Page 135 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

F R O N T I E R P R O C E S S : VILIFYING

men entertained themselves by seizing Mollie Stanford's two long braids
and brandishing their hunting knives, they ridiculed her f o r being
scared. 172 On another occasion, three Indians cut off two young boys'
hair with their hunting knives. They were appalled at their harsh pun­
ishment. The terror they inspired in local settlers gained them not only
a stern lecture f r om the Indian agent, but a drastic cut in their rations
f o r that month. 173 Other Indians appeared to delight in scaring whites
by wearing scalp locks dangling f r om their belts, which only intensified
whites' concerns. 174
Y e t other Native Americans developed a perverse sense of humor
that fr equently revealed itself in their teasing and torment of fr ontier
people. An aged Indian couple startled an Oklahoma woman who dis­
covered them standing quietly in her kitchen; they laughed at her
discomfiture and departed. 175 Begging Indians accosted a male migrant,
thrusting their hands into his pockets, taking a kerchief fr om around his
neck, and mocking him with raised arrows. The man's companion later
recalled that the victim gave his tormentors "leg bail f o r security." The
natives laughed uproariously as he scampered back to his camp. 176
Some Indians even liked to upset white women by threatening to
take their children. On one occasion, an Indian chieftain teased an
Oklahoma woman by asking through gestures fo r her two-year-old boy.
She recoiled fr om him. When she recovered enough to shout no in the
Indian's f a ce, the man threw back his head, laughed heartily, and
departed. According to the woman's white neighbors, "the Indians
meant no harm and were merely trying to be f r iendly," a f a ct lost on
her. 177 In a later case, intoxicated local Indian men entered the house
of another Oklahoma woman, where they carried her daughter around
and shot bullets into the fireplace. She stood her ground, which elicited
respect fr om the pranksters. 178 One T e xas woman was not as stalwart
when an intoxicated Indian seized a young boy, telling him that the
"sweetest morsel ever known was a white man's heart."179
Indian women also engaged in making migrants appear ridiculous
before their companions. They especially preyed on inexperienced men
who, responding to the women's blandishments, handed over money
and headed toward the bushes with one of them. The woman led the
way and then suddenly ran off to a group of her own people, leaving

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