1891 - Cody changed history to fit his Wild West Shows - and the government extorted American Indians into joining.
1891, June 6 (Source: The American Settler)
"Miss Mary C. Collins, 16 years among the Sioux, sent by the American Missionary Society, drew up a protest for the Congregational Club of Chicago, against the employment of the wild Indians as Show men, which was presented to Secretary Noble of the Interior. She had known "Sitting Bull," and gathered from him how the "Buffalo Bill" Shows were conducted, the tale of drunkenness and debauchery in which the Indians were permitted to indulge when off duty, and the false ideas the Indians form of their position. The warriors were puffed up with pride, and posed as heroes before the whites. "Sitting Bill" was honored as the "Brave" who killed Custer, and exterminated a regiment. The cause of the attack now made in the American press on Colonel Cody is because the same game is being played in relation to the Wounded Knee fight. Buffalo Bill had advertised the advent of 50 of the worst Indians engaged in that affair. The Indians go willingly, and the offers of the high wages had been accepted by 20 odd prisoners brought to Fort Sheridan at Chicago by General Miles. The story as told by the Springfield Republican is as follows: --
" The General informed Miss Collins that they would otherwise have to stay where they were six months and very likely be tried by the courts and punished afterward, whereas if they went to Europe they would have a good year and return to the agency and nothing would ever be done to them. When Miss Collins, as the representative of the Congregational Club, bore many resolutions of remonstrance to Washington, she first saw President Harrison, who perfectly agreed with her, and particularly as to committing the prisoners to Cody, and who told her to go to Secretary Noble with the resolutions and ask him to look into the matter. Noble, on the other hand, thought it a very good thing that the Indians were going, and gave her the interesting information that he had been influenced to give his permission by a letter from Secretary Blaine in behalf of Mr Cody's project; he, the great man of the Administration, had seen the Wild West show abroad and saw nothing out of the way in it. Miss Collin's attempt to tell Mr Noble something of the character of the returned Indians, he met with the reiterated remark that these men had sent home $18,000 to their families on the reservation, and they would better be off in a show making money than to be at home fighting or doing nothing. At the war department Assistant Secretary Grant, who knew nothing of the matter except that the prisoners had been allowed to go on Noble's request, did nevertheless promise to see the President, and countermand the order, if the President gave him permission."
Miss Collins condensed her statement in a letter to Herbert Welsh, who will take action on the report. The accusation is that the Administration permitted Colonel Cody to take 64 Sioux to Europe as members of his Wild West Exhibition, though in a letter dated August 4, 1890, Secretary Noble directed that no more permits should be granted to any Indians to travel with Shows to exhibit frontier life and savage customs. The Republican says that Mr Noble told interviewers with great positiveness that the bad business was at an end: --
"The country welcomed his assurance and believed it. Commissioner Morgan in his report in 1890 expressed his views on the matter at length, and with the evident assumption that Mr Noble was in accord with him. The facts show that the secretary of the interior has perpetrated a deliberate breach of faith with the country, and has violated the duty of guardianship which the government owes to the Indian. The objections of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the protests and entreaties of those who labor among the Indians or for them, or are moved by patriotism and humanity, have been urged in vain."
"Miss Mary C. Collins, 16 years among the Sioux, sent by the American Missionary Society, drew up a protest for the Congregational Club of Chicago, against the employment of the wild Indians as Show men, which was presented to Secretary Noble of the Interior. She had known "Sitting Bull," and gathered from him how the "Buffalo Bill" Shows were conducted, the tale of drunkenness and debauchery in which the Indians were permitted to indulge when off duty, and the false ideas the Indians form of their position. The warriors were puffed up with pride, and posed as heroes before the whites. "Sitting Bill" was honored as the "Brave" who killed Custer, and exterminated a regiment. The cause of the attack now made in the American press on Colonel Cody is because the same game is being played in relation to the Wounded Knee fight. Buffalo Bill had advertised the advent of 50 of the worst Indians engaged in that affair. The Indians go willingly, and the offers of the high wages had been accepted by 20 odd prisoners brought to Fort Sheridan at Chicago by General Miles. The story as told by the Springfield Republican is as follows: --
" The General informed Miss Collins that they would otherwise have to stay where they were six months and very likely be tried by the courts and punished afterward, whereas if they went to Europe they would have a good year and return to the agency and nothing would ever be done to them. When Miss Collins, as the representative of the Congregational Club, bore many resolutions of remonstrance to Washington, she first saw President Harrison, who perfectly agreed with her, and particularly as to committing the prisoners to Cody, and who told her to go to Secretary Noble with the resolutions and ask him to look into the matter. Noble, on the other hand, thought it a very good thing that the Indians were going, and gave her the interesting information that he had been influenced to give his permission by a letter from Secretary Blaine in behalf of Mr Cody's project; he, the great man of the Administration, had seen the Wild West show abroad and saw nothing out of the way in it. Miss Collin's attempt to tell Mr Noble something of the character of the returned Indians, he met with the reiterated remark that these men had sent home $18,000 to their families on the reservation, and they would better be off in a show making money than to be at home fighting or doing nothing. At the war department Assistant Secretary Grant, who knew nothing of the matter except that the prisoners had been allowed to go on Noble's request, did nevertheless promise to see the President, and countermand the order, if the President gave him permission."
Miss Collins condensed her statement in a letter to Herbert Welsh, who will take action on the report. The accusation is that the Administration permitted Colonel Cody to take 64 Sioux to Europe as members of his Wild West Exhibition, though in a letter dated August 4, 1890, Secretary Noble directed that no more permits should be granted to any Indians to travel with Shows to exhibit frontier life and savage customs. The Republican says that Mr Noble told interviewers with great positiveness that the bad business was at an end: --
"The country welcomed his assurance and believed it. Commissioner Morgan in his report in 1890 expressed his views on the matter at length, and with the evident assumption that Mr Noble was in accord with him. The facts show that the secretary of the interior has perpetrated a deliberate breach of faith with the country, and has violated the duty of guardianship which the government owes to the Indian. The objections of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the protests and entreaties of those who labor among the Indians or for them, or are moved by patriotism and humanity, have been urged in vain."
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| 1891, July 21 The Guardian |
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| 1891, July 27 The Guardian |
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| 1891, August 1 The Guardian |
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| 1891, Aug 8 The Guardian |
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| 1891, Sep 5 The American Settler |
