William
"Buffalo Bill"Cody (1846-1917) Famous western scout and buffalo hunter
brought his "Wild West Show" to an area of Mariners Harbor called Erastina
(named for Staten Island promoter Erastus Wiman) for two seasons from June
to October in 1886 and again in 1887. During the winter of 1886 the show
moved indoors to Madison Square Garden. His show, featuring Native Americans,
trick riders, "the smallest cowboy" and sharpshooters (including Annie
Oakley) is said to have drawn millions of visitors to the island. His autobiography
is called The Life and Adventures of Buffalo Bill (1st ed. 1879: later
editions include information about the Staten Island shows). http://www.italian-american.com/sifamous.htm
BUFFALO BILL WRITES.
---------------
Great Times in England-Takes in $10,000 Per Day - Dines
with Royalty, Etc.
NEW ORLEANS, La. July 15 - The following letter addressed
by Buffalo Bill to Col. Wm. Ray, formerly of the twenty-first Indian and
a chum of the writer on the plains, has been given to the public:
LONDON, June 23.
MY DEAR COLONEL: - It was a pleasant surprise to receive
your letter. I have often thought of you and wondered what had become
of you. So you are still on top of the earth? Well, ever since
I got out of the mudhole in New Orleans, things have been coming my way
pretty smooth and I have captured this country, from the queen down.
I am doing them to the tune of $10,000 a day. Talk about show business!
There never was anything like it ever known and never will be again, and
with my European reputation, you can easily guess the business I will do
when I get back to my own country. Its pretty hard work with two
and three performances a day and the society racket at reception dinners,
etc. No man - even Grant - was received better than your humble servant.
I have dined with every one of the royalty, from Albert, Prince of Wales
down. I sometimes wonder if it is the same old Bill Cody, the bull-wacker.
Well, colonel, I still wear the same sized hat, and when I make my pile
I am coming back to visit all the old boys. If you meet any of them
tell them I ain't got the big head worth a cent. I am over here for
dust. Will be glad to hear from any of them. Write me again.
your old time friend,
BILL CODY.
August and September 1887 Morning Star, Vol.
VII, No. 11.
Mr. Jas. Barr of Paisley, Scotland, has been visiting his cousins, the
Misses Wilson, for a few days. He intends to sail from New York for home
on Saturday. He had never seen any Indians before, and seemed greatly interested
in our work. He thinks if Buffalo Bill would convert the Wild West show
into such a school as Carlisle, a very different impression would be made
upon the people on the other side of the "big water" as to what the United
States Government is doing for the Indians.
January 27, 1888 INDIAN HELPER
Buffalo Bill is again in this country. Having captured
millions of dollars from the fools of England who went crazy over his overdrawn
pictures of our western life, he will now try to gull New Yorkers, Brooklynites,
and other Eastern people into thinking that the Indians are savage beasts,
fit only to be shot down like dogs or to wear paint and feathers to please
the eye of an excited crowd.
That disgraceful show can do more in six months, to drag
the Indian down and give a wrong impression of his real character, than
forty Carlisle’s could do in six years to build the Indian up and help
him to stand on his own feet, on good solid ground. Buffalo Bill is rapidly
tearing down what all good schools for the Indian are building up.
May 25, 1888 INDIAN HELPER
The Wild West show is at the Gentlemen’s Driving Park, Phila.
The Civilized East Show is at the Indian Training School, Carlisle.
September 7, 1888 INDIAN HELPER
Since the Americans and French and English have made Buffalo
Bill's disgraceful show so popular, numerous little Pawnee Bills and Texas
Bills are starting up. The Indian that joins such a thing is on the way
to corruption and vice, a life of misery and a death of shame.
October 25, 1889 INDIAN HELPER
Chauncey Yellowrobe, has been to Washington on a short visit, where
he interpreted at the examination made in the Indian office of the Indians
traveling with Buffalo Bill. Acting Commissioner Belt says of Chauncey:
"We thank you for sending so capable an interpreter as Yellow Robe was
found to be.”
November 21, 1890 INDIAN HELPER
To prevent the Indians from dancing on the
reservations, and then to send them to Europe to dance with the Wild West
shows, may be civilization, but it certainly is not a very high type.---[The
Indians' Friend.
August 14, 1891 INDIAN HELPER
A-TE-KA’S REVERY.
----------
Buffalo's Bill's Wild West Show at the World's Fair, a
Disgrace to the Nation.
--------
"Loa! Loa!! Edady -- Loa! Loa!! Perow.”
