the village when he heard of her confinement to beg Iatan to spare the life of the child. When he got there he did not have any trouble on that account. The child was born with a full set of teeth. Iatan said that it was born into the world for some wise purpose, and he would spare its life. Iatan told my mother, a month before he was killed, that his tribe would kill him. He said it was because he was a friend to the whites, and that he would sell his life as dear as possible. As soon as the woman got able to travel she ran away again with the same young chief. They stayed out over two months.

One morning Iatan was eating his breakfast at the Baptist Mission, when his nephew came in and told him that the young chief had come in for a fight. He told him to go back and tell them that he would be there when he ate his breakfast. When he was through eating he saw that his firearms were all right. He bid Mr. Merrill and wife farewell. He said he had eaten his last meal and they would never see him again. With a sad heart they bade him goodby. His rival marshaled his men on one side, and what of the tribe remained true to Iatan rallied around him and the fight began. There were several killed on both sides. Iatan and his rival were killed. Iatan had six balls fired into his body before he fell. Every one that struck him he would spring up in the air and give a yell of defiance. He lived three hours after he fell. The last shot he received was from the gun of his rival. Iatan gave him his death wound. In dying he tightened his finger on the trigger and shot Iatan as he fell. The death of Iatan was the death blow to the Otoe nation. He was brave and honest and had great respect for Major Dougherty. When he would meet the major at Bellevue he always wore a suit of military clothes and a hat with two heavy black plumes tipped with red and a large silver medal on his breast. The little lap of earth that contains his bones is near the old Otoe village a half mile north of the Nebraska River. His memory is perpetuated by naming a railroad

CONJECTURED SITE OF CHIEF IATAN'S COUNCIL LODGE The largest earth circle in the village. Photographed by A. E. Sheldon, July 1912

station for him in Platte county, Missouri. Peace be to his ashes.

The crier of the village was killed, and the nation showed ingratitude to a man that had worn himself almost out in their service by killing him and leaving him unburied. Iatan's nephew came to my father after the fight was over for protection. Father told him he would gladly do so if it was in his power. He had no place to hide him. Mother told him if his enemy found him there they would kill all of us. He said he would fight until he was killed, but that would not save us. He concealed himself in the woods until dark when he stole back to the mission. They hid him in the cellar. I understood after we left there that he was killed. I witnessed the burial of one of the young chiefs. After the body was lowered into the grave they killed his favorite horse and left him by the grave. Father asked them why they did such a thing-it seemed so cruel. They said that was done in order that the chief's spirit might ride the horse's spirit in the happy hunting ground. After the death of Iatan there were no chiefs of respectability left. There was Little Rabbit and Young Crow, but they were bad Indians. When the tribe would go on a buffalo hunt in the fall they and a few of their braves would stay at the village for the purpose of thieving and live by plundering. The men did the hunting and the fighting, and the women did the work. I have seen an Indian woman walking under such a load that she was almost bent to the ground, her husband walking at his leisure behind her. When he is in a good humor he will be humming a love tune of the long ago when he wooed and won the dusky maid that walked before him. They go through a form of courtship, but they have to buy their wives. They all practiced polygamy. The number of wives depended on the number of ponies the man had. I suppose the wild Indians of the plains are the same in their habits that they were sixty years ago.

Assistant Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Nebraska

Many of the pioneers who first turned the sod in our fertile fields are still among us; but if we let a few years more pass by without gathering all the information we can from them, we shall lose much material on which future generations might base the story of the settlements of the state of Nebraska. It would be well, therefore, if all available material could be gathered during the next few years, and I hope that the State Historical Society may be able to extend its investigations into the work done by the various foreign immigrants. Nebraska has a large percentage of foreign population, and it is evident that this fact has had an influence in the development of our commonwealth.

It has fallen to my lot to say something about the Swedes of Nebraska. The subject calls for an incredible amount of time and labor, and about all one can do just now is to acquaint oneself with the immensity of the field. If there were to be found one person in each Swedish community who has an interest in the history of the last fortyfive years and who is willing to devote time to ascertaining the facts regarding the settlements of his particular community, we might soon have a satisfactory account of the Swedes in Nebraska. I sincerely hope we may not lose too much by needless delay.

For the following I am indebted to church reports, histories of Swedish immigration, and the Omaha-Posten, which four years ago devoted an extra number to the story of the settlements.

'A paper read at the annual meeting of the Nebraska State Historical Society, January 22, 1914.