Bull Head, Chief of the Sarcee Indians, who died recently on the Indian reserve near Calgary at the age of 78, was one of the few remaining real Indian warriors of the West; he was perhaps the most prominent figure of Indian history.
In appearance he was a tough, battle-scarred brave, lean, and seven feet in height, with a cruel-looking face, from which his one deeply sunken eye peered out in sullen defiance.
Forty years ago he was the leader of the Sarcees-the ugliest, dirtiest, bravest of Indian tribes-in their many sanguinary fights with their hereditary enemies the Crees.
Thirty battles he fought against these formidable opponents.
Among the Indians the taking of a gun from the enemy was considered a very great achievement, far greater even than the taking of a scalp. It is a sort of Indian Victoria Cross.
The rites at his funeral were few and simple. The tribe was there in full force-150 in number, for that is all that remains of the once powerful Sarcees.
• In an elaborate typewritten statement which he issued to the press to-day Jack Johnson formally announces his retirement as the heavy-weight champion.
He expresses the deep disappointment he feels at his match with Bombadier Wells having been declared off, and at the miserable showings made by the "white hopes" that have recently been brought out.
The champion goes on to say that he has convinced the sporting world and the ring of his superiority, and having thus achieved his ambition, he is willing to step down and quit the game.
He and his wife would now leave England and go to Paris, "where the colour line is not drawn; and a gentleman is accepted on his merits".
A Chicago telegram says that Johnson's mother laughed heartily when she heard the story that her big son had had to pawn his motor car and travel second-class from Paris to London.
The old lady says that Chicago bankers are keeping 30,000 for her boy, and that he would pawn anything rather than touch that money.
• The first shining cuckoo of the season is recorded by Mr S. C. L. M'Call, of Amodeo Bay, Coromandel.
He wrote on September 19: "I am pleased to tell you that I heard the first one this year to-day, and as I have kept a record of the shining cuckoos' arrival in this part of the country for several years I am sending the dates: -1908, September 20; 1909, September 14; 1910, September 10; 1911, September 19.
"There is a variation of only a few days in four years."
• LONDON: The War Office and the postal authorities are convinced that an aerial post is impracticable until aviation has got beyond the experimental stage. The experimental service from London to Windsor has satisfied them that aeroplanes are not yet to be depended upon.
Not once have the aerial mailmen been able to leave the Hendon aerodrome, owing to the wind and other vagaries of the weather.
- ODT, 7.10.1911.
