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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 1907)
The Omaha Sunday Bee PANT III. otworfb rr THE OMAHA DEE Best & West IIALF-TOIIE SECTlQil PAOKS 1 T VOU XXXVII NO. 9. OMAHA, SUNDAY MOKNIXO, AUGUST 18, 1907. S1XULE COPY FIVE CENTS. GEORGE W. DOANE LAWYER IN EARLY DAYS OF THE WEST Man Who Has Eeen Upholding Law Since the Thrilling Times of Frontier LifeWhen Daring Deeds Were Wrought by Reckless Rascals and Adventurers of Various Types "IV THE transplanting of the Pilgrims from civilized and law abiding England to the bleak and savage New England shores was scarcely less abrupt than the translation of a young lawyer from the sedate community of Circle- 1 Tllle, O., to the territory west of the Missouri river In x ISO 7. "George W. Doane had grown up in Circleville, where he was" born December 16, 1824. He attended a private school and grad uated from Marietta college in 184 5. Then he read law In his father's office, and was admitted to the bar at Columbus in 184 8. Entering partnership with his father, be practiced in his native, town for nine years. He was 33 years old when he first cast longing eyes toward the west. .He was doing well enough as things went In Circleville, but he saw a wider prospect, a more extensive horizon beyond the Missouri. He went to Chicago on business, and there the charm of the west got complete hold of him. He notified his father that he was going on a prospecting trip. In search of those good things which he believed were waiting to be dug out of the west by ,tho man with the energy and courage to go after them. Arriving in St. Louis, he took a boat bound up the Missouri river. The boat stopped at the several settlements along that stream. Kansas City then, was a small hamlet snuggled under a high bluff. Independence was a wore promising place. s At Leavenworth the young man found the most activity. Kansas . had been literally "bleeding" for many years. It had been a place of lynch ings, murder, duels, outrages of every description, perpe trated by those people who sought to make it a slave state and by those who wanted It free. From this period of unreBt and war It wu Jnrt emerging . The young man stopped In Leavenworth, at the Planters' hoine, a frame structure which did not uphold the dignity of Its high-sounding name. The hotel was crowded and there Were half, ft dnzpn hiwla In thk pnitm vhurn ho aloT-tt Tha next morning when he arose he found one of his roommates, dress ing. He was a small smooth-faced man of quiet demeanor. While they were dressing the conversation led to the recent troubles. Meets Kansas Bad Men "I've been reading about what a tenor this man Strlngfellow was," said young Doane. His companion, who was washing his face, smiled, reached for a towel, aned then said: "I'm General Abel." "You!" exclaimed young Doane. "Why," then you are the right hand man of Strlngfellow. ' "Yes," said the' other, "but we're not as bad as they make us out to be." They went down stairs together and Abel Introduced Doane to General Strlngfellow, who was a man of opposite temperment from Abel. He was small, gray-headed, alert, active, talkative and a "fire eater." "Well, I certainly thought from what I- read that you had horns," said Judge Doane, as they shook hands. The little general looked at him. "Why," Bald the gcnernl. ripping out a long string of oaths, "I'm a vestryman In the church." The first e'octlon in which the free soil party was victorious took place while Judge Doane was in Leavenworth. Some fighting marked the event and one man was killed- at the polU. From Leavenworth the young lawyer proceeded to Omaha, where his cousin. Dr. Thrall, was practicing medicine. He intended only -to pay him a short visit. He arrived in Omaha April 18, 1857. He had been In the city less than ten days when a party of young men asked him to Join them In an expedition to lay out a townsite be tween Decatur and Teekamah. He did so. The country through which they- passed was entirely unsettled, save for an occasional log cabin. The fourteen young men on the expedition boarded nd "bunked" with a German named Lang. His menu consisted exclusively of bacon, flapjacks and coffee, and the floor of the cabin provided one large bed for the entire party. "But I n,ever enjoyed life more than I did that summer," saye Judge Doane, J .' ' '-i.-' . .. - If , . ' "VtT'v". I ' J " V -V-. , .. - ' . ; , ' ' 1 I - ' . . y, v , v ' ; , v f I V - V. "P'- ' - ' y. , t'.V-V ' I t - :;' ' ':-r ft )x ' I "' ' ' I ' ' fMS dockets and the sheriff who would build the scaffold and spring th trap which would launch him Into eternity danced merrily that lilght to the notes drawn by the murderer from that fiddle. ; H made no attempt to escape and remained In Jail all that winter. But one fine spring morning the sheriff found the Jail broken and the prisoner gone. We never heard'of.hls again." J-i jRe Doane was elected to the territorial council In 1658. At n men b : f the Judiciary committee of that body, he prepared and wns la.": . ..