Dixon County, Nebraska - Chapter 5, 1896

Indian Scares and Annoyances --N. S. Porter's Interview with "Smoker" of "Little Rabbitt's" Band - L. T. Hill's Experiences with Indians at Ionia - J. Murphy of South Creek has an Unpleasant Visit- Indian Powwows and Dances -The Ancient Indian Tribes and Legends.

Before continuing the history of the general progress of the county from and after 1869, we will make reference to Indian scares and experiences prior to that time as well as to the tales and legends concerning the savage red men who seventy-five or a hundred years before had ruled in Dixon county.

In the time elapsing since the first white settlers came, little real trouble had been occasioned by the Indians except in the few instances related in the last chapter. Indian visits were generally nothing worse than attempts on their part to raid corn cribs or pork barrels. Hence there are no tales of Indian wars in Dixon county since its first settlement by the whites, no massacres of defenseless inhabitants, no midnight glare of burning buildings and no hordes of painted savages with reeking tomahawks. None of these things were ever seen by the settlers, nor often heard of except in the blood curdling tales of eastern romancers, nine-tenths of whom never saw an Indian or knew what they were talking about.

Yet though nothing especially serious ever took place in their intercourse with the red men. old settlers, on looking back over those first years will recall many little experiences which they had with them, and which might have been described as comedy but never as tragedy. About the only exceptions to this rule near Dixon county was the murder of the Wiseman children in Cedar county and that of C. S. Munson in Wayne. Aside from these instances.

The first of such harmless Indian scares took place a day or two after the arrival of the first batch of settlers in May, 1856. On that occasion a squad of Poncas crossed the Aoway and visited the settlers' camp while the men were away looking out claims in the neighborhood. With a great flourish of tomahawks and knives the Indians frightened the three women in camp almost to death and made them glad to purchase peace by giving up a generous share of their provisions. This sort of annoyance from roving bands was often afterwards practiced on the settlers, and the story of one was generally the story of all. There would be a blustering display of knives and hatchets, a big fright among the women and children, and finally peace obtained by handing over corn and bacon and whatever else the visiting Indians took a fancy to carry off.

En the fall of 1859, N. S. Porter had an interview with one of the Ponca tribe, which terminated in less fun for the Indian than usual in such cases. Mr. Porter was helping I). T. Bramble in his store in Ponca. One day Mr. Bramble went to Sioux City leaving Porter in charge of the business. At that time the goods most in demand were bacon, salt, tobacco and whiskey, the latter being only sold by the gallon. In the afternoon of the day in question, a band of Ponca Indians about a thousand strong came in from their reservation west of Niobrara and camped east of town in the grove now known as Stough's grove I near the present fair ground).

Possibly to fittingly celebrate their visit to their ancient home, two young warriors came up from their camp early in the evening and bought and carried back with them a quantity of tobacco and a jug of whiskey. Soon after they left, Porter was greatly alarmed on learning from -John Bramble the brother of the proprietor, that by selling liquor to the Indians he had violated the law, and his worry was kept at a fever heat by Bisbee, Todd and Clark, who were at the store at the time and who enlarged on the enormity of t he crime and the dire punishment that would follow if found out. To add to his trouble as the evening advanced the uproar in the Indian camp increased as though the

The Indians kept up their dancing and shouting until near midnight when twenty of them came to the store and loudly called for more whiskey. Porter refused their demands and told them he had no right to sell to them, and advised them to return to their camp. Instead of doing so. they commenced to beat the door with their hatchets. Porter partly opened the door when they shoved in their jug and it was broken, and one of them named "Smoker" of "Little Rabbit's" band raised his hatchet to strike. Porter caught the Indian's arm and grabbed up a stick of wood, then threw it away and gave the Indian a tremendous blow with his fist under the jaw. The Indian fell as though shot, striking on his head several feet away, and lay there apparently lifeless. Porter barred and closed the door and listened tremblingly to the loud threats of fifty or more Indians who had by that time gathered around the fallen brave. In a few minutes, however, the noise ceased, and on looking out. he saw the Indians steering for their camp, two of them leading the one who had been knocked down. Soon after, the proprietor, Mr. Bramble, came home and Porter told him what had occurred. Bramble said it might have been very serious but he hoped the danger was over.

At sunrise the next morning. Chief "Iron Whip" and about fifty warriors came up leading the victim of the night before. His head and face appeared as though banged by a trip hammer.

