.

Q. During their stay at the Agency, and prior to their
arrest by Lieut. Carpenter, state to what extent they had
improved in heal h so as to be able to commence labor?

A. They had improved a good deal, but those who
weie working were not really able to work.

Q. At the time of their arrest by Lieut. Carpenter
about how many had begun to labor?

A. I think five or six out of the twelve.

Q.. State whether any are engaged in labor now at
the Fort?

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL. 83

[Objected to by counsel for government. Objection
sustained.]

CRO SS- EX AMINED.

Dist.-Atfy Lambertson — How many Indians came
there?

A. Thirty-five I think. I don't know the exact num
ber.

Ihe Court — How many join in the petition — twenty-
seven?

Mr. Lambertson — I believe there are not quite that
many. The children, I think, are not put in the peti
tion. (To the witness.) At the time they were ar
rested, five or six were engaged in agricultural pursuits?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Were they squaws?

A. No, sir. »

Q. Standing Bear was working, was hfi?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Then there were five of the thirty-five that were
working?

A. Only that many in the field. The women were
working around their tents. They are not supposed
to go into the fields.

Q. Who was their chief?

A. Standing Bear is the head chief of the tribe. Buf
falo Chip was the chief of these Indians here. Stand
ing Bear has a tribe of about a hundred, I think; I do
not know the exact number.

Q. You don't know what some of them, or a good
many of them did at the Indian Territory before they
arrived at the Omaha Agency?

A. I know that a good many of them died before be
left with his tribe.

84 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

Q. And the original number of his tribe was about
a hundred?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. He was their acknowledged chief there at the
Agency?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Did they obey his orders?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. What other chiefs have they?

A. There are several chiefs down at the lower
Agency in the Indian Territory. I was not there.

Q. Name some of the other chiefs that were ar
rested.

A. Standing Bear, Buffalo Chip, and Chicken Hunter.

Q. These managed and controlled the Indians?

A. Yes, sir. Each one controlled his own band.

Q. They lived at the Omaha Agency as the friends
of the Omaha Indians?

A. Yes, sir; while they were there.

Q. They followed the same pursuit the other Indians
did?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. What did they live in — tents?

A. Yes, sir; they brought their tents, I think.

Q. These tents were provided by the government?

A. These tents were made by themselves.

Q. These wagons were furnished by the govern
ment?

A. Yes, sir; they brought their wagons with them.

Q. Did they have any citizens' clothes?

A. They had.

Q. These clothes were also provided by the govern
ment?

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL. 85

A. Yes, sir; some were, and some wore not.

Q. Some of them wore blankets?

A. Some wore blankets, pants, and vests, and some
wore Indian clothes throughout.

Q. These blankets— were they provided by the gov
ernment?

A. Some of them — yes, sir.

Q. You say Standing Bear had put in about five
acres of wheat?

A. No, sir; Buffalo Chip had. There was three or
four acres put in for Standing Bear by the police of
the Oinahas.

Q. Then Standing Bear didn't put in any himself?

A. He helped to put it in.

Q. About how long were these Indians there before
they were arrested?

A. About two weeks.

Q. Who arrested them — Agent Vore?

A. They were arrested by Lieut. Carpenter.

Q. Hadn't they been arrested before by Agent Vore?

A. No, sir.

Q. Didn't they seem to .come there as guests of the
Omahas?

A- No, sir.

Q. How did they come?

A. They came as Indians, and said they wanted to
go back to their old land, or find some place to work,
and that if the Omahas would give them some land
they would remain with them.

Q. Do these Omahas speak the English language?

A. A very few of them.

Q. None of these Indians here can speak English?

A. No, sir.

86 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

Q. About how much cultivated land is there at the
Agency?

A. I couldn't tell.

Q. Do you have any idea of the amount?

A. I suppose they have in about 1,500 acres of
wheat.

Q. How many Omaha Indians are there?

A. 1083, I believe, at the last count.

Q. That would be about an acre and a half to the
Indian?

A. Of wheat ground — yes, sir. They have corn
ground as much as that, or more, too.

Q. That would make about three acres to the Indian?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do they cultivate this land?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. How do the Omahas live?

A. They live very well.

Q. Does the government furnish them anything?

A. Nothing but farm implements.

Q. The government has an agent there?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Is there not from time to time annuities paid
them by the government?

A. There has been none paid for going on three
years now.

Q. Does the government furnish them any clothes?

A. No, sir, all the annuities they have is in money.

Q. Have these Indians received any better clothes
since they came to Fort Omaha, or are the clothes they
have on now the same they had when arrested?

A. Some they had, and some were given them.

Q. Who furnished them?

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL.

A. I don't know. Several persons who came there
gave them things.

Q. They didn't have as good clothes as these when
they came to Omaha Agency, did they?

A. No, sir, hardly so good.

Q. Are all the Indians at the barracks dressed as
well as these?

A. No, sir.

Q. These are the better dressed ones and the better
looking ones?

A, Yes, sir ; for that matter they all look alike.

RE-DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. WEBSTER.

Q. During the stay of these Poncas at the Agency,
•were tliey receiving any annuities from the govern
ment?

A. No, sir, not that I know of. At one time, a day
or two before they were taken away by Lieut. Carpen
ter, they received some rations from the agent at the
Omaha Agency.

Q. State what objections the Omahas had, if any, to
the Poncas remaining upon these lands at the Omaha
reservation?

A. They had no objection at all. I know from what
the Omahas told me.

[Objected to by counsel for the government, ss in
competent and immaterial. Overruled.]

Mr. Webster— You may sta'te the facts.

A . They said they wanted the Poncas to come back
there and live with, them; they had more land than
they needed, and they could sell them part of their
land and they could join together and live as one tribe

88 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

of Indians. They were willing to have them come
and take part of their land, and try to become citizens,
as they were trying.

The Court — Were the Poncas ever any part of the
Omaha tribe?

Mr. Webster — No, sir, they have simply inter-married
to some extent.

RE-CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. LAMBERTSON.

Q. State whether these Indians submitted themselves
to the authority of the Omaha Indians, or the Omaha
chiefs? Were they governed in the same manner the
Omahas were, and followed the same pursuits?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And obeyed the Omaha chiefs?

A. They took ad vice, of course, of the Omaha chiefs.

Q. Were they governed by the same form as the
Omaha Indians?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. They submitted themselves to the same rules,
customs and habits as the Omahas?

A. Yes, sir.

Mr. Webster — Do the Omahas have any chiefs?

A. Tliey have no chiefs now.

Q. Then there was no part of the Omahas command
ing these Poncas?

A. No, sir.

Q. About all there was about that was that they
simply advised together, and consulted as to what was
best to be done?

A. Yes, sir.

Mr. Lambertson — Is there any head man in the
Omaha tribe?

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL. 89

A. No, sir, not now. There was some time ago, last
summer — but they put away all their chiefs and head
men.

Mr. Webster— They live like white men, then?

A. They try to.

LIEUT. WILLIAM L. CARPENTER.

Sworn on behalf of the relators, and examined in chief

by Mr. Webster, testified as follows:

• Q. Do you have immediate charge of these Indians?

A. I have.

Q. State whether you are the officer who made the
arrest at the Omaha Agency?

A. I am.

Q. Will you state the date of that arrest?

A. It was on Sunday, in the latter part of March, the
last week in March. I would have to look at a cal
endar.

Q. State whether prior to that time you had been
acquainted personally with these Poncas?

A. I had never seen them at all before.

Q. At the time they were arrested by you, state in
what manner they were dressed — whether they were
wearing citizens' clothes or not?

A. The majority of the men were dressed in citi
zens' clothes. Only two, I think, wore blankets and
leggings.

Q. State what you know of these Indians having
been engaged in labor and agriculture at the Omaha
Agency at the time of, and prior to their arrest.

A. I don't know anything on that subject from my
own knowledge— nothing but what I have heard.

90 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

»

Q. Did you, by conversation or otherwise, acquire
any knowledge as to what their habits had been at the
Omaha Agency?

[Objected to by counsel for the government as in
competent, immaterial and irrelevant. Sustained.]

Mr. Webster — After you had brought these Indians
to Fort Omaha, you may state what kind of dress they
continued to wear from the day of their arrest by you,
up to the present time?

A. Some of them wore the same clothing they are
wearing now.

Q. State what these Indians have been doing while
under your charge, as to laboring, and their desire to
labor.

A. About ten days ago two of the Indians stated
they were willing to work. They had been sick for
some time.

[Objected to as immaterial by counsel for the gov
ernment. Sustained.]

Mr. Webster — State from your observation of these
Indians, and the labor which they have performed, what
skill and knowledge they have as laborers?

[Objected to and sustained.]

CROSS-EXAMINED ME. LAMBEETSON.

Q. How many chiefs are there.

[Objected to by counsel for relators as improper
cross-examination. Sustained.]

Mr. Lambertson— Slate the names of the parties
arrested?

[Objected to by counsel for the relators as immaterial,
and on the ground that the returns show that.]

The Ctouri—VTby is that material?

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL. 91

Mr. Lambertson — To show that these Indians have
their chiefs, to whom they profess allegiance.

The Court — You will have to make the witness your
own to do that.

STANDING BEAR,

One of the relators, sworn on the part of the relators,
and examined in chief by Mr. Webster, through the
witness Hamilton, who was sworn as interpreter, testi
fied as follows:

Mr. Lambertson — Does this court think an Indian is a
competent witness?

The Court — They are competent for every purpose in
both civil and criminal courts. The law makes no dis
tinction on account of race, color, or previous condition.

Mr. Webster (to the interpreter)— Ask him to state
when it was they left their reservation to go to the
Indian Territory?

