For those who desire "recognition" I'll say that "BIG BROTHER" knows entirely too much about our lives as it is.  Being recognized would only increase their knowledge of our daily lives.  This intrusion upon my privacy is unacceptable.  Thereby, I have no intentions of being recognized nor will I vote in favor of recognition. 

     For those, who look down their noses at we with mixed ancestry, I have a few questions.

1.  Where were you when I was a child and needing direction?

2.  Where were you when I needed spiritual teaching and direction?

3.  Where were you when I needed to learn those things that have been so important to our peoples for thousands of years?

4.  Where were you when I was trying to find myself and my ancestral roots?

     Well you sure as hell weren't assisting me or others like me.  We weren't important too you then and still aren't.  If I seem bitter about all of this I am to a certain degree.  I've decided that I'll have to pray and asks Grandfather to teach me the ways of my Cherokee ancestors because there is literally nobody left that can teach me. 

     With that being said I'll continue by stating that once Grandfather teaches me these things I'll be damned if I'll stand around and listen to anyone telling me I'm wrong.  When Grandfather teaches you something it cannot be wrong!

     For millenia, we Indians lived as part of the earth.  We were part of the prairies and the forests and the mountains.  We knew the winds and the clouds, the rivers and the lakes.  We knew every one of the creatures that fly and crawl and burrow and run and swim ---  all our relatives whom we share this earth.  We are part of the earth, but not the most important part.

     We knew the universe and how it includes and interacts with our Grandmother.  I was taught that if all green things that grow were taken from the earth, the could be no life.  If all the four-legged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life.  If all the winged creatures were taken from the earth, therer could be no life.  If all our relatives who crawl and swim and live within the earth were taken away, there could be no life.  But if we human beings were taken away, life on earth would flourish.  THAT IS JUST HOW INSIGNIFICANT WE ARE!

(Taken from the book "Where White Men Fear to Tread" by Russell Means)

No matter what we may be in regard to our present religion, society, or country, we are all descendants of that ancient, global civilization. The Vedic tradition of India is the parent of humanity and the original ancestor of all religions. Through this book you will see:

• How Vedic knowledge was given to humanity by the Supreme.
• The history and traditional source of the Vedas and Vedic Aryan society.
• Who were the original Vedic Aryans. How Vedic society was a global influence and what shattered this world-wide society.
• Many scientific discoveries over the past several centuries are only rediscoveries of what was already known in the Vedic literature. You will see the advanced nature of Vedic knowledge that long superceded other noted cultures.
• The origins of world language and literature are found in India and Sanskrit. How Sanskrit faded from being a global language.
• The Vedic influence and proof of its ancient existence found in such countries as Britain, France, Russia, Greece, China, Japan, Egypt, and in areas of Scandinavia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas.
• The links between the Vedic and other ancient cultures, such as the Sumerians, Persians, Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, etc.
• How Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism were all influenced by the Vedic tradition and still contain many Vedic elements within them today.
• How many of the western holy sites, churches, and mosques were once the sites of Vedic holy places and sacred shrines.
• Uncovering the truth of India's history: Powerful evidence that shows how many mosques and Muslim buildings were once opulent Vedic temples.
• The need to recognize the real history of the world, and to protect what is left of Vedic culture, the roots of humanity.

This book is offered as an attempt to allow humnity to see more clearly its universal origins. However, this book provides enough amazing, if not startling, facts and evidence about the truth of world history and the ancient, global Vedic culture, that it could quite possibly cause a major shift in the way we view religious history and world traditions.

Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, a former U.N. peacekeeping commander, told the meeting: "It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in an armed conflict." Speakers identified former Yugoslavia, Sudan's Darfur region, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Liberia as conflict regions where deliberate sexual violence had occurred on a mass scale. U.N. officials have said the problem is currently worst in eastern Congo. But a recent survey of 2,000 women and girls in Liberia showed 75 percent had been raped during the West African country's civil war.

(via Feminste)

How fantastic.  I'm sure this problem will get much better, now that the U.N. has passed a resolution - that is, if its peacekeepers can stop raping girls long enough to read it.

Malaysia's pretty sick of its rape problem as well, so from here on out, women will be fined for going around in lipstick and/or heels:

So not only are women supposed to prevent their own rapes by not wearing high heels or lipstick - which are apparently irresistible invitations to assault, or something - they're fined if they don't buy into it. If the Kota Bura Municipal Council is actually interested in preventing rape, perhaps they should focus on the rapists.

Well, really, women wouldn't keep getting raped if they weren't so insistent on walking around with breasts and things.

Related, here's a truly horrifying roundup of everything to do with Islam, virginity fetishism, hymen repair surgeries, etc. (jumping-off point = an annulment in a French court):

I dislike virginity fetishism, but people make their own arrangements and their own marital choices. Fine. But part of living in a country with a secular legal system is abiding by that system; as I discussed in the previous post, maintaining your individual religious beliefs is great, but expecting a secular society to re-shape itself to fit you is not.

...I sure as hell reserve the right to blame the jackasses who peddle virginity as a virtue of utmost importance, and who pin a woman's personhood and value on her sexual status - and that certainly includes the abstinence-only crowd in the U.S.

Speaking of, Time Magazine has a cover story on that stupid pregnancy pact thing, and I couldn't agree more with this:

This story is getting a lot of play, and I can't help but think that it's in the category of rainbow parties and Satanic cults at daycare centers - that is, it's a bullshit story published to scare the fuck out of parents.  Did a bunch of teenagers at this one high school actually have a "pregnancy pact"? Sure, maybe. But... why does this merit a story in Time Magazine?

Well, any excuse for America to focus on the sex lives of teenage girls, in such a way that can be dressed up as concern for girls' welfare, rather than mere prurient obsession, is absolutely guaranteed to saturate the media for awhile.

Moving on from vaginas, I've been meaning to link to this post about shared parenting and housework:

Interestingly, the messiness of the house actually bothers me, now, a little less than it does him--at least when it comes to inviting friends in. I've decided that fuck it, the mess is my Feminist Statement that keeping a beautiful house is Not My Damn Job, so I invite people in (with a little tummy-tightening and a warning that we do not keep a clean house) and let them deal with it.

This is not entirely on topic with the rest of the above-quoted post, but it's interesting to me:  it's difficult to discuss the arbitrariness of household standards, because there are still so many stay-at-home moms who view their life's work as essential to the health and happiness of their family.  Nobody wants to involuntarily dismiss a woman whose priorities include keeping a nice home for her family (or devalue the lives of their mothers, grandmothers and so forth, who often were stay-at-home moms).  But the very relaxing of standards in itself is sometimes taken as an insult to women who dedicated their lives to upholding the old, ridiculously high ones.

Speaking of women in the '50s, on Ethel Rosenberg:

Her emotionless mask in public made her seem more unnatural, more evil even than Julius. "There is a saying that in the animal kingdom, the female is the deadlier of the species. It could be applied to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg," wrote the World-Telegram and Sun. The Journal-American told its readers that Julius's "deceptively lumpish" wife had been "even more immersed in communism and its requirements for regimentation" than her husband.

--

What patriotism looks like in the American Indian community:

In this, America's season of intense patriotic display, those of us who are not Indians may be able to learn a few things about patriotism from the Little Bighorn celebration. The first is that American patriotism is not something that you simply have or do not. What that flag means to you will depend heavily on how you regard the history behind it.

(via Bitch Ph.D.)

--

Finally, is Godot a member of the Resistance?

Bass Reeves was born around 1838, in Texas or Arkansas, to parents who were slaves of a Master named Reeves.  It was customary for slaves to take the surname of their master, so the family were known as Reeves also.  Bass's mother worked in the kitchen, and his father was a house servant.  Bass was an active little boy, constantly underfoot in the big house, and he was a favorite.  When Bass came of age he became the personal servant of Master Reeves.  With the advent of the Civil War Master Reeves assumed the duties of a Confederate Officer, taking Bass with him as his man.

Bass evidently had no fear of his white superiors and evidently was treated almost as an equal.  One evening during the course of a card game an augment arose which came to blows.  Bass threw a punch which left his master out cold on the ground.  As it was a hanging offense for a slave to strike his master, Bass felt it in his best interest to flee the scene.

 Bass fled to the Indian Territories, where he joined the tribes in the Cherokee-Siminole Nations.  There he honed the skills in tracking and scouting that would serve him so well later in life.  He became a proficient shot with the pistols and rifles, in fact later he would be barred from shooting in Turkey Shoots.  One author stated that Bass participated  in the Civil War with the Cherokee Battalions.