Iron Whip told Bramble by signs that Smoker was badly hurt, but if he could have some whiskey to dose him with and some more to bathe him in. he thought he could cure him. Bramble took the chief and Smoker and two others into the back room and when they came out wiping their mouths, their faces shone with satisfaction and they expressed the opinion that Smoker would now feel a "heap" better. As a final token of friendship they demanded that Porter and the wounded Indian shake hands. This was done and harmony again prevailed. During several years after. Porter often met Smoker and other members of Little Rabbit's band, and they showed no resentment toward him. They said Porter was a brave man for striking with his fist

Mr. L. T. Hill gives the following account of the visit in the fall of 1860 of a band of Indians to his house in Ionia during his absence in Omaha. He says "I left Charley Smith to protect the family and look after things generally. One day while Charley was away, Mrs. Hill left the children at the house and went up the ravine to pick some plums. While there she thought she heard voices, and on looking in the direction of the sound, she saw several Indians mounted on ponies rapidly coming down the ravine towards her.

"She was greatly alarmed and started for home on a run. By taking a short cut across a held she reached the house before the Indians and shut and barred the doors. The Indians did not attempt to enter, but she could hear their voices and she finally came to the conclusion that if her fate was doomed she might as well face it.

"She thereupon took the children with her and went out to where they were. A little way from the house stood a grindstone and the Indians were there sharpening their hatchets and knives. That naturally added to her terror, but knowing her inability to escape, she put on a bold face. They greeted her in their usual manner, "how. how' and said "tobac, tobac'

"We had a barrel of hue cut in the house and Mrs. Hill went in and brought out a large pan full of it and told the Indians to help themselves. She said they expressed great joy at the sight of so much 'tobac' and stowed it away in a short time. After a brief jabber among themselves one of them ran to where their ponies were tied and brought to her a large chunk of jerked venison. Then they finished grinding their knives, and to the great relief of Mrs. Hill and the children, mounted their ponies and left. It was afterwards learned that the Indians were from Dakota and had heen over in the Elkhorn valley on a pony stealing raid, and now on their return were hunting for a place to ford the Missouri."

at Ionia with the Indians. The trouble which grew out of a lawsuit is thus described by him: "In the winter of 1860 one John Gidross, living temporarily on the Hotchkiss place near Ionia, became indebted to J. J. and H. M. Pierce, $30 or $40. and without paying them moved his cattle and goods across the Missouri into Dakota where there was no law.

"One morning the oxen of Gidross were found on the Nebraska side, having crossed the river on the ice. Being a Justice of the Peace I was called upon to issne an attachment for the oxen, and James Barrett then acting as sheriff, levied on them, and placed them in the care of Andrew White until they could be advertised and sold. The day of sale came as did the sheriff. About ten o'clock in the morning. Gidross and a friend of his, a Frenchman, were seen to come out of the timber opposite Ionia and start across the river. They had found out where the sale was to take place and not knowing that the sheriff was on the ground thought it a good time to recapture the cattle. When they were across, they waved their caps and in a few moments six Indians came out of the timber and followed Gidross.

"There was no little excitement but Barrett was cool and told the people (only about half a dozen) not to be frightened but get their guns ready. At the same time he sent a messenger down the river to Andrew White and his father-in-law. Massenger, not to bring the oxen, but to come at once with their rifles.

"In a few minutes the Indians were on the Nebraska side and they and the Frenchman went into the cabin of the Pierces, and soon after two Indians were seen to bring H. M. Pierce out. he not resisting much. They led him a little way and began to trip him. Barrett could plainly see that the Indians felt ugly. He said 'Bo vs. them cusses mean trouble: get your guns,' and led the way followed by six well armed men.

"As they came into view of the Indians, Barrett shouted to them with a loud voice and a big oath. "What in h - 1 are you doing there, let that man alone.' It was no sooner said than done. They left Pierce and hurried back into the cabin. Barrett followed them and ordered them out. and gave Gidross and his gang five minutes to get across the river, saying that if they were not off in that time he 'would kill every <l <1 one of them.' Barrett, was a large, powerful man with a voice corresponding in size, and with an eye that emphasized every word. The Frenchman said a few words to the Indians and they lost no time in getting upon the ice and from there into the Dakota timber.

"After a short consultation it was agreed that it would be best to adjourn the sale to Ponca and to have the oxen removed there that night. They were accordingly taken there, but the following morning no oxen were to be found. It was evident the cattle had been followed and stolen and were now across the river. That was the most exciting experience we ever had at Ionia with the Indians."

After the removal in 1S57 of the Poncas to their lands beyond the Niobrara, Dixon county was on the route between that reservation and that of the Omahas, and bands of Indians often passed through from one reservation to the other. On their trips they generally behaved themselves, though sometimes, as has been said, they frightened settlers into giving them what they wanted, that being the Indian way of begging. One of these scares was given J. Murphy who settled in 1S57 in South Creek valley, south of Cavanagh's place. In the fall of 1858 a small party of Indians in their trip across the country camped for a while near Murphy's claim and sometimes stole corn out of his crib for their ponies. One day he found a young Indian in the crib and kicked him out.

