Sitting Bull

[crzhrs]

And once SB was buried wasn't quick lime applied to break down the body/bones much faster than normal?

Never mind . . . I just read the article and it seems nothing caustic was added to the body/grave.

[grahamew]

Here's some more SB ephemera, taken from:

www.liveauctioneers.com/bonhams/item/586682



"[SITTING BULL. 1831?-1890.] PHOTOGRAPH WORN AROUND SITTING BULL'S NECK AT TIME OF HIS DEATH. CRONAU, RUDOLF. 1855-1939. Cabinet-size albumen print, 4 1/4 by 6 1/2 inches, being a head and shoulders portrait of artist Cronau, by W. Kurtz of New York, signed and inscribed on the verso, "To his friend / Tatanka-iyotanka (Sitting Bull) / Rudolf Cronau," additionally inscribed "Special artist & Correspondent / of the "Gartentaube" / Leipzig Germany," water stains, wear, 1/2 inch loss at upper center margin of recto, dark stains to left and right margins of verso, second inscription traced over. Together with Autograph Manuscript of Cronau, 6 pp, 4to and 8vo, n.p., n.d., explaining the history of the photograph above, plus related correspondence and notes in English and German, 1897-1936, tracing the journey of the photograph from the time of Sitting Bull's death. In 1881 German artist and journalist Rudolf Cronau was the first Westerner to paint Sitting Bull from life. The older Sioux chief and the younger German journalist struck up an unlikely friendship, and when Cronau departed Sitting Bull's camp, he gave the chief this signed and inscribed photograph. In 1890 Sitting Bull was murdered as Lakota policemen, acting at the behest of the U.S. government, attempted to arrest him in order to prevent his participation in the Ghost Dance, a Plains Indian ritual with apocalytic overtones. Seven years after Sitting Bull's death, a friend of Cronau's was visiting Los Angeles and passed by the window of Cambell's Curio Store on South Spring street. There he was stunned to see Cronau's photograph among a group of Indian relics belonging to Sitting Bull. Cronau entered into correspondence with W.D. Campbell, the proprietor of the store (Campbell's letters are present here), and learned that Sitting Bull was wearing Cronau's photograph on a string around his neck at the time of his death, that it was stained with Sitting Bull's blood, and that the photograph and other relics were collected by a Standing Rock Indian trader named Mr. Angevine. Campbell offered Cronau the photograph for $25, but Cronau instead offered to trade artwork for the piece. Campbell refused, and the photograph was sold to another client. (Later records indicate the buyer was a Mr. T.S. Lowe of Los Angeles.) In 1921 Cronau discovered that the photograph was on display at the Museum of the California Academy of Science in San Francisco. Again Cronau pursued the photograph, but was not able to purchase it from the William Fitzhugh estate which had loaned it to the museum. Instead the photo traveled to the Museum of the American Indian in New York, curated by Dr. George Heye. FInally, in 1936, Cronau convinced Heye to trade the photograph for one of Cronau's paintings, and thus the photograph made its way back to its original owner, to be married to the considerable archive of correspondence and manuscripts Cronau had accumulated over the decades. See illustrations."

Alas, the actual photo isn't reproduced.

[Diane Merkel]

The article linked below has updated information about the potential reburial and the items returned from the Smithsonian:

The medicine man had helped him decide what to do with items returned to [Ernie] LaPointe by the Smithsonian last year - a lock of hair and a pair of leggings taken from Sitting Bull's body after he was killed. With the exception of a few hairs given to a researcher for DNA testing, the lock was burned. A spirit advised not to put the leggings on display, LaPointe said.

Article: www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/05/25/news/state/22-remains.txt

[ignimbrite]

There's an article today in the Billings Gazette with an update.

www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/07/09/news/local/33-sittingbull.txt

His remaining great-grandchildren want Sitting Bull to finally rest in peace outside the public eye and away from commercial or public monuments where his memory could be exploited.


Ruth

[brock]

I didn't know Ernie wanted to make it public. He had a vision last October. But at the time he didn't want to go public. Apparently things changed over the past two weeks. I know Eske Willerslev is doing the DNA testing at the University of Copenhagen. Extracting the DNA from Sitting Bull's hair will take longer than expected because the Smithsonian used to preserve things like hair with strychnine. The theory being it killed any organisms that might attack the hair. Unfortunately contact of DNA and strychnine apparently is a bad mix. However Eske said that there is enough DNA within the hair strands to get a good sample. It just will take a long time. One good thing is that Sitting Bull's hair was thick or coarse.

[ladonna]

good to know brock

[tatanka]

I think the quicklime story was false. I know that when the body was exhumed there was no evidence of it.

[ladonna]

That is cause it was the wrong body

[tatanka]

I had heard the story about his remains being moved to Canada, ladonna. I guess DNA will tell us for sure.

[ladonna]

so far i have heard nine different stories

the stories
The family called Thundershields came in the night and took his body back to where he was born.

Frank Fisk dug up the grave in 1920s to make sure he was still in his grave.

The grave markers were changed in the 50s by the Kuntz boys

The 60s is when they built the d**e at Fort Yates and they claim to have uncover the body of Sitting Bull

as many know Sitting Bull's body was not a lone grave but a grave yard of 300 people.

The Military part of the graves were removed in 1903 but when they built the softball field in the 70s they uncovered many soldier's graves.

Today Sitting Bull is still surround by other graves.
Many of the 300 were removed in 1960s to another grave yard except the ones located next to Sitting Bull.

[tatanka]

Was he still in the grave when Fisk dug it up, do you know?

[ladonna]

Yes it was recorded that he was still in the grave, in fact Fisk claims to have taken the bones and put them in a smaller box inside the coffin

[brock]

Here's that article from the Fargo Forum on Fiske again:

www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nalakota/mbbsjttwbb/sittingbullsbones_ff041253.html

Also Eske Willerslev, the DNA specialist from the University of Copenhagen, has indicated there will be plenty of DNA from the hair recently repatriated from the Smithsonian to resolve any questions revolving the bones in a definitive way. He is working very closely with Ernie LaPointe, Marlene Anderson, and Ethel Bates. They are Sitting Bull's lineal great grandchildren and closest living descendants.

[ladonna]

The problem will be all the cement they poured over the grave