A. He says it is about two years since they left.

Q. Ask him to state the manner in which they lived
on their old reservation, what labor they performed,
and what success they had?

A. He says, we lived well ; I had my land, and raised
enough so I could get along nicely. Mj children were
going to school, we had a good school, and everything
going nicely.

Q. Ask him whether his people were working when
they lived up there?

A. He says they were all working hard.

Q. Ask him what they were doing up there to be
come like white men?

The Court— What sort of white men? You had bet
ter limit that a little.

Mr. Webster— Well, civilized.

92 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

A. He says the white men are great workers, some
of them, and some are not. He says it is about the
same way w;th the Indians — some want to work, and
some don't. He says he wants to work, and become
like a white man, and that he has tried his best.

Q. Ask him when they left their reservation where
they went to first, whether to the Omaha reservation?

A. He says no, they didn't go there; they went south
to the Indian Territory.

Q. Ask him how they came to go down there. Have
him tell the story as to how they came to go down
there?

[Objected to by counsel for government on the ground
the inquiry here is solely as to whether these Poncas
have dissolved their tribal relations. The question was
withdrawn.]

Mr. Webster — Ask him how he and his people lived
in the Indian Territory after they got down there,
what they had, whether they worked, and what kind
of clothes they wore? Ask himjfurther, what they did
still after they arrived thore to become like civilized
white men, and then let him tell the story.

Mr. Lambertson — I want questions put to him, and
let him answer the questions.

A. He says, when I got down there, I saw the land,
and the land was not good to my eye ; some places it
looked e:ood, but you kick up the soil a little, and you
found lots of stones. It was not fit to farm. When we
got down there we heard we were going to get cloth
ing, and get money, and everything that we wanted,
but I have not seen it yet. When I was told to go
down there, I thought, perhaps, the land was good,
and I could make a living, but when I got down there

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL. 93

it was entirely different from the land in my own home.
I could'nt plow, I couldn't sow any wheat, and we all
got sick, and couldn't do anything, it seemed as though
I had no strength in my body at all. The hot climate
didn't agree with me. But when I came back here I
seemed to get strength every day. Instead of our tribe
becoming prosperous, they died off every day during the
time. From the time I went down there until I left,
one hundred and fifty-eight of us died. I thought
to myself, God wants me to live, and I think if I come
back to my old reservation he will let me live. I got
back as far as the Omahas, and they brought me down
here. I see you all here to-day. What have I done?
I am brought here, but what have I done? I don't
know. It seems as though I haven't a place in the
world, no place to go, and no home to go to, but when
I see your faces here, I think some of you are trying
to help me, so that I can get a place sometime to live
in, and when it comes my time to die, to die peacefully
and happy. (This was spoken in a loud voice, and
with much emphasis.)

The Court — Tell the witness to keep cool.

Mr. Webster — Have him state what they did by way of
farming and labor while they were down in the Indian
Territory.

A. He says they couldn't farm, all the work they did
was to haul wood sometimes to the agent, and work
around the Agency, what work they could do.

Q. Ask him if they were all ready and willing to work
if they had had any work to do?

A. He says yes, if there had been any work to do.
They would have all worked if there had been any
farming; they all farmed on their own reservation , they

94 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

all had farms, and all had work to do. Down there,
there was no land to farm, and they all got sick, and
were not able to work.

Q. Ask him if they had any schools down there, or
anything by way of educating the children?

A. He says they had no schools there.

Q. Ask him how many there were in his band of
Poncas at the time he left the Indian Territory?

A. He says about fifty.

Q. Ask him how many came away with him when
he came to the Omaha reservation?

A. He says thirty.

Q. Ask him whether the others are still in tne In
dian Territory?

A. He says he thinks some may be on the road back.
He heard some were on the road up here.

Q. Ask him how many chiefs of the tribe are down
there with the others in the Indian Territory?

A. He says seven.

Q. Ask him why he and the others left the tribe in
Indian Territory and came to the Omaha reservation?

A. He says it was hard for him to stay there, and ho
thought perhaps if he could come up here he could
save his wife and child, the only child he has living,
and that is why he came up — to save them, and to get a
living for them some place else, if he could.

Q. Ask him how many of his children died in the
Indian Territory before he came away?

A. He says two died down there. He says his son
could talk English and write, and was a great help to
him when he was on White Creek, and whenever he
thinks of it, it makes him feel very bad.

Q. Ask him what he and those who came with him

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL. 95

meant to do when they came north — how they meant
to enrn a living?

[Objected to by counsel for the government as imma
terial. Overruled.]

A. He says he thought it was necessary to earn a
living by work, and that is what he wanted to do, and
that he thought if he came north he could get his laud
back and go to work and earn his living in that
way.

Q. Ask him when they left the tribe whether they
intended to stay away from the tribe?

A. He says when he left, they asked if he was ever
coming back, and he told them if he ever came back
it wouid not be«to stay; that lie wanted to go to a place
where they could all work and earn their own living.

Q. Ask him what he intended to do by way of be
coming like civilized white men?

A. He says in his travels he has seen a great many
white people, .and he finds them all working wherever
he goes— farming, building houses, and that they have
cattle and everything they want; all they want to eat,
and he thinks if he has a chance he can do just the
same, and that is the way he thought he would do.

The Court— That is the reason he left?

A. Yes, sir.

Mr. Webster — Ask him whether the others that came
awny with him intended to do what he did?

[Objected to by counsel for the government as in
competent.]

The Court — He may state if he knows. .

A. He says they all wanted to do the same — to work
and earn a living.

Q. Ask him, if he was released from his imprison-

96 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

merit, whether he intends to go back to the tribe, or
What he intends to do?

[Objected to by counsel for the government. Ques
tion withdrawn.]

Q. Ask him whether they all intended to put in
crops on these lands of the Omahas?

A- He says that was the intention of all.

Q. Ask him whether, after the time they left the
Indian Territory, he intended to continue to exercise his
powers as chief, or whether they simply acted together
as friends?

[Objected to by counsel for the government as
leading. Overruled.]

A. He says he didn't consider himself a chief ; he didn't
consider himself as their head man, but looked upon
himself and the rest as being alike.

Q. Ask him whether, when they advised with him,
it was simply in a social way, because of his haying
been a chief, or whether they recognized any authority
in him.

A. He says he felt himself to be as poor as the rest
of them.

Q. That is after they left the tribe?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Ask him to state whether he sent his own chil
dren to school?

[Objected to as immaterial. Sustained.]

CROSS-EXAMINATION BY ME. LAMBEKTSON.

Q. Ask him what was the number of people in the
band of which he was chief in the Indian Territory.
A. He says about fifty.

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL. 97

Q. Ask him how many of his particular band he
left in the Indian Territory?

A. He says only three of his band he brought with
him. The rest of his band are there yet. He brought
Yellow-Horse, Long-Runner, and Chicken Hunter,
these men and their families.

Q. About how many families of his band did he
leave in the Indian Territory!

A. He says about forty people.

Q. Ask him how many families?

A. He says about thirty families; there are about
twenty that are married. There are few children; the
children are dead.

Q. Ask him if any members of any other band ex
cept his own came with him?

A. He says there was.

Q. Ask him how many?

A. He says there was one chief of some other band.
He says this other chief had six men with him. Of
course he has his family and some of his band.

Q. Ask him how many compose his band, when he
is in the Indian Territory?

A. He says about fifty-six. That was his band
when he went to the Indian Territory.

Q. And there were fifty when he left?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Ask him how many of the band of which he was
chief died during the time he was in the Indian Terri-
tory?

[Objected to a? immaterial.}

Mr. Lambertson — Ask him how many of his own
band came with him, that is including his own fam
ily. Assuming that he had fifty in his band in the

THE PONCA CHIEFS.

Indian Territory, how many of that fifty came with,
him?

A. He says, taking the men, women, and children,
that came with him, there were twenty. He says,
counting his {amity, and all that came with him out
of his band.

Q. Ask him if he was chief or head man over these
Indians now here and those in the Indian Territory?

A. He sa3rs, I was not the head man; I don't consider
myself any better than they are.

Q. Was that after he got out of the Indian Territory?
A. Yes, sir; after we left the Indian Territory.
Q. Ask him who came with him from the reservation,
in Dakota to the Indian Territory.

[Objected to as improper cross-examination by coun
sel for the relators. Sustained.]

Mr. Lambertson — Ask him when he went to the In
dian Territory the first time?

A. He says the time he went down there was the
year before they planted corn , it was the year before
they were taken down the second time.

Q. Ask him if he remained there until the other
Indians came down?

[Objected to by counsel for the relators as im
proper cross-examination. Overruled.]

A. He says no, he did not stay there. He says ho
was left down there without an interpreter, to make
his way back the best he could, because he would not
pick out a piece of land there that he liked.

Q. How long was he left there before the other In
dians came down?

A. He says it was in the spring they were taken
down from their reservation. He says he would like

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL. 99

to tell the whole thing over from the time he was taken
down first until they were all taken down.

Mr. Lambertson (to Mr. Webster) — Are you willing he
should?

Mr. Webster— No.

Mr. Lambertson (to the witness) — Ask him if while
they were in the Indian Territory the government pro
vided them with wagons and farming implements?

[Objected to by counsel for the relators as im
proper cross-examination and as immaterial. Over
ruled.]

A. He says they got some wagons and some mowing
machines.

Q. Ask him if they took their wagons with them
when they left the Agency in the Indian Territory?

A. He says they came in wagons.

Q. Ask him if the wagons which the}7" came in from
the Indian Territory to the Omaha Agency were the
same wagons that were furnished by the government?

