Indian Tale from Lagrange County, Indiana
The Potawatomi Indians were a kind and peaceful people with the exception of this one woman.
This is related by eye-witnesses as having occurred on the east bank of Sweet Lake. Late one
pleasant afternoon, while one of the squaws with along wooden paddle was stirring a pot of
hot mush, a little Indian boy annoyed her to such a degree as to give her passion control of
her better judgment. Snatching the mush- besmeared paddle from the pot, she severely chastised
the little red boy. The effect of this hot mush poultice upon the little naked denizen of the forest
can be better imagined than described. It created quite a commotion in the camp, and in a few
minutes after the painful occurrence, the loud screams of the frantic little sufferer had
brought a large assembly of both sexes, who became very much enraged and cried for
summary vengeance on the cruel offender. Some were in favor of blows, while others, more
merciful, suggested the application of a poultice of the hot mush. As the witnesses left
previous to the settlement of the vexed question, it is not certainly known what disposition
was made of the cruel female.
