MooxEYl AFFAIRS DURING 1891-1892 223 



their lioines. Tlie affair naturally created intense excitement in the 

 tribe and threats were made against the teacher who was responsible 

 for tlie occurrence, but the matter finally quieted down without the 

 necessity of calling- on the troops (see the calendar). 



ENLISTMENT OF INDIANS AS SOLDIERS 



In March, 1891, the Secretary of War authorized the enlistment of 

 an Indian contingent for each of the cavalry and infantry regiments 

 serving ia the west. In pursuance of this plan, a troop was enlisted 

 from among the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache tribes in the fall of 

 1891 and placed under the command of Lieutenant (now Captain) EI. L. 

 Scott, and designated as troop L, of the Seventh cavalry, then sta- 

 tioned at Fort Sill. Of this troop probably two-thirds were Kicjwa 

 and Apache. The experiment did not prove satisfactory, and all of 

 the Indian companies have now been disbanded. The Kiowa troop 

 maintained its existence longest, under Captain Scott, who was 

 peculiarly fitted for the position by his intimate and sympathetic ac- 

 quaintance with Indian habit and belief and his expert knowledge of 

 the sign language. For this reason he has several times been selected 

 by the War Department to investigate threatened troubles among the 

 associated tribes, particularly during the critical period of the ghost 

 dance, and has also been selected by the Indians themselves to repre- 

 sent their interests at Washington (see the calendar; also War, J). 



MEASLES EPIDEMIC OF 1892 — GRASS LANDS LEASED 



The year 1892 was signalized by several important events. Early in 

 the spring an epidemic of measles broke out among the chililren in the 

 Kiowa school. Instead of isolating and nursing the sick, the superin- 

 tendent in charge sent the infected children home to their camps, thus 

 spreading the disease broadcast, resulting in the death of about two 

 hundred and twenty persons, nearly all children, among the Kiowa and 

 Apache, or fifteen per cent of the entire number. The superintendent 

 was soon afterward removed. This epidemic was the most terrible 

 calamity that has befallen the tribe in many years. Every family lost 

 relatives, and in addition to the large number of deaths thousands of 

 dollars" worth of i^roperty, in the form of horses, wagons, blankets, etc, 

 was destroyed at the graves in accordance with the Indian custom 

 (see the calendar). 



As by this time the Indians had learned that the leasing of their 

 grass lands would be a substantial benefit to themselves, they held a 

 joint council in the si)ring of the same year and authorized Quanah, 

 Lone-wolf, and White-man, head chiefs of the three confederate tribes, 

 to go as delegates to Washington, where they succeeded in negotiating 

 leases for nearly all of their suri)his grass lands for an aggregate 

 annual rental of nearly 8100,000. This money, with that received by 



