White Crow

“ The ‘White Vulture’ will die a Crow, but he will never more shed the blood of the whites. Will my father, my brother, think of the chief sometimes, and will the Singing Bird, when she sings in the happy wigwam of my brother, think of the ‘White Vulture’ who is desolate and alone? Away! Ride fast, for the Crow braves must not know that I have saved my father, my brother, and the Singing Bird. ”

“ Pierce's vicarage any day. What were you asking about Whitcrow? I don't think it ever struck me before that it may have come from White Crow. But a white crow, Rosamond, that would be a funny thing!'
'Yes,' said the little girl, laughing, 'when we always say "as black as a crow." But— I think I have heard of a white crow—or was it perhaps in a fairy story? ”

“ I asked Washakie if he thought that there was any real danger of the Crows coming to attack us. He said that he did not think they would come to fight us in this place, but that they might try to steal our horses, or even attack small bands of our Indians if they ran on to them away from camp.
Every once in a while after that we would have a Crow scare. If the Indians saw a cloud of dust, they thought the Crows were after them. They acted like a band of sheep that had been run by coyotes. Every little thing would scare them. ”

“ Everybody knows the Common Crow that goes caw-cawing over the fields through the long summer day, and hunts in the freshly-turned furrows for grubs and wire-worms, and settles down upon the marshes where the white flocks are feeding, dotting them here and there with great black spots, as though some literary giant had taken too much ink in his pen, and scattered it out over the landscape before he began to write. Oh yes, everybody knows the familiar Crow, called by scientific people Corvus corone, Latin and Greek again for the same thing—a Crow! ”

“ The plumage of the Crow in the northern parts of the world is black, and we are so accustomed to that color that to speak of a white or of a spotted Crow might subject one to ridicule, yet in many parts of the world such Crows are found. Some are gray and black, and some species are larger than others. ”

“ The Great Spirit is angry with the ‘Black Dog’ for having caused so many young braves to be slain by the white-wagon braves; the ‘Black Dog’ fell into the swift waters and the Crow nation will see him no more. The ‘White Vulture’ will take the pale-face squaw of the ‘Black Dog,’ and he will give his brothers his share of the fur-wagons. ”

“ In another family a white crow was seen as a death-warning. In the late half of the eighteenth century the son of a rich landowner in North Wales was said to exercise an evil influence over his elder brother, who was heir to the estate. When the landowner died the eldest son disappeared mysteriously, and the second son took his place as heir. Wherever the new squire went he was accompanied by a white crow with black wings, and all the neighbours recognised the bird as his constant companion. ”

“ They had sent some thirty of their warriors with the two wagons of furs captured from the trappers to their chief village, which was situated on the head-waters of the Missouri, near the base of the Rocky Mountains.
“My brothers are silent,” said the “White Vulture,” a perceptible sneer curling his lip; “will they attack the white wagons, or will they fly from the ‘Crow-Killer’ like the hawk from the eagle? Will they yield their hunting-grounds to the tread of the white man’s foot, or will they fight and die like warriors for what is their own?” ”

“ The white adventurer failed to meet with jest the gale of laughter which presently drove him out of camp, leaving the Crow in possession. And the Crow was clever, distributing to the Blackfoot chiefs and medicine men gifts of axes and guns, of scarlet cloth and beads, every treasure the heart of man could covet, silks for the women, toys for the children, liquor by the keg. The Crow offered subsidy to every important leader, so long as he traded in safety with the Blackfoot nation. That night he had a wagon load of robes and a tribe drunk. ”

“ As they went down both men sprang free and grappled one another, Lone Walker dropping his empty gun, and the Crow letting go his bow and handful of arrows. A crowd surrounded them, the Crows endeavoring to aid their chief, our men fighting them off. ”

“ It is good; the chiefs of the Crows listen; their ears are open, they hear the wail of their slaughtered brothers; the ‘Crow-Killer’ is a great chief, he will die before the sun comes over the big river. ”