When the war ended and blacks were freed he moved to western Kentucky where he married and had a son and daughter.  Bass did a little farming, but supplemented his income substantially by preforming duties for various peace officers as a scout and tracker.  His service also included enforcement things as small as petty misdemeanors to murder.

In 1875 Judge Isaac C. Parker, assumed jurisdiction of  the Fort Smith, Arkansas Federal Court.  This was 75,00 square miles of pure hell.  It was known as "The Indian Territory", comprising what is now Oklahoma and Western Arkansas.  This was the home of all the Indians who had been transplanted from their eastern homes, and a refuge for criminals of every description.  Towns and villages were few and far between with little in the way of communication.  The Indians had no jurisdiction other than their own.  And the lawless elements were free to roam as they pleased, with no one to monitor them.

Judge Parker began by appointing some 200 Deputy U. S. Marshalls, some we have already met in previous chapters -- Heck Thomas (Ned Cristie),  Bill Tighman (little Britches and Cattle Annie, The Doolin Gang).  Judge Parker was eager to enlist good black marshals when he could.  The Indians had a natural distrust of the white deputies, some had abused their powers, and the Indians often trusted Black Deputies more than their white counterparts.  There had been black freemen in the Five Civilized Tribes for years.  In some instances blacks had served as Indian Police, and had served on tribal councils for years.  Even in several towns blacks had been chiefs.

When Bass Reeves was called to Judge Parker's attention he was delighted.  He felt that as a black marshal this man who boasted that "he knew the Indian territory like a woman knows her kitchen" would be a wise investment.

Bass was a natty dresser, his boots were always polished to a glossy shine, he favored a wide straight brimmed black hat with just slight upturn in the front.  One old timer stated that Bass wore his pistols in different fashions but favored them with the butts facing forward.  He carried a pair of 38-40 Colts, and liked a Winchester Carbine in the same caliber.

(This was common as you only need to carry one size of shells.  I at one time in my younger years owned a 38-40 Winchester model 92, saddle ring carbine.  A real little piece of history in my hands.  For the information of those who do not know  a 38-40 cartridge has a .38 cal. bullet set into a necked down .40 cal. case.  I didn't care for it because the bullet dropped 30" in 300 yards.  At the time I was young and thought every thing I saw in the movies was the way it was -- 300 yards is a long way for a pistol calibre bullet to go.) nuff rambling from the story...

Bass had one drawback if you can fault him - He could not read.  He would have someone read the warrants to him, then he would tuck them into this coat pocket.  He never failed to produce the correct warrant when the time came.  A Deputy U. S. Marshal from Fort Smith rode a circuit to Fort Reno, Fort Sill, and Aradarko - a round trip of some eight hundred miles.  When a trip of this length was started a marshal took a wagon, a cook and usually a posse-man or two.  When an outlaw was captured he was added to the train, thus the posse-men were responsible for their keep.

Now Bass was such a imposing figure, six feet tall and hefty, with his soon climbing repution, he resorted to disguises.  Dressing as drover, outlaw, cowboy, farmer or gunman as the situation called for.  His huge black stallion he favored was a dead give away, so he always took a string of several less impressive horses with him.  Nothing screamed lawman like a really nice horse.

The Missouri, Kansas and Texas (MK&T) Railroad marked the  western fringe of civilization.  Some eighty miles west of Fort Smith was "the dead line".  When a deputy from Fort Smith of Parris, Texas crossed "the dead line" they were most likely be killed.  To Reeves "the dead line" was a stimulating challenge.

Reeves classes outlaws into three classifications - horse thieves, murderers and whiskey bootleggers.  These were comprised of Indians, mixed Africans and white outlaws who where in hiding from Texas, Kansas, Missouri and other states in all quite a mix.

Reeves was often praised in the news papers, on November 19,1909, the Muskogee (Oklahoma) Times Democrate wrote: " In the early days when the Indian country was overridden with outlaws, Reeves would herd into Fort Smith, often singlehanded, bands of men charged with crimes from bootlegging to murder.  He was paid fees in those days that sometimes amounted to thousands of dollars for a single trip. . . trips that sometimes lasted for months." 

Reeves was in pursuit of two young outlaws in the Red River valley of the Chickasaw Nation.  He studied the many ways he might snare them and collect the $5,000 reward.  He heard they were hiding near the Texas border.

He gathered together his posse and wagon, and proceeded to near where he suspected them to be.  Making camp some twenty-eight miles from the site he carefully reconnoitered the area.  Then, posing as a tramp, he walked the whole twenty-eight miles toward the probable hide out.  Wearing an old pair of shoes with the heel removed, carrying a cane and beat-up old hat - hand-cuffs, pistol and badge concealed. 

He showed up at the door of the outlaws mother's house hungry and wore out.  When she greeted him at the door, he asked for a bite to eat and complained how much his feet hurt after walking so far.  He said this was the first time he had had a chance to stop after shaking the posse that had pursued him . 

She invited him in and fed him, and began telling him about her sons who were outlaws.  When Bass finished eating he feigned weariness and asked to rest awhile longer.  The mother told him it would be a good plan for him to join forces with her boys so they could protect each other.

When the sun was low in the west, Bass heard a sharp whistle from the nearby creek.  The mother went outside and answered in the same fashion.   Soon two riders came up and had a lengthily conversation with the mother.  When they came into the house she introduced them as her outlaw sons and Bass as an outlaw to them.

Over the dinner she prepared for them the trio swapped tales of their adventures.  It was decided they would join forces and rob and plunder together.  The mother began to prepare a separate room for Bass, but he suggested they all sleep in the same room, that way if anything were to happen they would all be together and avoid any confusion.

While pretending to fall into a exhausted sleep, Bass kept a close watch on the boys.  As soon as he was sure they were sound asleep he arose and carefully handcuffed both without awaking then.  He waited  until early morning before kicking them awake saying, "Come on boys let's get out of here."  It was not until they got the sleep out of their eyes that they realized they were in he hands of the law.

As Reeves started off with his prisoners the mother followed for three miles, cursing him and calling him all sorts of vile names for abusing her trust.  The young outlaws were forced to walk the twenty_eight miles to where Reeve's posse camp was located. 

By 1901, Reeves had arrested more than three-hundred men and women in his service as a Deputy U. S. Marshall.  But the hardest was yet to come. 

Reeves delivered two prisoners to the federal jail in Muskogee.  The two were part of a trio who ambushed him deep in the Creek Nation.  He killed one and persuaded the other to surrender.  He felt he needed a good rest, But it was not to be. 

Marshal  Leo Bennett, Reeves supervisor, had another warrant to be served.  Bennett had to break the news to Bass.  His own son had murdered his own wife and was hiding in the Indian Territory.  Bennett wanted to bring in the younger Reeves alive, if possible.  The warrant had lay on his desk for two days, All the deputies were afraid they would be handed the task.  

Bass was visibly shaken by this tragedy, When Bennett suggested that he should give the warrent to someone else, Reeves demanded he be handed the job.  He felt it was his own responsibly to bring in his own son.  Knowing it would be the hardest deed he ever tackled.

Almost two week passed before Bass returned to Muskogee with his son.  After his trial, the younger Reeves was sent to Leavenworth Prison.  With a citizens petition and an exemplary prison record , Reeves' son was pardoned and lived the test of his life as a model citizen. 

Upon his retirement from Federal service after thirty-five years of legendary service, Reeves senior had a whole host of stories to tell his eight children and numerous grandchildren.

Bass Reeves served under seven U. S. Marshals and all of them were more than pleased with his outstanding service.  He could not bring them all in alive, in the course he killed fourteen men.  Bass Reeves always said he never shot a man that was not necessary.

He had many narrow escapes - he had his belt shot off, several buttons blown away, his hat brim shot to peices and his bridle cut in two near his hand,  But never was he wounded.

Nine decades after his death, Bass Reeves is still considered one of the truly great American frontier hero's.  The legend of Bass Reeves will live as long as people recall stories of bravery and courage in the American West.

Bass Reeves has been posthumously honored with the National Cowboy Hall of Fame's "Great Westerner" at a Western Heritage Award program.

Bass Reeves died at his home after a long illness that left him bed ridden under the care of his wife.  A couple of his close associates in the Deputy Marshal service were often visitors at his bed side.  Bass passed on January 12, 1910.  He is buried in what is a now an unattended cementery.  His grave marked with a simple wooden cross.  Some talk has been heard about locating his grave and marking it properly. 

