Post by Dietmar on Feb 3, 2010 11:59:10 GMT -5
I recently found this article about the "Sitting Bull Combination" of 1884, Sitting Bull´s first show he joined:
I highlighted the members of the Combination. There are several photographs of the members of this tour, I´ll try to post some of them later. Please add if you have any.
St. Paul daily globe. (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, September 15, 1884
SITTING BULL
A Good Send off for Col. Allen's Combination by the New York Papers.
Col. Allen's "Sitting Bull Combination" reached New York city last Thursday, and the Herald of Friday thus notes the event: Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux chief, accompanied by his wife and several of his followers, arrived in this city from the Standing Rock agency yesterday. There wore in charge of Col. Alveren Allen, who has a permit from Secretary Teller to take the party through the country for educational purposes. The wife of Indian Agent McLaughlin accompanied the female members of the company. When the Indians got out of the train they ranged themselves about their old chief, and their brightly colored raiment make the group look like a big bunch of flowers. Sitting Bull looked much stouter than when he surrendered at Fort Buford. He wore a shirt of marvellous uncleanliness, and a wide brimmed felt hat. Long Dog, an Uncpapa chief, was attired in a green shirt and a pair of trousers, one leg of which was red and the other blue. He chewed tobacco and tried to buy the club which the police man at the ferry carried. Crow Eagle fawned himself with the wings of a hen and gloated over a piece of watermelon, and Spotted Hum Bull nervously watched the engineer of the train blowing off steam. Besides Mrs. McLaughlin were Mrs. Bull, Mrs. Spotted Horn Bull and the princess Red Spear. Mrs. Bull was dressed In green, and her hair was tied with red leather. She carried a sharp knife in her left hand. Mrs. Spotted Horn is Sitting Bull's sister. She wore a yellow dress and carried a red fan. The Princess is a beautiful Indian girl of sixteen years, with coal black hair, snow white teeth and a ravishing smile. She does not chew tobacco. When the train was approaching Chicago from St Paul it collided with another train. Gray Eacle stuck his head through the glass window of the sleeping car to see what was the matter. The party went to the Grand Control hotel on their arrival in this city. Sitting Bull and his friends were immediately given a bath. Then they were told that it was dinner time, and squatted about the velvet carpet in the corridor. As the party started for the dining room Colonel Allen came up and shouted to Louis Primeau, the interpreter: "Tell the gentlemen to wait a moment; the ladies are having a bath." Sitting Bull told the reporter that he did not like the railways, but he would like to have a hotel on his reservation. He declined to discuss the merits of Blaine or Butler, on the ground that he could not talk intelligently till he had had several beefsteaks. Soon Mrs. McLaughlin, Mrs. Bull and the others appeared, and the company adjourned to a private dining room. Long Dog spread his napkin on his chair and sat on it. After eating a plate of ice cream, Sitting Bull said: "Bouka boofa tookash lata nee-nee Jooro bolala." Which means: "That is a daisy of a dish; gimme another plate. Allow the Irishman to serve me." The Sun throws its rays upon the "combination as follows: "When a number of Indians, dressed in native costume, headed by a broad shouldered, thick necked and big headed chief, and accompanied by a party of dusty whites, crowded their way to the forward end of a Desbrosses street ferryboat yesterday morning, people were not specially interested, because they did not know who were in the party. The brawny chief who headed the procession looked about eagerly at the tall houses, the great ships at the piers, and the numberless small craft on the river, and then turning to one of the white men, said something in the Indian language. "It is Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux chief," said the white man to the Sun reporter. "He says the Indians can never equal the whites. He is astonished by what he has seen." The Grand Central hotel blotter contained the following names: Sitting Bull, Seen-by the-Nation, Spotted Horn Bull, Gray Buffalo Woman, Eagle, Long Dog, Gray Eagle, Crow Eagle, Flying By, Good Sounding Iron, and Princess Red Spear. The interpreter was Louis Primeau. The delegation is known as the Sitting Bull combination. Seen-by-the-Nation is Sitting Bull's wife, Gray Buffalo Woman is his sister. The party left Standing Rock agency ten days ago. They were in St. Paul for a week, making a native outfit that would be attractive on the road. The tour is to combine the show business with education. It is said by the manager that part of the profits of the business will be used to build school houses for the Indians. The party will open in "a native historical group" at the Eden Musee on Monday. At 2 o'clock yesterday the party dined on seventeen bowls of soup, fifteen plates of fish; twenty-one large sirloin steaks, a half peck of Irish potatoes, a half peck of sweet potatoes, thirteen dishes of tomatoes, twenty-six ears of sweet corn, a quantity of fresh beans, nine dishes of tapioca pudding, fifteen plates of ice cream, eleven pieces .of cake and twenty-two cups of coffee. In their private sitting room after dinner Sitting Bull filled and lighted a pipe of the style made familiar by Indian picture books, and, having smoked a few whiffs, passed it around. The pipe was very strong. The hall boy requested that the transom and door be kept closed. Flying By and Gray Eagle, both gaudy young men, with variegated kite tails along the seams of their trousers and vermillion streaks on their foreheads, smoked cigarettes. The men parted their hair in the middle. The women worked and chatted over a bead-embroidered blanket. The men said nothing. A little deaf and dumb white boy who called on them watched them very earnestly for a long time, and then bowed politely to Sitting Bull and indicated with his hands that he was glad to see them. The old chief was delighted with the boy, and went through the boy's motions repeatedly. A calico jumping jack astonished Gray Buffalo Woman so that she retired to the bedroom, while Gray Eagle laughed aloud. Seen-by-the-Nation handled it very gently, and then continued her work. When Sitting Bull was asked what had most impressed him since reaching the white man's country, he replied that the whites went on to the streets and made money when they were little children and ought to be at play.
I highlighted the members of the Combination. There are several photographs of the members of this tour, I´ll try to post some of them later. Please add if you have any.