“ Their chiefs declare that a Crow was never known to kill a white man excepting in self-defence.
As has been the fate of the North American savage since that dark December day when the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, the Crows have been driven year after year from one of the most beautiful natural regions on the continent. Not only have the whites been the usurpers, but both the Sioux and the Cheyennes have been instrumental in confining them to a constantly decreasing area, until now the remnant of a once great nation is the ward of the government, and located on a limited reservation. ”

“ The next speaker was a Crow chief, who, standing by the council-table, said,—
"Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Crows, Father: I have been listening to your words, and they sound good. I hope you are not lying to each other. The Crows have long been the friends of the whites, and we want peace for all. We want powder, and when the white Father makes us presents, I want him to give us a good deal of ammunition." ”

“ Little flutings and grace notes rise from sheltered thickets and sunny hollows—assemblages of snow-birds, Canada sparrows, and red-polls practicing their Fruehlingslied. The white-throated sparrow’s silver strain I hear on every side, the very beat of the spring-tide and song of the sunshine. Even the voice of the crow has a softer tone. From my study windows I watch the sable hosts returning to their roost in the distant wood. I see them slowly filing by during the winter, at the appointed hour, but less numerously, and seldom audibly. Now they voice their passage; their shadows cast a sound. ”

“ Red Crow and I rode to the upper camp and had great fun going from lodge to lodge and examining the heaps of stuff that the Crows had abandoned. My quest was for fur, and I collected nine beaver and two otter skins.
That evening the chiefs held another council. Some were for giving the Crows time to get over their scare, and then going down into their country—all the warriors of both our tribes, and taking them by surprise and wiping them out. Lone Walker said that to do that we would have to lose a great many men; that he thought his plan, to keep them poor in horses, was the best. ”

“ I started to get my horse.
“If I am going to fight,” I said, “I want my pinto pony.”
Mother stopped me, “Here, you little dunce,” she said, “you are not going to fight. You couldn’t fight anything. I don’t believe there is going to be a fight anyway. I have had too many such Crow scares.”
I wondered whether the Crows had wings like the crows in our country. She said that they were Indians like the Shoshones.
A Crow encampment (Crow Agency, Montana) .
By this time the squaws had everything packed and [48] ready to fling on to the horses that were standing about with their saddles on. ”

“ There they found a small band of Crow Indians, but the Crows had seen them first, and were ready for them. Just after dark our Indians tried to run off a band of Crow horses they had seen, but they were met with a shower of arrows and a few bullets which killed one of their party and wounded five or six of their horses. One horse was so badly crippled that he could not travel, so the rider jumped on to the horse belonging to the dead Indian and they all broke back as fast as their horses could carry them. ”

“ When I think of my father, dead, killed by these red dogs—when I think of my little Injun wife that they stole away from me, an’ then, when I think of my two boys, my twin boys—if they had lived they’d have been about the age of this feller now—it makes me feel so bitter, that I really believe if I had the power I could wipe out the whole durned Crow nation, with as little remorse as I would feel for killin’ a wolf. ”

“ So you see how it is: the Crows will not keep their word; it is useless to make peace with them."
[Pg 187]
On the next evening a mixed party of our and Kai-na warriors, about a hundred men, set out on foot to raid the Crow horse herds. They were going to take no chances; their plan was to travel nights, to find the Crows and watch for an opportunity to run off a large number of their stock.
The two tribes of us were too many people to camp together, so many hunters scattering the game, so that after a few days we were obliged to go a long way from camp to get meat. ”

“ II. The Crows were approaching a village at a time when there was a great deal of snow on the ground and intended to surprise it, but some herders discovering them the Dakotas went out, laid in wait for the Crows, surprised them, and killed many. A Crow’s head is represented in the figure.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Killed-many-white-buffalo winter.”
1831-’32.—No. I. Red-Lake’s house, which he had recently built, was destroyed by fire, and he was killed by the accidental explosion of some powder.
No. II. A white man, whom they called Gray-Eyes, shot and killed a man who was working for him. ”

