The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau pg.103-104
Lipps
agreed with Inspector Baker’s statements relative to the interference of Mrs.
McFatridge, “It is a common report not only here but elsewhere in the Service.”
Inspector Baker had reported on the employment of Mrs. Clara McFatridge as
agency clerk, and their son Leslie in various positions from Forest Ranger,
Chief Clerk, and Day School Teacher to keep the administration of Indian affairs
as a McFatridge family administration at the Blackfeet Agency; “Mrs. McFatridge
has but limited education and culture and her long residency on Indian
Reservations has affected her growth and development. She can hardly speak five
sentences of the English language correctly without committing a grammatical
error. I regard her influence over the Indians and employees as well, as highly
pernicious. She keeps things in a perpetual uproar, particularly the Cut Bank
Boarding School. She is
inclined toward gossip and has a will to rule or ruin- a vicious woman. I
recall that Mrs. McFatridge recently, while I was engaged on my investigation at
Blackfeet, sent to me at the Agency Office a communication which I enclose
marked “Exhibit A”, insigned, which she intended as an answer to an official
communication which I had directed to the Superintendent. It appears that the
official letter was taken to the house of the Superintendent and Mrs.
McFatridge took it upon herself to answer the said letter. I regarded the
anonymous note as a gross impertinence, the tone was impertinent, the
circumstances showed that it was intended as impertinence, and I refused to
receive it officially on the ground that I had written officially to the
Superintendent and not to his wife. This is simply a mild example of the entire
course of conduct and disposition to interfere of Mrs. McFatridge. The white
people as well as the Indians realize the true state of affairs and it is
common for them to refer to the present administration as that of, “The Father,
Son, and Holy Terror”.
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau
pg.103-104
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