BACKWASH OF THE FRONTIER—HALLOWELL 459 
store was always the field and the forest, where the herbs he uses in his medi- 
cines are gathered as God placed them for him to use, and God gave the Indian 
the knowledge to gather and compound them. That is why the Indian as a 
healer has been a success.” 
The authors of “Show Biz” say that “when the Kickapoo Indian 
Medicine Company went on the block in 1911, after 30 years roaming 
the American plains and hamlets, it still brought $250,000. At one 
time, there were 150 medicine shows on the road, all of them featuring 
one or more Kickapoo Indians.” * It may be pointed out in passing 
that at the same time that the image of the Indian as a healer was 
being exploited in the medicine show, the old image of him as a 
bloodthirsty enemy was being dramatized by the Wild West show 
that William F. Cody took on the road in 1883 and which in various 
incarnations and imitations continued until 1931, when the 101 Ranch 
closed down. 
The red man also became involved in another characteristic area 
of American cultural development in the years before the Civil War— 
religion. In Spiritualism, the United Society of Believers (Shakers), 
and the Church of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the American In- 
dians had special significance for the founders or adherents, <Ac- 
cording to Shaker tradition, “it was a native of the forest who first 
recognized the saintliness of Mother Ann. One poor Indian saw a 
bright light around her, and prophesied that the Great Spirit had 
sent her to do much good. In another story it is related that when 
Ann was returning from her eastern mission, she was met at the 
Albany ferry by a number of Indians, who joyfully cried: ‘The 
good woman is come! The good woman is come!’”?* What other 
religious sect in the world has turned to an aboriginal people for 
validation of the saintliness of the founder? Besides this, some 
of the Shaker “gift songs” received in trance came from Indian 
spirits. Once the spirits of a whole tribe of Indians, who had died 
before Columbus discovered America and had been wandering home- 
less ever since, turned up at a Shaker meetinghouse, where they were 
made welcome. As described by an eyewitness, more than a dozen of 
the Shakers present became possessed by these Indian guests. A 
pow-wow ensued. There were yells, whoops, and strange antics. The 
Indian spirits asked for succotash, which they ate, and after some 
instruction were sent off under guidance “to the Shakers’ heavenly 
world.” 
Although “speaking in tongues” had a long history in Europe 
as well as in America, one of the striking facts in the early develop- 
mental phases of American Spiritualism is the frequency of refer- 
2 Winnifred Johnston, Medicine Show, Southwest Rey., vol. 21, p. 393. 1936. 
13 Abel Green and Joe Laurie, Jr., “Show Biz, from Vaude to Video,” p. 83. New York. 
1953. 
4 E. D. Andrews, “The People Called Shakers,” p. 169. New York. 1953. 
