Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico Volume 2 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1910 Excerpt: ...tongues. Many incidents of Shavehead's vindictiveness are related. A fter the mail stages had begun to run on the Chicago road, Shavehead, claiming the rights of his people as proprietors of the soil, established himself at a ferry of St Joseph r., near Mottville, and demanded tribute from every one who crossed, especially the settlers who were compelled to use this route to the nearest grist mill. Finally, exasperated beyond endurance, one of the settlers caught the Indian unaware and administered a severe leating, which had the effect of curing his depredations, but making him more sullen. He is described in his old age as being tall and erect, quite dark, and with not a hair on his head. Both a lake and a prairie bear his name. Several stories are told Of the manner of Shavehead's death, but they can not be substantiated. One is that the old chief, while boasting of his part in the massacre at Ft Dearborn, Chicago, in 1812, was recognized by a surviving soldier, who followed him out of the village, and, it is supposed, murdered him. Another account states that after significantly saying that there was no longer game enough for both the Indian and the white man, he was killed by a white hunter who had been his companion on many hunting expeditions. The last and more probable story is that he died, enfeebled by age and poverty, and was buried in a hollow log in the forest. Settlers visited his grave and severed his head from his body, and his skull was said in 1889 to be in the collection of the pioneers of Van Buren co. One of Shavehead's sons died in prison under a life sentence for murder. See Coll. Mich. Pion. and Hist. Soc, v, 1884; xiv, 1890; xxvm, 1900. (f.s.n.) Shawakhtau. The name, in the Yaudanchi dialect of Yokuts, of a place on Tuler., Cal., ab...