| ORAL
HISTORY:
A fascinating 1937 (poorhouse inmate) Interview, which was a Works Progress Administration
(WPA) project, begins
as follows:
"George S. Stiers, 73, inmate Tarrant County Home, born on Pine
Ridge, Indian Reservation, So. Dak., Jan. 8, 1864. Of Canadian-French and Indian
descent he attended Catholic Mission School for 8 years on the reservation. At
15 became a Pony Express rider out of Ft. Dodge until 1881, was a a Government
Scout through 1884; worked as a {Begin deleted text} [?] {End deleted
text} cowhand in Texas and Colorado until 1891 when he joined the Buffalo
Bill circus for six years in a shooting act; from 1898-1905 made 2 reel Western
movies with Wn. S. Hart, later followed the vaudeville circuit until 1927.
"I was born Jan. 8, 1864 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in So.
Dak.. My
mother named me Tella Wabasha, which are the Indian words for Red Wolf. The
Indian custom was to name the child after the mother. Mother was a Sioux Indian
and grand-daughter of Chief Sitting Bull. Her mother was the Chief's daughter.
Father was a French-Canadian. I was born in an Indian teepee, reared in a teepee
and lived the native life of the Indians until I reached the age of 15. . . ."
[To locate interview interview, jot down the following keyword or phrase (using
any quotation marks given) and click here to get instructions
.]
Keyword: "George S. Stiers" Note: Choose longer of the two
articles; the shorter one is incomplete.
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