Thread by @larrycebula

Was looking for something else and found this interesting newspaper article about a Carlisle Indian School grad who got in some trouble in Chicago in 1910. It occurs to me that the flood of digitized papers would makes new Carlisle grads research possible. newspapers.com/clip/71903629/…

2/ ...and I am down the Newspapers rabbit hole, this time searching for mentions of Carlisle in Washington state papers. First find, this 1910 condemnation of Indian boarding schools. Heartwrenching description of a Native woman whose child was kidnapped. newspapers.com/clip/71904732/…

3/ "What does she want?" I asked... "She wants you to bring back her little girl." was the impassive reply.' "But I haven't her little girl--where is the child she is talking of?" "The agent came last week and took her baby away to school. Her heart is broken—it is no matter."

4/ A number of graduation announcements like this one show the interest in the Carlisle experiment was widespread. newspapers.com/clip/71905277/…

5/ In 1919 there was a lot of interest in a planned tour by the Carlisle football team that was going to visit Spokane--did that ever happen? newspapers.com/clip/71906249/…

6/ ...I had better get back to grading soon but I liked this 1898 interview with Lillie Complainville, a Nez Perce woman who'd just graduated from Carlisle and returned home. newspapers.com/clip/71907778/…

7/ "She looked very pretty in a traveling gown of dark blue serge, her wavy black hair drawn back from a high, intellectual forehead."

8/ And here are Complainville's records at Carlisle. All student records from the boarding school have been digitized and are searchable. One could gather student names and do newspaper searches to fill out some of the details of their lives.

carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/student_record…

9/ Back in 2014 when the Carlisle student records went online I wrote this little piece about a Spokane woman, Lulu O'Hara, who was sent to the school. With the additional records online now, a lot more can be done. /fin
northwesthistory.blogspot.com/2014/01/lulu-o…

10/ Tommy Runnels, a Sanpoil youth, entered Carlisle in 1902. He enrolled at Carlisle at the age of 12. He weighed 85 lbs. He was expelled in 1906 for running away from his home placement. carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/file…

11/ In 1913 Carlisle followed up on Runnels and reported he was farming in Keller. Runnels responded "Wishing you all a Merry Xmas + Happy New Year."

12/ Looking in Newspaper dot com, Runnel had a brush with the law in 1910 when he shot at William Mee. Mee later shot and killed a man he thought we Runnel, but was really a third man, John Covington. newspapers.com/clip/71922620/…

13/ In 1911 Runnels was sent to the Washington State Reformatory for assault. He was 20 years old, his occupation listed as farmer. He was paroled in 1913. digitalarchives.wa.gov/DigitalObject/…

13/ In 1914 Runnels was acquitted of the murder of Sally Nee, an "educated Indian." newspapers.com/clip/71924184/…

14/ Oh wow this sensationalist newspaper article makes Runnels seem a very dangerous case--but I don't know to believe it. It mentions him as a Carlisle graduate. newspapers.com/clip/71925032/…

15/ OK I could do this all night. There were four Runnels siblings who attended Carlisle. Hiram was also expelled and also had many brushes with the law afterward. Though in 1911 he told Carlisle he was doing well.
carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/file…

"I have a three room frame house and eight lots in the town of Keller," he reported. "I have a nice comfortable home situated here on the San Poil River and living very nicely with wife and family. We are trying the chicken industry at present."

17/ The third brother, George, stayed at Carlisle until he graduated in1907. His file notes that he "keeps a very tidy room." After graduation, he clerked at a Keller store then attended Blair Business College in Spokane. carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/file…

18/ Finally the sister, Mary Runnels, entered Carlisle in 1902 and graduated in 1906. Her slim file notes that he conduct was "very good" and that she had been trained in sewing and laundry. carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/file…

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