Memory's Storehouse Unlocked, True Stories: Pioneer Days In Wetmore and Northeast Kansas
John Locke · en
I do not recall in what way this dance differed from the Green Corn
Dance held annually by the Kickapoos, or other tribal dances. But
undoubtedly it carried a threat to the whites. Except for brandishing
tomahawks at certain periods of the dance—it looked to the casual
observer like other Indian dances. Old Sitting Bull, of the Sioux, had
made much bad medicine, and the threat was in the air, if not actually
in the dance. Gold had been discovered earlier in the Black Hills
country. The Government had withdrawn a part of the Indian lands for
development by the whites. This the Sioux resented. There was fear among
the Indians in general that their lands might be taken away from them. I
cannot now be sure of this, but I believe the Government took a hand in
suppressing the Ghost Dance.
I can best explain things with a reprint of what I wrote for the
Spectator at the time. Incidentally, I might say that in looking up the
old files I observe now that this story appeared in the first issue
of The Spectator after I became its owner. Also, that the article
was illustrated with a splendid woodcut engraved by my brother Sam.
Illustrations in that day were engraved on cross-grain box-wood blocks.
The following excerpt is copied from the issue of December 12, 1890:
During the past week or ten days, our people have visited the Indian
Mission, eight miles northwest of Wetmore to witness the Indian pow-wow
which has been in progress for several weeks. Although a more civilized
tribe than the Sioux with which the “Ghost Dance” originated, the
Kickapoos have caught the “Messiah Craze” and have made things lively
for a while. The dance has been watched with considerable interest
and no little alarm by many visitors and citizens living near the
reservation. However, the conclusion now is that there will be no
outbreak. The neighbors along the line look upon their actions merely as
a curious freak of superstition.
When asked how long the Indians kept up the dance, an old Indian who was
too feeble to participate in the festivities, in broken English, said,
“Messiah come at sunrise.” It was afterwards learned that the Indians
continued dancing all night with the expectation of seeing Christ, or
the Messiah, at sunrise. This is, in a manner, following the custom
of the ancient Aztec sun-worshipers of Mexico, who years ago builded
mounds, some of them 600 and 800 feet high, where they would assemble at
sunrise and carry on their festivities in the anticipation of the coming
of some great divinity.
Two Sioux Indians got an inspiration from on High—or elsewhere. It was
only a dream, of course—but then why should not the Indian be allowed
to dream as well as the white man? He has proven his capability, and has
gone the present generation of white men one better.