The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1903-07 - 1903-08

              The Word Carrier.
VOLUME   XXXII.
HELPING    THE   BIGHT.   EXPOSING   THE   WRONG.
NU.Y1HEK  4.
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
JULY-AUGUST, 1903.
FIFTY CENTS PEE YEAB.
our platform.
For Indians we want American Education! We want American Homes!
We want American Rights! The re-
sidt of which is American Citizenship !
And the gospel is tlie Power of God for
their Salvation!
MEMOKIAl  SERVICES  AT HAZEL-
WOOD   AND   YELLOW
MEDICINE.
Dakota Indian Presbytery held its
spring meeting April 17-20, with the
Indian church of Pejutazee, iD the
small Indiau settlement near Granite
Falls, Minn.
Granite Falls is only a few miles
from tbe old mission stations of Yellow Medicine and Hazlewood, where
Drs. Thomas S. Williamson and Stephen R. Riggs labored so many years, and
from which they had to flee for their
lives with little more than tbe clothes
on their backs, during tbe Minnesota
massacre of 1862.
It being just forty years since that
eventful day in its history, DakotaPres-
bytery took occasion to arrange for memorial services to be held by the pres-
byterv on the old mission grounds. • It
was on the afternoon of April 18th
that the presbytery iu a body visited
each of the old stations. First they
visited Dr. Riggs' station Hazlewood,
where once stood his residence, the
Hazlewood Boarding School for the
accommodation of twenty pupils,—at
ihat time the only boarding school
simong all the Dakotas, aud the Hazlewood chapel. They found the old site
now in the middle of a wheat field,
with the wheat just springing through
the ground. The Presbytery gathered in a circle on the spot where once
stood the chapel, and surrounded by
ether Indians, called upon the God
whom the fathers of the Presbytery
had once worshipped on that ground,
to bless the seed sown by them there,
and cause it to spring up now with
ihe freshness and beauty of this early sown wheat. Afterwards tbey visited Yellow Medicine station, where
tood Dr. Williamson's residence and
chapel, which tbey found within a
pasture field,, and-as before gathered in memory of him on the spot
where Dr. Williamson had so many
years proclaimed the word of God.
At each place they sang a hymn
composed by the missionary who had
labored where they stood, and listened to a few remarks from some one
4 who had been associated with him
in the work there, and as the minds
of all were taken back to those try-
<ing days, while prayer was being
offered many old people, men and
women, watered the springing grain
with their flowing tears.
Then after their return to the
present Indian church, Presbytery
■spent the evening in a more elaborate memorial service. Eev. John P.
Williamson, son of Dr. Williamson,
presided. Henoch Mabpiyahdinape,
whose father, Wamdiokiya, was the
principal helper of Drs. Williamson
and Riggs in learning the Dakota
language, told the story of the first
coming of the missionaries to the
Dakota land, 67 years ago. Wan-
mditanka (Big Eagle) one the chiefs
at Redwood, Minn., in 1862,—now a
member of Flandreau Indian church,
told of the commencement of the
Minnesota massacre at Redwood, the
Saving of George Spencer, and many
other incidents. Then Adam Pazi,
dow an elder in the church  of Pa-
jutazee, in 1862 a member of Dr.
Williamson's church told the story
of the excitement among all classes,
and the rage of the raving insurgents at that time; and how a few
of the Christian Indians stood watching, and helped the missionaries to
escape, if only with their lives.
As the Presbytery heard the story of those dark days, in which the
little flocks, gathered and watched
oyer with so much care by the old
missionaries, were like the ashes of
the houses in which the missionaries lived, scattered to the winds in
a day; and contrasted it with the
present day of joy and hope when
26 churches with 1,500 members are
with faith in God's help pushing
on the work of the salvation of
the 30,000 Sioux, their tears of joy
were added as thanks were returned to God for his saving grace.—
John P. Williamson, in tlie Western
Presbyterian.
THE  INDIAN MEDICINE  MAN.
All tribes have their physicians
who are also medicine (or mystery)
men. These professional gentlemen are worthies of the highest
order in all the tribes. They are
regularly called and paid as physicians to prescribe for the sick; and
many of them acquire great skill in
the medicine world, and gain much
celebrity in their nation. Their
first prescriptions are roots and
herbs of which tbey have a great
variety of species; and when these
have all failed, their last resort is
to "medicine," or mystery; and for
this purpose each one of them has
a strange and unaccountable dress,
conjured up and constructed during
a life time of practice, in the wildest fancy immagmable, in which
he arrays himself, and makes his
last visit to his dying patient,—
dancing over him, shaking his
frightful rattles, and singing songs
of incantation, in hopes to cure
him by a charm.
You may have read of the witch
of Endor—or you may imagine all
the ghosts, and spirits, and furies, that ever ranked amongst the
"rank and file" of demonology;
and yet you must see my painting
of this strange scene before you
can form a just conception of real
frightful ugliness and Indian conjuration—yes, and even more : you
must see the magic dress of this
Indian "big bug" placed upon the
back of some person who can imitate the strides and swells, the
grunts, and spring the rattles of
an Indian magician.
