You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This exceedingly interesting narrative was first published in part several years ago as an ethnological contribution in the University of California Series in American Archaeology and Ethnology (Volume XVI) under the title, “The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian.” It consists of the life history of Crashing Thunder, an adventuresome American Indian, as told by himself in his own manner, the nature of the content being at no time directly or indirectly influenced by Dr. Radin, the distinguished ethnologist under whose stimulation the story was finally obtained and who made the translation from the original Winnebago syllabary.
Dr. Radin points out several of the obvious virtues of this account including the wholesome honesty displayed in the Indian's evaluation of the events constituting the larger portion of his life and particularly his tendency never to confuse his reputation or his own explanations of his conduct with his real self. He practically never admits that he had sinned and never apologizes for any of his numerous delinquencies, if such they may be, and above all he has refrained from dramatizing these various experiences. Apparently he has never forgotten what the actual facts in each instance were. His worldly career was preceded by the common prophecy that his mother was about to give birth to a very important man, which prophecy seemingly came true, but a great deal of his life was spent in excessive drinking, sexual debauchery and intense sufferings and was finally rounded out by a murder followed