Bettie, (b. ABT 1856, d. ?)

Census: Date: 1880
Place: Helt, Vermillion, Indiana

Census: Date: 1880
Place: Helt, Vermillion, Indiana

Census: Date: 1880
Place: Helt, Vermillion, Indiana

Note: Police captain; led internal investigation of Chicago Police Department in 1904.

Name: Alexander Ross Piper
Last known address: Transportation Officer Trans Div, Bldg 917 West Point, NY 10996
Birth Date: 1 Mar 1865
Death Date: 2 Jan 1952
Interment Date: 24 Nov 1952
Buried At: Section I Site 24


66[Lt. Alexander R. Piper, "Extracts from Letters Written by Lieutenant Alexander R. Piper...during the Sioux Campaign, 1890-1891," in John M. Carroll, editor, The Unpublished Papers of the Order of Indian Wars Book Number 10 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Privately published, 1977), 5; the original account is found in the United States Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.]

"Lt. Alexander R. Piper, Eighth Infantry, who was stationed at nearby Pine Ridge Agency, expressed an opinion commonly held in the ranks: "The Cavalry began shooting in every direction, killing not only Indians but their own comrades on the other side of the circle."66"

Part 7 (Lt. Alexander R. Piper) - Last evening a courier came in from the Badlands with a letter from the hostiles, saying the whole tribe had started in. The news about the Indians today is quite reassuring and I feel that we can almost begin to hope for a speedy end to this performance.

Wounded Knee took place in 1890, well after the Civil War and also after the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, often referred to as Custer’s Last Stand. It was at a time when the American frontier development was almost at an end, and Americans felt that it was their destiny to rule the entire American nation. Indians were now simply another impediment in the way of American expansion. Wounded Knee took place after the death of Sitting Bull, when the cavalry began to round up and disarm the remaining Indians. Federal officials were becoming alarmed at the increase in religious fervor and activism and called in the military, led by veteran General Nelson Miles.

General Miles had also ordered the arrest of Big Foot, who had been known to live along the Cheyenne River in South Dakota. Miles sent out the Seventh Calvary and finally found the Indians on Porcupine Creek, 30 miles east of Pine Ridge. The Indians offered no resistance. Big Foot, ill with pneumonia, rode in a wagon. The soldiers ordered the Indians to set up camp five miles westward, at Wounded Knee Creek. Colonel James Forsyth arrived to take command. The soldiers now numbered around 500; the Indians 350, all but 120 of these women and children.

The following morning, December 29, 1890, the soldiers entered the camp demanding that all Indian firearms be relinquished. One of the soldiers tried to disarm a deaf Indian named Black Coyote, a scuffle ensued and the firearm discharged. At first, the struggle was fought at close quarters, but when the Indians ran to take cover, the artillery opened up on them, cutting down men, women, children alike, the sick Big Foot among them. By the end of the massacre, which lasted less than an hour, at least 150 Indians had been killed and 50 wounded. In comparison, army casualties were 25 killed and 39 wounded.

THE GHOST DANCE

The Ghost Dance was an attempt of a group of North American Indian tribes to further separate themselves from the white man and the religious doctrines they were forcing upon the tribal peoples. Begun by a prophet named Wovoka, his vision embodied the belief that the white man would disappear from the Earth after a natural catastrophe and that the Indian dead would return bringing with them the old way of life that would then last forever.

The dance was unlike other Indian dances with fast steps and loud drumming. The Ghost Dance consisted of slow shuffling movements following the course of the sun. It would be performed for four or five days and was accompanied by singing and chanting, but no drumming or other musical instruments. In addition, both men and women participated in the dance, unlike others in which men were the main dancers, singers and musicians.

The first dance was held by Wovoka around 1889. Word spread quickly and the Ghost Dance was accepted by many tribes including the Sioux who added the element of a ghost shirt. Made of buckskin or cloth, the shirt was said to make the wearer immune to bullets, a weapon of death known initially only to the white man. Among those killed at Wounded Knee were women and children wearing their ghost shirts. The Ghost Dance continued to be danced in more southern tribes, but the end of the movement really came with the deaths at Wounded Knee. In Act I of the opera, the words of Kicking Bear at the end of the Scene 1 reflect his hope for the return of the Messiah. The refrain of the soldier’s song refers to the ghost dance shirt, “They claimed the shirt Messiah gave, no bullet could go through”.

Atlanta Constitution, The (Atlanta, Georgia) > 1893 > April > 12

Lieutenant Alexander R Piper, of the Eight United States infantry is registered at te Markham. Lieutenant Piper graduated from West Point in the class of 1885 and was sent west. He has seen considerable service in the mountains and among the Indians of Idaho.

Marion Daily Star, The (Marion, Ohio) > 1902 > October > 6

New York – Colonel Alexander Ross Piper, a West Pointer, and retired army officer, was sworn in as second deputy police officer, was sworn in as second deputy police commissioner this morning in place of Colonel Thurston, resigned. Colonel Piper is a young man, but left the army in 1899 on account of the loss of an arm.

Oct 7, 1902, Post Syracuse (Syracuse, New York)
New york October 6, Colonel Alexander Ross Piper was Appointed and sworn in as second deputy commisioner of police today. Major Ebstein, who has been second deputy commissioner, is made first deputy commissioner, with headquarters in Brooklyn. The changes follow the resignation of las Saturday of Deputy Commissioner N B Thurston. Colonel Piper is a retired army officer.