“ A Crow is known wherever he is met by his beautiful white dress, and his tall and elegant figure; the greater part of the men being six feet high. The Blackfeet on the other hand, are more of the Herculean make—about middling stature, with broad shoulders, and great expansion of chest; and the skins of which their dresses are made, are chiefly dressed black, or of a dark brown colour; from which circumstance, in all probability, they having black leggings or moccasins, have got the name of Blackfeet. ”

“ The Indian, sheering off to the north, brought his gun to his shoulder and fired; the scout had perceived the motion and swerved his horse to the left a little; the ball cut through the hunting-shirt, just grazing the shoulder. With a yell of defiance the guide drew his revolver, leveled at the Indian, who was now almost within point-blank range, and fired. The Crow, perceiving the intention of the white man, pulled up the head of his horse, who received the ball in his temple and fell over on his side dead, almost crushing the rider in his fall. The wily savage by the action saved his life. ”

“ I must secure both the scalp and the girl. I see no objection that Miss Flora could have to marrying me. I have always been considered a proper man.”
“Proper enough, no doubt; but young ladies have strange fancies sometimes. Where do you expect to find her?”
“Among the Crows.”
“That is strange.”
“Rather strange, I admit, but none the less true. Pap Byers, who was one of the party when we were attacked, picked up a Crow blanket and a Crow moccasin after the fight, and he was sure that they were Crows who stampeded us.”
“But the Crows never molest white people.” ”

“ Red Crow called out at last, and we rode on, crossing the river on a good ford not far below the foot of the lake, and then following another big-game trail through more groves and parks along the west side of the lake. Even here, away back from the plains, were several herds of buffaloes, and more deer and elk trotting and running from our near approach. I was more than once tempted to shoot at one of them, but Red Crow kept signing to me: "Wait! We will kill above here." ”

“ These birds in almost all parts of India are a great pest, and their persistent thieving makes them the enemies of all. It must, therefore, be a puzzling matter for the crow tribe to find their predations unchecked, and even large quantities of food placed in prominent positions, which they are permitted to devour unmolested. San Vicente and his Crow may have some remote association with this custom, which also strangely reflects the old ballad—
Black and white photograph of a copper-gilt shrine at the temple of Shambu-Nāth. ”

“ He had shot away his handful of arrows and was reaching into his quiver for more when a Crow rode up beside him, reached out and grasped him by the arm, endeavoring to pull him over and knife him. I saw him just in time to poke my pistol over past Red Crow and fire, and down he went from his horse! The sight of him falling, his awful stare of hate—would you believe it, made me sick and sorry for him, enemy though he was! "I have killed a man! I have killed a man!" I said to myself as I replaced the pistol and got out my gun to use as a club, as I saw others doing. ”

“ In time of peace the Crow leads a comparatively quiet life, and it is no novel thing to see him walking in the fields devouring with great apparent interest the Yellow-Covered Cereals. Agriculturists have strong prejudices against the species, and allege, not without reason, that large Crow Crops indicate diminished harvests. The most persistent enemy of the Crow, however, is the martin, which attacks it on the wing with unfaltering Pluck, and compels it to show the White Feather. ”

“ Goaded to desperation, a party of Little Crow's young "bucks," in August, 1862, began their depredations and spilled white blood at Acton. Returning to their chief's camp near the agency, they told their fellow braves what they had done. The hot-headed young warriors immediately demanded of Little Crow that he put on the "war-paint" and lead them against the white men. The chief severely rebuked the "young men" who had committed the murders, blackened his face (a sign of mourning) , retired to his teepee and covered his head in sorrow. ”

“ It makes me feel right bad sometimes, when I think that, maybe, the Crows didn’t kill my two boys, but have reared ’em up an’ made ’em Crow warriors, taught ’em to fight ag’in’ their father, an’, some day, I may meet an’ kill ’em or they me. ”