A. He says two of the wagons they have were given
to them on their former reservation, and the other is
one he bought himself— a light spring wagon.

Mr. Webster^- Does he mean the Ponca reservation?

A. Yes, sir, up above.

Mr. Lambertson— Ask him if when he left the In
dian Territory the other members of the tribe were
willing to remain?

[Objected to by counsel for the relators as imma- .
terial and irrelevant. Sustained.]

Mr. Lambertson— Ask him if, when he left the In
dian Territory, he informed the agent that he was going
away to live for himself and take care of himself?

A. He says he told the agent several times he

100 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

wanted to go, and asked him to help us get away to
our own lands. He says he told him he was comiug
away to try and save the rest of his family and find
some place where he could work and make a living.

Q. Ask him when he left the Indian Territory,
whether he intended to go back to their former reserva
tion in Dakota Territory, or did they intend to go to tho
Omaha reservation?

A. He says he wanted to go on his own land,
that had always been his own land; that he never
sold it, and that is where he wanted to go to; that
his son when he died made him promise if ever he
went back there that he would take his bones there
and bury him, and that he has got his bones in a box,
and that if ever he goes there he will bury his bones
there; that there is where he wants to live the rest of
his life, and that there is where he wants to be buried.

Q- Ask him if he wants to live in the same manner
in which he lived when in the Dakota reservation?

A. He says he might go there and worli until he
was blind, but that would not change his color; that
he would be an Indian in color, but he wants to go
and work and become a citizen.

Q. Ask him if he wants to live as the Omaha Indians
live on the Omaha reservation?

[Objected to by counsel for the relators as being too
indefinite. Sustained.]

Mr. Lambertson — What I desire to ask him is, at tho
time he came away, if he intended to continue in the
same pursuits as when he was arrested, to adopt the
same habits and customs as the Omaha Indians.

[Objected to same as before.]

The Court — He may answer.

STANDING BEAR'S APPEAL. 1Q1

A. He says that before he was brought down hero he
didn't know hardly what to do — whether to remain with
the Omahas, or to go up to his old reservation ; tha^;
the Omahas wanted him to stay there. They said they
hed better all stay there and farm this summer, and
then go up this fall ; that if they went up there now
they would have a hard time to get along, and if they
staid there this summer they would heip them so they
could have a good start after they got to their old res
ervation.

Q. Ask him whether during the time he was at the
Omaha reservation the government issued him and his
band rations or provisions?

A. He says the agent issued rations to his band once.
He don't know whether they were issued from the gov
ernment or were bought. It was issued only once.
(The interpreter adds that he was the person who
weighed out the rations the time referred to.)

With this the testimony closed , the relators resting
their case at this point, and no testimony whatever
being introduced on behalf of the government.

102 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

CHAPTER IX.

WHAT THE ATTORNEYS HAD TO SAT TO THE
COURT.

At the conclusion of the testimony of Stand
ing Bear, the government having no evidence
to offer, the argument for the Indians was
opened by Hon. J. L. Webster. He first on-
quired, after a brief recital of the wrongs and
cruelties which had so long been practised upon
the Indians, how the government of the
United States got titles to land, and said titles
come in three ways — first by discovery; second
by conquest; third by purchase.

He maintained that the government could
not claim title to this land by discovery. The
landing of white men upon the eastern shore
of this continent could not give a title to the
little piece of land on which the Poncas then
resided at the mouth of the Niobrara river. A
title by discovery did not give a fee simple to
the soil, if it was occupied, but only political
control.

SUMMING UP. 103

The government of the United States could
never acquire a title by conquest, for it had
never been at war with the Ponca tribe. These
two peoples had always been on the most
friendly terms. The government had never
purchased the land, and, therefore, the title
to it still remained in the Poncas. Mr. Web
ster then discussed the questions relating
to Indian tribes as separate nations, the
effect of the fourteenth amendment to the
Constitution, citizenship of Indians, the use
of the army in their control, and made a
thorough and able review of the whole prob
lem, claiming that there was no law for the re
moval of the Poncas to the Indian Territory,
or for keeping them there by force, or for re
turning those who had escaped, and asked
the absolute discharge of Standing Bear and
his party.

Mr. Webster, who occupied about six hours
in the delivery of his argument, was followed
by the Government Attorney, Hon. G. M. Lam-
bertson, who opened his argument with a very
high commendation of the course of Messrs.
Poppleton and Webster in volunteering their
services, without the hope of reward, in defence
of those helpless Indians. He claimed that
Standing Bear was not entitled to the protec-

104 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

tion of the writ of habeas corpus, not being a
person or citizen under the law. His argument
occupied about five hours, and was very ingen
ious and eloquent.

lion. A. J. Poppleton followed in a very
powerful argument. He traced the history of
the writ of habeas corpus from its origin, and
claimed that it applied to every human being.
He appealed on the behalf of these Indians as
men, and showed that the position taken by
the government counsel undermined the very
foundations of human liberty. His argument
consumed about four hours.

Judge Dundy then allowed Standing Bear
to address the court on his own behalf. The
court room was at this time filled with leading
citizens of the State, prominent officers of the
army and their wives. Standing Bear's speech
made a profound impression on all who heard
it. He claimed that, although his skin was of
a different hu£, yet he was a man, and that
God made him. He said he was not a savage,
and related how he had saved the life of a
soldier whom he had found on the plains,
starved, and almost frozen to death, and of a
man who had lost his way on the trackless
"prairie, whom he had fed and guided to his
destination. In spite of the orders of the

SUMMING UP. 105

court and the efforts of the bailiffs, he was
greeted with continual rounds of applause. At
the conclusion of his speech, court adjourned,
and the judge took several days to consider
the matter.

106 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

CHAPTER X.

STANDING BEAR RELEASED — DECISION OF JUDGE
ELMER S. DTJNDY.

"United States ex rel. Standing Bear, vs. George

Crook, a Brigadier-General of the Army of the U. S.

Before Elmer S. Dundy, U. S. District Judge for

Nebraska. Habeas corpus.

"An Indian is a person within the meaning of the
habeas corpus act, and as such is entitled to sue out
a writ of habeas corpus in the federal courts, when it
is shown that the petitioner is deprived of liberty
undercolor of authority of the United States, or is in
custody of an officer in violation of the constitution,
or a law of the United States, or in violation of a
treaty made in pursuance thereof.

"The right of expatriation is a natural, inherent, and
inalienable right, and extends to the Indian as well as
to the more fortunate white race.

"The Commissioner of Indian Affairs has ample au
thority for removing from an Indian reservation all
persons found thereon without authority of law, or
whose presence may be detrimental to the peace and
welfare of the Indians.

"The military power of the government may be em
ployed to effect sucTi removal. But when the removal

STANDING BEAR RELEASED. 1Q7

is effected, it is the duty of the troops to convey the
persons so removed by the most convenient and safe
route, to the civil authorities of the judicial district in
•which the offence may be committed, to be proceeded
agains^in due course of law.

"In time of peace no authority, civil or military, ex
ists for transporting Indians from one section of the
country to another, without the consent of the Indians,
nor to confine them to any particular reservation
against their will, and where officers of the govern
ment attempt to do this, and arrest and hold Indians
who are at peace with the government, for the pur
pose of removing them to, and confining them on, a
reservation in the Indian Territory, they will be
released on habeas corpus.

A. J. POPPLETON and
JNO. L. WEBSTER,

For the Relators.
G. M. LAMBERTSON, U. S. Atty.

For the Government.

The facts are fully stated in the opinion of

the court.

"DUNDY, JUDGE.

"During the fifteen years in which I have been en
gaged in administering the laws of my country, I have
never been called upon to hear or decide a case that
appealed so strongly to my sympathy as the one now
under consideration. On the one side we have a few
of the remnants of a .once numerous and powerful,
but now weak, insignificant, unlettered and generally
despised race. On the other, we have the representa
tive of one of the most powerful, most enlightened,

108 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

and most christianized nations of modern times. On
the one side we have the representatives of this
wasted race coming into this national tribunal of ours
asking for justice and liberty to enable them to adopt
our boasted civilization and to pursue the arts of
peace, which have made us great and happy as a na
tion. On the other side we have this magnificent, if
not magnanimous, government, resisting this applica
tion with the determination of sending these people
back to the country which is to them less desirable
than perpetual imprisonment in their own native land.
But I think it is creditable to the heart and mind of the
brave and distinguished officer who is made respond
ent herein, to say that he has no sort of sympathy in
the business in which he is forced by his position to
bear a part so conspicuous. And so far as I am indi
vidually concerned, I think it not improper to say that
if the strongest possible sympathy could give the relators
title to freedom, they would have been restored to
liberty the moment the arguments in their behalf
were closed. No examination of further thought
would then have been necessary or expedient. But
in a country where liberty is regulated by law, some
thing more satisfactory and enduring than mere sym
pathy must furnish and constitute the rule and basis
of judicial action. It follows that this case must be
examined and decided on principles of law, and that
unless the relators are entitled to their discharge under
the constitution or laws of the United States, or some
treaty made in pursuance thereto, they must be remand
ed to the custody of the officer who caused their arrest,
to be returned to the Indian Territory, which they
left without the consent of the government.

STANDING BEAR RELEASED. 109

" On the 8th of April, 1879, the relators, Standing
Bear and twenty-five others, during the session of the
court held at that time at Lincoln, presented their pe
tition, duly verified, praying for the allowance of a
writ of habeas corpus, and their final discharge from
custody thereunder.