- instrumental In having adopted the code of civil pro cedure whlth was bo perfect that It Is still In force, substantially without any change. He was re-elected district attorney In 1859. nd continued in that position until the office was superseded bf the oliice of prosecuting attorney In each county. During one of his trips east he hHd stopped In Keokuk, la., where he met a young woman who, In October, 1859, became hla They made their wedding to Dakota county, where GEORGE W. DOANE. place for a dance and general frolic. We always accepted such chances with great alacrity for things were so quiet that any Hewent across the river Into Iowa one day to get fresh meat. chance of stirring up a little fun waa not to be lost. But when . i t . . - . . . ' . WA lnolrorl ov.Aun.1 c.m.v.n 1. a iL .1 . "So we all went out In a great big bob-sleigh. The night was bitter cold, but we were well bundled up. And there among that W" She wns Miss Emily R. Greenhow. t : a buggy, going across country n as meeting. ige Doahe was attorney for the Omnha Indians. Whenever they p m! a grievance against the white man, he waa summoned to the council tepee and there, seated cross-legged in the circle oC chiefs and medicine men, he listened for hours to the Impassioned oratory of the red men. "Their principal orator," says Judge Doane, "was a man they called White Cow. He was a remarkable orator, a real pleader. H possessed the deep resentment of the patriot who really feels th wrongs of his people. His thoughts were of remarkable depth, and some of the sentiments which he voiced were such as are "generally Bttributed only to the highest civilizations. 1 had to learn what h said through an. interpreter, but it spoiled only a little In th translating. White Co always wore a narrow, dark band across hli upper lip and tied behind his head. It matched the color ol hla skin. I asked why he wore It and they told me he had been hurt in a quarrel in which he had shown the white feather of cowardice. The scar on his. upper Hp had been received in that fight and he was ashamed of it. While the tribe allowed him to do the oratory. be was despised by them as a coward." Was Attorney for the Indians Judge Doane knew Peter A. Sarpy well and also his Indian wife, I Mary. The latter, he says, was a handsome woman and there seemed to be a deep attachment between her and Sarpy. He brought her with him pn his trips up to his branch trading post at j Decatur, whither he came once a year, Just after the Indiana re ceived their money from the government. Judge Doane was attorney for Henry Fontenelle In the prosecn , tlon of Louis Neal, a Ponca half-breed, who killed Tecumseh Fontenelle. The latter waa the heir apparent of the chleftancy of the tribe and a great favorite. Henry Fontenelle Immediately Insisted on murdering Neal to avenge his brother's death. But Neal wae arrested and hurried to Omaha for safe keeping in the hands of United States Marshal Woodv Henry Fontenelle Insisted on goln along to see that Neal did not escape, and Judge Doane accom-( panled Henry to see that he did not take summary vengeance, on the murderer of his brother. At Decatur the hotel accommoda-i tlons were poor and, to make matters worse, Henry found an unpro- tected fountain of firewater somewhere and came away from it de- determined to kill Neal. , It required the combined efforts of all tae officers to dissuade Henry from his fel purpose of vengeance. 'i Judge Doane was elected prosecuting attorney of Douglai 4 county in 1865, was elected to the territorial council again in 186 'y nn a inon' T -too & m m nnti f and to the state senate in issj. ana .. " - partisan candidate for Judge of the Third Judicial district and wa;i elected by a large majority. He was re-elected in 1891. M Today, in his eighty-third year, Judge Doane Is In remarkabV ( good health. This he attributes partjy to the fact that he has nev f smoked and baa always taken much exercise. He still takes lony ' dally walks about the city. Two years ago he fell on the Icy pavf He could have bought any amount of the land on the river bottom for. 12 Vt cents an acre. It was then designated "swamp land" and the Income from It was used by the state for public improvements. Today ihls land bears the world's finest crops and it could not be bought for $100 an acre, . ' Attorney for Big District v So charmed was' Judge Doane with the beautiful land lying on the slope of the bluff In Burt county that he bought