Excavation Shows Holt
County Was Once The
Home ot Many Indian*
By J. B. O’Sullivan
(Continued from last week.)
The Indians at the great battle, 01
massacre, of the whites at the Littli
Big Horn, certainly used their heads
The reds were hiden in a grove of cot
tonwood trees beforehand, and wher
the men under Captain Reno made ar
effort at fording the stream so as tc
reach the men of Custer, they were ir
exactly the right position to halt them
and halt them they did. The Rene
men went back and joined the men
under Captain Benteen where every
man had all he could do to save him
self from instant death.
After this massacre, the white sold
iers told tales that rocked the civilized
world. While the Indians at the time
were despised in one way, in another
way they won great respect as gener
als in warfare that in a way brought
to their own homes.
The soldiers said the trap, or what
eevr one calls it, was so qarefully laid
the whites were unable to get a drink
of water while rivers of it tricked
away almost at their feet. Anywhere
they went to quinch their thirst meant
instant death,or at least rifle balls cut
ting within a few inches of their bodies,
Man after man stole along the ground
after water and bit the dust before he
could dampen his parching lips and
tongue.
Among the unusual things report
ed at the battle was that one man,
whom a bullet merely grazed along
his foot, died while another who had. a
bullet through his body from one end
to the other recovered in fine shape.
Those who survived this great ava
lanche of Sioux hatred said they were
astounded when they beheld the re
mains of beloved (leneral Custer and
several hundred men, stretched in
every conceivable position, and every
one but the general mutilated in a cer
tain manner common to most of the
Indiana, who in this case, remarkable
as it sounds, was so respected thu
knife men passed him by as a mark of
respect for his glorious career on the
field of battle.
It is strange to read that the soldiers
credited the Sioux women with muti
lating the white dead, but the men
were given credit for removing the
scalps. The women, in a frenzy of de
light at finding so rich a harvest af
ter their great fighting machine had
done its work, hurriedly removeed the
clothing of the soldiers, cutting off an
entire leg or arm if boot or glove re
fused to yield at the first yank.
The fighting was not history in a
few minutes as may be gleaned when
it is stated the Sioux calmly set about
enjoying themselves with a litle tar
get practice at bodies of the fallen
whites. Here and there one was
raised up and leaned against a tree
or rock und the jokers paced back and
literally crammed their human pin
cushions full of arrows that had been
fashioned from whiskey barrel hoops.
One who claims to have looked
over the battlefield before anything
was disturbed, said that the Sioux
women took everything from the body
of General Custer save his stockings.
As a general, he might have have need
for the foot-pieces, not here, but here
ufter, wandering in the land of clouds
in the vicinity of the Happy hunting
grounds. It does seem strange wild
and untutored Sioux should slaughtesr
a deadly enemy and then turn around
and exhibit even a modicum of res
pect, but the white leader had proved
to them that he was all man and so
they came across with at least enough
respect to desist from mutilating his
helpless body.
There were stories about uenerai
Custer having shot himself to avoid
capture or suffering. Every man who
had anything to do with the battle
field at the time has indicted Custer
met the angel of death face to face
and took his bad medicine as one is
supposed to take it, when it gets
ready for another victim.
The cause of the death of the gen
eral was said to have been several
wounds; a deep onee in his head, one
in his side, and a third almost a foot
in length in the upper part of one of
his legs. Witnesses say they saw no
powder marks on his body, sure to be
in evidence when it is considered that
the only powder used at the time was
the black, smudge-making variety
that often made so much smoke until
around 1890, that a man shooting a
prairie chicken or duck or rabbit had
to run out of it or wait until the air
cleared before he should know whether
he hit his mark or helped the wild
game celebrate their Fourth of July.
The general, many have said, still
had his hair on after the conflict, an
other sterling mark of respect his en
emies paid him even as he lay cold in
the grip of death. They severed every
one of the scalps but his. It is true
his clothing, excepting stockings, was
removed, but he had no further use for
it in the eyes of the savages and so
they made off with that.
The wonder of it all ha* been, and
may continue to be, how in the world
did the Sioux do It? History says
there were several underlying reason*
why the Sioux won so signally. One
of these is said to be that white ras
cals, traders and trappers and care
nothings, had for years made a prac
tice of trading the Sioux the finest
Winchester repeating rifles and oceans
of cartridges for them and that the
white soldiers were equipped only with
an inferior weapon, slow to load,
quickly fouling and little better than
shotguns for the puropse at hand.
That, if true, alone would have won
the battle for the Sioux.
