Shiner Gazette (Shiner, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 15, 1927 Page: 2 of 8
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SHINER GAZETTE, SHINER, TEXAS
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
MERIC AN INDIAN DAY,
which is observed on the
third Friday in Septem-
ber in many states, has
an added touch of inter-
est this year because of
the announced plan for
honoring a great leader
in a new way. Sitting
Bull, the Sioux, is to be made the
subject of a poetry contest to be con-
ducted by Pasque Petals, South .Da-
kota poetry magazine. C. N. Herried
of Aberdeen has offered a cash prize
for the best 40-line poem on Sitting
Bull, to be submitted to the magazine
before December 1 of this year. “From
my viewpoint, Sitting Bull was one of
the truly great among the many no-
table Sioux of the Dakotas, in spite
of the fact that he has been misun-
derstood and maligned.” Mr. Herried
has declared.
There are many students of history
who will confirm Mr. Herried’s esti-
mate. So far history’s verdict on Sit-
ting Bull has been handed down main-
ly by white men who saw in him only
a troublemaker, Irreconcilable to the
fate imposed upon his race by the
white men under the name of civili-
zation. If ever the red man is called
upon to hand down a verdict, he will
probably find in the fact that Sitting
Bull was irreconcilable a kind of ra-
cial patriotism that ,can only be ad-
mired. misguided though it may have
been.
It is doubtful if the name of any
other Indian is so well known to the
average American as is the name of
this warrior and tribal leader of the
Hunkpapa Teton division of the great
Sioux or Dakota confederacy. And a
corollary , to that statement is that it
is also doubtful if there have ever
been told about any other Indian so
many wild tales, and if there has ever
been included in them so much sheer
bunk as have been told and written
about Tatanka Yotanka (Tatanka—
Buffalo Bull; Yotanka—Sitting). Here
are a few of the choice bits of mis-
information that have at one time or
another been given out as fact, and
as such have been accepted by some
so-called historians:
(1) Sitting Bull was a half-breed,
and after receiving a good education
from French-Canadian priests, returned
to his people and “went back to the
blanket.”
(2) Sitting Bull was a graduate of
West Point, who gradually drifted
back into savage life. He had various
solid acquirements, could speak French
like a Parisian, was a close student
of Napoleon’s campaigns, etc., etc.
(3) Sitting Bull was a Mason, knew
the Masonic ritual and lodge work as
well as the emblems and on at least
two occasions saved the lives of white
men, captured by his warriors, because
they wore Masonic emblems
(4) Sitting Bull was commander in
chief of all the Indians at the Battle
of the Little Big Ho)»n where Custer
was Kiuea, ana ne gave to a mission-
ary who had been adopted into his
tribe a complete account of how he
planned the battle which ended so dis-
astrously for the soldiers. This in-
volved placing dummy figures in front
of the lodges in the village to deceive
the soldiers. After thus setting the
stage he retired to the hills with his
warriors, having first sent the women
and children to a place of safety. Be-
fore the soldiers could recover from
th$ surprise at finding the village de-
serted, Sitting Bull fell upon them
from the rear and destroyed most of
them.
(5) Sitting Bull visited West Point
in 1859, there met Cadet Custer, and
such a warm friendship sprang up be-
tween the red man and white that Sit-
ting Bull made Custer his “blood
brother." Accordingly, the day before
the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Sit-
ting Bull called a council, told his war-
riors that they were to fight Custer
the next i day, but that since Custer
was his “blood brother,” they Were
not to harm him. And then the cav-
alry leader foiled the Indian’s kind
purpose by committing suicide when
he saw that all was lost!
From the most authoritative sources
of information available, the patent
absurdities of these statements can be
disposed of as follows:
(1) Sitting Bull was a full-blood
Sioux, born on the Grand river, S. D.,
about 1834, the son of a subchief of
the Hunkpapa, named Four Horns,
who changed his name to Sitting Bull
when he “made medicine” in 1857. As
a boy Sitting Bull (the younger) was
first known as Jumping Badger. When
he was fourteen he accompanied his
father on the warpath against the
Crows and counted his first coup on
the body of a fallen enemy. On the
return of the party his father made
a feast, gave away many horses and
announced that his son had won the
right to be known by his name.