a tract of 820 acres and the other young men helped him erect a log cabin on It He established hla residence there. In the late summer of that same year, and before he had lived In the territory three months, he was nominated district attorney for the district extending from the north line of Douglas county north to Canada and. west to the Rocky mountains. Washington, Burt. Dixon, Cedar and Dakota counties were the principal part of this great district, the p6rtlon beyond that being unsettled. , That was an odd election, .fudge Doane conducted a vigorous campaign, malnpr of the "buttonhole" type, for the population was too scattered to get together an audience of any size. After the elec tion, which took place the second Monday In August, he returned to Ohio. The result of the election was not known for three months. In the outlying districts the votes were counted and the result was marked down and kept until such time as someone should make a trip Into the nearest settlement Judge Doane was still In Ohio when notified of hla election. He returned to Nebraska at once and established his residence at Decatur, where he erected an office residence. He purchased the lumber from a river steamer. It waa white pine, not cottonwood, like most of the other build ings. The house measured sixteen by thirty feetv In front of It hung a board, on which was traced In rude letters, "O. W. Doane, lawyer and district attorney." , Eleaier Wakeley had been appointed Judge for this district. He and Judge Doane had met on the steamer at Leavenworth and had there begun that friendship which has lasted throughout their lives. Now they were associated In the work of this judicial dls-' trict and made the circuit together. The courts In that day had to be held in all sorts of Impro vised places, as there were no court houses. Hotels, private houses, atores and in one case a room over a saloon generally dedicated to cards and dice, were utilised as temples of justice. Sometimes the Inil.a hut a rhktr in alt nn and inmatlmri thn Inrih'lal hnnch was a box. v Men did not try to get excused from Jury service then. The pay of $2 a day was considered very good. The best men In the rrltorv were secured for the service. And still thev often dis played remarkable Ignorance of court procedure. Court in the New Country "We were holding court at Ponca, in Dixon county," says Judge Doane. "The prisoner was charged with shooting with In tent to kill.' We threshed It through all day aud late in the after noon the judge charged the Jury. They went out and were not In at the end of three hours. Then we went home. About 11 o'clock the bailiff came and said the Jury had asked for further instructions. The Judge went over. Candles were lighted and the jury was brought in. The foreman stood up. 'Judge,' he said, 'we have all agreed that this man Is Innocent, but this one fellow here. He saya be pleaded guilty, and therefore, he thinks we hadn't ought to find him innocent. We want some further Instructions.' Judge Wakeley gave them their instructions in no mild terms. "An odd Incident occurred during the first year I was district attorney. When I look back now it appears almost gruesome. Way were at Fort Calhoun at Christmas time, when a man living about ' three mile from town Invited a lot of people to come out to his . - we looked around among our number, we found that there was not a Ingle person who could play the fiddle for the dancing. This was an appalling discovery under the circumstances. I remember Sheriff MacNealy was in the party when we dismissed the ques tion. Suddenly, he said: " 'There's that fellow we've got locked up for murder.' "Thla man had been In the Improvised Jail at Calhoun awaiting trial since fall. We looked doubtfully at each other as we con sidered having this criminal at our party to play 'for the dance. Such a thing had never been done before. But It was either take the murderer or have no dance. The sheriff appealed to Judge Wakeley, who replied that the sheriff would have to take the responsibility. The sheriff proved game enough to do it and the murderer was g.me enough, too. merry making crowd, between the sheriff and another big man, sat, ment and broke his hip. Doctors said he could never recover,, thi he over whom the shadow of the gallows fell.. He was a Jolly fellow, however, and took his share In the merrymaking -and the Jests both on the way to and from the farm and atthe frolic. Murderer Plays at Dance "The dance, too, was an unique sight There sat the prisoner on a little raised platform, playing the fiddle with all the life and abandon possessed by the genuine country fiddle player. And to the notes he drew from the violin danced the judge who might in a few weeks pronounce the death sentence