ANTHROP. PAP. CHRONICLES OF WOLFTOWN — KILPATRICK 23 



Now! That is all that I, Sdhi:wi, just wrote for you, Ino:li, to 

 read. Let someone proficient in letters read it. Now, Ino:li, it 

 will be sent over there to Fishinghawk Place, and when you come, you 

 will read it. Some boy will take this letter over there for I nodi to 

 read, and when I come back, I will bring it, that day when all of you 

 talk in Wolftown where I belong and am the clerk. In my mind I 

 believe that I wUl go over there. 



Now! Many of our people loved me, for the leaders chose me — 

 not all of them, it appears, but it might have been all of them — and if 

 the leaders finish, I will also finish my writings. They tell about that 

 there is going to be a different clerk. He and I are not to have a race, 

 and, furthermore, he could accidentally beat me. This is what we will 

 do in Wolftown, and when they think he does not do the right thing for 

 them, then this is what I will do: I won't run against anyone. I am 

 informed uselessly unless many can see me, and when they think, 

 "Truly he did quite a bit for us," I said, "Then I will feel good." 



Now! That is all that I, Sdhiiwi, from Wolftown have just talked 

 about for you, Ino:li, to rea,d. 



I, Sdhi:m, just wrote this letter July 8th. 



COMMENTARY 



Although. Sdhi:wi does not state the year in which he was writing, 

 we surmise that it was 1854 or earlier. Inoili appears to have been 

 clerk in 1855. 



Sdhiiwi's letter, replete with verbal posturing, drops engrossing 

 hints of the political structure in Wolftown. The following aspects are 

 suggested: 



1. There was an option as to the clerk being appointed or elected, or what 

 is far more probable, Sdhi:wi was appointed to fill an unexpired term: 

 ". . . for the leaders [i.e., members of the Council] chose me. . . ." 



2. The terms of some, perhaps all, of the oflBcials expired simultaneously: 

 ". . . and if the leaders finish, I will also finish. ..." 



3. There were formal contests for office: ". . . he could accidentally beat 

 me," and "... I won't run against anyone." 



4. Officials could succeed themselves. 



We cannot identify Fishinghawk Place. It may have been where 

 Ino:lilived, perhaps on Soco Creek. Cherokee place names are apt 

 to be plentiful and specific. 



One might be amused at the concept of the official township pencil 

 were it not for the economic condition connotated. 



Mooney's caption is a problem, but it may be: "Meth. mission 

 Stiwi wants return of Lead Pencil — WW." If this reading be correct, 

 the reference to Echota Methodist Mission is obscure. 