Another commentator on the sub
ject infers that Custer had trained up
as a scout an Indian who never forgot
his blood was Sioux and who plotted
and schemed until he got Custer’s
command to put themselves in a trap
from whence no enemy could hope to
escape.
Some of those who were on the
ground early said they heard the false
scout yarn and that they knew there
had been such an Indian and that
after the battle his body was very
much minus, indicating, they stated,
the man was carefully taken care of
and not killed as were the 263 others,
because he was playing his part and
had safely wormed out of the inferno
at the right time. This Sioux is said
to have informed General Custer he
wanted to join his command because
old Sitting Bull placed a reward on
the head of Custer amounting to sev
eeral hundred horses, and that he
hated that idea against such a great
paleface. If Custer actuully gave
this man a job he did so at the cost
of his own life and those under him,
not knowing which wny the fellow’s
heart beat.
That the Sioux had carefully made
plans to win that battle there is no
question. Take the size of their forces.
From several quarteres it is safe to
place the number of Sioux in the
ranks that day at 4,500, and, counting
women and children, out for the big
duy, it is safe to say there were at
least 15,000. The dead must be rob
bed, the bodies mutilated and a picture
show like that was well worth seeing,
so everyone brought his family,
friends, relatives and acquaintances.
Hoys always hpve wished to get out
and go after Indiuns, bear, a cata
mount or sudden death itself. Sold
iers of that day on the little Big Horn
have left glimpses of how they lived,
and died, their living often being like
prolonged death.
The regulation shoes were heavy, of
extra stitF hide, so much so, in fact,
the soldiers in the field often left
them on for months. Had they re
moved them, after a wetting, they
would have dried in shapes that would
huve prevented them wearing them
again. So they kept them on. Even
at that, the shoes went out of shape
and caused the men to suffer.
The soldiers on such chases at times
were out on the prairie as long as half
u year and there was no chance for
faking enough time out to shave, cut
hair, wash or do any lolling or day
dreaming of some Indian princess in a
fleecy castle while hard and sharp
stone or steel arrows were making a
pincushion of a fellow’s pants.
Other luxuries at this time ure given
as several shirts, only one pair of
pants, and that not arrow proof, one
or two blankets, a coat and the horse
blanket, used under saddles, rare lux
ury for doubling the comforter supply
when the thermometer descended to
around 30 degrees below zero.
When it came to eating, the real
frontiersman had a meal that should
make a boy’s mouth water, for some
thing else. The bread was represent
ed by a creation called hard-tack,
somewhat like hard tacks squeezed
into a hard mass, beans of several
varieties, dry, wet, white, cooked, half
cooked, raw and excited. This was
often eaten with variations of rabbit,
chicken, venison or maybe bear meat
unless the bear decided to have man
steak. And to make matters worse,
the boys saw times when they were
forbidden to light a campfire. That
would be, for instance, when a hot
trail of the Indians was being follow
ed and to make a fire meant a free
hair cut, to say nothing of many close
shaves. In many cases, when flour
issue was made instead of hardtack,
and fire starting was annulled, the
soldiers had to d.ip water from some
cow track, splash in some of the flour,
and gulp it down to keep body and soul
together so you and I may write about
or read of it without danger of a per
manent hair cut.
Always, the enemies were pursued
in great haste during the coldest
weather when a fellow should like to
hole up and brag about what he should
do on the morrow. The reason for
this strange state of affairs is that
the Indians often were in dire straights
during the coldest weather. They had
been kept on the move and were with
ummntimmmmnmmmnmiumm
i: H
Joe McNichols
Democratic Candidate For
Supervisor, 3rd Dist. j
| YOUR SUPPORT AT THE j
PHI M \ If I IS n\ \l (.1 SI It |
WILL HE GREATLY APPKE- j
CIATED.
out many necessities of their way of
living and therefore the more easily
killed or captured. As a famous army
man said, “an army moves on its
belly.” No food, no move. Indians
on the move, harassed on all sides, had
no way to cut grass for use of their
horses in winter. They had little of
anything and that was the time to
talk business to them and the white
leaders knew and praticed what they
knew.
When it comes to the Indian being
merciless to his captives, it must be
remembered that many of the men
the government sent against them
were heartless, often inflicting injus
tices on the enemy, creating a frenzy
of hatred and in turn giving the In
dian a name he never could live down.
General Custer himself is credited
with having directed an attack against
the village of a chief named Black
Kettle, when the people were a-leep,
and of his men killing warri >rs,
women and children without reserve.