There were many newspaper articles I could have included about Marshall Reeve's life and death, but there were so many I will let you chase them down on the internet.  Thanks for coming by, see you later.  Have several more black cowboys and adventures in mind.   

ramblingbob  

In line with an earlier post about the repatriation of First Nation remains held in museums, I am happy to tell readers of the recent publication of a new book, by AltaMira Press, titled Spirited Encounters: American Indians Protest Museum Policies and Practices. The publisher's synopsis reads as follows (with minor edits): "During the twentieth century, dozens of protests, large and small, occurred across North America as American Indians asserted their anger and displayed their disappointment regarding traditional museum behaviors. In response, due to public embarrassment and an awakening of sensitivities, museums began to change their methods and laws were enacted in support of American Indian requests for change. Spirited Encounters provides a foundation for understanding museums and looks at their development to present time, examines how museums collect Native materials, and explores protest as a fully American process of addressing grievances. Now that museums and American Indians are working together in the processes of repatriation, this book can help each side understand the other more fully."

The author, Karen Coody Cooper, is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and has occupied positions in museums such as the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. Karen has just begun working as a historical interpreter at the Cherokee Heritage Center in Park Hill, south of Tahlequah. She was born in Tulsa, and graduated from Collinsville High School. She will be a keynote speaker at the Oklahoma Museums Association annual meeting in September in Bartlesville and will be teaching a course on American Indians and museums at Northeastern State University this fall. To obtain the book Spirited Encounters (available in soft cover or hardback), visit the Web site of Altamira Press or Barnes & Noble, or contact your local book dealer.

Karen sent me the following press release as well, discussing the key issues pertaining to her work for this volume:

NATIVE AMERICANS TRANSFORM MUSEUMS

TAHLEQUAH - American Indian corpses taken from nineteenth-century battlefields often wound up in museum collections, and museum agents commonly dug up skeletal remains from Native burial sites. During the first part of the twentieth century, major museum exhibitions were created from grave goods and war trophies, along with confiscated ceremonial items. It wasn't until the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum in the 1960s, that agencies and institutions were forced to reconsider their treatment of minority groups. In the 1970s the American Indian Movement, American Indians Against Desecration, and other Native social action groups launched protests across the nation.

American Indian protests caught the attention of the U.S. Congress in 1987 when hearings disclosed that the Smithsonian Institution alone possessed 34,000 American Indian remains. Native activists pushed for passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The enactment of NAGPRA in 1990 served to transform museums by requiring them to release information about their holdings to pertinent federally-recognized tribes and to return Native remains, burial goods, and ceremonial objects to their homeland governments. Museum inventories received by the National Park Service, which manages NAGPRA, finds that as many as 600,000 Native human remains have been held by museums across the United States. Today, museums no longer collect Native remains, burial items, or ceremonial materials. As a result of the repatriation act, museums and American Indians have had to engage in an exchange of information which has helped the two entities better understand each other. Through interactions with Native spokespeople, museums have learned more about Native communities, leading to improved exhibitions and programs.

During the 1980s American Indians protested major exhibitions that were ignoring American Indian concerns about accuracy and appropriateness. Two major protested exhibitions were The Spirit Sings in Calgary, during the 1988 winter Olympics, and First Encounters, originating in Florida during the quincentennial of the 1492 voyage of Columbus. The latter exhibit traveled to museums in Albuquerque and St. Paul, Minnesota with protestors taking action at each location. Those museums sought to address the concerns of protestors by enhancing the exhibit with additional exhibit panels, program presentations, and visitor handouts. Prior to organized protests exhibits in natural history museums and in historical societies often contained distorted information about American Indians and created poorly informed scenarios. Some exhibits had labeled garden and woodworking tools as weapons. Today, most museums consult with Native advisors to assure that descriptions of practices, materials, and activities in museum exhibits are accurate.

American Indian artists experienced problems with art museums, which generally wanted to relegate Native art to ethnographic status. In the 1950s and 1960s, Tulsa's Philbrook Art Center was host to one of the nation's premier Native art shows. But, they accepted only art that conformed to the museum's definition of Native art, serving to severely restrict American Indian artists who were seeking to create new, dynamic art forms and who wanted to make a living as artists. Innovative Native artists struggled to open their own galleries while resenting their exclusion from museums.

The book also discusses protests at state and national parks containing Native sacred sites, where ongoing battles concern access and propriety. Also, chapters are devoted to museums or national parks that have long celebrated "heroes" deleterious to American Indians, such as the Pilgrims of Plimoth Plantation and the former Custer Battlefield National Monument, now the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument. Plimoth Plantation has instituted a Wampanoag presence at their living history site, now conforming to historical knowledge that Wampanoag people and Pilgrims were in constant interaction. Colonial Williamsburg, which once included a school for the sons of area Native chiefs, is also beginning to incorporate a Native presence there to conform to historical evidence of repeated visits by Native contingents and individuals.

Following a chapter discussing the development of museums managed by Native governments, the book's summary chapter reviews the changes invoked by the protests and suggests that improved communication between museums and Native communities has led to better exhibitions and to more lively programs. Many museums are now friendlier to community researchers, having opened their doors to Native emissaries inviting them to view archives, photographs and collections from generations past. Forty years ago Native researchers were not welcome at many museums, which often restricted museum holdings to visits by credentialed academic researchers.

This is a list of the contents of the volume:

Introduction: American Indians, Museums and Protest
Part I: Protesting Exhibitions
Chapter One: Politics and Sponsorship
Chapter Two: Display of Sacred Objects
Chapter Three: Display of Human Remains
Chapter Four: Art Confined to a Reservation of its Own
Part II: The Long Road to Repatriation
Chapter Five: Demands for Return of Material Objects
Chapter Six: Demands for Return of Human Remains
Part III: Whose Heroes and Holidays
Chapter Seven: No Celebration for Columbus
Chapter Eight: Thanksgiving Mourned
Chapter Nine: The Custer Chronicles
Part IV: Claiming Our Own Places
Chapter Ten: Native Cultural Sites
Chapter Eleven: Transforming Museums
Conclusion: Achievements Gained by Protests

For more information, see the publisher website linked to above, or contact Karen Coody Cooper at:
cooper46@sbcglobal.net

Crawford Goldsby was born on February 8, 1876,  in Fort Concho, Texas.   He was one of four children born to St. George and Ellen Goldsby.   His sisters name was Georgia and the brothers Luther and Clarence.  The father (from Alabama) had been a member of the Tenth United States Cavalry, (The famed Buffalo soldiers).  He claimed to be black, Sioux, Mexican, and white.  He had gone AWOL from the army in Texas because of a fracas of some type.  He fled and found refuge in the Indian Territory .  Bill's mother was believed to be one half black, one-forth white and one-forth Cherokee.  Born in the Delaware District of the Cherokee Nation, her parents had been slaves owned at one time by a Cherokee, Jeffery Beck.

 Abandoned by her husband in Texas, Bills mother went to her family at Fort Gibson - Indian Territory.  She in turn abandoned her son Crawford, leaving him in the care of a black woman, Amanda Foster.  He remained there until the age of seven, then moved to Fort Gibson with his mother.  He was then sent to the Cherokee, Kansas, Indian School.  He spent three years there, then was sent to Carlisle Industrial School for Indians in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, for two years.  Seemingly to no avail, for some sources claim he could barley read or write.

After leaving school he returned to Oklahoma.

Crawford's mother remarried when he was about thirteen.  He did not like or get along with his step- father.  He began to hang with the wrong crowd and started drinking liquor and rebelling against authority.

At fifteen, he went to live with his sister, Georgia, and her husband.

At seventeen, he worked on a ranch where it was said he was liked by all.

At eighteen  he attended a dance at Fort Gibson.  A fellow by the name of Jake Lewis beat up his little brother.  Crawford shot him twice and, feeling that discretion was the better part of valor, he headed for the Creek and Seminole Nations.   There he would meet the Cook brothers Jim and Bill. 

( Oklahoma was not just the home of the Cherokee, this was where the government was trying to cram all the eastern Indians at the time.  This was land originally thought of as no one would want, but now the whites were eyeing large parts of it, wanting it for themselves.)