He approached the ring with his
body .in a crouching position, with
a slow and tilting step—his body
and head were entirely covered
with the skin of a yellow bear, the
head of which (his own head being
inside of it) served as a mask; the
huge claws of which also were
dangling on his wrists and ankles;
in one hand he shook a frightful
rattle, and in the other he brandished his medicine spear or magic
wand; to the rattling din and discord of all of which, he added the
horrid and appalling grunts, and
snarls, and growls of the grizzly
bear, in ejaculatory and guttural
incantations to the Good and Bad
Spirits, in behalf of his patient;
who was rolling and groaning in the
agonies of death,  whilst  he was
dancing around him, jumping over
him,  and   pawing   about  him  in i
every direction.    In this wise, this !
strange   operation   proceeded   for
half  an hour,  to the  surprise  of
the numerous and death-like silent
audience, until the man died, and J
the medicine man  danced off to
his quarters.
This dress (of tbe medicine man)
in all its parts is one of the greatest curiosities in the whole collection of Indian manufactures. It is
the strangest medley and mixture
perhaps of the mysteries of the animal and vegetable kingdoms that
ever was seen. Besides the skin of
the yellow bear (which being almost an anomaly in that country is
out of the regular order of nature
and, of course, great medicine, and
and converted to a medicine use),
there are attached to it the skins
of many animals, which are also
anomalies or deformities, which
render them in their estimation
medicine; and there are also the skins
of snakes and frogs and bats,—
beaks and toes and tails of birds,—
hoofs of deer, goats and antelopes;
and, in fact, the odds and ends,and
tails and tips of almost everything
that swims, flies or runs in this
part of the wide world.
George Catlin.
THE INDIAN MEDICINE BAG.
The medicine bag is a mystery
j bag; and its meaning and importance necessary to be understood,
as it may be said to be the key to
Indian life and Indian character.
These bags are constructed of the
skins of animals, of birds, or of
reptiles, and ornamented and preserved in a thousand different ways
as suits the taste or freak of the person who constructs them. These
skins are generally attached to some
part of the clothing of the Indian, or
carried in his hand—they are oftentimes decorated in such a manner
as to be exceedingly ornamental to
his person,- and always are stuffed
with grass, or moss, or something
of the kind; and generally without
drugs or medicines within them,
as they are religiously closed and
sealed, and seldom, if ever, to be
opened. I find that every Indian
in his primitive state, carries his
medicine bag in some form or
other,to which he pays the greatest
homage, and to which he looks for
safety and protection through life—
and in fact, it might almost be
called a species of idolatry; for it
would seem in some instances, as if
he actually worshipped it. Feasts
are often made, and dogs and
horses sacrificed, to a man's medicine, which he imagines he has in
some way offended.
The manner in which this curious
and important article is instituted
is this: a boy at the age of fourteen or fifteen is said to be making
or forming bis medicine, when he
wanders away from his father's
lodge, and absents himself for the
space of two or three, and sometimes four and five days; lying on
the ground in some remote or secluded spot, crying to the Great
Spirit, and fasting the whole time.
During this time of peril and abstinence, when he falls asleep, the
first animal, bird or reptile of which
he dreams (or pretends to have
dreamed, perhaps),   he  considers
the Great Spirit has designated for
his mysterious protector through
life. He then returns home to his
father's lodge, and relates his successes; and after allaying his thirst,
and satiating his appetite,he sallies
forth with weapons or traps, until
he can secure the animal or bird,
the skin of which he preserves entire, and ornaments it according to
his own fancy, and carries it with
him through life; as bis strength in
battle—and in death his guardian
spirit, that is buried with him, and
which is to conduot him to the
beautiful hunting grounds which he
contemplates in the world to come.
The curious appendages to the
persons or wardrobe of an Indian
are sometimes made of the skin
of an otter, a beaver, a musk-rat,
a weazel, a raccoon, a polecat, a
snake, a frog, a toad, a bat, a
mouse, a mole, a hawk, an eagle, a
magpie, or a sparrow:—sometimes
of the skin of an animal as large
as a wolf; and at others, of the
skins of lesser animals, so small
that they are hidden under the
dress, and very difficult to be
found, even if searched for.
George Catlin.
INDIAN MEDICAL   MAGIC.
The two articles: "The Indian
Medicine Man" and "The Medicine
Bag" are taken from George Cat-
lin's Indian letters. He is a witness
no one will care to impeach. He
here presents one phase of the Indian's religion; and it is of a very
different kind from that presented
by those who would have us believe that for simple hearted piety
and intimate fellowship with the
Good Father of spirits we should
go to the Indian for examples.
The Indian's theory of disease
is that it is of spiritual origin.
And they are malevolent spirits
who cause disease. Consequently
the range of tbe use of medicinal
remedies is very small. While the
Indians have considerable knowledge of herbs and roots, their use
of them is exceedingly illogical.
And imposed values, magical potencies brought in upon the herbs
and roots so often override their
natural values that the latter is not
much worth considering.
Here is one point where Catlin's
theory runs ahead of the facts. He
thought that because the Blackfoot
medicine man did not go in his
robes of state at every visit, that
therefore he did not assume his
magical powers until natural remedies were exhausted. But the medicine man is dealing with magic all
the time. In some tribes he does not
assume such unhuman dress at all.
Yet he always acts as one having super-human power,controlling spirits
and spiritual powers by his magic
He who can overcome the spirits
by his magic can of course also
work his spells upon men. So the
medicine man is feared as well as
trusted. The belief in witchcraft
is deep rooted and universal. It is
accountable for a large part of the
dominating fear that makes the
heathen Indian's life miserable.
He is afraid of his gods and his
fellow men. Power only gives the
greater means to hurt and destroy.
So he is in constant alarm lest
some one's magic is working a secret spell against him.