" The petition alleges in substance that the relators
are Indians who have formerly belonged to thePonca
tribe of Indians, now located in the Indian Territory;
that they had some time previously withdrawn from
the tribe and completely severed their tribal relations
therewith, and had adopted the general habits of the
whites, and were then endeavoring to maintain them
selves by their own exertions, and without aid or as
sistance from the general government ; that whilst they
were thus engaged, and without being guilty of violat
ing any of the laws of the United States, they were ar
rested and restrained of their liberty, by order of the
respondent, George Crook.

"The writ was issued and served on the respondent on
the 8th day of April, and the distance between the place
where the writ was made returnable and the place
where the relators were confined being more than
twenty miles, ten days were allotted in which to make
return.

"On the 18th of April the writ was returned, and the
authority for the arrest and detention is therein shown.
The substance of the return to the writ, and the addi
tional statement since filed, is that the relators are in
dividual members of, and connected with the Ponca
tribe of Indians; that they had fled or escaped from a
reservation situated some place within the limits of the
Indian Territory; had departed therefrom without per-

HO THE PONCA CHIEFS.

mission from the government, and at the request of the
Secretary of the Interior the General of the army had
issued an order which required the respondent to ar-
restftmd return the rclators to their tribe in the Indian
Territory, and that pursuant to the said order, he had
caused the relators to be arrested on the Omaha Indian
reservation, and that they were in his custody for the
purpose of being returned to the Indian Territory.

" It is claimed upon the one side, and denied upon the
other, that the relators had withdrawn, and severed for
all time, their connection with the tribe to which they
belonged. And upon this point alone was there any
testimony produced by either party hereto. The other
matters stated in the petition, and the return to the
writ, are conceded to be true, so that the questions to
be determined are purely questions of law.

"On the 8th of March, 1859, a treaty was made by the
United States with the Ponca tribe of Indians, by which
a certain tract of country north of the Niobrara river,
and west of the Missouri was set apart for the perma
nent home of the said Indians, in which the govern
ment agreed to protect them during their good behav
ior. But just when, or how, or why, or under what
circumstances the Indians left their reservation in Da
kota and went to the Indian Territory does not appear.

JUEISDICTIOX OF COURT.

" The district attorney very earnestly questions the
jurisdiction of the court to issue the writ and to hear
and determine the case made herein; and has supported
his theory with an argument of great ingenuity and
much ability. But nevertheless, I am of the opinion

STANDING BEAR RELEASED.

that his premises were erroneous, and his conclusions
therefore wrong and unjust. The great respect I en
tertain for that officer, and the very able manner in
which his'views were presented, make it necessary for
me to give somewhat at length the reasons which lead
me to this conclusion.

" The district attorney discussed at length the reas
ons which led to the origin of the writ of habeas corpus,
and the character of, and proceedings and practice in
connection therewith in tie parent country. It was
claimed that the laws of the realm limited the right to
sue out this writ to the free subjects of the kingdom
and that none others came within the benefit of such
beneficent laws. And reasoning from analogy, it is
claimed that none but American citizens are entitled to
sue out this high prerogative writ in any of the federal
courts. I have not examined the English laws regu
lating the suing out of the writ, nor have I ihought it
necessary so to do. Of this I will only observe tfcat if
the laws of England are as they are claimed to be, they
will appear at a disadvantage when compared with our
own. This only proves that the laws of a limited mon
archy are sometimes less wise and humane than the
laws of our own good republic — that whilst the Parlia
ment of Great Britain was legislating in behalf of the
favored few, the Congress of the United States was
legislating in behalf of all mankind who come within
our jurisdiction.

" Section 751 of the ' Revised Statutes' declares that
' the supreme court and the circuit and district courts
shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus.'
Section 752 confers the power to issue writs on tho
judges of said courts within their jurisdiction, and de-

112 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

clares this to be ' for the purpose of inquiry into the
cause of restraint of liberty.' Section 753 restricts the
power, limits the jurisdiction, and defines the cases
where the writ may properly issue. That inky be done
under this section where the prisoner ' is in custody
under or by color of authority of the United States, *
* * or is in custody for an act done or omitted in
pursuance of a law of the United States, * * * or
in custody in violation of the constitution or of a law
or treaty of the United States.' Thus it will be seen
that when a person is in custody or deprived of his
liberty, under color of authority of the United States,
or in violation of the constitution or laws or treaties
of the United States, the federal judges have j urisdiction,
and the writ can properly issue. I take it that the true
construction to be placed upon this act is this: That
in all cases where federal officers, civil or military,
have the custody and control of a person, claimed to
be unlawfully restrained of liberty, that they are then
restrained of liberty under color of authority of the
United States, the federal courts can properly proceed
to determine the question of unlawful restraint because
no other courts can properly do so. In the other in
stance, the federal courts and judges can properly is
sue the writ in all cases where the person is alleged to
be in custody in violation of the constitution or a law
or treaty of the United States. In such a case it is
wholly immaterial what officer, state or federal, has
custody of the person seeking the relief. These re-
lators may be entitled to the writ in either case. Under
the first paragraph they certainly are, that is, if an
Indian can be entitled to it at all, because they are in
custody of a federal officer under color of authority of

STANDING BEAR RELEASED. H3

the United States, and they may be entitled to the writ
under the other paragraph before recited, for the reason,
as they allege, tha,t they are restrained of liberty in vio
lation of a provision of their treaty before referred to.
Now, it must be borne in mind that the habeas corpus
act describes applicants for the writ as 'persons' or
'parties,' who may be entitled thereto. It nowhere
describes them as citizens, nor is citizenship in any
way or place made a qualification for sueing out the
writ, and in the absence of express provision or necesary
implication, which would require the interpretation
contended for by the district attorney, I should not
feel justified in giving the words person and party such"
a narrow construction. The most natural, and there
fore most reasonable way, is to attach the same mean
ing to -words and phrases when found in a statute that
is attached to them when and where found in general
use. If we do so in this instance, then the question
cannot be open to serious doubt. Webster describes
a person as 'a living soul: a self conscious being; a
moral agent; especially a living human being; a
man, woman or child; an individual of the human
race.' This is comprehensive enough, it would
seem, to include even an 'Indian. In describing and
defining generic terms, the first section of the revised
statutes declares that the word person includes co-part
nerships and corporations. On the whole it seems to
me quite evident that the comprehensive language
used in this section is intended to apply to all mankind,
ns well tlie relators a? the more favored white race.
This will be doing no violence to language, nor to the
spirit or letter of the law, nor to the intention, as it is
believed, of the law-making power of the government.

114 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

"I must liold, then, that Indians, and consequently
the relators, are persons, such as are described by and
included within the laws before quoted. It is said,
however, that this is the first instance on record in
which an Indian has beeji permitted to sue out and
maintain a writ of habeas corpus in a federal court, and
therefore, the court must be without jurisdiction in the
premises. This is a non sequitur. I confess I do not
know of another instance where this has been done, but
I can also say that the occasion for it perhaps has never
before been so great. It may be that the Indians think
it wiser and better in the end to resort to this peaceful
•process than it would be to undertake the hopeless task
of redressing their own alleged wrongs by force of
arms. Returning reason, and the sad experience of
others similarly situated, has taught them the folly
and madness of the arbitrament of the sword. They
can readily see that any serious resistance on their part
would be the signal for their utter extermination. Have
they not then chosen the wiser part, by resort ing to the
very tribunal erected by those they claim have wronged
and oppressed them? This, however, is not the tribunal
of their own choice, but it is the only one into which
they can lawfully go for deliverance. It cannot there
fore be fairly said that because no Indian ever before
invoked the aid of this writ in a federal court, that the
rightful authority to issue it does not exist. Power
and authority rightfully conferred does not necessarily
cease to exist in consequence of long non-nser. Though
much time has elapsed, and many generations have
passed away since the passage of the original habeas
corpus act from which I have quoted, it will not do to
say that these Indians cannot avail themselves of its

STANDING BEAR RELEASED. H5

beneficent provisions simply because none of their
ancestors ever sought relief thereunder.

" Every person who comes within our jurisdiction,
whether he be European, Asiatic, African, or 'native
to the manor born,' must obey the laws of the United
States. Every one who violates them incurs the penalty
provided thereby. When a person is charged, in a
proper way, with the commission of crime, we do not
inquire upon the trial in what country the accused
was born, nor to what sovereign or government alle
giance is due, nor to what race he belongs. The ques
tions of guilt and innocence only form the subjects of
inquiry. An Indian then, especially off from his res-*
eryation, is amenable to the criminal laws of the United
States the same as all other persons. They being sub
ject to arrest for the violation of our criminal laws
and being Arsons such as the law contemplates and in
cludes in the description of parties who may sue out
the writ, it would, indeed, be a sad commentary on the
justice and impartiality of our laws, to hold that In
dians, though natives of our own country, cannot test
the validity of an alleged illegal imprisonment in this
manner, as well as a subject of a foreign government
who may happen to be sojourning in this country but
owing it no sort of allegiance. I cannot doubt that
Congress intended to give to every person who might be
unlawfully restrained of liberty undercolor of authority
of the United States the right to the writ and a discharge
thereon. I conclude then, that so far as the issuing of
the writ is concerned, it was properly issued, and that
the relators are within the jurisdiction conferred by the
habeas corpus act.
" A question of much greater importance remains for

116 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

consideration, which, when determined, will be decisive
of this whole controversy. This relates to the right of
the government to arrest and Hold the relators for a time
for the purpose of being returned to a point in the In
dian Territory, from which it is alleged the Indians es
caped. I am not vain enough to think that I can do full
justice to a question like the one under consideration.
But as the matter furnishes so much valuable material
for discussion, and so much food for reflection, I shall
try to present it as viewed from my own stand-point,
without reference to consequences or criticisms which,
though not specially invited, will be sure to follow.