The Cooks were already wanted by the law.  In the summer of 1894 they persuaded a restaurant owner to go and collect some money that was due each of them from as payment for some land, in the sale of the Cherokee Strip.  She did collect the money for them, but was trailed by a  sheriff's posse attempting to apprehend the Cook brothers.  There was a gunfight as a result,  with one wounded and one killed.  The restaurant owner was later questioned and asked if Crawford was one of the three.  She replied no that the third one was "the Cherokee Kid".  This is where Crawford obtained his nickname of Cherokee Bill.

Now with a string of robberies and murders across the Cherokee and Seminole Nations in July of 1894, The Cook Gang had made itself known.

Here biographers differ in belief, some do not think Crawford began his trail of exploits until his eighteenth year when he joned forces with the Cook's.  Others believe he killed his first man at twelve - Supposedly his brother-in-law over something to do with feeding hogs.  

Also they do not agree on how he got the name Cherokee Bill.  The number of people he killed ranges from seven to as many as thirteen.  But all agree that by eighteen he had joined the Bill Cook Gang .  Bill later formed his own gang.  Some claim he rode with Henry Star, Belle Star's son.  Others claim he only met Henry Star in Jail.  He claimed to have ridden with Billy, The Kid, but no one really belives that statement.  

When working with material you gather off the internet, often you find different versions of the story from various reseachers, for instance.

The man Crawford is said to kill at the age of twelve, was his brother-in-law, after he was told to feed the hogs.  He was supposedly not prosecuted because of his age.  Then as a teenager he took to petty thievery  and by sixteen was an expert shot.  Shooting Jake Lewis at the dance in fort Gibson, in this account, in an argument over a girl.  Then fleeing to the Indian Nation.

In this account after the lawmen had trailed the female restaurant owner to the Cook gang, it was in the ensuing shoot out, as the outlaws fled, The Cherokee Kid turned in the saddle and with his rifle fired the mortal shot that killed Deputy Sequoyah Huston.

After the fight with the marshals at Tallequah Cherokee Bill, as he was now known,  took refuge at his sisters home, Maude Brown (this is a new name for me as earlier I thought he had only one sister , Georgia. whose husband he killed at twelve).    Maude's husband was a bad drunk, he took a whip to her when she did not move fast enough to please him in her chores.  While he was beating her, Cherokee Bill calmly walked up behind him and shot him in the head.  Then he mounted his horse and rode to rejoin the Cook brothers.

In the summer of 1894, Bill robbed the depot in Nowata.  He shot the station agent Richard Richards as he went for his gun, killing him.  He then calmly waited for the train to arrive, walking the platform.  After the tain stopped he pounded on the door of the express car.  When the door opened conductor Sam Collins ordered bill to leave.  Bill shot him in the face, killing him also.  The Brakeman came running and Bill fired at him, wounding him.   Bill then mounted his horse and rode away.  No mention is made of him getting any money for his troubles.

 July 1894  Bill and the Cook brothers performed their only reported bank robbery,  robbing the Lincoln County Bank in  Chandler.  Bill is credited for the killing of the towns only barber, who was trying to raise the alarm about the robbery in progress.

This same year Bill and several of his own little gang are reported to have robbed every store in Talala Indian Territory.  They started at one end of the street and robbed their way down to the other end of town.  It is said they returned once again and did the same deed on another occasion.

Later that same year, 1894, The Cook's and Cherokee Bill robbed the Shufeldt & Son store in Lenapal Indian Territory.  During this robbery Bill killed Ernest Melton, simply a bystander.  This was the murder that Judge Isaac Parked placed a reward of $1,300 on Cherokee Bill, DEAD OR ALIVE!

Bill was infatuated with Maggie Glass, a cousin of Isaac "Ike" Rodgers.  Rodgers had been a deputy for Deputy Marshal W. C. Smith when needed for a posse.  Smith arranged for Rodgers to lure Bill to meet the girl.  On the evening of January 29, 1895, Bill paid Maggie a visit.  As the evening wore to a close after a fine dinner, Bill fell asleep.  While Bill slept Rodgers enlisted the help of a neighbor, Clifton Scales,  to jump Bill and tie him up.  They then delivered him to Fort Smith.

On February 26,1895, Cherokee Bill stood trial for the murder of Ernest Melton during the robbery of the Shufeldt & Son Store.  Found guilty, Judge Parker sentenced Bill to be hung on June 25, 1895.    Bill joked to the Court that no would ever put a rope around his neck.  His lawyer J. Warren Reed was sucessful in gaining several appeals that delayed the execution date.

While the appeals process was going on Bill persuaded a trustee at the jail to smuggle in a pistol to him, which he then hid in a hole in the wall of his cell.   On the night of July 27, Bill tried his break.  During the day the prisoners on murderer's row were allowed to roam the common corridor in the lowest cellers of the jail, but at night were locked in their individual cells.

Guard Lawrence Keating came to lock the individual doors, when Bill appeared gun in hand.  Keating reached for his gun and Bill shot him.  Keating tried to stagger back up the corridor and Bill shot him in the back again.  Other guards raced to the scene, guns drawn, and began firring at Bill, who retreated behind the door from his own cell.  Other prisoners huddled under their bunks in fear.  As the gun battle lasted for several minutes, with neither side able to gain an advantage.

Henry Starr then told the guards if they would let him talk with Bill he would get him to surrender.   After talking to Bill , Henry then reappeared with Bill's gun, and the fight was over.  Keating died on site. ( I wonder just how much ammunition could Bill possibly have had to extend the fight much longer anyway?).

Bill was quickly tried for the murder of Keating, and convicted.  Sentenced to hang on Dec. 2 1895,  his lawyer tried appeals again but this time the U.S.  Supreme Court upheld the murder verdict for the Keating slaying.  Execution was scheduled for March 17, 1896.  On that day Cherokee Bill was led from under the court house.  As he stepped into the sunlight he is reportd to have said "It is a good day to die".  Led to the gallows and up the steps, the noose was place around his neck.  Asked if he had any last words, he replied, "I came her to die, not to make a speach."  These were his last words and a moment later the show was over for the crowd and the Cherokee Kid.

His Mother claimed the body and took it Fort Gibson to bury it.

Judge Parker characterized Bill as a "bloodthirsty mad dog who kills for the love of killing" and as "the most vicious" of all the outlaws in  the Oklahoma Territory. 

Numerous publications recount Bll's life of crime.  He was great fodder for the penny and dime novellas of the day.

     So was this kid born to be bad?

Next one of the marshals most of you never heard of and probably

more deserving of fame the Wyatt Earp.

thanks for beating the bush in the Indian Territory with me.

ramblingbob

]]> http://myviewontheissues.wordpress.com/?p=33 Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:23:00 +0000 Yonv Gigage http://myviewontheissues.wordpress.com/?p=33     I know "Big Brother" is watching.  In fact he's probably monitoring the things I'm typing right now.  The United States Government stole the lands of my Cherokee ancestors and my ancestors in the past 75 years locally.  I know that the U.S. Army killed my Great Great Grandfather and two of his brothers because they were "half-breed" Indian's.  I will not forget these atrocities and I will not forgive them for doing these things to my people.  I'm a "mixed blood" Indian myself and I'm proud to be such.  It defines who I am in many ways.  Andrew Jackson, the Ole Bastard, is NO hero of mine because he signed that damned piece of shit Indian Removal Act.  If I seem angry, you're correct!  Trashy Europeans came here and disrupted the peacefulness and tranquility that my ancestors possessed.  These poor excuses for humanity came here and said, "Your beliefs are wrong.  Your lifestyle is wrong.  We must change you to be like us."  Well kiss my Indian Ass!  I don't think my ancestors asks what you thought was right or wrong.  They were minding their own business until you came here and fucked up everything.  And in the words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I gotta say 'bout that".

I'm ignorant of many concerns in the debate, but the term First Americans seems to be largely equivalent to Native Americans, with only slight differences. It avoids "Indian," which many find offensive (but which some Native Americans/American Indians prefer to retain), and the potential confusion of Native American vs. native American. (Original American and Indigenous American are other similar terms that have failed to catch on.) But the only other advantage I see to First American over the more commonly used Native American comes from little-thought-about meanings of the adjectives: "native" may be seen as subtly offensive, suggesting a racist and colonial legacy that rarely respected native peoples or cultures. And by saying that Native Americans are not only native to this land, but also that they were the first ones here, goes further in extending the honor of their history.

Of course, our nation could better honor those here before the colonists by doing what Canada did two days ago, and what Australia did earlier this year. And I know they're just a sports team, but the Redskins need to catch up to the NCAA--fast.

