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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 1916)
Twwrty.FMir Paget East Orejroniaa Rotmd-Up Souvenir Edition Pendleton, Oregon, Saturday, September 23, 1916 Page Sven The Story of Parsons Motanic An Indian Athlete and Farmer Who Once Wrestled With Frank Gotch. You Are Known By the Company You Keep (Aa written for Sunset-The Pacific Monthly by Merle n. Chessman) It's a long atep from barbarism to civilisation, from paganism to Christi anity, but In a little less than ten years the atep haa been made by Par sons Motunlc, Cayuae Indian of the Umatilla reservation. Tea yeara ago he won a savage so for aa morals, religion and habits were concerned, the only part of civi lization which he had absorbed being tha vices of the white man. Today hp la a auecessful and respected farmer, tilling hla own will and rldlnx In his own alx-cylinder automobile, and he la more. He la one of the foremost religious workers anions the three tribe on the reservation. Motanlc's life history has been a remarkable and interesting one. In hla younger days he was an Indian Herculea, one of the greatest natural athletes the west has produced. Ile fore the Influence of the missionary had touched him and when the fire of youth waa In his blood, he was the leader anions the wilder element of the young manhood of the Cayuses. T!matlllns and Walla Wallas. None there was could stand before him In a wrestling match, hi" fleetnesa of fnol and his strength of arm became tra ditlonul and he had no peer among hi companions In riding bareback the wild eultan of the plains or In execut ing the wlerd stepa of the Indian war dance 'b barbaric grace. He owned scvernl of the fastest race horsea on tha reservation and was a reckless (rambler. He drank the "firewater" of the whlteman nnd. altogether, waa a wild, dissolute, rolsteroiis but never theless handsome and romantic young brave. In those daya he waa the Idol of the younger Indians of both sexes and It waa a matter of course when he married after the tribal way .Alio Tat-a-wa, the belle of the res ervation. Tlut Alice waa as'flckle as he and In a few years, Motanic cast her off and took another wife. Thla fact would not be material In his life-story were It not for the fact that she waa one of the Instruments of hi redemption. Some few years before a youiyi seminary graduate, Rev. J. M. Cor rellaon. had pome among the Indiana and had opened a mission. Through patient efforts he built up a small congregation and Motanlc's wife be came one of his converts. From time to time he accompanied her to church but seemingly was not lm pressed until one Sunday, following: a protracted debauch, he came and re ceived some kind of a moral kick from tha sermon. When the invita tion to Join was extended, he aur prlsed even the young missionary himself by arising and renouncing his rid ways. "I have been a bad man." he said In hla own language. "In all kinds of wickedness, drinking, rac ing, gambling, make It as bad ns you run, I have surpassed my friends In It all. But now I will join with the Christian people. I will aave my money and work for my family." In his resolution he was never rhaken. His old frienOs. red and white. lauched at his conversion and ridiculed him for it Hut their taunts never affected him. With native aim- ( ! f - : i ..... t I i "I mand as a speaker at all Indian campmeetlngs on hla own reservation but twice a year In called to the Nez Perce reservation In Idaho to assist In spreading the gospel among that tribe. Last year, durlnff the state-wide prohibition campaign, he was called upon to address a mixed audience of Imlfiins and whites. In broken Eng lish he gave his Indictment agatnsi firewater. "When I waa young man.' he said, "I had race horses. I want em run fast, I feed em whiskey. They beat all other horses and I win em much money. Blme by whiskey burn tip their Insldes and t lose em horsea and money and both. Whiskey will kill em horae, kill em man. Whiskey no good." 8o much for the religious and mor al transformation of the man. indus trially his change was as complete. Where before he rented his allottment of rich wheat land and squandered the money In riotous living, he now and has since hla conversion, farmed his own land. He absorbed the meth ods of the white man easily, lived fru gally and soon had a bank account.. Two yeura ago he purchased a com bined harvester and now operates that machine himself. I-nst spring he bought a six-cylinder Hudson auto bile, and, riding to and from the city In It or about his ranch, he offera a strange contrast to the Motnalc of ten years ago dashing nbout on his Indian cayuse. a contrast that would have awed his ancestors. Motanic is not old now nor is he young. He has probably lived through forty winters but. heynnd a slight ten dency inward corpulency, he Is as fine a specimen of physical manhood ns in his younger days. Farm hand" still teli strange tales of his marve lrus strength and aslllty and even Frank fiotch, retired champion of all vrestlers. will teatify to these powers. For !otch met Motanic on the mat and tested his muscles. It was In lflil when Gotch was l.tlcltv and slnceritv he would answer i traveling with Jeffries and his all-star the temperance society among the red though the Indian refused until his people. In hla native tongue he Is a I missionary told him it would not be gifted orator and not only Is In de- a sin. The Pendleton theater waa crowded and, when Motanic appeared on the stage, he was received with wild ac claim. He answered with one of his old time warhoops. (Sotch followed, and on his face was the amused, good rntuted smile of a man confident of his ability. The