Thus did I greet the arrival of the Red Man and
the HELPER, as they came in that night, to find me in my own home, they
having lost my bearings during my wanderings last autumn.
Soon as I hastily glanced over the columns f the HELPER,
came an outburst of "Ha! hi! Ha! hi!!” as I read, “Mr. Standing is making
preparations for an exhibit from Carlisle School at the World’s Fair.”
Now will Capt. Pratt call upon me to stand and answer
for talking Indian at the next English Speaking meeting? If he does, I
shall excuse myself by saying I always feel impelled to speak in
the only Indian tongue I know, when anything that is cheering comes to
me affecting that people.
I was so glad again, to see the Red Man and the HELPER,
to exclaim, “I greet you my child,” was involuntary and to learn that Carlisle
Indian School is to be represented at the World's Exposition, was such
a joy I must give vent to my emotion by saying "Good! Good!" and it came
in the Pawnee tongue.
I have been led to fear that no proper notice of the work
that is being done for our Indians is to appear on those grounds, as I
saw nothing in print to prove there is any preparation for it till that
sentence met my eye and I hailed it joyfully.
The outburst was the more full and spontaneous, because
on my visit to the grounds last fall, after looking with wonder and delight
at what was already accomplished there and learning of what was still to
be done; and likening those marvelous buildings to what I had imagined
of Babylon and Athens, the old cities of Egypt and of Rome: just before
passing out of the gate, a friend pointed to the right and said, “That
plat is rented to Buffalo Bill for his Wild West Show.”
I did not speak Indian then; my soul was too full of
a righteous anger to give it vent in words, and to this day I do not know
how properly to express my utter amazement that American citizens in charge
of those grounds can consent to have presented to the people coming from
other lands, such a gross misrepresentation of our Red Brothers as is given
in that Wild West Show.
What a disgrace it will be to us as a nation to give such
an object lesson as a proof of the reforming and refining influence we
have had upon the tribes whom we have conquered and, taking their lands,
have made our homes among them for these so many years.
With what scorn may the men from China and India and Japan
and from many of the lesser nations of the earth point to the farce and
say, “You who have sent missionaries to teach us peace and purity and the
higher life, should keep them at home to bring up your own people from
the depths, before you try to teach us."
I have hoped delegations from the northern and southern
tribes of Indians, some of those grand old Chippeways and those cultivated
gentlemen from the Five Nations, would meet at the World's Fair and give
the lie to that gross show by their dignified and cultivated bearing.
Wonder if Commissioner Morgan cannot arrange for some
such “Exposition.”
If it were done and other schools unite with Carlisle
to show what is doing for the children of the Indians and what many of
them have already become, that degrading Wild West Show will be made to
appear in its true light.
A-TE-KA.
March 3, 1893 INDIAN HELPER
THE ARRIVAL OF .THE COLUMBUS CARAVELS
AND VIKING SHIP AT THE WORLD’S FAIR
A few rods from the southeast corner of “our building,”
lie three queer looking craft .
They are the Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina, from Palos,
Spain, models of the original fleet of Columbus.
The vessals came into exposition bay about three o'clock
upon the afternoon of July 7th.
It was a "broiling hot" day, the mercury mounting well
up towards the 100 degree mark, yet the lake shore was packed with people
waiting in the hot sun to catch the first glimpse of the visitors.
For two hours a man had perched on top of the Manufactures
Building with field glass in hand peering into the distance.
Finally he jumped to his feet, opened his mouth and forth
there came a shout, which set the multitude to cheering.
"Here they come!"
A hundred thousand people moved to the shore.
At first nothing was visible to those on the ground, but
in a little while the head of the most notable marine procession that has
ever invaded these waters, came in view and a roar of welcome rumbled through
the vast crowd.
A few minutes more and the long voyage was at an end.
With the rattling of anchor chains came the booming of
guns and a din that made nervous people hold their hands to their ears.
The U. S. man-of-war Michigan began it and then the revenue
cutter Andy Johnson followed suit.
Twenty one guns were fired from each deck, and while the
salutes were echoing, all the steam craft that filled the blue waters about
the caravels began to scream and shriek.
The exposition steam launches furnished the soprano, the
people along the shore the tenor and alto, and the whole-back Christopher
Columbus, the bass.
It was a whirlwind of violent sound.
Then the queer looking launch Oula ran along side the
Michigan, on which were Captain Coucas and the officers of the Spanish
fleet, and the brave mariners stepped aboard.