(I should also note that the issue of how to treat indigenous people today is much more important here in Peru, and throughout Latin America, where indigenous populations are very large and still very oppressed. I haven't had enough personal experience here regarding race relations to have any insights.)

My take on all this is ignorant and my opinion is therefore irrelevant. If someone with knowledge of these issues stumbles upon this and cares to fill me in about any of it, I would be grateful.

So, the idea of Wikipedia is pretty amazing. Frankly, I think it's one of the best unschooling tools there is. I'm fairly sure Ivan Illich (who wrote the infamous Deschooling Society) would have approved. Illich, long before the time of the internet, called for "networks" to be made up of unschoolers, deschoolers, homeschoolers, and etc. These networks would be large contact books, file cabinets, written essays, learning tools, and so on composed by and for radical learners, teachers, and anyone else who wanted access to them. So basically, this was the internet - just without the internet part. John Holt (way before the internet as well) also called for free, accessible, learning tools that would help individuals explore, satisfy, and expand upon their curiosity. Wikipedia does all of these things, and additionally, it's a tool that is mostly controlled by the learners. There is very little hierarchy in the world of Wikipedia when it comes to authoring and sharing information, and all knowledge is equally accessible to all peoples. At any moment when the learner has access to a computer, the internet, and a question - they can easily seek out an answer. On top of that, if they want, they can contribute to, change, or challenge the information. Most of the time, they are directly linked with the information they are learning. Wikipedia's free, vast, and learner-controlled encyclopedia is only continuing to expand.

Unfortunately, that is all contrasted by one major problem: Wikipedia's staunch dedication to "neutrality."

The idea of Wikipedia being neutral is impossible, at least in regards to certain topics. Science is not neutral. History is not neutral. Wikipedia is try to stay neutral by marking certain pages "the neutrality of this article is disputed" and for putting in its rules that articles must follow a neutral approach. By doing this, it is trying to prevent itself from being a propaganda outlet - it does not want its pages to argue one way or another, it wants to present only "the facts." Unfortunately, this is impossible - especially with history. As I argued in a previous post, history is not neutral - it is not a set of facts to be memorized and regurgitated. It is a collection of arguments and controversies, and the purpose of learning history should be to sift through these disputes and to come to one's own conclusion. Unfortunately, with Wikipedia's "neutral" policy, much of this is prevented. Most of the time, the status quo opinion is presented. In some cases, there are sections dedicated to "controversies" or "criticisms" on the topic. Yet, Wikipedia, with its "neutral" policy, settles the debates that encompass history for us. More likely than not, this means that for a topic to be neutral it must be "supported by the evidence" - which really means that it follows in line with the hegemonic opinions. And, as we know, these histories aren't always the ones that are really "historically accurate." Often they are the distorted "facts" that were ready made for our textbooks. Luckily, we do have the power to combat this in the world of Wikipedia. This can be extremely important, because Wikipedia is ever-growing and so are the number of people that use it. However, in the past, those of us who dissented from the typical representations of history were not on equal footing to combat the unfortunate falsehoods that have been spread. While we're still not on that equal playing field in Wikipedia (with the neutrality rule and the vast numbers of standard-history-believers), it is a medium that gives us a much stronger fighting chance - and a place that we can truly (and sometimes subtly) make a "historical" difference. Through guerrilla efforts, we have the ability to bring forward alternative and underrepresented histories.

I often find myself browsing Wikipedia to see what it has to say on certain historical topics. Sometimes I am downright horrified, occasionally I am disappointed, and other times I am admittedly surprisingly satisfied with what I find. During those times that I am horrified or disappointed, I decide to make small changes - small enough to go unnoticed by those major-editors so that they won't be erased or undone, but large enough to make a difference. Sometimes the change I make does go noticed, and it's reverted back, so I'll wait a while to make the change again or to make another similar change. There are times where the change is kept, sometimes they become added onto, or on some occasions they are continually undone. Other times, I will add simple one or two sentence additions to articles saying such things as "However, this is a controversial subject because...", "Yet, there are some people who believe that this is not true - and in reality...", or "There are some who disagree with the terms used here and these historical accounts. They believe that..." I like to think of these as the Wikipedia History Wars.

For instance, I once searched the topic of "slave revolts." I made my way through the article, and finally came to its discussion on North America. Here's what it had to say about the abolitionist John Brown:

John Brown had already conducted several massacres of pro-slavery settlers in Kansas, when he decided to lead a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (West Virginia was not yet a state). This raid was an attempt by a handful of white men to cause a slave revolt in the South. It failed in this attempt; in fact, the first man they killed was a local freed black man.

Obviously, I couldn't let this stand. Here is what I changed it to:

John Brown had already fought against pro-slavery forces in Kansas for several years when he decided to lead a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (West Virginia was not yet a state). This raid was a joint attack by former slaves, freed blacks, and white men who had corresponded with slaves on plantations in order to form a general uprising amongst slaves. It almost succeeded, had it not been for Brown's delay, and hundreds of slaves left their plantations to join Brown's force - and others left their plantations to join Brown in an escape to the mountains. Eventually, due to a tactical error by Brown, their force was quelled. But directly following this, slave disobedience and runaways sky-rocketed in Virginia

My change was reverted back to the original, until some re-reverted it to account I had written, and that's what it has stayed as to this day. Now, it may have helped that my paragraph had a citation and the other did not - even though in many places the first account is often the historical portrait that John Brown is painted in by our textbooks and our national myths.

In reality, I wish there were a wikipedia-esque site that was dedicated to history in that it allowed for the articles not to be decided and "reporting the facts", but to discuss the controversies, the different viewpoints, and the debates that encompass them - but also where to go or what tools to get to follow different arguments. I believe that would be the best atmosphere for learners to formulate their own conclusions. However, that is not what Wikipedia is about. Its purpose, at least in the history department, is to relay historical information in a narrative and decided voice. So, in this particular arena, we can make the subversive changes that represent the histories that we believe in. Of course, others who disagree will do this too. That is why Wikipedia, in one aspect, is seriously flawed - everyone will be changing the histories to fit their views. Yet, it is currently the most powerful tool on the internet that we can use to make the changes we view as necessary and represent the histories we believe to be true. It is one place, at least for now, where we have the ability to truly challenge the monopoly of information that the status quo has held for a long, long time. We should seize that chance. Wikipedia is growing larger and larger, and the amount of people who read and view it is astronomical. The small and subtle changes that we make, or even the large and dynamic ones, can truly make a difference in the way people think about history.

For kicks, here's the latest change I've made on Wikipedia. On the page for the history of the town of Carlisle, PA it had only this to say about the Carlisle School:

Carlisle was well-known at one time for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, which trained Native Americans from all over the United States; one of its notable graduates was athletic hero Jim Thorpe.

Now, it says this:

Carlisle was well-known at one time for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, which trained Native Americans from all over the United States; one of its notable graduates was athletic hero Jim Thorpe. However, some view the Carlisle School as the first of many schools that were used for "cultural genocide" of American Indians. Shortly after the Wounded Knee Massacre, Native Americans were forcefully taken from their families on the newly instituted reservations, sent to Carlisle, and were forced to give up their dress, languages, customs, religious views, sciences, and all other parts of their culture (often times physical force and abuse was used to institute this policy). After this, the American Indian "students" were sent back from Carlisle to their reservations to teach their families how to be what the United States government identified as "civilized."

Have you made any history or cool changes to Wikipedia? Share 'em here!

-Brian

 When I left off last time I had taken the tale to the point where Ned had fled to the remote area of the territory in an effort to give the Fort Smith crowd a time to cool of in their fervor to capture him.  At this time I belive I should give cause as to the U. S. Marshall's office and the Hanging Judge Parker's belief in his guilt.  First, Ned's jacket he had on the night of his drunken stupor was found near where he had passed out.  In the pocket was found the broken neck of the whiskey bottle from the night before.  Also found was the strip of cloth torn from Nancy "Old Lady" Shell's apron, used to stopper the drink.  Near the scene of the shooting were the broken remains of the whiskey bottle.  This was enough to convince the investigating officers of Ned's guilt.  So the warrant and order for arrest was issued.

     After Ned fled the area, John Parris and a second drinking parner of the night, Charlie Bobtail,  were confined to jail in Fort Smith.  They were both charged in the murder of Maples along with Christie and Bub Trainor.  However Trainor claimed that he was eating supper at Nancy Shell's and well before the shooting, so he was released on bail.  He continued to raise hell, and appeared in court on various other charges.  Judge Parker ruled that the case could not go forward without the apprehension of Christie.

