A Tragic Hunting Accident Near Hamilton
A hunter is killed by his companion while stalking game in the brush near Sauk.
Indian Charlie died Sunday at the camp of Shoemaker Jim, two miles west of Hamilton, from the effects of a gunshot. With a companion, Charlie was hunting bear last week in the vicinity of Sauk. While skulking through the brush he was mistaken for a bear by his companion, who took aim and fired, inflicting a fatal wound. Charlie was a pretty good Indian, even before his death, and was quite a favorite with his tribe. His remains have been consigned to earth in the Indian cemetery north of town, and mourners are making night hideous in that vicinity by their loud demonstrations.
“While skulking through the brush he was mistaken for a bear by his companion.”
This tragic report, written in the casual, dehumanizing vernacular of the 19th-century press, illustrates both the physical dangers of a life lived in the rugged outdoors and the stark cultural distance typical of the era's reporting on Indigenous people.
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