Given the proper materials, such as
weapons for use in battle, the Indians
of w'hatver nation appears to have
been able to supply plenty of brain
work to carry out plans. They must
have been thorough-going, either car
rying out any plan or letting the thing
slip to utter ruin. In the instance of
the Little Mig Horn it must be admit
ted the white man did the slipping.
Nearly every nation of the brown
folk had one great institution that is
not well known today and that was the
conclave. Along about the time of
the new moon, in the month of August,
members of a nation gathered and a
great general annual conclave was
started. During the rest of the year
there were lesser conclaves but today
it is of record some of these great
conclaves lasted 30 days nnd that some
of those attending travelled as far as
500 miles to get there. Their con
claves may be likened to our state fair,
the great ones, and the lesser ones
were much on the order of our county
fuir. Those nations practicing agri
culture did just what we do, brought
their finest beans, corn, melons and so
on, and the best of their handiwork,
beaded goods, leather, atone work,
decorated pottery, and their skilled
people had their Contests, one of
which was a contest to see who could
kep the greatest number of arrows in
the air at one time. As far as may
be determined at this time, the best at
this once populur game kept seven in
the atmosphere. Like all other games
there were tricks in doing this. One
of these was that the shooter had his
shafts and arrowheads in seven sizes,
the long one for shooting the highest,
and the smallest trim and light for
rapid handling just before No. one
struck the earth. The arrow compe
| titions were on the first day program
showing who was boss of the con
claves and what they considered ol
prime importance.
Medicine men selected another sitt
for other contests. Most conclave
sites were near some stream or lake
and one reason for this is the fact
great quantities of food was necessary
and part of this must be fish. Fish
then must have been so plentiful there
was no more trouble in getting them
out than the labor of lifting and carry
ing them to the cook.
It is presumed there were many
methods of taking fish. They used
fish-hooks of stone, very much like our
hooks of steel, baited and caught fish
as we do, with hook, line and pole, but
there was a faster method in use for
conclaves and no fish laws to worry
fishermen. A suitable place was
picked out by some one in authority
and there a dam was built by using
stone axes to sharpen tree trunks
which were hammered down deeply in
the bed of the stream. Often the
piling was sharpened by placing the
ends of the logs in a fire, wetting out
the fire at the proper time, then com
pleting the task with the axes. Most
of us should call the men lazy for
doing the job this way, but it might be
they were using their heads as well
as their hands and feet.
The next operation in making this
wholesale fish trap was the placing of
a great amount of brush against the
piling, so thick the water passed thru
but the fish could not. The limbs
were of a certain small size. Here and
there in this dam, small entryways
were made through it. Fish, always
eager to get somewhere else, would
dart and find they were trapped. The
Indians had dip nets and spears, and
either of these implements were used
in removing the fish from the traps.
In several nations the first five, ten
or more fish caught at a new dam of
this nature had great significance and
to show how wise these fellows were
chiefs themselves had the pleasure of
eating them. Well, if they did not,
the bottom might fall out of some
thing; at least they could quickly
satisfy their hunger and make the
others think they had to do it to ward
off something terrible.
At one of these conclaves there were
rich and poor Indians, just as there
are whites today. The lame, halt,
beautiful and homely, the rascal, salt
of the earth, the good and the bad
were there, and one of the ways of
rating one financially was by the num
ber of fine arrowpoints he had. Knives
scrapers, nuggets and beads counted.
Much time and chatter was spent ex
amining this and that and great res
pect was paid the one having the long
est and finest blade, not because they
(Political Advertisement)
y W
C. A. Sorensen
CANDIDATE FOR THE
REPUBLICAN NOMINATION
FOR
GOVERNOR
ABLE, PROGRESSIVE and
INCORRUPTIBLE
A man of Unblemished Personal
Character and Great Courage.
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■I
(Political Advertisement)
■HHBnmos WKmvm'&m*,
HUGO F.SRB
Democratic Candidate for
CONGRESS
THIRD DISTRICT
Native of Nebraska. Resident of
District 34 years.
Graduate Wayne Normal and Uni
versity of Nebraska Law College.
Served two terms as State Sen
ator. Sponsored bill repealing old
and obsolete laws.
Advocates SOUND and ADE
QUATE circulating medium of Ex
change.
The best test of Qualification Is
Service In the past.
thought perhaps he might attempt to
show how easily and neatly it pene
trated flesh, but because the possessor
was considered very rich.
(Continued next week.)
M. E. CHURCH NOTES
The pastor is back from a short
vacation and full time services will be
resumed Sunday morning and evening.
Next Sunday morning at eleven
o’clock the Rev. Paul M. Hillman, dis
trict superintendent, will preach. We
hope there will be a large congrega
tion to hear him.
