The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1899-06 - 1899-07

              The Word Carrier.
VOLUME   XXVIII.
HELPING   THE   RIGHT,   EXPOSING   THE   WRONG.
NUMBERS   6,   7.
SANTEE AGENCY, NEBRASKA.
JUNE-JULY, 1899.
FIFTY CENTS PER YEAR.
our platform.
For Indians we want American Education! We want American Homes!
We want American Rights! The result of which is American Citizenship!
And tlie gospel is die Power of God for
their Salvation'
A MISSION COUNCIL.
The Congregational branch ofthe
Dakota Mission hold an annuai
council in the spring. This year it
was held with Miss Collins on Grand
River and the time was May 18 to
21. In many respects this is the
most difficult point in our field to
reach. And yet we came together
from every part of our field with wonderful exactness. Boring through
the earth from New York to Australia and coming exactly together
at the center is not to be compared
to it. Cross of Rosebud, A. L.
Riggs and F. B. Riggs from Santee,
and Secretary Woodbury of New
York made conjunction, swung
around the circle and came in from
the east by rail, and stage, and
other conveyances. The Halls with
their two youngest children jour-
nied by wagon from Fort Berthold.
T. L. Riggs, and family came in as
overland pilgrims from the south,
with Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths and
family a little latter from the southwest. This being a part of Mr.
Reeds field, of course he was on
hand with Mrs. Reed and the children. Only Mr. Burgess was lacking
to round up the circle. And he had
sent the reason why in a photograph
of his house surrounded by the
spring flood, wdiich had driven him
out, torn up his garden, and left
chaos and dirt inside and out.
How Miss Collins entertained us
all in a house built for two can
never be told. Fortunately the two
roomed cabin of the native teacher
took off some of the pressure, but it
was a nightly recurring mystery and
a morning miracle to see the host of
big and little ones laid away and resurrected again as lively as ever.
As a principal object in going to
Grand Biver was to stir up the
natives, every evening was given
to a stereopticon lecture by F. B.
Riggs. Saturday afternoon was
spent in a trip to the new Oak
Creek Chapel eight miles away
where a church was organized and
recognized by council. And Sunday was filled with public services,
which, in spite of the cold rain and
the gumbo mud, were all abundantly attended. The regular program
of the Council was laid on the shelf,
the yearly estimates alone having
the right of way. But what we did
not talk over this time will be just as
good for next time for our problems
are not evanescent but real.
One day after a hard afternoon's
work we took time to make an excursion to Flying By's village to visit
Miss Lord's hermitage. We speeded along the base of Elkhorn Butte,
which from the valley of Grand
River seems quite a mountain, rattled up and down benches of the
river, which is grand only in name,
scratched ourselves on the overhanging buffalo berry bushes, and
finally emerged on a pleasant basin
in the hills where Flying By's village
stands, and beyond, perched on the
further hillside, Miss Lord's house
and stable, and a little nearer.the Y.
M. C. A. and teacher's houses came
into view. Miss Lord showed us the
ins and outs of her. little establish
ment, and then we committed ourselves again to the care of our Indian
Jehus and were landed whole at
Miss Collins' door in time for supper.
One of the most interesting features of the meeting was the opportunity to become acquainted with
the government boarding school
located near our mission. Mr.
Noble and his hard working corps
of assistants are doing a fine work
for those hundred and thirty children. His pupils were delighted to
attend the stereopticon lectures at
the church and the last evening
neither wind nor rain could keep
the smallest of them away.
On Monday morning while the
mist clouds were still hanging
heavily on the head and shoulders
of Elkhorn Butte we parted our
happy company, and the railroad
party, with the generous help of
Miss Lord, took their way eastward
to the crossing of the Missouri at
Vanderbilt. We have heard from
others of the party and after varieties by storm and wind and swimming rivers they too have reached
their homes, glad that they went
and glad that they are home again.
EARLY MISSIONS IN MINNESOTA.
Fifty years before the Pilgrim fathers had landed at Plymouth Rock
or before the Jamestown Colony
was thought of, Europeans in the
character of explorers, adventurers,
and traders, had found the extreme
western shores of Lake Superior
and pushed on into the wilderness which was destined to be the
State of Minnesota. From the day
Jacques Cartier in 1534 discovered
the mouth of the St. Lawrence there
has been a long procession of brave,
unknown heroes, who, following the
highway of the great lakes, have
dared to break the paths through
this trackless wilderness.
While the first two white men to
come into the state whose names
we know were Huguenots from
Montreal, the Jesuit missionaries
of France first brought the gospel
to this region. With an incredible
zeal and a faith born of absolute
surrender to duty,the "black-robes,"
as the Indians called them, first set
up the cross of Christ in this
benighted region. In spite of the
errors in faith and practice, the whole
church admires the courage and
devotion of these men. Allowez,
Perot, Marquette, Hennepin, Menard, are names of Jesuits forever
associated with the earliest history
of Minnesota.
But in spite of the early beginnings
and heroic labors of the Roman Catholic priests not avestige of theirwork
remained at the beginning of the century. It is really one of the pathetic
incidents of our history that the sacrifices of these followers of Loyola
should have come to naught.
The Scotch traders of the Hudson
Bay Company, with early headquarters at Mackinac, sowed the first
seeds of Presbyterianism in the
northwest. Robert Stuart, Jeffrees,
Mackenzie, Murdock, Cameron, are
some ofthe Scotch names identified
with the early fur trade of this
section. These names are suggestive of the Shorter Catechism.
Two Presbyterian women started
the first permament religious work
in Minnesota. Mrs. Col. Snelling
and Mrs. Clark, mother of our beloved Mrs.   Charlotte   Ouiscousin
Van Cleve, wives of officers of Fort
Snelling, organized a Sunday-school
in 1821 in the barracks.
