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Hot on the heels of Buffalo Bill’s Lakotas, Glasgow played host to yet another Native American visitor, who had ascended rather higher on the ladder of acculturation and had a more civilised agenda on his mind. The report and line drawings which graced Quiz on 18th May 1893 are best left to speak for themselves (by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow City Council):
ORONHYATEKHA is still in middle life, yet he has been a man of note for years past. His home is in Canada, but his portly figure is known to many in the British Isles. He reigns Chief of the Mohawks, the Royal Nation of Indians, and is besides an M.D. of Oxford graduation, which degree he acquired with high honours. He looks every inch a chief, being keen of eye, commanding in presence, calm, deliberate, sound in judgment, firm in purpose, and filled with a great heart of love and tenderness. He is a good speaker of the Queen’s English. Of late years he has devoted himself to perfecting the scheme of insurance, favourably enough known in other lands, but only now brought within reach of the British Public by “The Independent Order of Foresters,” which is an International Order, 50,000 strong, every member carrying an Endowment Assurance Policy for £200, £400 or £600. The Order exists to grant these at “Actuarial Cost,” a thing possible for them, apparently, although this means “one half of the rates of ordinary insurance companies,” because of their working as a fraternal brotherhood, and finding a consequent minimum of expense. Oronhyatekha’s great executive ability is recognised by his brethren, for he has been unanimously and continuously re-elected Supreme Chief Ranger of the body since 1881. The wisdom of this seems patent, for the Order grows apace under his control; and the bold venture of planting it in this land, so thoroughly possessed by colossal insurance companies of our own style, brings him additional lustre. The sketch of him which we submit to our readers was taken as he visited our city to institute a High Court for Scotland, a necessity arising out of the growth of the Order. The initial steps connected with the introduction of the Order into Great Britain involved the selection of a Deputy, and Oronhyatekha in an official report to the Supreme Court relating to this matter said – “Brother James Marshall, of Glasgow, Scotland, is a most able man, and I look forward in the near future to see the Order under his management rapidly spread throughout Great Britain.”