Meanwhile on the shore, on the wide plat form of the plaza
before the Agricultural Building, a cosmopolitan escort was patiently waiting.
Along the edge of the great basin sat a group of Indians
from Buffalo Bill's Show, hideous in all their war paint,. wearing hot
red blankets.
They whooped like savages as the little boat darted into
the lagoon.
Next were a party of Esquimaux, sweltering in clothes
of fur and each carrying his walrus tusk spear.
Back of them were soldiers from the armies and navies
of a dozen great powers trapped in all pomp and splendor of war.
The most picturesque figures were thirty Bedouin Arabs dressed in their
long flowing robes.
Every man of them carried a scimitar and lance and every
one bestrode a horse full of true Arabian fire and spirit.
As the column swung into line before the Administration
Building, the Spaniards were conducted to the platform, where the modern
“Columbus” and his officers were formally assured of Chicago's welcome.
After a salute, the queer people from Midway Plaisance
made a dash for home.
The Dahomey contingent (natives of Africa) rigged up a
hammock and carried their French master home.
Their exhibition caused our friend Frederick Douglass,
who sat upon the platform, to shake his head sadly.
If the spirit of Christopher Columbus hovered about, the
spectacle of the year 1893 must have seemed as strange as did the scene
spread before him 401 years ago.
The caravels will form a feature of the fair from now
till the close of the exposition.
Visitors will inspect them, not only with curiosity, but
with a better understanding of the dangers and difficulties voluntarily
faced by the great discoverer.
Upon the afternoon of July 12, another brave sight greeted
the eyes of the crowd gathered along the lake front.
This time the slender Viking Ship from far away Christiana,
in Norway, came sailing in from the north.
Everything that could float went out to welcome it.
All the large vessels were dressed in rainbow fashion.
As the Viking ship came into still water, the saluting
began and everything that could make a noise added to the uproar.
To make the coming as much as possible like that of the
Norsemen’s of old, the crew furled sails, manned the oars and rowed gallantly
into harbor.
Whatever they in their little craft may have thought of
the fair, basking in all it sunny splendor, the people on the shore saw
something strangely suggestive, when the high brow and queer
rigging of the Viking ship came into view.
The caravels represented a time 400 years ago, but the
Viking ship stands for a period more than twice as old.
It was as though a vessel had set sail from the tenth
century and come into the nineteenth over the sea of time.
Those who saw its slow approach had a sudden perspective
glimpse over intervening centuries.
The heartiest of welcomes goes to the countrymen of Lief,
son of Eric.
As soon as the crowd that lined the shore had given vent
to its enthusiasm for Capt. Anderson, Prof. Putnam made a brief address
of welcome from the pier.
He thought Capt. Anderson had done more than Ericsson,
as he had not only traversed the Atlantic, but had come fifteen hundred
miles into the interior with his ship.
He said he believed that America was first discovered
by Norsemen and that any close historian would bear him out.
In the name of the Director General of the World’s Columbian
Exposition, the ship was received as an exhibit of the people of Norway
as an illustration of. what has been done by them more than 1000 years
ago. L. R. S.
July 28, 1893 INDIAN HELPER
Robert Mathews and Samuel Townsend of Pawnee Agency are doing the Fair
and have called. They are both on the hunt for work with little prospect
of success as Chicago is at present overrun with unemployed workmen. I
am rejoiced to learn that though in straitened circumstances, Robert refused
a situation in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.
August 25, 1893 INDIAN HELPER
AN EXPERIENCE WITH THE WILD WEST SHOW.
During the latter part of my vacation last summer, I had
quite an accidental experience with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. In an
"after-dinner" speech here the other day, I remarked upon it, and was awarded,
in the midst of a hearty applause a large piece of home made ginger cake.
The story, or in part, as told on that occasion, is as follows:
Brethren, I will relate to you an experience. On the 17th
of last August, I went to Buffalo from Chautauqua, N.Y. to deliver some
addresses, and I saw there, for the first time, a parade of Buffalo Bill's:
Wild West parade on the streets. This time I began to be somewhat
interested in the affair.
Leaving Jamestown, and after calling at Corry and Titusville
Pa. - my course being southward to Cincinnati, I reached Pittsburg
Yen doubtless all that is showb
__- Having.fulfill~dclmy_~~~ointments in the city
, of -Buffalo, I returrted to’_$h:autauqua, and
th?nce. to Jamestow$~on ,thb” 21st: -In this
.latt+r city,J.again~fnessed,_.the. ‘sam$; Wild
‘. W_est psrade,ontheIstreets.. .
in the evening of the 27th. Early the next day, while I was attending
some business matters on 7th street, I heard some good
music around the next block, and so I went to see what that was. Lo!
behold! it was the same Buffalo Bill Show!