(2) This statement Is too ridiculous
on the face of it to warrant denial. As
for his ability to speak French, it is
possible that he picked up some words
and phrases from French Candian trad-
ers and others with whom the Sioux
came into contact, but more than that
the story of his linguistic ability is
undoubtedly fictitious
(3) Possible but highly improbable.
Neither of the two cases are sufficient-
ly authenticated to be accepted seri-
ously. It may have been mere coin-
cidence that two men whose lives he
spared were Masons. The/e is said to
be a similarity between some of the
secret signs of Masonry and some of
the Indian sign language in universal
use among the Plains tribes and a sim-
ilarity between some of the Masonic
ceremonies and certain Indian cere-
monials. These similarities may have
been one of the origins of this yarn.
(4) The part of Sitting Bull at the
Custer battle Is at best an equivocal
one. Although his being the son of a
subchief would give him some heredi-
tary right to leadership, he had risen
to prominence among the Sioux as a
medicine man and a councillor because
he possessed “accuracy of judgment,
knowledge of men, a student-like
disposition to observe natural phenom-
ena, and a deep insight into affairs
among Indians and such white people
as he came into contact with.” Before
the Custer battle he had predicted a
great victory for the Indians, and at
the opening of the fight he retired to
the hills some distance away and was
there during the engagement. But
there was no especial disgrace at-
tached to Sitting Bull, the medicine
man, doing this. Diplomats and states-
men of other nations who bring about
wars are usually far from the firing
line.
As for “commander in chief of the
Indian forces" there was none in that
battle. An Indian chief’s authority
over his followers was Only nominal,
and of all the thousands of Sioux
(Oglala, Hunkpapa. Brule, Miniconjou,
Sans Arc and Sihasapa) and Northern
Cheyennes on the Little Big Horn that
day, few,' except possibly the members
of Sitting Bull’s Immediate band of
Hunkpapa, would have acknowledged
his authority. The Indian leaders who
were principally responsible for the
tactics which resulted in the defeat of
the Seventh cavalry, were first and
foremost, Gall of the Hunkpapas, and
then Crazy Horse of the Oglalas and
Two Moons of the Northern Cheyennes.
(5) So far as there is any authentic
record, the first visit Sitting Bull ever
paid to the East was in 1868 when he,
Red Cloud of the Oglalas and Spotted
Tail of the Brules went to Washington,
where they were received by President
Grant. If he visited Custer at West
Point or ever had '-any contact with
that officer, it is indeed curious that
Custer himself in his writings, Mrs.
Custer in hers (notably her books,
“Boots and Saddles,” "Following the
Guidon” and “Tenting on the Plains,”
or any of the accurate and painstak-
ing biographers of the leader of the
Seventh, never have mentioned the
fact. So this Incident can be dismissed
as pure fiction, as can Sitting Bull's
instructions that Custer’s life should
be spared. The “Custer suicide” story
has been repeatedly disproved by men
who saw his body soon after the
battle.
In stating that Sitting Bull was
more noted as a medicine man than
a war leader, it should not be sup-
posed that he was lacking in ability
as the latter, even though there has
been some dispute on this point. Col.
James McLaughlin, agent on the
Standing Rock reservation where Sit-
ting Bull spent his last years, has al-
ways maintained that he was a phys-
ical coward, and others have pointed
to his actions at the Custer battle as
evidence of that fact. Dr. Charles A.
Eastman, the noted Sioux author, as
the result of his investigations among
his own race, has recorded several in-
cidents of Sitting Bull’s valor in bat-
tle. and it is reasonable to suppose
that Doctor Eastman could come near-
er getting the truth about Sitting BuH
than any white man.
So a final summing up of Tatanka
Yotanka—and perhaps some of the
entrants in the South Dakota poetry
contest may voice it in their verse—
would write him down as a brave war-
rior in his youth, at a later period
the most sagacious and powerful med-
icine man the Sioux ever had and an
embittered “caged eagle” in his last
years. From the white man’s point
of view he was a malcontent; from
the Indian’s, a patriot. These were
the words of Sitting Bull once when
he was being questioned by an im-
portunate American newspaper man :
‘I am,” said he, crossing both hands
upon his chest, slightly nodding, and
smiling satircally, “a man!”
