COeekly Cbetnawa American
VOL. 12
Old Chief Standing Bear.
Standing Bear, who died last month
at his home on the Niobrara river near
Niobara, Neb., was a well known In
dian chief of the Ponca tribe. In 1877
Carl Schurz, then Secretary of the In
terior, ordered the Poncas removed from
their Nebraska reservation to Indian
Territory, where a new reservation . was
set apart for them. Here they were left
to begin life all over again.
They remained without any means of
support and underwent untold misery
until 1879, when many of them fell vic
tims to disease and died.
Among the number that died was a
son of Standing Bear. Standing Bear
resolved to go back to his ancestral bury
ing ground in Nebraska.
It is -aid that Standing Bern- made a
public speech to bis people, declaring
his intention to go back to Nebraska.
When he starUd for there about 30 of
of his .tribesmen followed him.
The Department dispatched General
Cooke with a detachment of soldiers to
arrest the Indiana They were not over
taken, however, until they reached the
Omaha reservation, when they were
NO. 5
placed under arrest and taken to Fort
Omaha to await further orders.
On arriving at Omaha under arrest,
in charge of soldiers, a writ of habeas
corpus was sued out. It was at this time
that Hon. John L. Webster and Hon. A.
J. Poppleton stepped in and volunteered
their services on behalf of the Poncas,
which was heard before Judge Dundy in
May 2, 1879, and after careful hearing
the Indian were released from custody.
Soon after he was released, Standing
Bear toured the New England states and
other eastern states until 1883, arousing
public sympathy and sentiment in favor
of his people. The result was that he
was given back the reservation in Ne
braska. During his eastern tour he was ac
companied by Mrs. Susette LaFlesche
fribbles, better known as Bright Eyes,
and her husband.
.It is said that Standing Bear during
his tour in the East met and found a
sympathetic. ear with Miss Alcott, Ed
ward Everett Hale, Wendell Philips,
Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, and other
famous people of letters. Winnebago
Chieftain.
JULY 23, 1909.
A