Taking advantage of the occasion, I began now to be a
little more serious in my public utterances, especially with reference
to the Indian question.
Arrangements had been made for my engagements in West
Virginia, so accordingly I left Pittsburg and came to Wheeling, early on
the 31st. On my arrival, I found the city in commotion. I did not know
whether it was on my account, or somebody else’s. However, I went up to
Main street, and I found out that was I only about three minutes ahead
of time to see the Wild West Show parade!
Brethren, this show by its parade practically said to
the public: “This is the Indian, the true Indian. What is he good for?
The museum is his place. See him, ladies and gentlemen, see him-an old
relic of barbarism.”
My refutation to the show; as found in four of the addresses
that I gave in two of the cities, consisted substantially as this:
“No, that is not the true Indian. You are deceiving the
public. You are making money by upholding a bad relic of heathenism. You
are inviting much ridicule and mockery upon William. Penn's intimate friends.
You are disgracing the modern American civilization. No, that is not the
true Indian. Just give him a fair chance, and he will soon find his way
into the pulpit, the legislative hall, the commercial house and the
scientist’s laboratory, as others of his own race have already done.”
Brethren, I was quite relieved when the Wild West Show
and myself finally parted at Wheeling. Had we kept up the race, we would
have probably collided painfully. The time will come when there will be
no more Wild West Shows in the United States.
EDWARD MARSDEN.
LANE SEMINARY,
CINCINNATI, OHIO.
JAN. 16, 1896
January 24, 1896 INDIAN HELPER
Of the 40,000 people who will scan the HELPER this week
are there not five or six hundred who will send us JUST ONE new subscription
each? Not for the sake of giving. If the HELPER has not merit we don’t
want ONE subscription. But we receive scores of letters daily telling of
the pleasure the little paper gives here and there, and the real information
that is gleaned from its pages. It is estimated that a publication has
three or four times as many readers as subscribers; then the HELPER must
have thirty or forty thousand readers each week. Introduce it into some
school for supplementary reading and thus increase the subscription list,
and help the HELPER help. If all cities were as enterprising as Jamestown,
N. Y., where through the Principal of public schools they keep up a subscription
list of nearly 300 all the time, there would be some hope of the young
of the land being educated into the true knowledge of the Indian. The Jamestown
schools have stood ahead of all city schools in keeping up to date on Indian
matters, and the occasional bright letter we get from the pupils of that
quarter shows that the Wild West Buffalo Bill Indian is fast losing ground
there.
February 14, 1896 INDIAN HELPER
YES, THE INDIAN CHILD CRIES AND
LAUGHS AND IS PUNISHED IN
HIS RESERVATION
HOME.
--------
Some people have very strange notions of Indians.
To those from the back country, whose knowledge of the
native American is obtained solely from the grotesque pictures in the old-time
school geographies and wall maps, wherein the feathers are made conspicuous
and seem to grow out of their very heads, the new Indian is even a greater
curiosity.
Such people are surprised on looking at our young men
and maidens of culture and refinement, that their feathers are plucked.
A little boy from the city, who no doubt had seen some
of the Buffalo Bill Indians, asked in a disappointed way on a recent visit:
“Why, where are their feathers?”
Countrymen frequently come to see the school. One was
heard to say not long since:
"See! Look at ‘em ! Why, they laugh!"
A lone visitor was standing and gazing intently at the
long line of boys and girls as they passed into supper. Then he turned
and asked an officer :
“How often do you let ‘em out that way?”
An observing traveller among the Indians of the
west writes in an account of the trip:
“I have heard it said that Indian parents never-punish
their children.
I have witnessed some very vigorous and well-deserved
spankings, and am prepared to assert that family discipline among the Indians
is fairly well maintained.
I have also heard it said that Indian children are such
little stoics that they never cry when hurt, or laugh when pleased.
This, too, is the sheerest nonsense.
I cannot detect a particle of difference between the behavior
of white and red children. The little Indians cry when hurt or disappointed
or frightened, or laugh when pleased,
precisely as any child would laugh or cry.”
The mission of the little HELPER is to help the
Indian by dispelling such absurd notions.