That night at midnight the whole band, twenty or more in number came and surrounded his cabin and called to him to come out. As he cautiously opened the door an Indian reached in and pulled him out by his hair, tearing off his shirt in the squabble. The Indians then stationed him on a knoll where the keen wind would, bite his limbs and around him formed a ring in which they also placed the young fellow who had been kicked. Then singing and whooping and pounding a drum, they circled around in a war dance, and when the chorus would come in. Mr. Murphy would be kicked by as many feet as could conveniently reach him, and the young Indian would draw his tomahawk and pretend he would strike him.

For an hour or two. the Indians thus enjoyed themselves w iiile Murphy's wife and children were begging them not to kill him. At last they consented to spare his life if his wife would give them all the flour and bacon she had on hand, which she gladly did. Murphy was taken into the house where a good fire soon thawed him out, but the fright of himself and family was so great that they dared not stay there longer, and in a few days they abandoned their claim and moved to Dakota county.

Very often, and especially in the peaceable years following the troubles of 1863, parties of Indians while passing through the county on a hunting or visiting tour, would camp at night a short distance from Ponca. On such occasions, if in summer, the warriors were dressed in their warm weather costume of mainly paint and feathers, and were generally accompanied by some venerable copper colored patriarch as chief in command. If squaws were with such parties they were gorgeously arrayed in gaily colored blankets, which, together with pappooses, ponies, tepees, dogs and the kettles to cook them in. made up quite an interesting aboriginal crowd.

Sometimes the chief in command would be one who had been a "big Injun" at an earlier day. One afternoon such a party passed through town and camped at their usual place, and was said to be in charge of "Wabashaw," one of the noted chiefs who had handled the scalping knife and tomahawk with much skill and murder in the Minnesota massacre a few years before, and who for his misdeeds had been sent to rusticate during the balance of his life with the rest of the Santee tribe on a reservation near Niobrara. Several went out to see and strike up acquaintance with so renowned a killer, and found him a harmless personification of good nature, of whom it was difficult to believe that in 1SH2, he used to relentlessly prance down the warpath after the whites, his most cherished ornaments being a dozen or so of scalps. It is said he was the most fastidious scalper of the Santee Sioux, and loved the headgear of women and children for ornamental purposes better than any other. When last in Minnesota he grieved because he had not succeeded in cleaning out the whole state. On the occasion of this visit to him. the only thing which seemed to trouble his placid nature was the fact that water was no longer capable of assuaging his thirst, and if his visitors had a bottle of tire water with them, he would like to gather a little of it under his wings. When his visitors told him they were not prepared in that respect, he looked sad and incredulous, and refusing to talk to them more, folded his arms and gazed contemplatively towards the setting sun.

Occasionally when a band of Indians came along, the settlers would have the fun of seeing an Indian dance. Such entertainments were grand, gaudy and peculiar, and were always witnessed by a large crowd of spectators. A circle of ten or fifteen tremendous, face painted warriors would show an agility and leg lifting talent entirely different from what the white people were accustomed to see. Accompanied by music pounded out of a drum or kettle, the performers would squat about half way to the ground and hump themselves around in a stiff legged sort of way. juggling their bodies up and down like jumping- jacks.

At such times they were always arrayed in buckskin striped in red and yellow and ornamented by bells, feathers, beads and fringes. Each carried a tomahawk in hand and from a cord around his neck were supposed to be hung the scalps he had gathered during the past season. Then, to the great enjoyment of settlers, 'to whom such an exhibition was as good as a circus now-a-days,) the dancers would whoop and dance with more fury and noise than pandemonium turned loose.

An initation "war dance." in which a grand panoramic display of the waving arms and leathery legs of a bewildering constellation of bespangled and revolving savages with flashing knives and red painted tomahawks, usually concluded the performances.

The foregoing are samples of the early Indian experiences in Dixon county. Many other similar stories could be told, hut they are as bloodless and sealpless. and of as little importance as these we have related.

In marked contrast to the above trivial, latter day Indian stories, are the tales and legends concerning what happened here a hundred or more years ago.

The frequent discoveries that have been made in this country of stone arrows, axes and other mementos of the ancient inhabitants have kept alive an interest in the legends which come down through the many years elapsing since the events occurred on which they were founded.

