man, judging’ from their speech and hearty handshake. There wasn’t 
that damp, cool look in their eyes, either, as generally appeared in 
the eyes of an Indian when introduced to a white man. 
We were invited in at once to take dinner with them, while they, 
used wooden bowls, plates and spoons. At the same time everything 
looked clean and the squaws were dressed in nice buckskin skirts 
with beaded waist and they had all the appearance of nature’s people. 
As we ate our dinner several jokes were passed back and forth, using 
plain English. I enjoyed this as most of the Indians I had met could 
not speak English. 
After dinner our horses were groomed and staked out. The 
Shawnees had cribs of corn, plenty of chickens and hogs, cattle and 
ponies. I learned they were only squatting among the Potawatamies 
and their home was on Brasee River in Texas. They said Texas gave 
them 40 miles square on Brasee River and the game had become scarce 
and as the Potawatamies were their friends they had stopped with 
them. 
The Shawnees also told me some exciting stories about helping 
Texas fight Camanches and Kiwah and Texas people were their friends. 
We stayed with the Shawnees about ten days, during which time I 
showed them my method of trapping and fishing. We also went 
on a very successful deer and turkey hunt, having the honor of having 
Big Jim, their chief, as our director and guide. There was no end to 
the deer and wild turkeys. We got 11 deer and five turkeys. Deer 
hunting had become common and Bill and I had planned to start 
for the Wichitaw country in a few days to see some friendly Dela¬ 
ware Indians who were living with the Wichitaws. 
The weather was fine, sunshiny and warm while we were with 
the Shawnees. I met one who I was very favorably impressed with, 
by the name of Joe Mack. Joe could speak good English and was 
used as an interpreter for the tribe. He told me very interesting 
stories, one of which I remember in particular. Joe said when the 
Santa Fe railroad was built through the Indian Territory that many 
of the Indians had never seen a train and had no idea of its power. 
They decided they could rope it and hold it, so they selected a place 
where there was a deep cut in the road as the most desirable place 
and a big bunch collected at this cut in the road. As the train ap¬ 
proached, they threw their lariats over the smoke stack and of course 
the rope was pulled through the Indians’ hands, burning the skin off. 
It also relieved them of several lariat ropes as it kept right on going. 
This was told among the Indians and one big Kiwah said he could 
rope the thing, and hold it. The Indians were all anxious to see him 
try it, so out they went, and there were lots of Indians gathered 
around to watch the performance. As the whistle of the train was 
heard, the Kiwah tied his rope around his waist and when the train 
was near enough he tossed the rope over the smoke stack. The train 
jerked him.off of his feet and the last that was seen of him he was 
dragging behind the train like a tin cup tied to a dog’s tail. This I 
will admit sounded fishy to me, yet it might have been the truth. 
An Indian is full of mirth and jokes and the only real man of nature. 
The more I saw and lived with them, the better I liked them. 
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