 On May 18, 1889,  Jacob Yates took over the duties of marshal.  A man of strong principles, he started to clean up the back log of cases before him.   The thing that most bothered him was the unsolved case of the killing of Deputy Marshal Dan Maples (image of maples in B&W, at left).  He called upon his most trusted Deputy Marshall - Heck Thomas, reminding him there was a $500 reward for Ned Christie.

    Heck Thomas was one of the most active officers ever to join the U. S. Marshals office.  In November of 1887 he is reputed to have brought in a record 41 fugitives on one trip.

   Thomas enlisted the skill of a well known tracker one L. P. Isbell, also a marshal ,and started his usual circuit of the territory.  At Muskogee, they turned over 13 prisoners under guard, and met Bub Trainor.  Trainor knew Ned Christie and also knew his habits and haunts quite well.  Trainor claimed he wanted Christie captured to clear his own name.

   In late September of 1889, Heck Thomas with a posse of 13 men located Ned Christie at his home in Rabbit Trap.  In the early dawn of the 26th, they surrounded and crept near the house.  Suddenly the large pack of dogs Christie kept began to bark and give the alarm.  Thomas gave the order to rush the cabin.  They could hear Ned scramble into the loft.

    Deputy Thomas shouted for Christie to surrender.  The outlaw kicked a plank off the end of the loft and opened fire with his deadly Winchester.  Thomas then shouted that" if he was going to fight to first send out his women and children".  Christie continued to fire.  The next move of the posse was to set fire to a small out-building near the house, hoping the smoke might flush out the occupants of the house. The desired effect was achieved - Nancy Christie soon ran out of the house.  Young James remained behind, scrambling into the loft to reload his fathers guns.

     Smoke filled the clearing and soon the flames jumped to the main house.  The deputies waited for Ned to come out.  Unknown to them a ball had smashed Ned's nose, struck his left eye, and traveled under the skin around his head and lodged in the back.  Blinded and unable to move, he lay there paralyzed.  Young James had taken up his fathers rifle and continued to fire at the posse.

     James tried to move his father but could not and finally he decided to leave the house alone.  As the fires crept closer he jumped out and tried to scale a fence he was struck in the back by a bullet.  He managed to stumble into the woods and stagger away .

    The deputies decided that Ned was probably dead by now, and Deputy Isbell was bleeding badly from a wound he had suffered to his shoulder.  The younger Christie had disapeared into the woods and they felt certain that the woman who had fled the cabin would be returning with help.  So the decision was made to leave.

   Nancy soon returned and, finding the posse gone, she ran into the burning cabin to discover her wounded, paralyzed husband in the loft.  Unable to move his weight, other family members and friends soon arrived, drawn by the shooting and calamity, and helped get Ned out of the burning building.  They removed the badly wounded outlaw to the woods, where they hid him and soon located the badly hurt boy.  They sent for Dr. Bitting - a whiteman who owned a nearby grist mill.

     The wounded marshall Isbell was taken to Tahleguah, where Deputy Marshal Heck Thomas telegraphed Marshal Yotes about the fight.  Thomas soon returned to Rabbit Trap, where he was met with great resentment from the community for the assult on the Christie family.  He was also surprised to learn that both of the Christie's had survived the fight.

   Dr. Bitting considered Ned's wound to be serious, but not fatal.  Ned's nose had been smashed and his left eye blinded, ruining his good looks, but he would survive.  Ned now had a burning hatred in his heart, his own wounds were large, but his son had been hurt and his home destroyed - all for a crime he had not committed.  He swore that he would never be taken alive.  He also swore if he ever got Bub Trainor in his sights he would shoot him. 

Image at left is of Ned Christie, exact date unkown.

Ned's friends built him a rock fort on a hilltop less than a mile from his burned out cabin.  The stockade was well provisioned with food and water and ammunition.  The trees were also cleard from the hill top so a clear feild of fire commanded the area. After getting installed in the holdout, Ned sent word to Heck Thomas where he could be found, and invited him to call again.

  On November 12, Heck Thomas returned to Rabbit Trap with a posse that included Bub Trainor.  After seeing Christie's fortified position and hearing his verbal taunts, the posse decided they could not take it without a milita regiment and wisely decided to withdraw.

     Thomas never attempted to capture Ned Christie again, and  Ned enjoyed a period of relative peace for a period, while he and his son James continued to improve and heal.  Friends and relatives helped Ned build a new home just east of his burned out one.  It became a special two story structure built with two walls with a space in between filled with rock and sand.  It is said to have had a root cellar and only one door, no windows on the first floor and only small shooting slots on the second.  Once again Ned stocked the place with food, water and plenty of ammunition.  

     Ned enjoyed having his family with him, so he was delighted when his oldest daughter Mary Gritts moved in with her one year old daughter Charlotte.  Ned's nephew, 14-year old Arch Wolf, was also often there.  Christie liked  having young people around and he was idolized as a hero by most of the youth in the area.  However it the summer of 1890, the reputation as an outlaw continued to grow.  Any act of illegality in the surrounding territory was attribituted to him.  Many of his former admirers and friends began to drop away.  They felt that his criminal activites were beginning to become too violent to tolerate.

     The reward for Cristie's capture and delivery to Fort Smith had been raised to $1,000.  Judge Parker was confident that someone would soon claim the tendered offering.   During 1891-92 lawmen and bounty hunters roamed the Going Snake District.  On more than one occasion Christie shot at his tormenters.  The legend began to grow among the Cherokee that Ned led a charmed life and was invincable.  It had now been more than 5 1/2 years since the Deputy Marshal Maples murder and Marshall Yoes became desperate to bring closure to the matter.  In an effort to do so, he summoned Deputy Marshall Dave Rusk, who had beeen part of Heck Thomas's effort in 1889.   He told Rusk to get  Christie at any cost or effort.

    Rusk, along with five other deputies, attempted to steathly approach Christie's house in the early hours of October 12, 1892, but once again the dogs alerted the occupants.  In the ensuing gunfight two of the deputys were wounded.  Once again an attempt to fire an out-building was tried, hoping the fire would spread to the main house.  But this time the out-buildings were located too far away.  Next, they tried to use dynamite, but the fuse refused to cooperate and would not burn.  Rusk then sent word to Yoes that more men were needed.  Yoes replied that help was on the way to hold fast.

   The assault continued throughout the day and night, to no effect.  They finally gave up in disgust and faded away.  Yoes would not be disuaded.  He then turned to Gus York, he was not a federal officer, but was well versed in the area where Christie lived. 

    York appointed Deputy Marshal Cap White as head of the posse.  The group borrowed  a cannon that fired a  3-pound bullet-shaped -ball, and the well armed bunch (more of a mob) set out for Christie's fort.  Leaving Fatteville, Ark. for Rabbit Trap, the group gathered more men along the way including George Jefferson, Mack Peel and Dan Maples' son Sam, all who had been at the wagon camp the night of Mapel's murder.

     Reaching the border of the Cherokee Nation  just after sunset on November 2, the posse took a short break.  Setting off again they reached Christie's cabin around 4a.m., under cover of darkness they surounded the cabin.  This time the dogs sounded no alarm,  James Christie was not home, the posse had heard dogs bark earlier but not now.  It is believed James might have taken the dogs hunting.

 Since the attack in October, Ned had stayed close to home, and his fortified house.  Inside with him were his wife Nancy, daughter Mary: granddaughter Charlotte; Little Arch ( Arch Wolf): Charles Hare, a young full-blood Cherokee and Charles Grease, a 7-year old nephew of Nancy's. 

     Shortly after dawn Nancy and Mary came out breifly and returned inside noticing nothing wrong.  Soon Little Arch came out and when challenged refused to surrender - and the fight was on.     After litle Arch wounded Gus York, the Sheriff Ben Knight, a full-blood to call for Ned's surrender in Chreokee, to make sure Ned understood.  Christie responded with a barrage of lead.  He was then asked to send out the women and childern.  Christie bought Nancy and Mary with the young from the root cellar and sent them out.  All left except for young Charlie grease.

     About this time James was caught trying to take his father two boxes of bullets, according to an article in the OKLAHOMA CITY EVENING GAZETTE.  The newspaper also said that the outlaws kept up a perfect fusillade of bullets all during the day.