From this little beginning have
come the 300 Presbyterian Sunday-
schools and 30,000 scholars of the
SynodofMinnesota. Rev.Dr.Morse,
father of the inventor, preached
the first Protestant sermon in this
territory some where on a line west
of Mackinac.
In 1832 Rev. W. D. Bout well
accompanied a governmental party
headed by Schoolcraft into northern Minnesota, and there at Leech
Lake, the scene of the recent Indian
outbreak, began the first permanent
mission in this state. It was however, in 1834 that the work of evangelizing Minnesota began in earnest. It was destined that the
romantic region around Minnehaha
Falls and up the fertile valley of the
Minnesota river should be the first
and most permanent scene of gospel
work. Two noble brothers, Samuel
and Gideon Pond, whose names are
honored as preachers and state
makers alike, came at their own
expense in 1834 and began work
among the Dakotas on the shores of
Lake Calhoun,now the city of Minneapolis. The record of their lives
is a thrilling story graphically told
by a son, Samuel W. Pond, under
the title of Two Volunteer Missionaries Among the Dakotas. Gideon
Pond was the most eloquent orator
in the Dakota language that the
state ever possessed.
Dr. Thomas S. Williamson stands
as the most typical of our missionaries. He came from Ohio in June
1835 and organized in that month
the first church in the territory at
Fort Snelling, with four elders and
twenty members.
In  1837  another of the brave
quartet of missionaries who will always stand in history as the founders of organized Christianity in Minnesota came in the person of Dr.
Stephen   R.   Riggs.     He   labored
with Dr. Williamson at Lac-quiparle
amidst the privations and dangers
only known to the pioneer a half
century ago-   His "Mary and I" is
a  classic  home missionary  autobiography. In it mingle adventure,
romance,  and beautiful   devotion
to Jesus Christ. To Dr. Williamson,
the Pond brothers and Dr. Riggs,
the Presbyterian church and  the
cause of Christ in this region are
under lasting debt.  They overcome
insuperable difficulties; they learned an uncouth language, reduced
it to writing and gave  a written
gospel and the beginnings of a literature to the Dakotas.    There were
thirty volumes in the Dakota language  published   before 1869  by
these men.    These are the foundation builders of our present  splendid super-structure.    They labored
and we have entered into their labors.
From the little company of twenty that took the sacrament from
Dr. Williamson on the Lord's day in
June, 1835, at Fort Snelling, have
come  280  Presbyterian   churches
with   22,000   communicants   and
church sittings for 50,000, and a property valuation of $1,300,000. There
can be no nobler ambition of the
church than to try, by prayer, generosity and service, to realize the
hopes of those into whose labors we
have entered,touching the salvation
of Minnesota through the Gospel of
of Christ.—The Assembly Herald.
A CASE OF INJUSTICE IN REGARD
TO INDIANS.
One of the clearest cases of ignorance or wilful wrong-doing in our
courts occurred a short time ago at
Tacoma in regard to a case connected with the Skokomish reservation. In 1832 a law was passed by
Congress prohibiting any one from
disposing of spirituous liquors to
any Indian under an Indian Agent.
By the law of 1887, all Indians,
who have taken land in any way,
have become citizens, and are entitled to all the rights of any citizen
of the United States. By a decision of the courts, this allowed
nearly all the Indians on Puget
Sound to obtain all the liquor they
wished. So many of them however
abused the privilege so much that
they were ruining themselves, hence
in 1897, another law was passed by
Congress making it illegal to dispose of any liquor to an Indian,
who had obtained land, but who
was forbidden by his patent to sell
his land. This included most of
the Indians on Puget Sound. Still
some of them do obtain liquor in
some way.
Last year Charles Robinson of
the Skokomish reservation, one of
the most notorious drinkers among
the tribe,   obtained   some  liquor,
drank some, gave some to his father-
in-law,  and the result was that  a
fight occurred between them,  and
Robinson was left for dead.    He
however recovered.   Wben questioned, he stated that he had obtained
the liquor of a druggist A. W. Shelly,
of Shelton, ten miles distant.   J. E.
Youngblood, teacher in charge of the
reservation, questioned Mr. Shelly,
who acknowleged that he had sold
Robinson some alcohol and showed
the record of it on his books. Mr.
Youngblood  had   previously  sent
copies of the law of 1897 to Shelton
and   had them   posted in public
places.     As   it is generally   very
difficult   to secure the evidence of
liquor being sold  to  Indians, Mr.
Youngblood felt it to be his duty to
prosecute Mr.   Shelly.    The   case
came up recently before the district
court  at Tacoma,  C. E. Claypool,
assistant  U. S. Prosecuting  attorney,  carrying on the prosecution.
When however the case came before
the court, it was found that he had
drawn up the indictment under the
law of 1832 which has been obsolete,
as far as the Indians of this region
are concerned, for eleven years.   Of
course the Judge, Judge Hanford,
could only charge the jury, that Mr.
Shelly had not broken the law of
1832, though he stated that he  was
guilty of breaking the law of 1897.
Consequently he    was    acquitted.
Why Mr. Claypool should draw up
the bill as he did is a great mystery,
but he seems to have done his utmost against the United States and
in favor of the one he was professedly trying to convict.    It certainly
has given some persons reason to
remark that he either did not know
his business or had been bought:
and has made others feel that our
courts of justice are courts of injustice, to endanger the innocent and
clear the guilty.   A man guilty of
murder might just as properly be
indicted for arson, and then acquitted. M. Eells.
Santee Normal Training School Pbb
Santee Agency, Neb.