FIFTH REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I908 



59 



SENECA SILVERSMITH'S TOOL OUTFIT 



During the autumn of 1907 the writer was informed by a number 

 of Indians from the Allegany Reservation that there was a silver- 

 smith's outfit of tools in the possession of Silversmith George, an 

 old Seneca Indian living near Tunesassa on the Allegany river. 

 Knowing the extreme rarity of such tool kits an immediate effort 

 was made to secure it. Smith George was visited and the outfit 

 purchased for a few dollars. It was incomplete but at the time the 

 State Museum had not a single Indian silverworker's tool. As much 

 information was obtained as could be imparted by Mr George, 

 whose deceased brother had been the real skilled worker. During 

 the summer of 1908 another outfit was located on the Cattaraugus 

 Reservation. It was in the possession of Mrs Nancy Mohawk and 

 was purchased through the good offices of Chief Delos Big Kittle, 

 known to his fellow tribesmen as Chief Soinowa. This outfit was 

 complete except for the brass patterns which had been loaned to a 

 son in law. It was promised that they would be restored for a 

 few dollars more and added to the outfit already in hand. 



The outfit as it stood consisted of an old stained pine table with 

 a drawer which had been partitioned off to contain the various 

 tools which consisted of more than a hundred chisels, several home- 

 made saws fashioned from case knives, a blow pipe, a candlestick, 

 hammers, pinchers, a small table vise, punches, dies, awls, gravers, 

 files etc., and several boxes of silver cuttings, chips, brooches in pro- 

 cess, earrings in process, glass in various stages of the shaping 

 process for mounts etc. A small partition contained several flint 

 drills and a flint graver, also eight pieces of flat deer bone in pro- 

 cess of manufacture into gaming buttons. 



As in the case of the outfit secured on the previous year as many 

 data as the Indian owners could furnish, prompted by vigorous 

 questioning, were secured. Questions which might suggest answers 

 were not asked in any instance, this being a better method to employ 

 when interrogating Indians unaccustomed to analytical studies, and 

 who many times will acquiesce to a suggested reply. 



The outfit purchased from Mrs Mohawk, according to her state- 

 ment, once belonged to Chief Tommy Jemmy, who was once tried 

 for murder in Buffalo, his offense being the execution of a witch 

 in accord with the national laws of the Seneca Indians. His de- 

 fense by Red Jacket was a masterpiece of eloquence and a stinging 

 rebuke to-meddlers with Indian affairs who teach Indians a thing 

 one moment and punish them the next for following that teaching. 

 Red Jacket's philippic is now one of the classics of Indian oratory. 

 Jemmy's silversmithing tools passed to his descendants and finally 

 to Mrs Mohawk. 



A number of photographs were taken showing the uses of the 

 various tools. Several experiments were conducted in die stamp- 

 ing, graving and melting silver by blowpiping a candle flame upon 

 the metal held in the hollow in a piece of hard wood. The silver 

 melted, fused and with the withdrawal of the flame hardened into 

 a small button. 



