In 1890 the defiance of the Oraibi first caused notice. Old
Lo-lo-lo-mi, their good chief, had been to Washington, and had agreed
to place the children of his faction in the school. His counsels were
disregarded by the opposition; in fact they imprisoned the old man and
threatened him with death for this lapse from the traditions.
Lo-lo-lo-mi was “too good,” as his name implied. The sub-Agent, Mr.
Ralph Collins, arrested several of the war-chiefs and sent them to
their Agent at Fort Defiance. When they returned they busied themselves
making more trouble; so troops were sent to pacify and coerce them, and
the first great blunder was made by an army officer. This officer
accompanied Collins to the Oraibi mesa. They were warned that the
hostiles had armed and meant to fight. Believing this to be so much
bluff, they ascended the mesa to the pueblo. A war-chief, who had
refused to attend a council, stepped out on one of the terraced houses.
He was painted for the occasion, carried a rifle, and looked the part
of his office. He was joined by a medicine man, who wore a raw
sheepskin that dripped blood and besmeared his body. These two, knowing
of many sympathizers within the hovels, dared the whites to combat and
greatly abused them. The two white men prudently retired after an
abortive parley.
Then came five troops of cavalry. The commanding officer invited the
hostile headmen to a council below the mesa, and gave his word that
they should be respected. They came, but stubbornly refused to change
their minds as to this white man’s educational propaganda. They were
then seized and bound as prisoners; and were afterward marched up the
pueblo trail as a screen for the soldiers. This was rank betrayal, and
the effects of it live in the Oraibi country to this day.
“Some white men do not keep their word.” And at Oraibi, or at least
among unreconstructed Oraibans, who are now at Hotevilla, it is wisdom
to suspect all white men.
Collins, the civilian and sub-Agent, had no part in this. He advised
against it and deplored it. It would have been better to risk a bit of
bad marksmanship, for which the Hopi is noted; it would have been
better to beat a few worthless war-chiefs and medicine men to death, if
that were actually necessary. One can forgive a battle—but betrayal
rankles in the heart.
The prisoners taken at this time were sent to Fort Wingate. In a few
months they were released on promise to be good, but when they returned
from captivity they too refused to keep the parole given. The goose of
an officer had produced a flock of ganders, and his work was to live
for nearly three decades. In 1894 troops were again in demand at
Oraibi, and nineteen of the Indian leaders were sent as prisoners to
Alcatraz Island. They were imprisoned about eight months, and returned
impenitent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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