Wichita, Kansas, February 18 – Appalling reports have been received here of the mortality among the Indians in the country east and south of Oklahoma from influenza, or la grippe. Indian Agent Kane, from the Shawnee nation estimates that nearly 100 of that tribe have died within a week from the disease, about two-thirds of them being children. The Kickapoos, Creeks, Iowas, Pottawatomies and Araphaoes are all afflicted and their condition is said to be pitiable. The stricken tribes seem to have lost heart. When la grippe first appeared among them the medicine men administered their water and herb cures, but they seem only to have aggravated the disease. Since the deaths have become so numerous the Indians refuse all offers of assistance and just lie down and die. According to reports there is hardly a tepee in which one or more of the inhabitants is not stricken. It is said that in many of them lie dead bodies, the living being so unnerved by the visitation that they have no energy to bury their dead. Benjamin W. Miller, Indian Inspector, arrived here from Washington today and has been in consultation with those who are conversant with the state of affairs, which, it appears, had to be reported to Washington before his departure. He leaves tomorrow for the nation to make a thorough investigation and will inaugurate the proper relief measures. (The Daily Boomerang, February 18, 1890)
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