Yellow Boy

Yellow Boy was a Lakota Indian charged with the theft of a horse.

In these frontier days stealing a horse is a very serious crime. It is a crime that can get you standing on a scaffold with a rope around your neck if the wrong people are your judge and jury. My grandfather argues the case for the defense in a South Dakota court of law and the jury finds Yellow Boy, a Native American of the Oglala Lakota Nation, not guilty. The grateful Lakota people come and camp in my grandfather’s front yard. They dance a victory dance, smoke their peace pipes and then give the peace pipes to my grandfather. Was I born too late, yes. Would I have killed to be able to be there, yes.

My grandfather has his home built outside of town. He and my grandmother have lived most of their lives in town. Maybe they just tire of living in town, not that our town is all that large. I imagine that when he found this spot of land he must have concluded that there was no other place as beautiful to build a home. Weeping willow and quaking aspen trees line the left side of road that leads to his home. There is even a tree that produces plump blueberries in the summertime. There is a rich meadow with tall grass that fat deer can graze on, and then quench their thirst in the stream at the edge of the grass. All fed by a meandering stream of cold clear water that flows from a myriad of bubbling springs high in the “Hills.” On the right side of the road there is solid rock peppered with “fools gold” or iron pyrite that sparkles brightly in the sunlight.

When the building of the new home of Robert and Estelle Hayes, addressed at 9 Roosevelt Road, was completed the article in the local newspaper might have read:

Prominent Black “Hills” attorney, Robert Hayes and his wife, Estelle, will soon move to their new home on Roosevelt Road. Construction of the new home has been going on for some six months now. There were some delays due to summer rains. Construction of the Hayes home, in record time, was due to the excellent spring weather we experienced and the cold not coming until early October.

The Hayes home features an enclosed attached garage. This will allow Mr. Hayes to drive into the garage and alight from his motorcar and enter directly into his study. The house also features a large kitchen with plenty of windows to allow sunlight in. There is a formal dining room where Mr. and Mrs. Hayes will no doubt entertain many of their friends and relatives. The first floor rounds out by the living room and the large and airy porch at the front of the home.

The second floor of the Hayes home contains a master bedroom and two additional bedrooms. Located also on the second floor is a full bathroom. The third floor remains unfinished and will no doubt be used to store many of Mr. and Mrs. Hayes possessions. Because it appears that it will be some time before the electric lines are run up to Roosevelt Road the Hayes home will not have electric wiring to provide for lighting of the home. Mr. Hayes says that he will look into wiring his new home for electric lighting when the electric power company is able to connect to his home.

Mr. and Mrs. Hayes will be moving into their new home on Roosevelt Road just as soon as Mrs. Hayes returns from a trip to Chicago. While Mrs. Hayes was in Chicago she had the honor of being elected a director of the Isaac Walton League of America. Mrs. Hayes, in her position as a director, is often mentioned in newspaper articles as one of the leaders of the “feminist” movement in the Walton League.