     A huge crowd  of Ned's family and friends gathered to watch below the wagon ford.  At times the heavy black gunsmoke stung their eyes, until the wind would carry it away.

     The deputy marshalls kept asking for their surrender through the day, promising them good treatment.  Ned and the wounded Little Arch laughed at them and declared they were winning.  They thought it was funny the goverment would send so many after one man and a boy.  Even the gathered crowd made fun of the officers in their so far, vain attempt.

    Sheriff White sent for Watt Christie, Ned's father to try to entreat his son to surrender.  Watt Christie refused - He said he could see no evil in his son.  Mary then tried to return to the house, telling the lawmen there was still a baby inside.  Knight doubted her word and grabbed at her apron and five boxes of .44 catridges fell out onto the ground.  Mary then turned and ran away.

  The deputy kept up a long range fight until the borrowed cannon finally arrived.  Apparently only the barrel was sent because it is stated they mounted it on a post-oak stump across Bitting Creek.  It is further stated that the deputy's fired 38 rounds at the cabin with no effect, the sturdy walls simply bounced the bullets off.  Apparently this was just solid shot rather than exploding shells.  After this dissapointing show it was decided to use a heavier charge of powder, which resulted in blowing the cannon up - much to the delight of the crowd of onlookers.

   The fight continued until after dark, and several of the deputies were wounded.  Dynamite was again decided to be used.  After the moon  went down, Charlie Copeland ran up and placed a dozen sticks of dynamite with a long fuse beside the house.  At daylight on the 4th the fuse was touched.

     According to the ARKANASA GAZETTE   the house was wrecked, one cornor fell in, and the structure caught on fire.  Ned was once again asked to surrender, he answered with the usual round of gunfire.  Finally the fire became so intense that the defenders had to retreat to the root cellar.  Then the roof fell in, Arch Wolfs hair caught fire and Charles Hare was hit by burning timbers.  At that point young Charlie Grease was probably already dead.

   In the thick smoke from the burning house suddenly the deputys saw Ned Christie burst from the flames and, firing at the neareast deputy, he nearly got away. Young Deputy Marshal Wess Bowman heard a yell and saw Ned running at him and two other depuies, firing his rifle as he came.  The deputies riddled his body with bullets.  In the awful, sudden silence the deputies gathered around the lifeless body. Sam Maples, Murdered Dan Maples son, ran up and emptied his pistol into Christie's body.  In the early morning stillness as the smoke cleared the surrounding hill thrilled to the morning call of the Cherokee women.

    the officers found badly burned Charles Hare trying to excape, he was arrested.  At first the badly burned body of Charlie Grease was identified as Arch Wolf.  Arch had lost all his hair but had managed to excape.  Later he would be arrested in Chicago.

     Ned Christie's body was strapped to a door from his cabin and photographed by a potographer who had tagged along with the posse.  Then the body was hauled to Fort Worth, so the posse could collect their hard earned reward.  There the body was placed on display as was the custom of the day.  More pictures were taken, including on with the posse members (see attatched photo) .  All the posse members were congratulated by Judge Parker.

     Eventually Ned's body was released to his father and returned to Rabbit Trap for burial in the family cemetary.  Many in Indian Territory felt safer now that the notorious outlaw was laid to rest.

     Gus York recieved the $1,000 reward.  After covering expences (I hope that included the cost of the cannon) and dividing it among the posse members, each man got $74.  (blood money?)

     Charles Hare and Arch Wolf stood trial and were convicted of resisting arrest and intent to kill.  They both did time. Little Arch became depressed behind bars and was admitted to a hospital for the insane, where he remained untill 1907.  James Christie was shot by an assasan, eight months after his fathers death, reportedly his head  was severed from his body.

  Ned Christie's body can be seen below, marked as #5, as the marshals pose with his body: With the death of Ned christie, Maples' death never came to trial, so no official blame was ever cast.  But in a story printed in the DAILY OKLAHOMAN   in 1918, the following facts came to light by a Tahlequah blacksmith, Richard A. (Dick) Humphery, who was a former negro slave, and  adopted into the Cherokee Tribe (also a comom practice at the time).  He had witnessed a murder.

    On his way home from work on the night of Deputy Maples murder.  Humphry had started across the foot bridge below the wagon camp at Big Springs.  In the moonlight he saw Bub Trainor stooped over Ned Christie, who was passed out.  Trainor took off Christie's dark jacket and slipped it over his white shirt.  With a pistol in hand, Trainor took up a station behind a tree near the wagon.  Humphery knew devilment was afoot and, afraid of discovery, he hid in some bushes, in fear of his own life.  What he witnessed was the assasination of Maples.

     Fear of Bub Trainor and his wrath, Humphrey sealed his lips until well after Trainor's own death.  Trainor was killed in 1896, killed by four negros, with four shotguns, in Talala.   Humphery was still afraid to tell  what he knew for fear of Trainor's gang.  At 87 he wanted to set the record straight - 26 years after Maples death.

    Humphery said that after Trainor shot Maples, he ran over to Christie and threw his coat over him, shook him hard and told him to get up.  Christie still in a stupor, got to this feet and walked to a clump of small trees and went to sleep again.  Trainor then ran away, Humphrey ran the other direction.

     The day after the shooting  The deputy marshals investigating the Maples killing foud Christie's jacket and the broken bottles, there by sealing Ned Christie's future and plunging him into a life of living hell and crime.

     Today The story of Ned Christie remains a favorite legend among the Cherokee as to the injustice of the white man against their people.  The Cherokee People were one of the truly civilized tribes adapting to the white man's ways, living under a goverment much like that of the whites , they farmed and understood the concept of property ownership. . As stated earlier they took sides in the Civil War according to their own belief in the conflict.  I am proud of my Cherokee blood.

Below are a few more photos related to this story:

Image of Ned Christie's grave site and photo of Parker before he became a judge.

Image of "Cherokee Bill" who was sentenced by Judge Parker and hanged at Fort Smith

Image of George Maledon, an executioner of Judge Parker referred to as the "Prince of Hangmen". The second image refers to a "Fort Smith Hanging", no date or details are available.

All this and more is readly available on the internet.

Much is also there for those interested in the Cherokee people.

Thanks for stumbling through this mess with me again.

ramblingbob

Learn more about this author,Emma Riley Sutton

Well, why can't they sell gasoline?

Just eliminating the sales tax on $4.00 gasoline would lower the price 24 cents to 30 cents a gallon. That is significant.

What if they could eliminate the Federal gas taxes as well? Now, we are talking about a substantial reduction!

We know our elected representatives are not going to repeal the gas taxes. Maybe we can do it ourselves.

Contact your local tribal council and ask for the business manager. Give him this idea and see what he thinks about it.

I think it is very important that the tribe charge a normal markup. Charging an excessive profit would negate any goodwill that could be built. Eliminating any tax that the tribe is exempt from paying will do the trick. The tribe could build tremendous goodwill in the community and provide money for the tribe that does not come from our taxes.

Spread the word. Let's see what can happen!

1.  Preserving our natural resources in a responsible manner is paramount.  We need to stop trashing and abusing Mother Earth.  We, as American Indians, need to lead the way in conservation and in developing clean alternative energy sources.

2.  Protect and provide for our elders and our young.  We learn from our elders and the young ARE our future.  Health Care for our elders and our young is one of the many ways to protect and provide for the same.

3.  Protect and provide for our wildlife and domestic animals because they too are part of the web of life created by Grandfather.

4.  Assure that all peoples upon Turtle Island (North America) are treated in a peaceful and caring manner.  This would be those peoples who are here "Legally".

5.  Assure that our young are well educated in order to provide for their future families.  We, as American Indians, should strive to educate our young in the ways of their ancestors, tis true.  However, a modern education is paramount to survival in many situations and circumstances.

6. Protect and preserve the traditions and culture of our ancestors, the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island.

7. Assure that those harming Mother Earth or any living thing upon Her are dealt with in the proper manner.  This means to punish those harming Mother Earth.

8. Assure that Turtle Island is a safe place for all living upon Her.

9.  Work to create unity and peace amongst all peoples upon Mother Earth.  This will not be an easy tasks.  However, the Indigenous Peoples worldwide can and should lead the way with this crucial endeavor. 

10.  Live a moderate lifestyle upon Mother Earth and honor Grandfather our Creator in so doing.

Neat article from a Canadian producer about our continent's buffalo/bison heritage.