word was given and Mot:.nlc rushed at the big- Iowa farm er. With one swift, powerful and dex ti.rlous move he tripped the charoolon eff his feet and hurled him sprawling on the mat. IH- the redmun's rules of wrestling, a wrestler thrown from his feet is defeated and. instead of following his advantage. Motanic regarded bis fal len adversary with a look of triumph in his eye. His feat was received with a tumult of applause and notch's met tle was aroused. He rushed the In dian who, knowing nothing of catch-lu-catch-can methods, was soon pow erless In the grip of a hammerlock. Motanic Is the answer to the ques tion. C'fln the Indian become a good citizen? He might also be called an answer to the question. Does religion pay?. Though his transformation Is the most notable testimonial to the ef fect of civilizing. Christianizing agen cies at work among the Indians on the I'matlHa reservation because of t'-e (.lan.or which surrounded his earlier life. It is only one of a num ber of conspicuous Instances that prrivp that the native American can he educated away from tribal traditi ons and can be reclaimed to productive and constructive citizenship. keep company with the pro fessionals all over the country There's a Reason. We Do a 11 Order -ON- High Grade Stock Saddles. Chaps Bits Spurs Boots Pendleton Indian Robes Riding Skirts Silk Manila Lariats Mexican Magney Ropes Sampson Spot Cord "Stetson" Cowboy Hats HAMLEY .& PENDLETON, OREGON All of the 1916 Round-Up PrixeSaddles areft"Hamley" Made and "E.-Z" Ri&ed them. "I come to Jesus." Mncc mat time, nearly ten years ago. he has be come one of the lending religious workers on the reservation. He has helt nenrlv all of the offices In the church and la now the president troupe bv way of "come-back" bout rhampion pugilist. Pendleton and. as advertising the of the former They came to was his custom. (loteh Issued his open challenge. Mo- oftanic's 'rlends Induced him to accept 0C30I I0E30C 10EX0I I0C30I aoi o D o LIGHTS THE WAY TO EASIER METHODS -GREATER COMFORTS AT A LOWER COST. ji!iaiiSi 1 'H Lighting Cooking Heating Power, Home Office Store Factory "tiste tlse Way tough life" -ALSO GAS Pacific Power & Light Co. I Always at your service j Thrilling Events Continued from page six.- ed into one of the judge's horse- and scraped the rider out or the saddle. The colored boy was the last to ridel hut the foregoing stand out pre-em and he drew the showiest bucker I inently. Hotfoot reared straight on his hindj legs time and again but the colored; boy only showed his teeth and yelled. His ride was the most spectacular and the crowd gave him a tremend ous ovation. There have been many other mo ments of past Round-ups that have Impressed themselves on my memory. F ' a ' "- - V ... -;-.w ,?.- ' ''-."?"'i'- ' ' r, S-l n iiimmiiiititittiiMitiiiitiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiMiMiMiiMii Ji!lll!lllill!l!!lllllllill!i!il!lll!l!y!!!l!lli!lllllii!H! Sm'l!!!!! nmm llilllil! !!"l!!rI!IfI!f!IITOWra'f!T'!!m,,'"m!"'!'"'"' illllMlllillilllilllll!!lilll!iltll!lllHjliNMlun!nHli'3 An Indian Chief's Farewell Speech You have taken me prisoner, with all my warriors. I am much grieved, for I expected. If I did not defeat yon. to hold out much longer and give i you more trouble before I surren dered. I tried hard to bring you into ambush, but your last general under stood Indian fighting. I determined to rush on you und fight you face to face. I fought hard. Hut your guns were well aimed. The bullets flew like birds In the air, and whined by 0 drive them from their homes. Thev smile In the face of the poor Inilian to cheat him; they shake hiin by the hand to gain his confidence, to make him drink, and to deceive him. We told them to let us alone and keep away from us. and they coiled them- f .-elves among us like a snake. They : poisoned us by their touch. i We called a great council and built a large fire. The spirit of our fathers 1 arose and spoke to us to avenge our our ears like the wind through the wrongs or die. We set up the war trees In winter. I whoop and dug up the tomahawk; My warriors fell around me; It be- j our knives were ready nnd the heart dismal. I saw my evil, of Ulack Hawk swelled n gn in nis . bosom gall to look Uay at nana, ine sun row nun In the morning, and at night It sank In a dark cloud and looked like a ball of fire. That waa the last aun that ahone on Itlack Hawk. Hla heart Is dead, and no longer beata quick In hla bosom. He la now a prisoner to the white men; they will do with him as thev wish. But he can stand tor when he led his warriors to Is battle. He is satisfied. He will go' to the world of spirits contented. He i g haa done his duty. His rather win meet him there and commend him. Ulack Hawk la a true Indian and disdains to cry like a woman. He feels for his wife, hla children ant his friends But he does not care for I0E30 ture, and la not afraid of death. He himself. He carea for the nation and la no coward. Black Hawk is an In dian. He has done nothln for which an Indian ought to I ashsjned. He haa fought hie countrymen agalnat white men who cama. year after year, to cheat them and take away their land. fou know the cause of our making war. It Is known to nil white men. They miRlit to be ashamed of it. Tin white men dcsplae the Indians, and the Indians. They will surrer. He laments their fate Farewell, my nation! Black Hawk tried to save you and avenge your wrongs. He drank the blood of aome of the whites. He haa been taken a prisoner, and hla plana are stopped. He can do no more! He Is near hla end. His sun la setting, and ho will rise no more. Farewell to Black Hawk. R. C. Paine Wrn. 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