l6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. Ill 



"It sure is a liar's bench problem," she comments, ". . . whoever 

 told that one would get the chairman's seat." 



Andrew Sprague was a thresher and when threshing for a certain farmer near 

 Peter Atkin's corner, some small part of the machine was broken. He told 

 his men that he had to go to Hamilton to get it, and since there was no trans- 

 portation, he said he would run. 



So he started out. Going through Caledonia, he stopped at a machine 

 dealer's, called Holsteins, and there he found the part he wanted. He ran 

 all the way back and was back in i hour and inside of an hour they were 

 threshing again. He never told the men that he never went to Hamilton at all. 



Some man said to him "I'll just bet you $10.00 that you can't run to Hamil- 

 ton and back in the same time." So he took him up on it. 



They told him they would wait at Atkin's store and he was to phone when 

 he got to Hamilton. 



He started out running the second time and only went as far as Caledonia 

 again and got the same part again. Just before he left Caledonia he phoned 

 Atkin's store and made them believe he called from Hamilton. He ran all the 

 way back and made it in | hour. Andrew Sprague won the $10.00. 



The distance from Caledonia to Hamilton is 14 miles, and 5 miles from Cale- 

 donia to where he was working. 



Although it is apparent that Andrew Spragg was a man of no little 

 accomplishment he was never a Cayuga chief. He belonged to the 

 Lower Cayuga Longhouse, where he faithfully attended the religious 

 exercises of the Handsome Lake Religion, and he mastered several 

 of the rituals. His fame as a singer is equally confirmed by leaders 

 of the Onondaga Longhouse. "Andrew was smart (agile) and the 

 Lower Cayugas always had him to sing Hai Hai on the road because 

 he knew the words (of the eulogy) and he was a good walker." 

 (S. Gibson.) 



This statement was corroborated by Hilton M. Hill (Seneca-Tus- 

 carora) who was for many years Chief Clerk of the Indian Office 

 in Brantford. The Cayuga chiefs depended upon Andrew Spragg's 

 memory, his voice, and his legs to carry the roll call over the road 

 from Lower Cayuga Longhouse to Onondaga, a distance of 2 miles. 

 Some of the Cayuga chiefs were too advanced in years to lead the 

 procession ; the late Abram Charles was a noted ritualist, but he was 

 deaf and never sang on the road. "Andrew Spragg was the only one 

 who always used the cane." 



The Onondaga chiefs of the Six Nations Reserve regarded Andrew 

 Spragg as an independent fellow. He not only carried a unique cane 

 that came to be associated with the Lower Cayugas (the Onondagas 

 manage to perform the ritual when installing Cayuga chiefs without 