In 1875 while at Niobrara the writer was introduced to an old Scotchman named McFarline who had lived nearly all his lifeas a hunter and scout among the tribes west of the Missouri, and was acquainted in a great degree, with their languages, customs and traditions. Before Dixon county was settled by the whites, Mr. McFarline had frequently been here, and this region was therefore familiar to him. He said the last time he was in Dixon county, about forty years before, he accompanied a small party of Brule Sionx who came with the purpose of trapping and hunting, and if occasion ottered, of stealing a few horses from the Ponca Indians. He said that at that time this country was beautiful though wild and uncultivated. It was with great pleasure that he talked of the wonderful changes which had taken place since that time.

Among several curious stories of tribes formerly here Mc- Farline related the history of a certain blood-thirsty chief. Mish-te-ne-wah by name, and of his numerous wars and raids upon surrounding tribes. It appears that at the commencement of this century and doubtless during many long years before, the country embraced within the counties of Northern Nebraska along the river, was densely settled by Indians. In Dixon county were several very large Indian towns. One of the most extensive was located in the tine valley of the Daily and had a large population. Doubtless Messrs. Addison, Sherman, Thomas and others whose farms are within those old Indian grounds, often find such mementos as arrow heads, stone axes, pipes, etc.

At the place where the Daily intersects South Creek, near the spot where Martinsburg now is, there was another Indian town, a smaller place, however, than the other. Three miles this side there was still another village, which in an unlucky hour for it was destroyed, and all its inhabitants - Indians, squaws and pappooses - to the last one

There was also an Indian village occupying the ground where Ponca is. Another was about three miles east and down the valley; and along the bluffs on the north were several more. One of these, quite a large town, was on the farm of Joseph Brewer. Near where Ionia was, were two villages, one of them as large as the town in the Daily valley.

The tough old chief Mish-te-ne-wah above alluded to, lived in the Indian town in Daily valley. It wras his capital city and was about eighteen miles west of where Ponca now is, and its only monument is the one great tree of the valley. There he ruled supreme over a large force of warriors. When the spirit moved him to do so, he marched out his fighting men and made fearful raids upon the more peaceful tribe along the river near Ponca. Mish-te-ne-wah was a skillful hand in the lighting and strategical business and was therefore generally successful in his battles, takinglarge numbers of scalps and conveying home a numerous company of prisoners who went with the comfortable assurance of being burnt at the stake on their arrival.

But finally Mish-te-ne-wah came to grief. He came down one night with a band of warriors, when a large party of Indian hunters went for the marauders and hemming them into one of the ravines between Ponca and the river captured or killed the whole crowd.

Those who were taken prisoners were tied to stakes, wood piled around them and various interesting ceremonies were gone through with, the crowning feature of which was the torturing and burning of the captives, who sang bravely their wTar songs until the flames choked them off. Among the thirty or forty who were captured and burned was the warlike Mish-te-ne-wah.

The place where they had their threads of life burned off was, according to Mr. McFarline, about a mile northerly from Ponca. This was in a measure corroborated a few years ago by exploring a mound on the farm then owned by Mr. F. Conrad. There, on one of the high bluffs which overlook the Missouri, is a mound of circular form about twenty feet in diameter and ten feet in height. Its appearance indicates that it was constructed by human hands, and a few years ago N. S. Porter and others investigated it to see what it contained. The ground was packed down very hard, so hard that it was almost as impenetrable as rock. With great difficulty and labor, the explorers with pickaxes and spades were enabled to excavate a hole from the top of the mound downward about eight feet and some four feet across. They were rewarded by finding the bones of numerous human skeletons.

These skeletons showed that those buried there were of great size, the skulls were large but thin and the jaw bones were powerful and armed with tremendously strong double teeth. With these bones they found a quantity of charcoal. The skeletons had been placed side by side in a sitting position and fronting the north. With them no beads, pipes or weapons were found, thus showing that the occupants of the mounds had been deprived of their weapons and ornaments before burial.

It is not unlikely that this was the place of torture and burial of Mish-te-ne-wah and his band. The presence of the charred wood indicated that they were here tortured by fire. That they met their death by violence and were buried without the respect which Indians always bestow upon their friends is shown by the ignominious manner of their burial.

When Indians bury their friends they place in the graves with them their pipes, beads, weapons, etc., in order to give them a suitable outfit to start business in the next world. But in this case not an arrow or bead was bestowed upon them, nor even a pipe with which to enliven the journey to the happy hunting grounds.

And from the manner in which the Indians were placed it would seem that those who buried them did not propose they should ever get to the happy hunting grounds at all. Their faces were turned to the north, away from the sun, in which condition according to ancient Indian theology, the spirit is supposed to always grope in darkness, thereby rendering the chances of success in finding the Indian paradise very doubtful indeed. This is the Indian method of cruelty beyond the grave.