Why most Indigenous North Americans' ancestors revered the beast.  Pretty damn useful!  But I'm surprised the National Bison Assn. didn't produce a basketball-styled "NBA" T-shirt like Rez Dog's "Native By Ancestry" one!

Have *you* ever heard of this place?!  Another of North America's best-kept secrets!  Turns out I twice drove past it years ago, unawares....

"Bison bison," eh?  I can visualize the ad campaign, like "Pizza pizza"!  A few years ago I read that it turns out bison meat may be what the Doctor Upstairs ordered for Native diabetes....

Somebody linked from somewhere up there commented that the pre-Catastrophe environment of most of North America was shaped by buffaloes' (sp?) munching and trampling of grasses and such (and of course, excreting too - BTW: buffalo-chip jewelry?  Sometimes progress is good!!).  Think about it: their range area stretched from the Appalachians / Alleghenies to the Rockies, and from Sonora to the Northwest Territories - HUGE!  Then Whitey came along and mucked it all up, and now we have weeds out the kazoo....

A collection of three separate articles, and one video, in line with the intent of the previous post:

"You will be on my mind every day I am in the White House"

My Indian policy starts with honoring the unique government to government relationship between tribes and the federal government and ensuring that our treaty obligations are met and ensuring that Native Americans have a voice in the White House.

Indian nations have never asked much of the United States, only for what was promised by the treaty obligations made by their forebears. So let me be clear: I believe that treaty commitments are paramount law, I'll fulfill those commitments as president of the United States.

See also the "First Americans" section of the Obama campaign website.

* Actually has an "Indian policy"
* An American Indian adviser on tribal policy
* End a century of mismanagement of Indian Trusts
* Treaty commitments are paramount law
* World class health care and education on Reserves

'Obamamania' hits the Crow Nation
Indian Country Today
May 23, 2008
by Adrian Jawort

Sen. Barack Obama makes first visit to Indian country

CROW AGENCY, Mont. - "I like my new name: Barack Black Eagle. That is a good name," Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama told the crowd of some 4,000 people gathered at Crow Agency May 19. He referenced having been adopted into the tribe moments earlier by his new "parents," Hartford and Mary Black Eagle.

Obama's official new American Indian name, given to him by the Crow Nation, was translated as "One who helps people throughout the land."

"It is not just done for show," Robert Old Horn explained after he announced the tribe's newest honorary member. "But it is done with sincereness - adopting one into a family, with brothers and sisters."

Crow Tribal Chairman Carl Venne introduced Obama, thanking the Illinois senator for co-sponsoring the Indian Health Care Improvement Act and presenting Obama with gifts to share with his family.

"We ask that you, senator, commit to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People," Venne said. The U.S. is one of four countries that voted against that declaration.

In turn, Obama thanked and listed every tribe in Montana, and thanked the rest of Indian country for its support. He also praised the work of his director of Native American Outreach in Montana, Samuel Kohn, Crow.

Having the senator come to the reservation was the manifestation of a lot of hard work on behalf of Kohn and other tribal Obama supporters.

"We've been doing all kinds of things: community organizing, meeting up with each of the tribal leaders, traveled all over the state," Kohn said. "We've really ran the gauntlet."

Kohn said that because Obama makes every person feel involved, it has made his work more rewarding with a tremendous increase of voters on reservations.

He was touched when his work to get people to vote was heeded by one elderly man on the northern Montana Rocky Boy's Reservation.

"And at a meeting, a man 74 years old came up," Kohn said. "He said nobody cared enough to ask him to vote, or cared enough to even show him what he should do to register to vote. But when he said he was going to vote for the first time in his life, he said, 'I'm going to vote for Barack Obama.'

"For the first time, I feel that a candidate really cares about improving the life of American Indians. There's no other candidate that has sat down face-to-face with American Indians and genuinely cared about them."

One Northern Cheyenne voter present at the Obama rally, Donna Gonzalez, said she was disillusioned with the current administration and was impressed that Obama would put Indians in his cabinet. "I'm a Republican, but I'm voting for a Democrat this year," she said.

Obama's words at the rally were a strong indication that Kohn was right in his feelings about the candidate and his commitment to American Indians.

"Few have been ignored by Washington for as long as the Native Americans, the first Americans," Obama said. "Too often Washington has paid lip service to working with tribes, while taking a 'one size fits all' approach with tribal communities across the nation. That will change when I'm president of the United States."

Obama said that he'd work with tribes to settle mismanagement of Indian trusts, and would even host an annual summit at the White House with tribal leaders to come up with an agenda for tribal communities while making sure treaty obligations are met while honoring the tribal and federal government relationship.

"Because that's how we'll make sure that you have a seat at the table when important decisions are being made about your lives, about your nations, about your people," he said about the proposed annual tribal White House summit.

Obama acknowledged that the U.S. government has had a tragic history with tribal nations, and that it hasn't always been honest with them.

"And that's history we have to acknowledge if we are going to move forward in a fair and honest way. Indian nations have never asked much of the United States, only for what was promised by the treaty obligations made by their forebears.

"So let me be clear: I believe that treaty commitments are paramount law, I'll fulfill those commitments as president of the United States."

He said in addition to co-sponsoring the IHCIA, he's fighting to ensure full funding of IHS, as well as increase tribal college and education funding for all American Indian children.

Obama told of how when he grew up in Hawaii and because he was black, he felt he was often deemed an "outsider," the same as many American Indians perhaps have felt in their own country.

"And because I have that experience, I want you to know that you will never be forgotten. You will be on my mind every day that I'm in the White House.

"We will never be able to undo the wrongs that were committed against Native Americans. But what we can do is make sure that we have a president who's committed to doing what's right with Native Americans - being a full partner.

"Respecting you, honoring you, working with you. That's the commitment I'm making to you; and since now I'm a member of the [Crow and American Indian] family, you know that I won't break my commitment to my own brothers, and my own sisters."

From THE HILL
June 4, 2008
By Kevin Bogardus

Democratic presidential front-runner Sen. Barack Obama's support for the Cherokee Nation in its controversial battle with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is helping him win support from Native American leaders.

That support has translated into votes in Democratic primaries, and could also help the Illinoisan in a general-election fight with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Obama has weighed in against legislation supported by other CBC members that would cut off federal funds to the Cherokee Nation. The CBC is upset with the Cherokee for excluding Freedmen - descendants of slaves once owned by tribal members - from tribal membership.

Obama has said that he disagrees with the decision, but opposes cutting off funds to the Cherokee, saying tribes have a right to be self-governing.

To most black lawmakers, the move by the Cherokee Nation smacked of racism and discrimination. But many Native Americans see tribal membership as an issue of sovereignty and resent any federal intrusion.

Chairman Joe Brings Plenty of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe in South Dakota said if Obama had sided with the CBC on the issue, it would have weighed on Native American voters' minds.

"It would have been costly," Brings Plenty said. "If Congress is allowed to step and just rearrange the constitution, what is going to happen to our constitution? The seriousness of the issue is that comes down directly to interfering with the nations."

Obama easily won the two South Dakota counties where Brings Plenty's reservation is located on Tuesday, although it wasn't enough for him to win the entire state. He also benefited from strong wins in Indian counties in Montana, where he did defeat Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

According to Obama's advisers and supporters, a number of states might go Democratic in this year's general election because of Native American votes. They cite Montana, a state where more than 6 percent of the population is Native American. It has voted Republican in the last several presidential campaigns, but Obama trails McCain by an average of only seven points, according to polls monitored by RealClearPolitics.

Another example cited by Obama's supporters is North Carolina. While its population is only a little more than 1 percent American Indian, it is seen as a swing state where Obama might be able to edge out a narrow victory.

If Obama had sided with the CBC, Brings Plenty, who has no position on the substance of the Freedmen dispute, said he would not have retracted his endorsement but would have requested a meeting with the senator to offer his perspective on the issue.

Brings Plenty isn't alone in praising Obama's position on the Cherokee issue. Indian Country Today, a Native American news service, praised him for meeting "Indian issues head-on, even where they could put him at odds with other voters."

"It was smart of Obama to put out a position. I'm glad he's on the record. This is something tribes definitely want to hear," said Lillian Sparks, a member of the Rosebud Sioux and executive director of the National Indian Education Association.

The CBC reaction has been less positive.

In an op-ed in The Hill, Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.), who endorsed Clinton for president, said the Democratic front-runner's statement on the Freedmen shows he is without "a clear understanding of the issue.