Man Outdoes the Birds
Factory-made wings have eclipsed
the feathered species. Lindbergh’s
non-stop flight was 3,610 miles The
distance flown by Chamberlin and
Levine is estimated from 3,900 to
4,400 miles. The longest nonstop
flights of birds have been those of
Alaskan plovers from the Aleutian is-
lands to Hawaii, -a distance of 2,400
miles, and the annual migrations of
golden plovers from Newfoundland
and Nova Scotia to the Leeward is-
lands and the northeastern coast of
South America, a distance of 1.700 to
2,200 miles
school educational classes seventy In-
mates received special certificates.—
School Life.
Educating Convicts
Nearly 100 prisoners each year dur-
ing the past four years have enrolled
in courses offered to inmates of Rock-
view penitentiary by the engineering
extension ’department of Pennsylvania
State college. Ten courses were given
during the year Just ended, and at
recent final exercises of the night
Valuable Man
Sweet Thing—Oh. are you retlly an
oil driller? I didn’t suppose a fat
man like you could do that knd oj
work
Driller—The company pays me a
special bonus, lady. You see. when
we strike oil suddenly, all I lave to
do is stick my teg down the hoe, and
she’s capped.
NOT MANY NURSES OF
CIVIL WAR STILL LIVE
Only 46 of 2,000 in Union
Army Survive.
Washington—Nurses who served In
the Civil war, like the heroes to whom
they ministered, are growing fewer as
' the conflict fades into history.
Of 2,000 nurses who served with the
Union forces government records dis-
close the names of but 46 survivors.
The list is admittedly incomplete, for
it includes only those drawing pen-
sions for their service. In Civil war
time army records were kept less care-
fully than today. Many who served
were not mentioned, or were listed
only by first names which came to the
attention of record keepers through
some outstanding act of mercy or
heroism.
Not a Profession Then.
Nursing was not yet a profession in
the '60s. It was the need disclosed
by the war, rather, which brought
about the establishment of the first
schools for training nurses. A great
deal of the burden had to be borne by
the Catholic sisterhoods. Hurriedly
trained volunteers were also recruited.
Many of these had independent
means, others who felt the need of
pensions in later years were unable
to establish records to meet the legal
requirements.
Dorothea L. Dix, who served with-
out pay, headed the government
nurses, under an appointment which
made her superintendent of female
nurses. Many young and eager volun-
teers were rejected by her, but they
found a place in the volunteer- ranks.
These included Clara Harlowe Bar-
ton, who later was to organize the
American Red Cross, and Amelia Bar-
The Confederacy acclaimed Ella K.
Newsom, wealthy and beautiful widow
who spent a fortune In her work, as
“Dixie’s Florence Nightingale.”
The thinning ranks Include some
like Mrs. Wade McClellan, whose
ntime does not appear in the pension
records. She bore her first child at
Gettysburg, Pa., during the battle
there. A month later she entered the
service of the Union as a nurse on
the battlefields. Later she went to
Emery hospital at Washington to
serve. Now, at eighty-six, she lives
in Carroll, Iowa, where she is active
in the Woman’s Relief corps.
Cornelia Hancock Best Known.
Of those on the pension roll prob-
ably the most widely known, judging
from available records, is Cornelia
Hancock, now at Atlantic City. She
was trained at Philadelphia and min-
istered to the wounded at the. front
during the long campaign of the Army
of the Potomac in 1864-65.
Some others on the roll and the
states in which they reside include:
Illinois—Clarissa Crossman, Julia
McCarthy, Irene D. Cook of Chicago;
Addie Emery of Pontiac, Eliza Pyle
of Norris City, Kate McLaughlin of
Quincy, Mary C. Upton of Vera.
Indiana—Mary Brady of Indianapo-
lis, Sister M. de Sales and Sister M.
Paula of Notre Dame, Mary E. Miller
of Logansport.
Wisconsin—Helen B. Cole of She-
boygan Falls.
Michigan.—Rena L. Miner of St.
Charles.
Friends Redeem Goods
of Bankrupt Farmer
Cedar Rapids, Iowa.—A friend in
need is a friend indeed.
Peter Gulbrason, farmer, of Hum-
boldt, had a demonstration of the
truth of the adage recently.
Mr. Gulbrason had not prospered.
There was a mortgage on everything
he owned on his little farm and the
sheriff had advertised a sale to sat-
isfy creditors. Friends of Mr. Gul-
brason heard of his predicament, and
the day of the sale, they assembled on
his farm and bought In his farm goods,
-paid off the mortgage and presented
the paper to him.
He burned it In their presence and
a happy group told Mr. Gulbrason to
start life anew with their best wishes.
