It is generally
recognized, and I believe that it is of record in the Indian Office that Mrs. McFatridge
has been a disturbing element at other places in the Indian Service where she
has been employed. As said above I regard her influence among Indians and
employees as highly pernicious and retrogressive. I cannot be too emphatic on
the point. Mrs. McFatridge, I was informed by persons whose credibility I
strongly believe in, told that she doubted the fidelity of her husband and that
she intended to leave him. I trust that the Indian Office will never regard
this as mere gossip-it is not-nor is it submitted for the purpose of gossip-it
is submitted officially. What respect can have for a woman who will publicly
discuss the virtues of her husband, or express a doubt as to his faithfulness,
to other women? Has not the government of the United States a right to demand a
high standard of family life among its employees? Should not the family of a
Superintendent be free from any taint of scandal or intrigue? I do not doubt
the fidelity of Superintendent McFatridge to his wife-I have always regarded
him as a moral man, but it is a gross impropriety in Mrs. McFatridge to make a
matter of common talk and gossip that she doubts that her husband is true to
her. This is but an illustration of another trait of character of Mrs.
McFatridge –her extreme jealousy and suspicion. I would not mention these facts
did they not have a bearing on the administrative conditions at the Blackfeet
Agency. But this is not the first instance in the Indian Service where a woman
has been the storm center and the disturbing factor in the transaction of
public business.”
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau
pg.104-105
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau
pg.104-105
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