The HELPER tries to show that the Indian in the atmosphere
that makes men will become a MAN, instead of the curiosity that he now
is.
In the atmosphere of Indian superstition and idleness
he will remain an Indian and a curiosity.
And how can we best get him into this atmosphere where
men are made?
The true spirit of civilization cannot be carried to HIM.
He must be taken up bodily and plunged into the midst of industry and thrift,
which are the foundation stones of civilization.
Suppose the reader of this paper had to learn to swim,
would he get into a bathtub and cry: Fetch on the water from the river
by the bucketful?
Is it not more natural and reasonable for a person who
must learn to swim, to go to the river where the water is deep enough to
sustain his body, when he makes an effort to support HIMSELF?
A young man in the middle of a rushing stream of water,
with all the supports removed will make a mighty effort to save himself
from drowning.
And so a young Indian among people who MUST work to live,
who gain their education by denying themselves many pleasures, who read
and study at odd moments, and who CLIMB by the force of their own will-power,
muscles and brains, will do the same thing, if all the props that weaken
are removed, and he feels that he MUST do or die.
May 8, 1896 INDIAN HELPER
Public gatherings are the places for the $60 contestants to strike
for large lists for the
HELPER. Ask the speaker to help show cause of
Indian education by telling the people what
the little HELPER is for, and that you will take
subscriptions. The INDIAN HELPER is not an
ordinary newspaper it is an Indian HELPER
and the way it can help most is to be congratulated
far and wide, that the people of the United
States may get a knowledge of the latest UP-
RISING of the Indians into fields of usefulness
and self-help. Millions of people think of
the Indian as a wild, paint-besmeared, feather-
bedecked savage. The Carlisle Indian is
rising into manhood and womanhood, and we
want everybody to KNOW it. Help us to ex-
terminate the scalping, howling, paint be-
daubed buffalo bill Indian from the minds of
the people and lo spread the information that
the native American is a man. Bend a hat:
We are not a money making scheme. All we
want is to pay expenses for times our
present circulation.
September 4, 1896 INDIAN HELPER
A few of the students were allowed to go to Harrisburg yesterday
to
see Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Carlisle's plan is to give full
personal
liberty to students in so far as it is practicable. The hope
in giving
this liberty was that those who should witness the disgraceful
exhibition of the so-called savagery of their kin, would have
intelligence enough to see that the whole thing is only a bold scheme
to
get money out of portraying in an exaggerated and distorted manner
the
lowest and most degraded side of the Indian nature. Only the
SAVAGE in
the Indian does Buffalo Bill care to keep constantly before the public
gaze, and it is only the SAVAGE in the Indian that a certain ignorant,
excitable element of society pays fifty cents and a dollar a seat to
go
see. Carlisle tries to bury the SAVAGE that the MAN in the Indian
may
be seen. Those who cannot see how the world delights to call
savage,
and how encouragement of the same injures the cause of Indian education,
must truly be blind.
August 6, 1897 INDIAN HELPER
IRON TAIL
-------
Funny name, isn't it?
And he is a queerly dressed man who bears the name.
He has not a queer looking face, however. Far from it.
He has a good
face. There are lines which mark strength of character, dignity
and
power. He has a thoughtful brow, a well-rounded head, a keen
eye, a
clear-cut mouth with lips compressed, indicating firmness and
resolution, and a nose showing decision and bigness of heart.
He is
withal "a noble red man," with a carriage that commands respect.
All
these traits he possesses on the surface, yet Iron Tail is weak and
helpless in many ways.
How so?
Well, he has no education. He cannot speak the English
language. He
has to rely upon an interpreter in talking to white people. He has
had
no experience that would fit him for life in the world outside of his
little reservation, (one of many which might properly be called the
grave-yards of a dying race.) In the hands of sharpers Iron Tail
could
be easily swindled.
"Poor fellow! I pity him!" said a great, manly Sioux boy
-- a NEW
Indian, and one of our students, as he stood one side looking at the
OLD
Indian.
"What do you mean?" asked the writer, not believing that one
Indian
could be speaking thus sincerely about another of his own tribe, in
the
same sense that the educated white man would speak of his ignorant
red
brother. "Is he sick or suffering, that you pity him?"
"Oh, no, but just look at him! What a perfect picture
of ignorance
and superstition!"
And the writer did look at him.
The chief's hair was long.
On the crown of his head was a braided scalp-lock, six or eight
inches
in length.
In it stuck an Eagle Feather, straight up.
