1937 - "There is no record of any white woman being forced to herd sheep by the Indians in this state, naked or clothed -- and anyway, our Indians are gentlemen."
In addition to Mr Manchu's earlier responses to Mr. Collier, he also had this to say: "As for Mr. Collier's comments themselves, they are a perfect example of superficial approach, but even taken into their own field of historical fact, they still cannot stand up.
"The plausibility of the three nudes being taken captive is backed up by the Bureau of American Ethnology, which stated in a publication that Indians west of the Mississippi made a practice of taking white women alive."It seems extraordinary that Mr. Collier, undoubtedly familiar with the history of Indian warfare and massacres, should take exception to such a mild scene as the denuding of white women captives. Were I to bear down on history, the actual picture of a massacre would be gruesome indeed." - Source: 1937, Oct 14. Arizona Republic.
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| 1937, Oct 14. Arizona Republic. |
Do you see what he did there? He basically said these types of massacres happened, and Indians took white captives, so somehow that lends to them being naked and scalped... ahem.. roughly handled.. so the whole thing is historically on-point when Collier doesn't know history, or Indians, and nah nah nah!
This reminds me of every conversation I've had with people who admit that the word 'Redskin' was used to describe vicious, blood-thirsty savages - in comic books, movies, etc - but they don't think it means a native person's scalp, that it means a body painting style, and therefore it's okay to use it.
IT IS NOT LOGICAL!!
IT IS NOT LOGICAL!!
Luckily, in the 1937, Oct 11 edition of The San Bernardino County, Menchu was held up to public scorn once again, but this time from historians at New Mexico University. Dr. George P. Hammond, of the university, said: "There is absolutely no record in New Mexico of any such disgraceful episode as that shown on the walls of Jim Farley's hogan in Washington.
"Our historical records cover four centuries of white occupancy of New Mexico," noted Dr. Hammond. "In the first place, the stage coach and the U.S. mail did not come to New Mexico until 1849. Lew Wallace (territorial governor) did not have two daughters.
"There is no record of any white woman being forced to herd sheep by the Indians in this state, naked or clothed -- and anyway, our Indians are gentlemen."
Dr. Hammond gave even more information in the article: "Historical records show few cases of Indian atrocities in New Mexico, which has been populated largely by agricultural-minded redskins. It has been the other way around. There is one particular case of "white atrocity" back in 1540, when one of Coronado's conquistadors ordered an Indian to hold his horse while he paid amorous court to his wife. The Indians objected and 200 of them were burned at the stake for their temerity.
The following year, January 9th, 1938, Frank Mechau had moved on and the 13-foot-wide canvas of a graphic, fictional scene - being hailed as a part of American history - remained in the new United States Post Office in Washington D.C. He continued to paint murals at even more post offices, though none would ever be as controversial as "The Dangers of the Mail" - which, ironically, had absolutely nothing to do with the mail.
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| 1917, Aug 14 Detroit Free Press |
Or the 1910 Wild West Shows that would have been around when Mechau was about 6 years old, The show below includes exciting features such as rough riding, stagecoach holdups, a "pony express" presentation, and of course, Indian massacres. As we all know, these are no true representations of the "Real Wild West" - but to a kid, they would see them as such.
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| 1910, June 20 Belvidere Daily Republican |
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| 1934, Oct 11 The Monroeville Breeze |
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| 1937, Oct 11 The San Bernardino County |