" A review of the policy of the government adopted
in its dealing with the friendly tribe of Poncas, to
which thejelators at one time belonged, seems not
only appropriate, but almost indispensable to a correct
understanding of this controversy. The Ponca In
dians have been at peace with the government, and
Lave remained the steadfast friends of the whites for
many years. They lived peaceably upon the land and
in the country they claimed arid called their own.

" On the 12th of March, 1858, they made a treaty with
the United States by which they cedecl all claims to
lands except the following tract: 'Beginning at a
point on the NiObrara river and running due north so
as to intersect the Ponca river twenty five miles from its
mouth, thence from said point of intersection up and
along tbe Ponca river twenty miles, thence due south
to the Niobrara river, and thence down and along said
river to the place of beginning, which tract is hereby
reserved for the future homes of said Indians.' In
consideration of this cession the government agreed ' to
protect the Poncas in the possession of the tract of land

STANDING BEAR RELEASED. H7

reserved for their future homes, and their persons and
property thereon, during good behavior on their part.'
Annuities were to be paid them for thirty years, houses
•were to be built, and schools were to be established,
and other things were to be done by the government in
consideration of said cession. (See page 997, 12, Stat.
at large.) On the 10th of March, 1865, another treaty
was made, and a part of the other reservation was
ceded to the government. Other lands, however, were,
to some extent, substituted therefor, and ' by way of
rewarding them for their constant fidelity to the gov
ernment and citizens thereof, and with a view of re
turning to the said tribe of Ponca Indians their old
burying grounds and corn fields.' This treaty also
provides for paying $15,080 for spoliations committed
on the Indians.

" (See page 675, 14 vol., Stat. at large.)

" On the 29th day of April, 1868, the government made
a treaty with the several bands of Sioux Indians, which
treaty was ratified by the Senate on the 16th of the fol
lowing February, in and by which the reservations
set apart for the Poncas under the former treaties were
completely absolved. (15 Statutes at large, page 635.)
This was done without consultation with, or knowledge
or consent on the part of, the Ponca tribe of Indians.
" On the 15th of August, 1876, Congress passed the
general Indian approproation bill, and in it we find a
provision authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to
use $25,000 for the removal of the Poncas to the In
dian Territory, and providing them a home therein,
with consent of the tribe. (See page 192, 19 vol.,
Statues at large.)
"In the Indian appropriation bill passed by Congress

118 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

on the 27th day of May, 1878, we find a provision au
thorizing the Secretary of the Interior to expend the
sum of $30,000 for the purpose of removing and locat
ing the Ponca Indians on a new reservation near the
Kaw river.

"No reference has been made to any other treaties or
laws, under which the right to arrest and remove tho
Indians is claimed to exist.

" The Poncas lived upon their reservation in Southern
Dakota and cultivated a portion of the same until two
or three years ago, when they removed therefrom, but
whether by force or otherwise, does not appear. At
all events, we find a portion of them, including the
relators, located at some point in the Indian Territory.
There, the testimony seems to show, is where the
trouble commenced. Standing Bear, the principal wit
ness, states that out of 710 Indians who went from the
reservation in Dakota to the Indian Territory 158 died
within a year or so, and a great proportion of the others
were sick and disabled, caused in a great measure, no
doubt, from change of climate, and to save himself
and the survivors of his wasted family, and the feeble
remnant of his little band of followers, he determined
to leave the Indian Territory and return to his old home,
where, to use his own language, ' he might live and
die in peace, and be buried with his fathers.' He also
states that he informed the agent of their final purpose
to leave, never to return, and that he and his followers
had finally, fully, and forever severed his and their
connection with the Ponca tribe of Indians, and had
resolved to disband as a tribe, or band, of Indians, and
to cut loose from the government, go to work, become
self-sustaining, and adopt the habits and customs of a

STANDING BEAR RELEASED. H9

higher civilization. To accomplish what would seem
to be a desirable and laudable purpose, all who were
able so to do went to work to earn a living. The
Omaha Indians, who speak the same language, and
with whom many of the Poncas have long since con
tinued to intermarry, gave them employment and
ground to cultivate so as to make them self-sustaining.
And it was when at the Omaha reservation, and when
thus employed, that they were arrested by order of the
government for the purpose of being taken back to the
Indian Territory. They claim to be unable to see the
justice, or reason, or wisdom, or necessity of removing
them by force from their own native plains and blood
relations to a far off country in which they can see little
but new made graves opening for their reception. The
land from which they fled in fear has no attractions for
them. The love of home and native land was strong
enough in the minds of these people to induce them to
brave every peril to return and live and die where they
had been reared. The bones of the dead son of Stand
ing Bear were not to repose in the land they hoped to
be leaving forever, but were carefully preserved and
protected, and formed a part of what was to them a
melancholy procession homeward. Such instances of
parental affection, and such love of home and native
land may be heathen in origin, but it seems to me that
they are not unlike cliristian in principle.

"What is here stated in this connection is mainly
for the purpose of showing that the relators did all
they could to separate themselves from their tribe, and
to sever their tribal relations, for the purpose of be
coming self-sustaining, and living without support
from, the government. This being so, presents the

120 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

question as to whether or not an Indian can withdraw
from his tribe, sever his tribal relation therewith, and
terminate his allegiance thereto, for the purpose of mak
ing an independent living, and adopting our own civili
zation.

" If Indian tribes are to be regarded and treated as
separate but dependent nations, there can be no serious
difficulty about the question. If they are not to be
regarded and treated as separate, dependent nations,
then no allegiance is owing from an individual Indian
to his tribe, and he could, therefore, withdraw there
from at any time. The question of expatriation has
engaged the attention of our government from the
time of its very foundation. Many heated discussions
have been carried on between our own and foreign
governments on this great question, until diplomacy
has triumphantly secured the right to every person
found within our jurisdiction. This right has always
been claimed and admitted by our government, and it
is now no longer an open question. It can make but
little difference then whether we accord to the Indian
tribes a national character or not, as in either case I
think the individual Indian possesses the clear and
God-given right to withdraw from his tribe and for
ever live away from it, as though it had no further
existence. If the right of expatriation was open to
doubt in this country down to the year 1868, certainly
since that time no sort of question as to the right can
now exist. On the 27th of July, of that year, Con
gress passed an act, now appearing as sec. 1,999 of
the revised statutes, which declares that:

" ' Whereas, the right of expatriation is a natural and
inherent right of all people, indisputable to the enjoy-

STANDING BEAR RELEASED.

ment of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness; and, whereas, in the recognition of this
principle the government has freely received emigrants
from all nations, and invested them with the rights
of citizenship. * * * * Therefore any declaration,
instruction, opinion, order, or decision of any officer of
the United States which denies, restricts, impairs, or
questions the right of expatriation, is declared incon
sistent with the fundamental principles of the republic.'
This declaration must forever settle the question until
it is re-opened by other legislation upon the same sub
ject. This is, however, only re-affirming in the most
solemn and authoritative manner a principle well set
tled and understood in this country for many years past.

"In most, if not all, instances in which treaties have
been made with the several Indian tribes, where re
servations have been set apart for their occupancy,
the government has either reserved the right or bound
itself to protect the Indians thereon. Many of the
treaties expressly prohibit white persons being on the
reservations unless especially authorized by the treat
ies or acts of Congress for the purpose of carrying out
treaty stipulations.

"Laws passed for the government of the Indian
country, and for the purpose of regulating trade and
intercourse with the Indian tribes, confer upon cer
tain officers of the government almost unlimited power
over the persons who go upon the reservations with
out lawful authority. Sec. 2,149 of the revised statutes,
authorizes and requires the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, with the approval of the Secretary of the In
terior, to remove from any * tribal reservation' any
person being thereon without authority of law, or

122 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

whose presence \vitliin the limits of the reservation
may, in the judgment of the Commissioner, be detri
mental to the peace and welfare of the Indians; the au
thority here conferred upon the Commissioner fully
justifies him in causing to be removed from Indian
reservations all persons thereon in violation of law, or
whose presence thereon may be detrimental to the
peace and welfare of the Indians upon the reserva
tions. This applies as well to an Indian as to a white
person, and manifestly for the same reason, the object
of the law being to prevent unwarranted interference
between the Indians and the agent representing the
government. Whether such an extensive discretion
ary power is wisely vested in the Commissioner of In
dian Affairs or not, need not be questioned. It is
enough to know that the power rightfully exists, and
where existing, the exercise of the power must be up
held. If, then, the Commissioner has the right to
cause the expulsion from the Omaha Indian reserva
tion of all persons thereon who are there in violation
of law, or whose presence may be detrimental to the
peace and welfare of the Indian, then he must of ne
cessity be authorized to use the necessary force to
accomplish his purpose. Where, then, is he to look
for this necessary force? The military arm of the
government is the most natural and most potent force
to be used on such occasions, and sec. 2,150 of the re
vised statutes especially authorizes the use of the army
for this service. The army, then, it seems, is the
proper force to employ when intruders and trespassers
who go upon the reservations are to be ejected there
from.

" The first sub-division of the revised statutes last

STANDING BEAK RELEASED. 123

referred to provides that 'the military forces of the
United States may be employed in such manner, and
under such regulations as the president may direct:

" 'First — In the apprehension of every person who
may be in the Indian country in violation of law, and
in conveying him immediately from the Indian coun
try, by the nearest conveyance and safe route, to the
civil authority of the Territory or judicial district in
which such person shall be found, to be proceeded
against in due course of law.' * * * This is the
authority under which the military can be lawfully
employed to remove intruders from an Indian reserva
tion. What may be done by the troops in such cases
is here fully and clearly stated, and it is this authority,
it is believed, under which the respondent acted.