Atlanta Constitution, The (Atlanta, Georgia) > 1904 > March > 24

Chicago Police Shaken Up
Chicago, March 24 – The first step toward improving the Chicago police force, as suggested by Captain Alexander Piper in his recent report, has been made, Chief O’Neil announcing forty-seven promotions to fill vacancies. There will be a general shake up in the entire police department as a result of the new promotions.

Washington Post, The (Washington, D.C.), 1910-19 > 1914 > November > 17

Capt. Alexander R Piper, USA, retired, is assigned to active duty and detailed as an acting quartermaster.

Census 1920 shows his Aunt Adelaide C living with him.

Occupation: Date: 1930
Place: Vice President, Railroad

Census: Date: 1870
Place: Fort Monroe, Elizabeth City, VA

Census: Date: 1910
Place: Brooklyn, Kings, NY

Census: Date: 1920
Place: Brooklyn, Kings, New York

Census: Date: 1930
Place: Brooklyn, Kings, New York

Census: Date: 1920
Place: Latrobe Ward 3, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania

Census: Date: 1930
Place: Latrobe, Westmoreland, PA

Census: Date: 1920
Place: Latrobe Ward 3, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania

Census: Date: 1930
Place: Latrobe, Westmoreland, PA

Note: proprietor of the Iola Cider, Sorghum and Corn Mill and Vinegar Works, is a representative of one of the old and famous families of the United States, being lineally descended from William Claiborne, who was sent out by Charles I., King of England, as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and who at one time ruled both Virginia and Maryland. This William Claiborne is styled by Chief Justice John Marshall, in his life of Washington, as "the evil genius of Maryland," he having besieged Annapolis and driven Lord Proprietor Calvert out of the Province. His career in America was long and turbulent but he triumphed to the last, being sustained against all his enemies by Charles I., Cromwell and Charles II., under all of whom he held high office in the new world. He fell in battle with the Indians and his tomb may yet be seen at Wancock Hill, Virginia.

The descendants of William Claiborne became numerous in Virginia as they remained there for many generations without emigrating, filling many of the highest offices in the Commonwealth and intermarrying with its most distinguished families.

Richard Claiborne, our subject's paternal grandfather, was a Revolutionary soldier. He entered the Virginia line as a lieutenant, was aide-de-camp to General Greene during the whole of his southern campaign, and left the service at the close of the war, a major. He took up the practice of law in Virginia, and when his cousin, Wm. C. C. Claiborne, was appointed by President Jefferson Governor of the Territory of Lousiana, then just made a part of the United States by purchase, he accompanied him to New Orleans as his private secretary. After the admission of the State of Lousiana he was appointed clerk of the District Court of the United States and continued to hold this position until the time of his death which occurred in 1819.

Richard Claiborne married Catherine Ross, a daughter of Brigadier General James Ross, of the Revolutionary army, and a grand-daughter of George Ross, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Their children were Guilford Green Claiborne, our subject's father, and Henrietta Virginia Claiborne, who married Preston Billings Elder, of Pennsylvania.

Richard R. Claiborne, the subject of this sketch was born at Columbia, Pennsylvania, September 7, 1838, and is the son of Guilford Greene Claiborne who was for many years a prominent official of the Pennsylvania railroad. When but eighteen years of age Richard R. Claiborne entered upon the active duties of life as Statistical Clerk in the Philadelphia custom house, an appointment made by direction of President Buchanan. He continued in office during a part of the administration of President Lincoln and resigned to take the superintendency of the Linscott Petroleum and Coal Company at Athens, Ohio. This position he resigned to assume the management of the James River Granite Company, at Richmond, Va., resigning this latter position to engage in the coal business in Philadelphia. In 1870 he came to Kansas for the purpose of engaging in the cattle business. He located first in Neosho county, near the town of Osage Mission (now St. Paul) establishing an extensive ranch on Walnut creek. In 1882 he came to Allen county, purchased the J. W. Scott homestead in Carlyle township, and made his home there until 1890 when he came to Iola, purchasing the Cider and Vinegar industry then carried on by the firm of Potter & McClure, in the building now used by the Iola Creamery. He soon removed the machinery to block 115, where he erected new buildings, put in a larger plant and greatly extended the business. Under careful and intelligent management the industry grew rapidly and had already become one of much importance when, in 1898, the buildings and plant were totally destroyed by fire. Not daunted by this disaster Mr. Claiborne secured a tract of land just east of the city, erected there a new and larger plant, and is rapidly regaining the ground lost by this unhappy misfortune.

Mr. Claiborne was married in February, 1872, at Bridge Water, Massachusetts, to Elnora Bartlett, a daughter of Joseph and Mary E. Bartlett. The two children of this union are Clarence Elder Claiborne, born in 1873, and George Ross Claiborne, born in 1876 and married in 1899 to Edith Emerson of Iola.

During the nearly twenty years Mr. Claiborne has lived in Allen county he has so conducted himself as to win the respect and the cordial esteem of all who have had either business or social relations with him. Of polished manners and excellent education, with a fine sense of personal honor, he has maintained the reputation of the distinguished name he bears and has made a record that well entitles him to a place among the representative men of Allen county.

Note: Signer of the declaration of independence

Census: Date: 1880
Place: Harrisburg, Dauphin, PA

Census: Date: 1880
Place: Harrisburg, Dauphin, PA