REPORTS OF AGENTS IN INDIAN           TERRITORY.            79 
RATION DAY. 
On Mondays we issue rationus. At the beef corral a large concourse of Indians
as- 
sembles for beef, and at the commissary for flour. When the cattle are issued
they 
have an exciting time; the frightened and desperate animals rush madly around
pur- 
sued by from one to a dozen savages, yelling, whooping, and firing their
guns, rewind- 
ing one of the early days when buffalo-hunting was their chief sport. When
the beef 
is killed the voracious bucks and their families (eat the raw entrails with
great satis- 
faction. The squaws take charge of the carcass, dry the me at, and the "buck"
takes 
the hide to the traders. Such an assembly would furnish a study for an artist-In-

dians, ponies, and dogs of all ages, sizes, and appearances. Nearly all wear
blankets, 
but many have on some single garment of civilization. 
INDIAN MEDICINE-MAKING AND DANCES. 
These Indians are a religious people in their way, and do not seem to doubt
the 
immortality of man. I have never opposed their "medicine-making,"
only so far as 
to try to protect those who do not longer believe in it from beiiig compelled
to attend, 
and this I think should be done by all means. The "dog soldiers"
round up all these 
people and make them attend, or risk their property and lives in the attempt
to reist 
their mandates. They live in "teepees" that one white man wouild
feel cramped in, 
but dozens of Indians crowd in and enjoy the social dance, keeping time to
the mo- 
notonous tom-tom by chanting and howling. 
A strange sight is their "1 medicine dance "-fascinating, weird
scene, their bodies 
naked from the waist up. A number of braves enter the "medicine lodge."
They 
gash their arms and legs, and pierce holes in their chests, pass ropes through
the 
holes and suspend themselves from the center of the lodge until their struggling
tears 
the flesh loose. Each one has a whistle, and keeping their eyes on the charm,
they 
dance night and day without food or water until exhausted. These "1
medicines" are 
a record of terrible suffering, endured with indomitable heroism, which sometimes
ends 
in death. Such evidence of devotion in the performance of duty is worthy
of a bet- 
ter religion. 
DOG SOLDIERS. 
The " dog soldiers" are a sort of military organization, or fighting
band, which they 
keep up, composed of the most daring, bloodthirsty young men of the tribe.
For 
years past they have been very troublesome. They commit crimes constantly
and de- 
mand heavy tributes for the privilege of driving through their country. Many
of the 
Indians who commit such crimes are known to me, but I have thus far been
power- 
less to arrest or punish them. Some of the more intelligent Indians deprecate
such a 
state of affairs, but the restless, savage, and dishonest portion of them
see only the 
present gain, and cannot or do not care if the money for their deviltry is
paid by the 
Government, as in the Oburn case. To say that such a state of affairs it
demoralizing 
in the extreme is putting the case mildly,.and the Department should have
checked 
their course soon after I made my first rep6rt, calling for five hundred
troops. 
LAW. 
Congress passed a law last winter making any offense committed by an Indian
a 
crime if the same would have been a crime under the United States law, when
com- 
mittehl by a white man. This is all right, but up to the present time there
has never 
been any power here sufficiently strong to enforce it. It is now greatly
to be hoped, 
not only for the future good of the Indian, but for the protection of the
property of 
others, that the law will be enforced. 
These Indians now have hundreds of stolen horses in their possession, and
they are 
daily committing depredations on cattle herds. Only last week I recovered
from Lump 
Foot nine head of horses he stole from a beef pasture on the Cherokee strip,
after 
cutting the fence; at the same time his party killed two fine beeves, and
only took 
the tongues for food, leaving the carcasses to rot. In a few days after this
I recovered 
from Magpie, who had just returned from a raid in Texas, two horses belonging
to 
the Y Ranch; he was reported as having one hundred and seventeen head on
his 
return, but our police were not able to find them. The day follo wing I received
two 
fine mules from White Bear. These men all belong to Stone Calf's hand, or
train with 
his party. They are all at large, as is Flying Hawk, the Cheyenne who threatened

the life of Rev. Haury and to ravish his wife. Thomas Carlisle Bear Robe,
whQ. cut 
the telegraph wire, still enjoys his freedom. I am aw~are that there is a
difference of 
opinion as to what is best to do in such cases, owing to the difference in
the moral and 
intellectual condition of men, but I believe these men know right from wrong,
and 
that an example should be made of some of them.