"All Indian reservations held under treaty stipula
tions with the government must be deemed, and taken
to be part of the Indian country, within the meaning of
our laws on that subject. The relators were found
upon the Omaha Indian reservation, that being a part
of the Indian country, and not being a part of the
Omaha tribe of Indians, they were there without law
ful authority, and if the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
deemed their presence detrimental to the peace and
welfare of the Omaha Indians, he had lawful warrant
to remove them from the reservation, and to employ
the necessary military force to effect this object in
safety. General Crook had the rightful authority to
remove the relators from the reservation, nnd muct
stand justified in removing them therefrom. But when
the troops are thus employed they must exercise the
authority in the manner provided by the section of the
law just read. This law makes it the duty of the

124 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

troops to convey the parties arrested by the nearest
convenient and safe route to the civil authority of the
Territory or judicial district in which such person shall be
found, to be proceeded against in due course of law. The
duty of the military authorities is here very clearly and
sharply defined, and no one can be justified in depart
ing therefrom, especially in time of peace. As Gen
eral Crook had the right to arrest and remove the re-
lators from the Omaha Indian reservation, it follows
from what has been stated that the law re quired him
to convey them to this city, and turn them over to the
marshal and United States attorney, to be proceeded
against in due course of law. Then proceedings could
be instituted against them in either the circuit or dis
trict court, and if the relators had incurred a penalty
under the law, punishment would follow. Otherwise
they would be discharged from custody. But this
course was not pursued in this case, neither was it in
tended to observe the laws in that regard, for General
Crook's orders, emanating from higher authority, ex
pressly required him to apprehend the relators, and
remove them by force to the Indian Territory, from
which it is alleged they escaped. But in what General
Crook has done in the premises no fault can be im
puted to him. He was simply obeying the orders of
his superior officers as a good soldier ought to do, but
the orders, as we think, lack the necessary authority
of law, and are, therefore, not binding on the relators.
"I think I have shown pretty clearly the rightful
authority vested in the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
in cases like the one under consideration — that he may
call on the troops to assist in carrying out his lawful
orders, and just how and for what purpose the author-

STANDING BEAR RELEASED. 125

ity is vested in him to remove trespassers and intru
ders from the Indian country.

I have searched in vain for the semblance of any au
thority justifying the Commissioner in attempting to
remove by force any Indians, whether belonging to a
tribe or not, to any place, or for any other purpose
than what has been stated. Certainly, without some
specific authority found in an act of Congress, or in a
treaty with the Ponca tribe of Indians, he could not
lawfully force the relators back to the Indian Territory
to remain and die in that country against their will. In
the absence of all treaty stipulations or laws of the
United States authorizing such removal, I must con
clude that no such arbitrary authority exists. It is
true, if the relators are to be regarded as a part of the
great nation of Ponca Indians, the government might,
in time of war, remove them to any place of safety so
long as the war should last, but perhaps no longer un
less they were charged with the commission of some
crime. This is a war power merely, and exists in time
of war only. Every nation exercises the right to ar
rest and detain an alien euQjny, during the existence of
a war, and all subjects or citizens of the hostile nations
are subject to be dealt with under this rule. But it is
not claimed that the Ponca tribe of Indians are at war
with the United States so that this war power might
be used against them. In fact they are amongst the
most peaceable and friendly of all the Indian tribes, and
have at times received from the government unmistaka
ble and substantial recognition of their long continued
friendship for the whites. In time of peace the war
power remains in abeyance, and must be subservient to
the civil authority of the government until something

126 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

occurs to justify its exercise. No fact exists, and noth
ing has occurred, so far as the Delators are concerned,
to make it necessary or lawful to exercise such an au-
thorit3r over them. If they could be removed to the
Indian Territory by force, and kept there in the same
wa}r, I can see no good reason why they might not be
taken and kept by force in the penitentiaiy at Lincoln,
or Leavenworth, or Jefferson City, or any other place
which the commander of the forces might, in his judg
ment, see proper to designate. I cannot think, and
will not believe, that any such arbitrary authority ex
ists in this country, and until the highest judicial
tribunal in this land shall otherwise determine, I shall
not be convinced that my conclusions are erroneous.

"I have not thought it necessary to consider tho
question of citizenship so ably presented on both sides,
and therefore express no opinion thereon.

" The reasoning advanced in support of my views,
leads me to conclude :

"First. That an Indian is a PERSON within the mean
ing of the laws of the United States, and has therefore
the right to sue out a writ of habeas corpus in a federal
court or before a federal judge, in all cases where he
may be confined, or in custody under color of authority
of the United States, or where he is restrained of lib
erty in violation of the constitution or laws of the Uni
ted States.

" Second. That General George Crook, the respondent,
being the commander of the military department of
the Platte, has the custody of the relators under color
of authority of the United States, and in violation of
the laws thereof.

" Third. That no rightful authority exists for remov-.

STANDING BEAR RELEASED. 127

ing by force any of the relators to the Indian Territory,
as the respondent lias been directed'to do.

" Fourth. That the Indians possess the inherent right
of expatriation as well as the more fortunate white
race, and have the inalienable right to ' life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness,' so long as they obey the laws
and do not trespass on forbidden ground. And

"Fifth. Being restrained of liberty under color of
authority of the United States, and in violation of the
laws thereof, the relators must be discharged from cus
tody, and it is so ordered."

128 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

CHAPTER XL

THE OEDEB OF EELEASE STANDING BEAE?S FAEE-

WELL ADDEESSES.

A few days after the decision, Gen. Crook
received an order from the Secretary of War
ordering the discharge of Standing Bear and
his companions. The day before he was to
leave, the editor went out to bid him good-bye.
The old chief said he had something to say that
he did not wish anybody to hear. The editor,
Standing Bear and the interpreter went out on
a little hill to one side. There he spoke as
follows :

" When I was brought here a prisoner, my heart was
broken. I was in despair. I had no friend in all the
big world. Then you came. I told you the story of
my wrongs. From that time until now you have not
ceased to work for me. Sometimes, in the long days
while I have been here a prisoner, I have come out
here, and stood on this hill and looked towards the city.
I thought there is one man there who is writing or
speaking for me and my people. I remember the dark
day when you first came to speak to me. I know if it

STANDING BEAR'S ADDRESSES. 129

had not been for what you have done for me I would
now be a prisoner in the Indian Territory, and many
of these who are with me here would have been in
their graves. It is only the kind treatment they have
received from the soldiers, and the medicine which the
army doctor has given them, which has saved their
lives. I owe all this to you. I can never pay you
for it.

"I have traveled around a good deal. I have noticed
that there are many changes in this world. You have
a good house now to live in. A little while ago I had
a house and land and stock. Now I have nothing.
It may be that some time you may have trouble. You
might lose your Louse. If you ever want a home
come to me or my tribe. You shall never want as
long as we have anything. All the tribe in the Indian
Territory will soon know what you have done.
While there is one Ponca alive you will never be
without a friend. Mr. Poppleton and Mr. Webster
are my friends. You are my brother."

The old chief then led the way to his lodge,
and opening a trunk, he took out a war-bonnet,
a tomahawk, and a pair of beaded buckskin
leggings. He said, "These leggings are for you,
the tomahawk for Mr. Webster, and the war-
bonnet for Mr. Poppleton. I wish you to take
them and tell them I sent them to them."

The editor suggested that he should go
down to the city and present them himself, which
he consented to do. The following is the ac-

130 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

count of the presentation, published at the
time in the daily papers:

The decision of Judge Dundy, releasing Standing
Bear and his band to civilization went into effect on
Monday, May 19th, 1879, and they forthwith took their
departure for the locality which they have selected on
United States territory. On Sunday, the now liberated
chief visited the city, and called at Hie residences of
Hon. J. L. Webster, and Hon. A. J. Poppleton, to
whose vindication in the courts he owes his enfran
chisement, to express his gratitude by word and by deed.
Out of the poverty of his wordly possessions he gave
such visible token of his appreciation as he could,
•while out of the wealth of his human soul, and out of
the fulness of his manly heart, he uttered sentiments
and expressed purposes which distinguish him as a
chief among ten thousand, and as a character — dark
though his skin may be, " altogether lovely." He first
visited the residence of Mr. Webster, and to that gen
tleman he presented his tomahawk, bearing his
name. After shaking hands with all present, begin
ning with the ladies, to whom he said he wished first
to pay respect, he said, addressing Gen. Webster:

STANDING BEAR TO WEBSTER.

" You and I are here. Our skins are of a different
color, but God made us both. A little while ago, when
I was young, I was wild. I knew nothing of the ways
of the white people.

" I see you have nice houses here. 1 look at these
beautiful rooms ; I would like to have a house too, and

STANDING BEAR'S ADDRESSES. 131

it may be after a while that I can get one, but not so
nice a house as this. That is what I want to do.

" For a great many years — a hundred years or more
— the white men have been driving us out. They :ire
shrewd, sharp and know how to cheat; but since I
have been here I have found them different. They
have all treated me kindly. I am very thankful for it.

"Hitherto, when we have been wronged we went to
war to assert our rights and avenge our wrongs. We
took the tomahawk. We had no law to punish those
who did wrong; so we took our tomahawks and went
to kill. If they had guns and could kill us first it was
the fate of war.

" But you have found a better way. You have gone
into the court for us, and I find that our wrongs can
be righted there. Now I have no more use for Hie toma
hawk. 1 want to lay it down forever."

Uttering these words with eloquent impressiveness,
the old chief stooping down, placed the tomahawk on
the floor at his feet — then standing erect he folded his
arms with native dignity and continued:

"Hay it down; I have no more use for it; Iliave
found a better way."

