July 31, 2025
We are herding a big issue to the printer this weekend featuring two excellent stories.
An Epic Page Turner
Congrats to my young friend Paul Andrew Hutton who has a new gig as the interim curator of the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming. I say young because Paul is three years younger than me (he's 75). Also, I must say Paul sure is ambitious for being so distinguished. He just retired as a Distinguished Professor of History at the University of New Mexico after 40 years but rather than retire and bask in his glory (he has written or narrated over 300 television documentaries) he also has written a massive tome that almost killed him and comes out this fall: The Undiscovered Country. We are proud to run a sneak peek of this epic page turner in this issue of True West because we are proud of the young man and we love him.
Paul Hutton with his new book out in August.
Meanwhile, our Movie & TV Editor, Henry Parke, has a groundbreaking story about In-din Disenrollment. That is when tribes kick out members who do not have enough In-din blood, or the right lineage (some tribes track from the mother's side, others are extra paternalistic).
Daily Whip Out: "Disenrollment Blues"
In the past ten years claimants of Native American lineage have increased 85% perhaps driven by rumors of tribal gaming profits. Unfortunately, in the process to root out "Pretendians" many long standing tribal members are being dropped because of quantum blood issues or other factors.
Daily Whip Out: "Intermarriage Slur"
White men who married Native women were known derisively back in the day as a "Squawman" and as a result many of the descendants of these interracial couples have been kicked off the tribal rolls for lack of quantum blood. But it doesn't even stop there.
The Apache Scout Mickey Free
and his wives Ethlay and Ochehey
The infamous Apache captivo Mickey Free is a good example of how hard it is to establish tribal identity. Captured as a child and of Mexican and Irish lineage, Felix Tellis (Mickey's given name) was raised Apache, but it is somewhat doubtful that he, or his descendants, could pass today's enrollment criteria. Each tribe makes its own rules about membership. Some tribes accept only those whose identity can be traced through the mother. Others are rigidly patrilineal. In either case, it's doubtful Mickey Free would make the grade today.
"I see by your outfit you wanna be an Indian."
—Old Vaquero Saying
My Grandmother was convinced that there was Indian blood somewhere in her background, but was never able to pin it down. She looked as though she might have Indian blood, and apparently, her father even more so. She was very proud of this heritage. Not long after she passed away, I did a DNA test from a genealogy site. They determined that I had 0.0% Native-American ancestry, and therefore, neither did my grandmother. I wonder how DNA testing affects tribal enrollment?
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