How the States Got Their Shapes Too_ The People Behind the Borderlines - Mark Stein [134]
Among the committee members hearing this suggestion was Massachusetts Senator Henry L. Dawes. Quite likely, Dawes played a role in getting the suggestion into the record, for seven years after the 1880 hearings, the Dawes Act mandated exactly the change in land ownership that Schurz had described. For better or for worse, Indian life would never be the same (see “Alfalfa Bill Murray, Edward P. McCabe, and Chief Green McCurtain” in this book).
For journalist Tibbles, the news event ended with Dundy’s decision … unless a new event were to occur. Tibbles therefore replaced his reporter’s hat with that of an impresario and undertook arrangements for a speaking tour for Standing Bear—a challenging project, since the speaker spoke no English. To serve as a translator, Tibbles arranged for an appealing young woman from the Omaha tribe, Susette LaFlesche, whose uncle was one of the Ponca chiefs. Miss LaFlesche spoke impeccable English, having recently graduated from the Elizabeth Institute for Young Ladies in New Jersey. Tibbles introduced her to the American public using the English translation of her Omaha name, Bright Eyes. Five months after the court case concluded, the trio spoke at a church gathering in Omaha; in October 1879 they began a nationwide tour. The Chicago Inter-Ocean found it to be a highly polished performance:
Last evening at the New England Congregational Church … Bright Eyes, a comely young Indian maiden … attired in Indian costume … [detailed] the wrongs committed by the federal authorities … in simple but forcible style.… Mr. Tibbles, who seems to be a sort of a manager for the Indian troupe … gave a bragging account of what he had done for the Poncas.… Standing Bear, the Ponca Chief, was then introduced and spoke in his own language, which was translated by Bright Eyes. The chief … wore a bright blanket in sash form and a heavy necklace.
Meanwhile, back among the Poncas in the Indian Territory, life continued as if nothing had ever happened. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported in early November:
Some time ago, a report was received by [Indian] Commissioner Hayt from the Ponca Reservation … that Big Snake … who last summer caused his arrest and imprisonment for a month at Fort Reno for brutal and disorderly conduct, was making himself a terror to the Indians as well as the agency employees. His rearrest was ordered.… Big Snake, resisting arrest, was shot dead by a soldier. The occurrence caused considerable excitement among the Indians, but it was soon quieted.
Despite the death of Standing Bear’s brother (and, days later, the death of Tibbles’s wife), the show went on. The tour made its way to Boston, where standing-room-only audiences energetically responded. Carefully choreographed or not, the event made its point: Indians were people with the same inalienable rights as other Americans to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That point became ironic as they arrived at their final destination, New York City. In the Fifth Avenue hotel where they were staying, Standing Bear mentioned to Tibbles that he was going to the hotel’s barber shop to get a haircut. Tibbles was aghast; he insisted that Standing Bear keep his braids. The day after the tour ended, Standing Bear got a haircut and changed into his normal clothes.5
Standing Bear returned to his ancestral land, but it was now desolate. The Poncas were gone. The Sioux had never settled there. The homes and structures had been demolished on government orders.
But big things were about to happen, beginning with the arrival of the Central Pacific Railroad. The only thing in its way, from Nebraska’s point of view, was the state line. The now extraordinarily valuable land was in the Dakota Territory. To remedy this, Nebraska Senator Alvin Saunders sought to relocate that segment of his state’s border northward to the Missouri River. Dakotans were not happy,