Long ago it was a mark of bravery for an Indian to wear a scalp-lock
-- a little handle, as it were, which dared his enemy. "Take
a lift of
my hair if you dare," the scalp-lock would say.
But those days are over, and the lock now is very much out of
place.
There is no bravery now in the wearing of such a handle.
There is no enemy to defy, and all such Indians would look better
if
they would cut off their scalp-locks or comb them out.
Iron Tail was dressed in all sorts of toggery, from beaded necklace
to
blanket, leggings, and moccasins. He had a beaver skin across
one
shoulder.
"That's the first Indian I ever saw dressed in looking-glasses,"
said
a small boy from one of the western reservations.
And, sure enough, across his left shoulder he wore a narrow
sash
containing twenty or thirty small, round, brass-rimmed looking-glasses,
which glittered in the sunlight.
Why did he come to Carlisle in such array?
In the first place, he was in wild dress because he was paid
to dress
that way. He had come over from Harrisburg, where the Wild West
was
exhibiting, last Thursday. He had come to see his son Philip
Irontail.
Philip was not at home. He was out on a New Jersey farm,
gaining
manhood and experience that will fit him for useful, civilized life.
Iron Tail would in a minute adopt the civilized dress in its
entirety
if it paid him better to do so, than it does to wear the clothes in
which he now adorns himself.
He is not too old to learn. He could learn to speak English,
read and
write some and be-
come a useful citizen if he were properly encouraged.
Then whose fault is it that he is as we see him today?
Buffalo Bill pays him 20, 30 or possibly 50 dollars a month
for
several summer months, and all expenses, to remain Indian, to wear
the
scalp-lock, blanket, and all the glittering toggery in which it is
possible for an Indian to bedeck himself.
He pays him to dance the wildest, most blood-thirsty savage
dance
known.
He pays him and sixty others to rob stage coaches and to race
on
horeseback around the track shouting the war-whoop, shooting and yelling
till the peoples' hair stands on end.
Such savagery, the Indian schools of the country are trying
to kill in
the Indian, giving instead, cultivation, and the manly arts.
What a pity that the good Government which spends millions annually
to
educate the Indian in books and in civilized pursuits, should at the
same time permit showmen to parade the fathers of the children through
the country, for the purpose of exhibiting the Indian in the savagery
of
olden times, which would naturally die out, if schools and churches
and
all helps to true citizenship had full sway.
August 13, 1897 INDIAN HELPER
The B.I.A. - Boys' Industrial Association - is the name
of an organization started by Mrs. Palmer. She has interested herself
in the sons of the poor miners. They are a hard crowd of little slate
pickers. Most of them are under twelve years of age, but full of
mischief and are sure to go to the bad if not rescued by kindly influence.
Mrs. Palmer calls these little fellows together on certain
evenings of the week and provides entertainment for them. She has
always to have something good for them to see and hear, or they will not
come. In this way she often slips in good advice and starts their
little minds to working on a higher level than slate picking and the wickedness
of their environment.
Zenia and Pasquala were invited to entertain them one
evening, and did so. The boys seemed to appreciate the effort made
by the girls but seemed disappointed at first because the Indians were
not dressed in war-paint and feathers like Buffalo Bill's show Indians.
There were 400 present, and a noisier lot of bright-eyed
little ragamuffins scarcely ever came together. But Pasquala and
Zenia did their part nobly, and I am sure gave them evidence that the rising
Indian can be interesting and helpful.
Mrs. Palmer has done wonders with her boys, and fruits
of her work are seen on every hand.
November 26, 1897 INDIAN HELPER
Prof. Rogers, Superintendent of the Jamestown, N.Y. Schools,
has again sent us a long list of subscriptions, numbering 142. The
school youth of the city of Jamestown are gaining correct ideas of their
red brethren through their wide-awake interest in the rising Indian of
Carlisle. Buffalo Bill traditions will eventually pass out of their
minds and the Red Man will be looked upon as any other being.
December 17, 1897 INDIAN HELPER
WANTS INDIAN STORIES
-------------
"I am inclined to say that the HELPER is a good little
paper, but I would think it would interest its readers more if at least
one of the inside pages contained some interesting stories or would describe
the Indian a little better by telling how he is tamed and brought up,"
writes one of our Eastern subscribers.
We thank our friend for his interest and kindly suggestion.