upon him. To those notes, too, danced the district attorney, who in a short time might plead before the jury to find him guilty and decree that he should die. The clerk of the court, who would enter the fatal decree In the V. a tyi ii of anon ii thA ri,at of hla life in bed. But three months aft uv 4j,IUUW J 1' the accident he was walking about with a cane, and In four montl the limb was as good as ever. Like his friend and colleague, Judg Wakeley, he likes a Joke and a funny story and possesses a welj developed sense of humor. The two are still great cronies, an except for the white hairs they are as thorough boys as ever. 1 Judge and Mrs. Doane have five children. Mrs. Cora A. Kellf j lives at Twenty-first and Cass streets, just across the alley from tH fine home of her parents at Twenty-first and Chicago streets; Mh! Daisy Doane, society editor of the World-Herald, lives at home; Cayi tain W. G. Doane Is Judge advocate of tne Department of the Mlf souri, United States army; Guy R. Doane is in the paymaster's di ' partment. United States army, at Portland, and George W. Doan 'i. lives in New York City. ) : -ki Sioux Chiefs No Longer Wield Their Tribal Power THE long-time power of Sioux Indian chiefs over the members of their tribe has been crushed " forever. Today 'a mysterious chief in feathers and war paint lacks the convincing authority by which he one time ruled his fellow reds. It was at an old-fashioned celebration on the Rosebud reservation In South Dakota that the United States government dealt an effective blow to the magic wand of the tribal leaders. Not until the old warriors, resenting with all their vigor the loss of their control, had gathered the Sioux about them and laid plans to murder the federal officer who bad proclaimed the Washington government mightier than that of any red man, did they finally surrender. But when they saw uniformed police coming over the hill to place them In the guard house the chieftains of a by-gone day, broken before the eyes of their followers, climbed Into wagons and drovi away In flight. It , was an epoch In the history of the American red man another milestone in his flight toward the setting sun, with white men at his heels. It was at Rosebud Indian agency, out on the prairies of South Dakota, that this clash of au thority took place between tribal government and federal power. Sioux and their guests from a number of distant reservations had gathered at Rosebud agency for an annual celebration. They had gathered with the consent of Major Kelly, the Icdian agent, upon condition that they would not attempt to carry, out any of their old-time barbarous dances, such as the Sun -dance and the Give-Away ceremony. Weeks and months In ad vance the chiefs had promised and word went forth to all the tribes, scattered in hundreds of camps out upon the prairies, that the feast would be held. To the number of 5,000 they had as sembled. But the Indian chiefs failed to keep their promise. Before many hours had gone by they began preparations for their Give-Away perfor mance. As far back as they can remember the American Indians have held a Glve-Away feast once each year, at which time they would give away to their friends and neighbors of the plains everything they possessed. They would give away their horses, their wagons, their beads, their wives. Under the excitement of the ceremony nothing was immune for their spontaneous gen erosity. All things of value went to somebody else. As a result many of them were left without conveyance In which to get back to their camps, without anything whatsoever of value. 'And it was this ceremony which the Rosebud Sioux this summer promised to abolish. Major Kelly found several acres of ground heaped up with bright-colored cloth, beads, sad dles, wagons and horses. The Glve-Away was about toi begin. He sent Immediate word by his Indian police that the ceremony must cease. The chiefs who had promised to abandon the Glve Away approached and began to argue. They begged and pleaded of the federal official not to interfere. His answer was a shake of the head. Like so many children, the chiefs of the Sioux persisted in their teasing. Then the agent or dered the last one of them to Immediately with draw from the celebration grounds. The federal order that Sioux Indian .chiefs depart from the celebration of their own tribe was received with mutterings. Major Kelly re turned to his office and the assembled 5,000 In dians gathered about in their rage to discuss the outrage. 