50 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. IIO

Upon

the white

man's

severe

methods

of criminal punishment,

and

concluded

:

We

have neitherchains nor prisons, and for want ofthem, no doubt, a great number of us are wickedand have deafears.

As

^{chief, I}

am

determined todo

my

duty; I shall take awhip topunishthe wicked; letall those

who

havebeen guilty of any misdemeanor present themselves. I

am

ready.

The outcome

of the affair

was

as follows

:

The known guilty parties were called upon by name,

many

presented them- selves of their

own

accord, and all received a proportionate correction. The whole affair terminated in a general rejoicing and feast. [Chittenden and Richardson, 1905, ^vol. 2, pp. 767-768.]

Alexander was a

close friend of the Jesuit Missionaries.

He

often

accompanied

Father

De Smet on

his travels in the

Rocky Mountain

region. Father

Hoeken

credited

Alexander

with having selected the site for St. Ignatius Mission

on

its

removal

eastward in the fall of 1854.

At

the Flathead Treaty Council,

Alexander

declared,

"The

priest instructs

me and

this people here. I

am

very well contentwith the priest."

At

one point in the controversy over the location of the reservation,

Alexander

stated that he

would

agree to leave the area

around

the Mission

and go on

a reservation in the Bitterroot Valley

if

Governor

Stevens

would

say that he could not

go

to

heaven

at his

own

place.

His

strong attachment to the Mission influenced his ulti-

mate

refusal to accept the southern reservation proposed

by Governor

Stevens. (Ibid., vol._{4, p.} 1232; Partoll, 1938a, pp. 290, 300.)

Alexander

died about the year 1868. (Teit, 1930, p. 377.)

Thus

he servedas

head

chief of the

Upper Pend

^{d'Oreille for}

two

decades.

His

leadership

was

courageous, aggressive, strict,

and

apparentlyjust.

There

is no record of Alexander's position everhaving been seriously challenged

by

arival leader of the tribe.

His

chieftaincy

was marked by

continued friendshipwiththewhites

and

sporadicwarfare withthe plains tribes.

Alexander was

an

economic

conservative.

At

the time of his death the

Upper Pend

d'Oreille still

made

periodic hunting excursions to the plains for buffalo.

Michelle, Successor to Alexander as Upper

Pend

D'Oreille

Head

Chief (Plate 17)

Whe-whitth-schay (Indian name) Michelle (English name)

Is noted for his upright and manly conduct, he was well thought of among

the Jesuit Priests

who

gave him the name Michelle.

He

^is remarkable for his generosity, which is the significance of his name.

Michelle's Indian

name means

"Plenty of Grizzly Bear."

He was

a

minor

chief ofthe tribe

when Alexander

died,

and was

elected

head

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUSCOLLECTIONS VOL. 110.NO.7. PL.17

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Michelle.

Successor to Alexander

as

Upper Pend

d'Oreille

HEAD Chief

NO. 7 SOIION's portraits of

INDIANS — EWERS

5I chief after

two

others,

Andre and

Pierre, declined the office. (Teit, 1930,p. 377.)

He was

probably one of the Michelles

who

signed the Flathead Treaty

and

possibly the Michelle

who

signed the Blackfoot Treaty in 1855. ^^^ took no speaking i)art in cither Council.

As Pend

d'Oreille head chief he represented the tribe in the Council to negotiate for the right-of-way ofthe

Northern

Pacific

Railway

on the reservation,

September

2, 1882,

and

^at themeeting with

members

of the subcommittee of the United States Senate appointed to visit the Indiantribesof northern

Montana on September

_7, 1882.

(Ronan,

1890, pp. 54, 76.)

In his

Annual Report

of

September

1874 Peter

Whaley,

the Flat- head Agent,

recommended

that Michelleshould be replaced

by Andre,

second chief of the tribe.

The Agent

pointed out that

on

their buflalo hunts east of the

mountains

the

Pend

d'Oreille

were

in the habit of stealing horses

from

friends

and

foes alike

and

refused to return the animals to their proper owners. Michelle,

who

at the time

was

physicallyunable to

accompany

hispeople

on

theirhunts,

was power-

less to prevent the thefts or to

compel

restitution.

Andre, on

the other hand,

had

the confidence of his people

and was

the real leader of the tribe.

(Ann.

Rep.

Comm.

Ind. Aff., 1874, pp. 262-263.)

The new

Flathead

Agent

in 1875 reported ^that

Andre was

"chief in all but

drawing

a salary

from

the

government."

(Ibid., 1875,_P- 3^4-)

Agent

Peter

Ronan

investigated the cause of the dissension in 1877.

He found

Michelle a

"good-meaning" man who had

to a large extent lost contact with his people. Michelle lived at the

Agency

while his people

were

located near St. Ignatius Mission

some

20 miles away.

When

decisions needed to be

made, Andre, who

lived with the tribe.

generally

made

them. If a case

was

later taken to Michelle, he generally reversed Andre's decision, causing further dissatisfaction.

Michelle

seemed

well

aware

of the fact that he

had

lost contact with his people

and

considered

moving

back to live

among them

in order to regain his lost influence. (Ibid., 1877,p. 136.)

Michelle's popularity

was

not increased by his severe punishments.

He whipped

femaleadulterers,

common among

hispeople, so severely as tocausethe deathsof

some women. Agent Medery

founditneces- sary to prevail

upon

Michelle to resort to milder punishment. (Ibid.,

1876, p. 89.)

In spiteof the dissatisfaction of

many

of hispeople, the opposition of

Andre, and

the

recommendation

of at least one

Agent

that he be deposed, Michelle continued in the position of head chief.

He won

the respect of

Agent Ronan

during the

Nez

Perce

War

of 1877.