The Great Brain Does It Again by John D. Fitzgerald

Author:John D. Fitzgerald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2016-10-21T09:26:32+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Tom Becomes an Indian Blood Brother

WE HAD OUR FIRST INDIAN TROUBLE soon after Papa put Tom out of the chute-the-chute business. During the 1890s the last of the Indians in southwestern Utah were placed on reservations. Several tribes were confined to the Shivwits-Shebit Reservation near Santa Clara, Utah. Other Indians were placed on two small reservations including the Pa-Roos-Its band of Paiute Indians who were placed on a reservation about ten miles from Adenville.

Before being placed on the reservation Chief Tav-Whad-Im, which translated into English means Rising Sun, and his band of Pa-Roos-Its never made any trouble for the citizens of Adenville. This was due to the fact that the Mormons had always treated the Indians very well. It was part of their religion. They believed the American Indians were Lamanites descended from the white tribe of Joseph, who were led by the Prophet Lehi from Jerusalem to the western hemisphere in 600 B.C. They treated the Indians as brothers.

The Paiutes had been driven from their good hunting and fishing grounds by white men before being put on the reservation. The Mormons tried to make up for this by giving the Chief and his band flour, potatoes, turnips, corn, and other food from the church storehouse. And the Gentile ranchers contributed sheep, hogs, and cattle. The people in town collected old clothing and enough money to buy medicine. The Paiutes came into Adenville to sell beaded buckskin gloves, moccasins, jackets, furs, roasted pine nuts, and other things. Papa had invited Chief Rising Sun to our house for Sunday dinner several times.

When the United States government put the Chief and his band on the Pa-Roos-Its reservation all of this stopped. James Fredericks, the Indian agent, under orders from the State Superintendent of Indian Affairs, stated that the government would furnish the Paiutes with all the food, supplies, clothing, and medicine they needed, but the Paiutes were not allowed to leave the reservation. A Mission School was established on the reservation to teach the Paiutes how to speak, read, and write in English.

Papa and Bishop Aden were both worried when the Indians were first placed on the reservation. They knew some Indian agents were dishonest and cheated the Indians. They waited two months and then went to see Chief Rising Sun, making sure Mr. Fredericks wasn’t with them when they entered the Chief’s tepee. They asked the Chief how the Indian agent was treating him and his band.

“Mr. Fredericks,” Chief Rising Sun told them, “wears an Indian moccasin on his left foot and a white man’s shoe on his right foot and is our tubicin.”

This was the Chief’s way of saying Mr. Fredericks was honest and fair in his dealings with the Indians and they considered him their friend. Tubicin in their language meant friend.

We had no Indian trouble until Mr. Fredericks died from a heart attack several years later. A new Indian agent named Henry Parker took his place. Mr. Parker was much tougher with the Indians. He was what Papa called “a stickler for rules and regulations.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.