On January 25, Gregor asked the following question here: "One of these Lakota is said to have been William Big Charger. But who?
Since the 1960s, a photo and a picture postcard from 1929 have been published which are said to show Oglala Lakota Big Charger and his wife, who were buried in Emden. William Big Charger and his wife Julia worked several times as performers for the German circus Sarrasani. He died in 1932 during a circus engagement in the northern German town of Emden, where he was also buried. More extensive information and the above-mentioned photo of the Lakota group engaged by the Sarrasani circus from March 1, 1929 to March 15, 1930 was published in 1967 in a magazine of German Indian friends. This magazine, entitled "Kalumet", was published by the "Interessengemeinschaft für Indianerkunde Deutschland e. V.".
In its issue no. 5, September-October 1967, the article "Lonely Indian grave on the North Sea coast" was published. It reported on Big Charger and his burial site in Emden. The author of the article was a Mr. Kurt Bohn from Kiel. Bohn stated that he had carried out research into the Indian grave.
"The grave still exists and is located in the southern section no. 114 of the cemetery of the 'Great Church' in Emden. ... There is only a small wooden plaque on the grave, which was put up by a kind old lady who felt sorry for the person buried so far from home. ...
We will do everything we can to preserve and maintain this grave. To this end, we consider it necessary to first have a simple but dignified gravestone made and placed, which is certainly in the interests of all Native American friends. We therefore ask all clubs and Indian friends to make a donation for this project. ...
Interest group of Indian friends Kiel, Kurt Bohn ..."
This call was answered extensively, the gravestone could be set and the grave of Big Charger received the attention of many German Indian hobbyists and Indian friends.
The editors then published a full-page photo in Kalumet issue no. 6, November-December 1967. "In connection with our report in 'Kalumet' No. 5/67 ... Mr. Claus-Kurt Berge from Karlsruhe sent us a picture of the 21 Indians working at Sarrasani at that time, which we do not want to withhold from our readers. ..." This statement already contains two errors. Firstly, the photo shows 22 Indians, not 21, and secondly, the photo was taken in 1929, possibly in early 1930, but not in 1932. Unfortunately, the Indians shown in the photo were not named.
In this context, Mr. Kurt Bohn from Kiel had started an exchange of information with the Swiss Indian expert Joseph Balmer from Zurich. Thereupon Mr. Joseph Balmer identified in a letter to Bohn a person on the said photo as Big Charger (see publication of the photo and the recently withdrawn letter from Balmer on the website "Cherokee Path-Spuren“). Subsequently, the same person was also named as Big Charger on an old postcard. Unfortunately, Balmer was wrong with this identification. The alleged persons William Big Charger and his wife were in fact the Oglala Lakota Steven Swallow and his wife Susie. Big Charger and Swallow looked similar. But a close comparison with a postcard, which definitely shows Big Charger and his wife in 1926, made it clear that neither Big Charger nor his wife can be seen here. Together with friends, I had begun to catalog and examine all the photos showing Big Charger. We also found the original contracts between the Sarrasani Circus and the Oglala Lakota from this period. The names of the recruited Lakota are listed in the contracts and the contracts were also signed by the respective Indians. We were able to precisely match the names of the individual Native Americans to the Oglala Lakota depicted in the photo in question. The publication "Zur Anthropologie der Sioux-Indianer" by K. Saller was particularly helpful. "Special reprint from the Zeitschr. für Morphologie u. Anthropologie Vol. XXVII Issue 3. from the Anatomical Institute of the University of Göttingen."
In his letter, Balmer wrote the following about the photo: "The man in the 2nd group - third from the left - is the deceased Big Charger ... With one exception, all the people in the picture are known to me, as I saw them in Zurich in 1930 ... So I hope I have got to the heart of the matter ... Joseph Balmer." Here, too, Balmer was mistaken, as he had not seen the Sarrasani Lakota group in Zurich from March 1, 1929 to March 15, 1930 (depicted in the photo in question). Balmer met the subsequent Sarrasani Lakota group under contract from May 3, 1930 until their return trip to America on January 22, 1931, because the Sarrasani Circus was in Zurich from August 22 to September 4, 1930, so Joseph Balmer could only have met the second group in Zurich, which is not shown in the photo. According to the contracts and passenger list, William Big Charger and his wife were not represented in the first group (shown in the photo). Only in the next group from 03.05.1930 to 22.01.1931 at Sarrasani were Mr. and Mrs. Big Charger engaged again. It is therefore impossible that Big Charger and his wife can be seen in the photo from 1929.
I also followed Joseph Balmer's statements and for a long time did not doubt the identification of William Big Charger as Big Charger because of his resemblance to Steven Swallow. I had only noticed that Big Charger's wife on the 1926 postcard was not the same woman who was identified as Big Charger's wife on the photo and the 1929 postcard.
Below you can view and compare the picture postcard from 1926 and the photo and picture postcard from 1929. In various publications such as in the "Emder Zeitung" of May 27, 2022, "When the warriors came to the churchyard. His fate still fascinates today: Sioux Indian Big Charger died 90 years ago in Emden" and on various websites, the misidentification of the Oglala Lakota Steven Swallow and his wife Susie as William Big Charger and his wife Julia was unfortunately spread. Since the person Big Charger and his burial site still receive a great deal of attention from the European public today, this confusion should be corrected.
Picture postcard Sarrasani Indians from 1926, depicting William Big Charger and his wife Julia.
Picture postcard Sarrasani Indians from 1929, pictured at the back from left to right: Steven (Stephan) Swallow, Joe (Joseph) Whetstone, Jennie Whetstone, in front: Susie Swallow, son Louis Swallow.
Photo of Sarrasani Indians from 1929. The Oglala Lakota group, which was engaged by the Sarrasani Circus during the contract period from March 1929 to March 1930, is depicted in the photograph. It consisted of 22 Native Americans, 11 men, 7 women and 4 children. Also shown are Clarence Shultz, former employee of the 101 Ranch Wild West Show and at that time an independent recruiter for Sarrasani and his wife.
The people in the photograph are arranged in four rows:
First row from top 6 Native American men.
Second row from top 5 Native American men, Schultz and his wife.
Third row from top 7 Native American women.
Fourth row from the top 4 Native American children.
The people in the front row from top left to right are:
Willard White Belly, Joe Whetstone, Thomas Stabber (aka White Buffalo Man), George Respects Nothing, Charlie Hollow Horn, William Ghost Bear.
The people in the second row from top left to right are:
Clarence Shultz, Sam Lone Bear, Steven Swallow, Joe Pratty Bird, Joseph Elk Boy, David Flies Above, wife of Clarence Shultz.
The people in the third row from top left to right are:
Ms. Rosa Respects Nothing, Ms. Jennie Whetstone, Ms. Sadie Hollow Horn, Ms. Susie Swallow, Ms. Louise Ghost Bear, Ms. Sallie Stabber, Ms. Mary White Belly.
The people in the fourth row from top left to right are:
Florine Respects Nothing, Woodrow Respects Nothing, Nelson Elk Boy, Louis Swallow.
The following sources were used to identify the Native American persons:
Contract forms of the Sarrasani Circus with the Oglala Lakota.
Passenger list of the S.S. Albert Ballin, from Hamburg on March 21, 1930 to New York on March 29, 1930.
On the anthropology of the Sioux Indians. K. Saller. Special reprint from the Zeitschr. für Morphologie u. Anthropologie Vol. XXVII No. 3, from the Anatomical Institute of the University of Göttingen.