The author of the letter evidently has the idea of Indians
that Buffalo Bill and other showmen keep alive, by hiring the reservation
wild man to dress in his most hideous costume of feathers, paint, moccasins,
blanket, leggins, and scalp-lock, and to display his savagery, by hair
lifting war-whoops make those who pay to see him, think he is a blood-thirsty
creature ready to devour people alive.
It is this nature in our red brother that is better dead
than alive, and when we agree with the oft-repeated sentiment that the
only good Indian is a dead one, we mean this characteristic of the Indian.
Carlisle's mission is to kill THIS Indian, as we build up the better man.
We give the rising Indian something nobler and higher
to think about and do, and he comes out a young man with the ambitions
and aspirations of his more favored white brother.
We do not like to keep alive the stories of his past,
hence deal more with his present and his future.
March 18, 1898 INDIAN HELPER
When a company of our boys in the street, answered the
"How! How!" of the blanketed Indians in Buffalo Bill's parade, with the
tipping of hats, a citizen of Carlisle was heard to ask: "What more speaking
contrast could there be between the Indian before and after civilization
than that one graceful act?"
--------------------------
A son of the famous Indian chief John Grass, was among
the Buffalo Bill Indians. The entire company was in immediate charge
of Mr. George Goodman, nephew of Col. Cody. He says that not one
of his Indians has been intoxicated this year. Mr. Goodman is a striking
type of the plains' cowboy, so many of whom have the hearts and graces
of gentlemen under a rough exterior.
July 1, 1898 INDIAN HELPER
An old soldier in subscribing for the HELPER says that he used
to fight Indians on the plains along with Buffalo Bill, "but now, God bless
them all is over, and we take each other by the hand."
December 2, 1898 INDIAN HELPER
(THE CARLISLE -ARROW -~~
_ ~~ -~ ~. ~~~_. ~~~ ~_~.__ ~~ ~.I_
FmConveymg ourl)omgs to Our People and Friends
THE INDIAN AND TRAVELING SHOWS.
The avowed intention of the Ameri-
can Indian Association to throw the
weight of its influence against the
luring away and employment of res-
ervation Indians by Wild West Shows
and circuses, is encouraging and
should have the approval of right-
thinking men. While there may be
difficulties in the way of effecting
such a reform by any governmental
regulations, it is certainly to the best
interests of the Indians themselves
to get them to see the utter useless-
ness and folly of sending their young
people, both boys and girls, out
under such influences.
It may not be so much the morale
of their associates in the shows, which
exerts a bad influence-al though
there are many of these shows which
are demoralizing-as the persons
and influences which the Indians a”re
thrown with in their travels. The
action of the Carlisle School in abolish-
ing an extensive baseball schedule
because of the iniquities of summer
professionalism is along the same
line.
The boys squandered all their earn-
ings as they were received, got into
bad company, became demoralized
and ruined for regular work. While
a few made striking successes,
the majority became dissipated
and’ unfitted for productive em-
ployment.
~ So withy the shows;-em Thee&d&n
youth is engulfed in viciousness and
vice. Many are stranded far from
home and friends, and many an
application comes to the authorities
of this school to aid such individuals.
Others are continually appealing to
charitable organizations for assis-
tance. The practice should be dis-
couraged and abolished. Former
Indian Commissioner Morgan stated
the case clearly and emphatically in
one of .I-& reports, when-he-said:
b “The influence of these shows is
antagonistic to that of the schools.
The schools elevate, the shows de-
grade. The schools teach industry
and thrift, the shows encourage idle-
ness and waste. The schools incul-
cate morality, the shows .lead al:
most inevitably to vice.”
Let the American Indian Associ-
ation and other agencies, together
with the authorities in Indian Schools,
tell the Indian of the dangers which
lurk in the practice of Indian youth
wasting their days in such activities.
Help these young people to see that
it is their part to settle down to
some kind of productive industry
which will lead to larger happiness
and greater contentment, and to turn
away permanently from the activities
which though exciting are short-lived
and harmful.*
September 15, 1911 ARROW
THE INDIANS AND
TRAVELING SHOWS.
HE avowed intention of the American
Indian Association to throw
the weight of its influence against the
luring away and employment of reservation
Indians by Wild West shows
and circuses, IS encouraging and should
have the approval of right-thinking
men. While there may be difficulties
in the way of effecting such a reform
by any governmental regulations,
it is certainly to the best interests of the
Indians themselves to get them to see
the utter uselessness and folly of sending
their young people, both boys
and girls, out under such influences.
