In 2008, museum gains knife attributed to Crazy Horse

In 1894, William E. O’Neill, a 22- year old horse shoer, dispatched from Portland, Maine and supported by an ardent collector of Northern Plains Indian War relics, acquired from an Army officer stationed at Fort Meade, South Dakota a knife and sheath which had belonged to Crazy Horse.

Thereafter, O’Neill sent a letter explaining the circumstances of the  purchase and alerting the collector, Edward Russell Barbour back in Portland that the knife and sheath would soon be “expressed” back east to him.

The knife, sheath and supporting documentation, in the form of O’Neill’s letter and the envelope in which it was mailed, soon joined many other Northern Plain Indian War relics, in excess of 150, in E.R. Barbour’s collection.  These items remained in the collection until it was auctioned in the mid-1960′s and purchased by a private collector.

A generous benefactor acquired the knife at auction for Crazy Horse Memorial on April 19, 2008.  Auction coordinators rated the knife, because of its extensive records, as the top item at a sale featuring 1,500 historic Western pieces.  The gallery said its expert authenticated the knife and sheath, confirming that its design and materials were from the 1850′s to 1900′s.

The knife, sheath, O’Neill’s letter and the 38 page provenance are on display in the Orientation Center at Crazy Horse Memorial.  The provenance verifies the greatest likelihood that the knife and sheath did, in fact, belong to Crazy Horse.

There is no solidly connected historical data which establishes with absolute certainty that the knife and sheath belonged to Crazy Horse.  However, the provenance includes documented, chronological data that validate the highest probability that it did indeed belong to him.

Museum Director Anne Ziolkowski-Christensen says the knife is as historically important as the museum’s Manhattan trade beads from 1626.