'They determined to descend upon the agent and take his scalp. Word of this threat came to bis ears and the agent sent a messenger to tell the' chiefs that unless they had left the grounds by the time his police arrived they would be locked in the guard house. Shctly afterward Msjor Kelly sent a half dozen of bis Indian police, proud of their stripes, -to see that all want well In the camp. The chiefs of the tribe, when they saw police approaching over the hill, leaped into their wagons, applied the lash to their harnessed horses and disappeared in clouds of dust. Along with the Glve-Away feast has disap peared from Indian life the Sun dance, In which they fastened knives into their bodies, tied the knives to poles by means of ropes and then pulled back in order to demonstrate their physical courage. There has been a persistent effort on the part of the government for years to discour age and check the old barbarous customs and to some extent these efforts have been successful. Children of the reds are now prohibited from watching the war dances, In which the old Indians feign war, pretending to attack and scalp their enemies and entering into the spirit' of the stage battle as though it were real. But some of the old customs remain In spite of education and in spite of the government. The Indians are still strangers to cleanliness and to work. More than that, they refuse to be intro duced. Sioux braves Insist upon the women doing the work, whether they own one wife or three." The rquaws saddle the horses, harness the teams, prepare the camp fires and do the driving. The stronger mates help In the feasting and enjoy clgaretit-s. Cigarettes, however, are enjoyed Im partially; by squaw and brave. - The young red man clings to the custom of stealing his bride. Lying In ambush outside the door cf her home, he waits until the fair maiden steps outside, and then, quickly seizing his chosen queen, he hurls the bride upon' his horse, springs to the saddle behind her and gallops away over the prairies. This is his native marriage ceremony, though the government compels him, when In formation is at hand, to go Into the agency and get a legal marriage certificate. The old custom of weird and fantastic names for the Indians Is still clung to. The names are applied In connection with some peculiar Incident of the person's life and many Sioux are found who have had two or three different names at various times In their careers. The chief over all the Rosbud Sioux goes under the name "Two Strike." Among the names are found Girl Bear Head, Benny Black Mountain Sheep, George Runs Clobe to the Village, Catches the Prisoner, Elk Looks Black and the like. ITncleanllness and Indians lie down side by side to sleen at night and at sunrise they eat breakfast off the same table. They never fake the trouble to wash their dishes and theresult Is not an appetizing one to contemplate. Soup enr is their chief relish, though steaks sliced from the flanks of a shepherd dog are feasted upon when- ever the shepherd dog Is at hand. Any sort of a cur will bring a dollar in the reservation, that being the market price established for this deli cacy. Prairie dogs, too, like rats or ground squirrels, are much enjoyed. It matters not what may have caused aa ani mal's death so far as the Indian's menu card la concerned. A dead cow, victim to tuberculosis or other disease, is picked from the prairie with great glee and devoured at a feast. , There la one exception, however, to thisv rule. , An animal killed by lightning Is shunned as though It bodied the spirit of the devil. Most of the Indians of today camp out on the plalus as their forefathers did a century ago, save thai today the government canvas home instead of the old-fashioned tepee offers shelter. Many of the tribe, however, live In little one-stor log cabins a doien persons to the room. And It Is here In these little huts, with no ventilation,' that disease lb an everlasting guest. . According to a reservation physician, about three-fourths of the American Indiana of today' are perforated with tuberculosis. Renuted toh strong and hardy, the red man of today is fco - -cidedly the contrary. As a penalty for his sJ induleence. for his idleness and tnr hi. iv. J t - . uili; ml ' unsanitary methods of living, poor Lo la for the most part today on the hospital list, if not In the hospital, and his long stride Is leading rapidly toward the cemetery. You may meet a stalwart brave today, ap parently the picture of health; two weeks from today his cheeks may be follow, his eyes sunken and hit coffin about ready to receive his shell. The white plague attacks not only the grown ups, bnt the little Indian boys and girls as well, t and many of them are dying each month aa a result of Its fangs. It Is noj all pulmonary tuber culosis that camps out with the Indians. Its brother, tuberculosis of other vital parts, nlava an equally fatal part In the taking off of the American aborigine. In many Instances surgical (Continued on Page Four.), r