WINTER 1890—91
Pá-ä´ngya Tsän-de Sai, "Winter that Sitting-bull came." This refers to the first coming among the Kiowa of Sitting-bull, the Arapaho prophet of the ghost dance, in the fall of 1890. The human figure above the winter mark is intended for Sitting-bull. The first Kiowa ghost dance was held on this occasion on the Washita at the mouth of Rainy-mountain creek, and was attended by nearly the whole tribe. Even the progressive chief Stumbling-bear attended and encouraged the dance, in the hope and faith, as he says, that by so doing his youth would be renewed. About the same time the Kiowa sent Ä´piatañ, "Wooden-lance," to visit the northern tribes and the messiah himself for the purpose of investigating the truth of the reports. The event is recorded on the Anko calendar by means of the figure of a man wearing a head feather and a shell breastplate, as Ä´piatañ did when he started on his journey. He returned in February, 1891.
As the whole subject of the ghost dance has been exhaustively treated by the author in his report on "The ghost-dance religion" in the Fourteenth Annual Report, it is unnecessary to give here more than the reference by the agent in his report for 1891:
Ghost dance.—This has been a disturbing occurrence throughout most of the year. This form of dancing has been indulged in mostly by the tribes north of the river. The Kiowas sent some of their number to the north to investigate the matter. Ah-pe-ah-tone, the leader in this journey, returned in the early spring and brought such a report with him as thoroughly convinced the Kiowas of the falsity of the so-called messiah. They have danced little or none since his return. The Wichitas and Caddos have clung to the superstition and danced until spring. They were led to greater excess by the visit of Sitting-bull, the Arapaho prophet from the north, who is becoming rich in stock through the gifts of his followers. He has been absent in the north, but has now returned to the Cheyenne and Arapaho agency and will probably repeat his performances of last year. Our Wichitas have already commenced to dance again and the Comanches seem to be feeling the craze, and unless decided measures are taken, we will probably have a repetition of last year's scenes (Report, 113).
For the same winter, but above instead of below the winter mark, the Anko calendar records the death of three schoolboys, indicated by the picture of a boy in civilized dress holding a book. Their names were Sétä, "Small-cow-intestines;" Ká-ikonhódal, "Dragonfly," and Mótsä-tsé, from the Spanish muchacho, "boy," his mother being a Mexican captive. They were attending the government Kiowa school, and one of them had been whipped by a teacher, in consequence of which the little fellow, with the two others, ran away from school and attempted to reach their homes, some 30 miles out in the mountains. The same night a terrible blizzard came on, and after they had struggled painfully along nearly the entire distance they sank in the snow, exhausted by fatigue, cold, and hunger, and all were found a few days later lying together, frozen stiff, on the bleak slope of a mountain, by a search party of Indians. This occurrence nearly precipitated an outbreak, and for a time it was thought that troops would be necessary to quell the disturbance, but through the judicious management of Captain H. L. Scott, who was sent from Fort Sill to investigate and report on the situation, the Indians were quieted without resort to force.
In his official report, Captain Scott says:
It was learned that three Kiowa boys had run away from the Kiowa school on the 9th [of January, 1891], on account of a whipping the eldest one had received from one of the teachers, Mr Wherrit. They had been overtaken by a snowstorm, the most severe this country has seen for years, and had been frozen to death. The body of the eldest, "Sailor" [from Setä?], about 14 years old, had been found, and they were still searching for the other two. They had been trying to reach the Kiowa camp on Stinking creek. The talk about the threatening attitude of the Kiowas being inquired into, it was resolved into this, that some of the school children had said that "Mother Goodeye," a one-eyed Kiowa woman, related to one of the dead children, had said that if she caught Mr Wherrit she would stick a knife into him. This, coupled with the fact that the woman afterwards denied having said it, would not seem to demand the presence of two troops of cavalry. It was said that Mr Wherrit had hid himself the day before, and had fled the agency during the night to escape the coming wrath (From report of Captain H. L. Scott to Post Adjutant, January 18, 1891; copy in Indian Office, 5070—1891).
On the same subject the agent says:
Fig. 190—Summer 1891—P'ódalä´ñte killed; Visit Cheyenne.
The loss of the three boys who ran away from the Kiowa school and were frozen to death in the snow, was an occurrence which might have been productive of most serious results. It speaks well for the Kiowa Indians that it not only was passed without such consequences, but seems to have left no prejudice against the school. It has been most gratifying to me on several occasions during the year to note the growing spirit of self-control among these people, and their desire to stand by lawful authority (Report, 114).