He Wanted to Eat a Piece of a White Man's Heart

By Shane Dunning

http://www.redshalereflections.com

During the summer of 1897, talk of war between the Northern Cheyenne and local settlers was seemingly on every tongue. John Hoover, a white sheepherder working for Fred Bollinger just north of Ashland, had been shot and killed, presumably by Indians. In a previous article, I described how a group of two hundred armed white men led by Levi Howes gathered outside the reservation and were persuaded by Custer County Sheriff Gibbs to seek justice through the law instead of vigilante action. The killers were believed to be part of a band of Cheyennes led by White Bull. These Cheyennes were given an ultimatum to turn over the persons responsible for Hoover's death. Disregarding the demand, Levi Howes stated, would mean war.

White Bull, also known as Ice, was a well-known chief and medicine man among the Northern Cheyenne. He was best known for a miracle he performed near Busby, purportedly around 1884. According to John Stands-in-Timber, White Bull had a hole deep enough for a man to sit in produced at a site near Busby. A few large rocks that took several men to move were placed near the hole, which was covered by a tipi. After performing several ceremonies, White Bull sat in the cavity, with the rocks used to cover him completely. "Go outside now," he ordered them, "and I will sing, and then give the signal for you to come back and lift the rocks off." When this was done, White Bull was gone. They searched for him to see if he was hiding, to no avail. Putting the rocks back over the hole as instructed, they soon heard the signal. Ice was back, sitting in the hole. Eventually, White Bull became the recognized leader of the Cheyennes near the Lame Deer agency.

White Bull was also known for claiming he had a bad heart, and said he needed to eat a piece of a white man's heart to cure this condition. This was well-known to the white settlers. Whether this claim was a boast, a threat, or straight-forward medical advice is not clear.

The Cheyennes did turn over the suspected killer (David Stanley) and some witnesses to the crime, but tensions remained high. Levi Howes built a stone fort on a hill overlooking his Circle Bar ranch and supplied it with guns, ammunition, and provisions. The Cheyennes witnessed these preparations with increasing concern. While not implicated in the murder, White Bull feared for his own life at the hands of the ranchers and fled to the Catholic mission at Ashland. Two Dutch priests, Father Vandervelder and Father Vandepaugh placed him under their protection and sent for Levi Howes. White Bull believed Howes was pursuing him personally.

Levi told the rest of this remarkable story on a least two occasions. One was in November 1962 to author Edmund (Ned) Randolph. He also gave an interview to Bob Helvey in December 1956:

The old priests down there sent for me, and I went there. He told me, there were two of them there at the mission. They said, "we're white men, but we're here for doing, working with the Indians, but we're white men. If there is anything, warning we can give you, we will do it." "But," he says, "we have got to, not lose our influence with the Indians." So, they sent for me to come down and talk things over.

According to Howes, the priests contributed to White Bull's paranoia.

And there was one old Indian down there, kind of a chief, a medicine man, old White Bull. And he'd been, they said, telling everybody all around his heart was bad, he wanted to eat a piece of a white man's heart... This old father Vandervelder, he talked to him, what was his trouble?

There were 200 men, white cowboys gathered on the other side of the river. "Yes," he (Father Vandervelder) said, "they mean to fight." "If this thing ever starts," he told this old White Bull, "the first man they are going to get is the man that wants to eat a piece of a white man's heart." And old White Bull was so scared he asked them to hide him. They took him and hid him under the chapel on a floor.

This was the situation when Levi Howes arrived at the mission. They provided the young manager of the Circle Bar Ranch with a nice clean bed in the chapel. The priests supposedly informed Howes, "the man who wants to eat a piece of a white man's heart is laying on the dirt underneath." The two antagonists spent that night, one sleeping in comfort directly over the other.

According to Randolph's notes:

The priests wrangled a peace. Levi and White Bull departed without incident. The next time Levi saw White Bull, the two were crossing Tongue River at flood time, Levi in a buggy, White Bull on horseback. Levi made light of the incident and paid White Bull a dollar to test the depth of the water by riding into it and across.

The veracity of this fascinating story is deserving of some scrutiny. Although he did tell it multiple times in formal interviews, this tale comes from a single source: Levi Howes in his advanced years. Their lack of corroboration characterizes the apocryphal nature of stories such as this. What corroboration exists is often contradictory, and such is the case here.

Randolph's notes claim that White Bull helped Levi navigate a flooded river in a buggy. In Howes' unpublished memoirs, he identifies the man who helped him as Badger (the father of David Stanley, Hoover's killer). Also, Howes' memoirs do not mention the chapel incident but do reference White Bull's heart trouble and his plan to relieve them. Still, an article in the New York Times (June 1, 1897) about the Hoover incident does state: "The Sheriff learned that the crime was committed by three of the band led by White Bull, who said a day or two previous that his heart was bad – that he wanted to eat a white man's heart." Unfortunately, it seems, most of the best stories seemingly can't be proven either way.