been done by the Cheyenne
Indians from the neighboring reservation.
The sheriff immediately called a large force of deputies together, and
rode to the reservation, demanding that the guilty Indian be given up.
The Indian agent refused to comply with his request. He said that when
the excitement was over he would have the guilty parties arrested, but
that he feared a general uprising among the Indians if he took any
immediate steps.
The sheriff was extremely angry with the agent, and hot words followed.
The Indians, getting an idea of what was happening, thought the agent
was protecting them against the law, and rode round the sheriff in a
circle and defied him.
After they had been riding a few minutes, they made a much wider circle,
so that they were out of his reach, and one of the number called out
that he had shot the herder, and defied the sheriff to capture him.
This Indian was a young man named Badger, who had been sent to Carlisle
and educated, and from whom good things had been expected--but, like
many of the Indians who are sent away to be educated, he had fallen back
into his old habits on his return to the reservation, and in blanket and
war-paint was as much a savage as if he had never been taught the
blessings of civilization.
The sheriff made fresh demands for the guilty men, and finally Badger
was arrested. In the mean while it was found that several other
Cheyennes had taken part in the murder, and the sheriff demanded that
they also should be handed over to justice.
This the Indians would not agree to. They said that one white man had
been killed, and one Indian had been given up for him. They could not be
made to see that all the guilty men should be punished. They thought it
unreasonable to ask for four or five Indians in exchange for but one
white man.
When the sheriff insisted they got very ugly, and finally two hundred of
them left the reservation and went on the war-path.
It has been reported that the Cheyennes sent messages to the Sioux,
asking them to join the war party, but the Sioux declined.
Some trouble is feared, but nothing of a very serious nature.
The settlers will not return to their homes till White Bull is caught,
and though the commanders at the forts are trying to assure them that
there is no danger, they prefer to keep their women and children in
safety until White Bull has been captured and the band dispersed.
Round-ups are suspended, sheep-shearing has
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