It may not be so much the morale
of their associates in the shows, which
exerts a bad influence-although there
are many of these shows which are
demoralizing-as the persons and influences
which the Indians are thrown
with in their travels. The action of
the Carlisle school in abolishing an extensive
baseball schedule because of
the iniquities of summer professionalism
is along the same line.
The boys squandered all their earnings
as they were received, got into
bad company, became demoralized
and ruined for regular work. While
a few made striking successes, the ma-jority
became dissipated and unfitted
for productive employment.
So with the shows. The Indian
youth is engulfed in viciousness and
vice. Many are stranded far from
home and friends, and many an appli-cation
comes to the authorities of this
school to aid such individuals. Others
are continually appealing to chari-
table orgamzations for assistance. The
practice should be discouraged and
abolished. Former Indian Com-missioner
Morgan stated the case clear-ly
and emphatically in one of his re-ports,
when he said:
“The influence of these shows is
antagonistic to that of the schools.
The schools elevate, the shows de-grade.
The schools teach industry and
thrift, the shows encourage idleness and
waste. The schools inculcate moral-ity,
the shows lead almost inevitably
to vice.”
Let the American Indian Association
and other agencies, together with the
authorities in Indian Schools, tell the
Indian of the dangers which lurk in
the practice of Indian youth wasting
their days in such activities. Help
these young people to see that it is
their part to settle down to some kind
of productive industry which will lead
to larger happiness and greater con-tentment,
and to turn away permanent-ly
from the activities which though
exciting are short-lived and harmful.
September 1911 RED MAN
Some of the Indians who are
travelling with the Wild West Show
which came to town Saturday, visited
the school in full regalia, to the great
delight of some of the students.
H. Vinson, as the representative
of the Senior Class at the opening
exercises, acquitted himself in a very
creditable manner by giving a decla-
mation entitled “The Price of SUC-
cess.”
------------------
Saturday, we were fortunate enough wishes for a happy future go to
them
to see the fine parade of California from the heart of every Carlisle
Frank’s Wild West Show. student.
to Carlisle by the third of next
month.
October 6, 1911 ARROW
Nebr. is morally wrong.
thedetails of garments, the pose, and
even the spirit ‘that the artist has
put into his creations, I can readily
see where he has missed the vital
point. The Indian has been pictured
too much as a thing of the white
man’s imagination. ”
The stage Indian is even further
from the truth, we are assured:
“The costumes are generally even
more ridiculous than the disorderly
hopping and whooping. The cos-
tumers apparently try to improve
upon the native dress, and it is gen-
erally very evident that they do not
use the native costume as a model,
but trust to their imagination, aided,
perhaps, by vague memories of a
Wild West show performance.
seems to satisfy the public eye. ._ ~-“In reality, eagle feathers in
the
Indian3 life_were worn ti me~@y+ -I
and the wearing of each feather
“In some instances expensive Cos-
tumes have been-purchased for cer-
tain productions, but the effect has
been spoiled by incorrect wearing and
the grotesque use of colored chicken
feathers upon the heads of women.
To the modern costumer any kind
of feather is associated with the
identity of an Indian and the result
Arpil 5, 1912 ARROW
Chief Reuben Quick Bear, a Former Car-
lisle Stodent, Beads Party.
After spending several days at the The Rev. Coolidge spoke to the
Carlisle Indian School, a party of Mergers last Friday evening. Among
Indians from the Rosebud Reserva- other things he said we should culti-
tion, South Dakota, headed by Chief vate and prepare ourselves in our
Reuben Quick Bear, a former stu- meetings’s0 that we may help our
dent at the school and a member of people after leaving school.
one of the earliest parties of Indians .Chief Big Top ‘gave the Invincible
,
to come here from the far West, left Society a pleasant surprise when
he
this afternoon for their home after volunteered to sing a couple of
songs
expressing to Acting Superintendent in his native tongue. He also gave
Lipps their pleasure in the progress a brief,. sketch of his experiences
of the school and the manner in which with the Wild West show. ,’
they were entertained. Chief Quick
Bear, who during his time here was The Mercers gave a fine program
a member of the band, was especially in honor of the Senior Class last
pleased with that organization. Friday evening. Every n urn be r
There were ten members in the showed careful selection and drilling.
party, all of them prominent in In- “Excelsior” ‘is the Mercers’ motto,
dian affairs. Several members of and they seem to be living up to its
the party are officers in the Indian teachings.
police service in their district. -Car- At the opening exercises Monday,
lisle Herald. Mr. Whitwell spoke on “Self-Control
March 6, 1914 ARROW