Sunday afternoon at 2 o’clock the
fourth qquarterly conference w'ill be
held. Reports from all church depart
ments will be made and a delegate and
alternate to the annual conference will
be elected. This will be a congre
gational meeting and all members of
the church are invited.
Sunday evening the Epworth
Leagues will meet at 7 and there will
be preaching service at 8.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Sunday School 10:00—R. M. Sauers,
superintendent.
Morning Worship 11:00—“The Di
vine Circuit.”
The pastor is back for the years
work, praying and hoping for a most
--—»
A. L. BORG
Republican Candidate For
Sheriff of Holt County
.
A Native of Holt County. 36
Years of Age. A World War
Veteran.
^our Support Will Be Sincerely
Appreciated at the Primaries,
August 14th.
helpful and glorious season. The un
fortunate delay on the return trip
from Michigan caused considerable re
gret and inconvenience. Perhaps with
doubled effort we can regain the I093
so sustained.
H. D. Johnson, Pastor.
Wemyss: Do you kno wany reliable
rule to figure the cost of living?
Powys: Yes. You take your in
come for the year, whatever it is, and
add 25 percent to it.—Pathfinder.
Wife: This railway waiting room
is very cold. I am frozen.
Husband: Then go and sit under
the summer time table.—Lustige
Koelner Zeitung, Cologne.
(Political Advertisement.)
CAMPAIGNING
FOR YOUR VOTE
for the office of Sheriff of Holt
county at the Primaries, August
14th, on the Democratic Ticket.
A resident of our county for
many years, several years ex
perience in Marshal and Con
stable offices, and I understand
the duties and obligations of the
office for which 1 am now a can
didate.
YOUR SUPPORT
SINCERELY APPRECIATED
F. P. MURPHY
Candidate For Sheriff
(Political Advertisement) (Political Advertisement)
|illl!ll!lil!l!llllllllllll!llllllllll!lllllllllll!lllllllllllll!llllllllll||||||||HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!l||||||||||||l!llllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!l!llllllll!ll!lll!l!lllllllllllllll!lllll(l!lllll!llllll
1 JOHN P. SULLIVAN
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR
County Assessor
As I will be unable to see all of my friends personally, I am taking
jj this means of soliciting your support. I am an early resident of Holt
jj county. Have had experience as precinct assessor, as a farmer and
jj taxpayer. I stand for lowest taxes possible and Strict Economy.
=r
| YOUR SUPPORT WILL BE SINCERELY APPRECIATED AT THE
PRIMARIES AUGUST 14TH
^lll!llllllll!lllllllllllllll!lllllllllllllllilllll!llllllllllllllllllllllll!lllllll!lllllllil!ll!lllllillllllllllll!llillll!IIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!lllllllllllllllll!il!IIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIH
(Political Advertisement) (Political Advertisement)
^l!llllllllllllllll>!lll!llllllllllllllllllllll|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||l!lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!llllllllll!lllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!lllllllllllillll!lll
LUELLA A. PARKER
Candidate For
County Superintendent
H ___________
Since the duties of my office will prevent my talking with each of
|j you personally, I take this method of soliciting your support for my
'jj re-election to the office of .County Superintendent.
My wide acquaintance over the county, my intimate knowledge of
jf each district and its problems, my personal acquaintance with each
jj teacher and pupil in the county, I feel, especially qualified me for this
§j office.
I am thoroughly acquainted with school problems from every
H angle, I believe. This knowledge having been acquired from actual
s experience, not only in this office, but as a parent and tax payer. From
= experience, I know the problems a parent faces in his effort to educate
his children, also the difficulties a tax payer meets in trying to pay his
H taxes during these strenuous times.
No doubt, I have made mistakes, but I have at all times tried to
M run this office as economically and as efficiently as possible. I have
jj tried to be fairminded and just to everyone.
Our children are, after all, our most precious possessions, our
g citizens of tomorrow. The world does not owe them a living, but it
g most certainly does owe them an opportunity to so fit themselves to
jj enable them to make their own living when they grow up, so that they
jj may not become dependents upon their county and state.
Would a change in this office just now, during this period of econ
jj omic unrest, be a wise thing? Think it over carefully.
I deeply appreciate the hearty good-will and fine cooperation you
g have all shown me. I thank you most sincerely. If you feel that I have
g discharged the duties of this office efficiently, and that I can continue to
jj give you good service, I would appreciate your support toward my
jj re-election to the office for another term.
A SENSATION!
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I Knock Proof - - Regular Price
Gasoline at its Best!
MELLOR MOTOR COMPANY
Phone 16 O’Neill, Nebr.