Stooping again and taking up the weapon he placed
it in Mr. Webster's hands and said:

" I present it to you as a token of my gratitude. I
want you to keep it in remembrance of this great vic
tory which you have gained. 1 have no further use
for it; 1 can now seek the ways of peace."

" STANDING BEAK,— I rejoice to know that you and

132 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

those who are with you desire to become civilized,
and like the white people of America. We know that
for the last hundred years your tribe has always been
the friend and protector of the white people. The
ways of the whites may seem to you to be difficult,
and hard to learn. Our ancestors were born white,
while yours were born red; but a thousand years ago,
when they inhabited the central and northern portions
of Europe, they followed the same manner of life that
you have led. We have progressed slowly from that
time until we are now as you see us. I think it is the
duty of the government and all the people to aid the
friendly and peaceful Indians in every way possible to
acquire the arts of civilization.

"When the whites landed on these shores, they
found heve at least four millions of your people, and
now you are reduced to 250,000, and we have ab
sorbed nearly all your lands. I think it a duty we
owe to humanity and to God to extend to your people
the benefit and protection of our laws. What I have
done to relieve you from imprisonment and captivity
in the Indian Territory — where, if you had returned
your whole band would have been exterminated —
was from principle, and as a matter of justice. I
shall continue to fight your battles as long as it is
necessary to give you the protection of the laws, and I
rejoice to know that you have come to believe the
tomahawk is of no further service to you, and that
you have resolved to seek the ways of peace. I ac
cept the weapon from your hands, and shall preserve
it through the years to come, in memovy of the effort I
have made to prevent the extermination of your peo
ple. What I have done has been a labor of pleasure.

STANDING BEAR RELEASED. 133

I hope you and those who are with you will live to
become happy and prosperous, and that any habits of
wild life which may still cling to you may drop off as
the blighted fruit falls from the trees when shaken by
the winds, and that ere long I may hear that you are
surrounded with all the comforts and blessings of civ
ilized life."

Leaving Mr. Webster's residence, Standing Bear
visited Mr. Poppleton's rooms. He informed Mr.
Poppleton that he was about to leave for the north, and
he thought he would call and bid him good-bye.

STANDING BEAR TO POPPLETON.

He said: "I believe I told you in the court room
that God made me and that I was a man.

"For many years we have been chased about as a
dog chases a wild beast. God sent you to help me. I
thank you for what you have done.

"I want to get my land back. That is what I long
for all the time. I wish to live there and be buried
with my fathers.

" When you were speaking in the court room of course
I could not understand, but I could sec that you were
trying very hard to release me. I think you are doing
for me and my people something, that never has been
done before.

" If I had to pay you for it, I could never get enough
to do it. I have here a relic which has come down to my
people through a great many generations. I do not
know how old it is; it may be two or three hundred
years old. I desire to present it to you for what you
have done for me."

134 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

Mr. Poppleton, accepting the gift, said to Standing
Bear that he was more than repaid for what he may
have done, in the satisfaction he felt in having rescued
him and his people, and secured their rights to them;
and his satisfaction would be all the deeper should
they succeed in maintaining themselves in their new
relations and achieving the arts and the freedom and
peace of civilized life.

The keepsake given by the chief to the great attorney
is a rare gift, being esteemed the most sacred, as it is
the most venerable object in the possession of the
tribe. It resembles a wig, and was worn by the head
chief at their most weighty councils. Curiosity-hun
ters have often sought to secure it at any price in
money, but he has to one and all said that money could
not buy it. Among occasions on which it has been
worn was that of the first treaty — in 1817, we believe —
made between the Poncas and the government of the
United States. Standing Bear, who is himself sixty
years of age, informed us that when he was a little
boy his father told him that no one in the tribe knew
how old it was, and that it had come into their posses
sion in generations long past.

THE PONCA CHIEFS. 135

APPENDIX

SHORTLY after the habeas corpus case was
brought in Omaha, to secure the release of
Standing Bear and his associates, Bright Eyes,
and her father, Iron Eye, head chief for some
years of the Omaha tribe, were sent to the In
dian Territory to ascertain the condition of
the remainder of the Ponca tribe, who were
still held as prisoners in that land. While
there, Ke-tha-ska (White Eagle), head chief
of the tribe, dictated a letter to the people of
the United States, which has been pronounced
by Rev. Joseph Cook to be, in many passages,
as eloquent as the historic speech of Logan. The
letter is very long. The following are the
closing paragraphs:

" He had related at great length the dealings of the
chiefs with the agents of the government who came to
remove them from their lands in Dakota, and had
come to the point where the last peremptory order for
their departure had been given : —

136 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

THE STORY OF WHITE EAGLE.

"We then separated, and calling all the men of our
tribe together, I said to them, ' My people, we, your
chiefs, have worked hard to save you from this. We
have resisted until we are worn out, and now we know
not what more we can do. We leave the matter into
your hands to decide. If you say that we fight and
die on our lands, so be it.' There was utter silence.
Not a word more was spoken. We all arose and started
for our homes, and there we found that in our absence
the soldiers had collected all our women and children
together, and were standing guard over them. The
soldiers got on their horses, went to all the houses,
broke open our doors, took our household utensils, put
them in their wagons, and, pointing their bayonets at
our people, ordered them to move. They took all our
plows, mowers, hayforks, grindstones, farming imple
ments of all kinds, and everything too heavy to be
taken on a journey, and locked them up in a large
house. We never knew what became of them after
wards. Many of these things of which we were robbed
we had bought with money earned by the work of our
hands. They promised us more when we should get
down here, but we have never received anything in
place of them.

"We left in our own land two hundred and thirty-six
houses which we had built with our own hands. We
cut the logs, hauled them, and built them ourselves.
We have now, in place of them, six little shanties,
built for us by the government. These are one story
high, with two doors and two windows. They are full
of holes and cracks, and let in the wind and rain. We

APPENDIX. 137

hear that our own houses which we left in Dakota
have all been pulled down. To show how much tho
tribe have been robbed of we will count the household
possessions of a single one of our families in Dakota
before we came down. Two stoves, one a kitchen
stove and the other a parlor stove, with all the accom
panying utensils, two bedsteads, two plows and one
double plow, one harrow, one spade, two hayforks,
one hand-saw, and one large two-handled saw, one
grindstone, one hay rake, a cupboard and four chairs.
We have now no stoves, chairs, or bedsteads. We
have nothing but our tents, and their contents, com
posed mostly of clothing. The tribe owned two reap
ers, eight mowers, a flour and saw mill. They are
gone from us also. We brought with us twenty-five
yoke of oxen. They all died when we got here, partly
from the effects of the toiisome journey, and partly by
disease. We have not one left. We brought with us
five hundred horses, and bought at different times
after we arrived two hundred more. We have now
been here about two years, and during that time we
have lost over six hundred, mostly by death; some
were stolen by bad men. We have now not one hun
dred left of the seven hundred. Our horses died either
from the effects of poisonous weeds or disease. The
tribe numbered seven hundred when we started. Since
we have been here over one hundred and fifty of my
people have died.

" When people lose what they hold dear to them the
heart cries all the time. I speak now to you lawyers
who have helped Standing Bear, and to those of you
who profess to be God's people. We had thought that
there were none to take pity on us and none to help

138 THE PONCA CHIEFS

us. We thought all the white men hated us, but now
we have seen you take pity on Standing Bear when
you heard his story. It may be that you knew noth
ing of our wrongs, and, therefore, did not help us. I
thank you in the name of our people for what you
have done for us through your kindness to Standing
Bear, and I ask of you to go still further in your kind
ness and help us to regain our land and our rights.
You cannot bring our dead back to life, but you can
yet save the living. My heart thinks all the time of
our dead. I cry day and night for the men, women,
and children who have been killed by this land. My
eyes were heavy with weeping, but when I heard of
your kindness to some of my people I felt as if I might
raise my head and open my eyes to see the coming
light. I want to save the remainder of my people,
and I look to you for help. They cry for their land,
and I want to give them back that of which they were
robbed.

"When I went to see the President, and told him
how we had been wronged, he said that those who did
the deed were gone, and it was among the things of the
past. I now ask the President once again through this
message, which I send to all the white people of this
land, to rectify his mistake. When a man desires to
do what is right, he does not say to himself, 'It does
not matter/ when he commits a wrong.

his

" KHE-THA-SKA, X (White Eagle)."
mark.

EVIDENCE FROM OFFICIAL RECORDS.

All the statements of fact contained in this

APPENDIX. 139

book are fully corroborated by the official re
ports of the Department of the Interior. The
following extracts give a condensed history of
the whole transaction. It is hardly likely that
any will be so bold as to say this evidence is
impeachable, whatever they may say of the
statements of the Indians themselves.

WHAT KIND OF INDIANS ABE THE PONCAST

"The Poncas are good Indians. In mental endow
ment, moral character, physical strength and cleanli
ness of person they are superior to any tribe I have
ever met." — [Report of Indian Commissioner, 1878,
p. 65.J

THE PONCA TITLE.

"Article I. The Ponca tribe of Indians hereby cede
and relinquish to the United States all that portion of
their present reservation as described in the first article
of the treaty of March 12, 1858, lying west of the
range line between townships numbers thirty-two (32)
and thirty-three (33) north, ranges ten (10) and eleven
(11) west of the sixth (6) principal meridian, according
to the Kansas and Nebraska survey, estimated to con
tain thirty thousand acres, be the same more or less.