Spurned Parents’ Plan,
Now “Big Business” Girl
Charlotte, S. C.—Nancy Alexander
spurned her parents’ plan for her fu-
ture when she decided to leave college
and launch her craft into the stormy
waters of business. She started out as
a stenographer two years ago.
Today, at the age of twenty-one, she
is in charge of a large northwestern
lumber company branch here, with
control of the business in North Caro-
lina, South Carolina, Georgia, Flori-
da, and Alabama.
Not only is she a full-fledged busi-
ness women but she is an exponent of
the idea a business office need not be
in an office building. She has moved
the company’s office to her residence.
Not a Good Mixer
Stroudsburg, Pa.—The champion
nonmixer is William Lacey. Caught
in a big concrete mixer, Into which
he had crawled to make repairs. La-
cey was whirled for three minutes In
the contents of sand, water and ce-
ment, but escaped with some cuts
and bruises.
Outdoor Stage
A new outdoor stage, equipped with
lights, fountains and dressing rooms,
has been built at Montpellier, France,
rt is a gift to the city from Auguste
Bose, now a Paris dramatist and the-
atrical manager, who was born and
aducated in Montpellier.
"What is my
present car worth
in trade?”
OCCASIONALLY you hear a car owner
say: "I’m going to buy such and such a new
car because the dealer has offered me the
best deal on my present car.”
But without understanding the economics of
trade-in transactions, you cannot be sure
that the largest allowance offered means the
best deal fQr you.
These are basic facts:
■fl Your present car has only one fundamental
JL basis of value; i. e., what the dealer who accepts
it in trade can get for it in the used car market.
O Your present car has seemingly different values
to* because competitive dealers are bidding to sell
you a new car.
O The largest allowance offered is not necessarily
the best deal for you. Sometimes it is; some-
times it is not.
A An excessive allowance may mean that you are
■ paying an excessive price for the new car in
comparison with its real value.
First judge the merits of the new car in com-
•3 parison with its price, including all delivery and
finance charges. Then weigh any difference in
allowance offered on your present car.
Remember that when you trade-in your pres-
ent car you are after all making a purchase,
not a sale. You are simply applying your
present car as a credit toward the purchase
price of a new car.
GENERAL
MOTORS
"A car for every purse and purpose ”
CHEVROLET * PONTIAC * OLDSMOBILE r OAKLAND
BUICK , LaSALLE , CADILLAC < GENERAL MOTORS
TRUCKS * YELLOW CABS and COACHES
FRIG1DAIRE—The electric refrigerator
She Knew
Grandma (observing her grandchild
looking at a mirror, in mild rebuke to
the little girl’s mother)—I know
some one who is very v-a-i-n.
Mamma’s Darling—I know what
v-a-i-n spells. It spells pretty!
So long as there is Injustice there
Is liable to be war. Remember that,
pacifists.
Has Eye for Color
A ninety-four-year-old woman re-
cently suggested a color scheme for
the trolley cars of the Baltimore trac-
tion lines, which may be adopted as
the standard. Mrs. Edward Block of
Baltimore suggested the color combi-
nation. "Although I am far In my
ninety-fifth year I still have an eye
for the beautiful things of life,” she
says. ,
A freckled boy never' becomes a Life is one continuous round of un»
smart-aleck. finished business.
Don't dread the Kitchen
s
12 Oz. In Each Standard Package
Dellcious^revery summer meal
Crispy tempting shreds,/health
Served with fruitwhole milk
Some people have perpetual luck in
little things, others in matters of mo-
ment. »
A woman’s idea of economy is to
use an electric stove for the purpose
of cutting down the gas bill.
Fresh Youthful Skin
Maintained by Cuticura
Daily use of Cuticura Soap, with touches of
Cuticura Ointment when required, will do
much to prevent pore-clogging, irritating
rashes, roughness and other unwholesome
conditions of the skin.
Talcum 25c. Sold
“Cuticura Laboratories,
everytliKTe.
i, Dept7*K
Cuticura Shaving Stick 25c.
A Fine Tonic.
Builds You Up
Prevents and Relieves
Malaria-Chills and Fever-DenGuo
i
iWmm
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Habermacher, Mrs. J. C. & Lane, Ella E. Shiner Gazette (Shiner, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 15, 1927, newspaper, September 15, 1927; Shiner, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1144389/m1/2/?rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Shiner Public Library.