"Article II. In consideration of the cession or release
of that portion of the reservation above described by
the Ponca tribe of Indians to the government of the
United States, the government of the United States,
by way of rewarding them for their constant, fidelity
to the government and citizens thereof, and with a
view of returning to the said tribe of Ponca Indians

140 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

their old burying-grounds and corn-fields, hereby cede
and relinquish to the tribe of Ponca Indians the follow
ing described fractional townships, to wit: (townships
described in treaty). But it is expressly understood
and agreed that the United States shall not be called
upon to satisfy or pay the claims of any settlers for
improvements upon the lands above ceded by the
United States to the Poncas, but the Ponca tribe of
Indians shall, out of their own funds, and at their own
expense, satisfy said claimants, should any be found
upon said lands above ceded by the United States to
the Ponca tribe of Indians." — [United States Statutes at
large, vol. xiv, page 675.]

HOW THE PONCAS WERE REMOVED.

11 Steps are being taken for the removal of the Poncas
from their present location in Southeastern Dakota to
the Indian Territory. For this removal, conditioned
on the consent of the Poncas, Congress at its last
session appropriated $25,000."— [Report of Indian
Commissioner, 1876, pp. 16, 17.]

DID THE PONCAS CONSENT?

"The title of the old Ponca reservation in Dakota
still remains in the Poncas, they having signed no pa
pers relinquishing their title, nor having violated any
of the provisions of the treaty by which it was ceded
to them by the government. These Indians claim that
the government had no right to remove them from
their reservation without first obtaining from them by
treaty or purchase the title which they have acquired
from the government, and for which they had rendered

APPENDIX.

a valuable consideration." — [Report of Indian Commis
sioner, 1877, p. 101.]

" More than three-fourths of the tribe refused to
leave their old reservation in Dakota, stating, as re
ported to me, that they preferred to remain and die on
their native heath in defence of their homes, and what
they claimed to be their rights in the land composing
the reservation on which they were living, than to
leave there and die by disease in the unhealthy mias
matic country which they claimed had been selected
for them in the Indian Territory." — [Report of Indian
Commissioner, 1877, p. 96.]

FATE OF NORTHERN INDIANS SENT TO INDIAN
TERRITORY.

" The effect of a radical change of climate is disas
trous, as this (the. Pawnee) tribe alone, in the first two
years, lost by death over 800 out of its number of 2,376.
The northern Cheyennes have suffered severely, and
the Poncas, who arrived there in July last, have al
ready lost 36 by death, which, by an ordinary compu
tation, would be the death rate for the entire tribe for
a period of four years. In this connection, I recom
mend the removal of all the Indians in Colorado and
Arizona to the Indian Territory. "^[E. A. Hayt, in In
dian Commissioner's Report, 1877, pp. 5, 6.]

WERE THE PONCAS WRONGED?

" In this removal, I am sorry to be compelled to say,
the Poncas were wronged. They gave up lands, houses,
and agricultural implements. But the removal inflicted
a far greater injury upon the Poncas, for which no

142 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

reparation can be made — the loss by death of many of
their number by change of climate." — [Report of In
dian Commissioner, 1878, pp. xxxvi. and xxxvii.]

WHY IT WAS POSSIBLE TO COMMIT THIS WRONG.

" My predecessors have frequently called attention to
the startling fact that we have within our midst 275,000
people for whom we provide no law. " — [Report of In
dian Commissioner, 1876, p. 9.]

THE COMMISSIONER'S CLAIMS TO ABSOLUTE POWEB
OVER INDIANS REGARDLESS OP COURTS.

i

" The Commissioner of Indian Affairs says with refer
ence to the habeas corpus case at Omaha, M'here a writ
was served on General Crook, commanding him to show
cause why he holds Standing Bear and other Ponca In
dians as prisoners, that the United States district-at
torney has been directed to appear for the United
States and endeavor to have the writ dismissed. He
takes the ground that under the law, and according to
repeated decisions of the Supreme Court, the Indians
stand as wards of the government, and are under the
same relations to the government as minors to their
parents or guardians; that the law forbids them to make
contracts, and such contracts if made by them are void.
No attorney has the right or can appear for an Indiao,
until authorized to do so by the Indian Department." —
[Associated Press telegram, April 10, 1879.]

APPENDX. . 143

INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS.

The Indians have been so long and so con
stantly misrepresented by those whose interest
it has been to rob them, and have had special
facilities for disseminating falsehoods concern
ing them, that it seems only appropriate to close
this little volume with some general statements
which are known to be true by all those ac
quainted with them.

In the first place there never was such a thing
as a nomadic tribe of American Indians. The
Indian is more strongly attached to the spot
where is located his village and graveyard than
any other human being. They have fought al
most to utter extermination, time and again, in
the hope of retaining their lands.

The idea that an Indian is naturally blood
thirsty and delights only in torture and
cruelty, is almost too absurd to deserve con
tradiction. When at peace there are no more
generous, kindly and sympathizing people on
the earth. It is, however, a fact that when they
go to war, they seek to exterminate their ene
mies, and in the rage of battle seldom spare age
or sex.

144 THE PONCA CHIEFS.

It is also a fact, which no person desiring
the truth to be known will question, that for
the last fifteen or twenty years, in nearly
every prominent council which has been held
with the western Indians, they have earnestly
petitioned for schools and farming implements,
and many speeches are on record in the gov
ernment reports protesting against the issue
of rations.

Their leading and most intelligent chiefs
have said time and again, that as long as
rations and clothing were issued to a people
they would not work, and they desired the
rations stopped, and farming implements
issued and schools established in their stead.
Any one can arrive at a just conception of the
Indian who will take for his first premise, that
an Indian is a human being, subject to like pas
sions, desires and ambitions, and adopting the
same mode of reasoning, as the other por
tions of the human race would under similar
circumstances.

The prominent traits of Indian character
are honesty, generosity, gratitude, attachment
to home and country, and love of family and
friends. In speaking of one of their traits of
character, Gen. George Crook, Commander of
the Department of the Platte, says, " The Indian

APPENDIX. 145

in his nature is in one respect the opposite of
the Chinaman. The latter is frugal, even to
abstemiousness, and economical to the verge of
parsimoniousness; the former frequently at
feasts and dances gives away the bulk of his
possessions to needy friends and relatives."*
The cause of all our troubles with them

s*

may be summed up in the words of the
closing paragraph of the above letter. These
words should command the attention of the
American people. Gen. Crook has been among
the Indians for nearly thirty years. He has
by force of character and honesty of purpose
in all his transactions risen from the rank of
Brevet Second Lieutenant to that of Brigadier-
General in the Army of the United States.
There is no man in America so well qualified
to speak upon the subject, and he says of the
Indian:

" When his horses and cattle arc big enough
to be of service, they are driven off in herds
by white renegades; when his wheat and corn
and vegetables are almost ready for the market,
his reservation is changed, and sometimes, as
in the case of the Poncas, he is compelled to
abandon everything. Were we to treat some
of our foreign immigrants in such a manner,

* See letter in New York Triirune, Oct. 16th, 1879.

146

THE PONCA CHIEFS.

it would not take long to turn them into
prowling vagabonds, living by robbery and as
sassination."

Therefore the solution of the Indian prob
lem lies in these propositions: Acknowledge
their manhood and humanity, give them titles
in fee simple to their lands, non-transferraMe
for say twenty years, that tlfeir children may
become accustomed to their new life; stop the
issue of rations, issue to them farming imple
ments, live stock and seeds; extend over them
the common school system; protect them from
wrong by the regular processes of law; punish
the individuals among them who commit crime,
after fair trials in the courts, and not hold the
tribe responsible, make war and kill innocent
persons for the crimes of others; abolish the
traderships; let them sell their products where
they can get the best prices, and buy where
they can buy the cheapest. Then, being equal
before the Jaw, and their lives and property
protected by it, they will rapidly* advance, and
the Indian Bureau can close its accounts.

THE END.

OPINION OF BOSTON^ MERCHANTS.

At a meeting held in the Merchants' Exchange, November
25, 1879, Mr. Edward Atkinson presented the following pre
amble and resolutions, which were unanimonsly adopted : —

Whereas, The Ponca Indians, a civilized and peaceful tribe,
appear to have been unlawfully and unjustly deprived of their
lands, their houses, and their property, and have been banished
from their homes, where they were living in peace, in quiet,
in happiness and prosperity, to a distant land, unfitted to their
wants and unhealthy in its climate ; and

Whereas, This action on the part of our government is
unworthy of a Christian people, and merits the reprobation of
all who love justice and liberty and who hate oppression and
wrong, it is hereby

Resolved, That it is the duty of the government to accord to
these Indians their just and equal rights, and to restore to
them their homes and property.

Resolved, That, in the name of humanity and the high civili
zation that marks this age and ought to characterize this
people, we protest against the policy that has been adopted in
regard to the treatment of the Indian tribes ; a treatment alike
condemned by the justice of God and the laws and sentiments
of a Christian commonwealth.

Resolved, That, while expressing our abhorrence of the
cruelties to which the Ponca Indians have been subjected, im
mediate measures should be taken to secure for them their
legal rights and protection in their persons and property.

Resolved, That the Indians are persons, and, in accordance
with the fundamental provisions of the Constitution of the
United States, that no person within their limits shall be
deprived of l|fe, liberty, or property without due process of
law, should be recognized as such ; that they should be amen
able to law, and possess the rights that are accorded those of
every nationality, race, or color, residing in our land.

All the profits accruing from the sale of
this book at public meetings, held in belialf of
the Indians, will be devoted to securing,
through the regular processes of the courts,
the recovery of the lands taken by force from
the Ponca Indians, and to settling the question,
by a decision of the highest legal tribunal of
the country, whether the life and property of
an Indian can be protected by law.