Prisoner Number 50875 Name Walter Duncan To Dollie Duncan Box No. Route #1 City Stilwell State Okla

February 23, 1951

Mother, I received your letter. I am very grateful for this that I heard from you and that you say you are well.

As for me, I am also the same up to now as I usually am whenever you come here [to visit].

It rained here, surprisingly, but throughout this day, it was fair and warm. And truly, the day also passed by so long [slowly]. The month of April is not coming quickly enough. I am in such a hurry if there was anything I could do [about it]. But that’s the way it goes. Yes, mother, I am very grateful that you are saying that you will send [me] some money. I have begun feeling better already. We-gi also wrote (to me). But I will return [a letter] to her on Sunday.

I said you all should come [here] but this is what I’ve been thinking. Let’s see how things are next month. Get ready when I tell you [to come]. When I think about it, it costs you so much [to visit me]. That does not make me feel good. OK, come whenever I tell you. We will see how it is [going] next month.

I will send some earrings when the money comes. They will be very beautiful (made by an Indian boy). It is true. What I think about is this. I think about it [often] that whenever I get out, I will be raising chickens. But I am really going to try hard to improve my home, if no one bothers me from now on. That is what people did [gave me trouble].

OK, mother, I will write more next time. But let me hear from you all often. I really appreciate you, Mother. Now, I greet all of you, my family, from afar, “hello”.

A-ma wrote this for me tonight. Now I will follow this with foolishness. OK, Ge-yu-ne-ga, I am asking a lot from you, but I hope to repay you. Ask A-tlo-mo-ni A-dv-ga, an old man, if he still wants the rings. It has been such a long time since we made an agreement that he would sell them for me. I have four bracelets and four belt buckles. Ask him about it and let me know as soon as possible what he says. I will get these to him if he agrees to sell them for me. As for the billfold, I will send it a little later, for Grandmother. Her name is written on it, as she requested.

It’s true, I am taking advantage here, pretending to be a skilled craftsman. I turn things [my craftwork] in, feeling embarrassed. But they do not return anything [payment, money] to me, for the cost. But I tolerate this, even though it makes me feel worse than I already do, being in here. Because someday, they are going to depend on me [to do something for them], they who have already done me wrong. Our Lord will take vengeance [on them]. Amen.

Thank you, Ge-yu-ne-ga, for the small note you inserted, for me to read. Thank you. I wrote to you afterwards. You have probably received it by now. Perhaps the mail handlers that we have here have not thrown away our mail because they are troublesome [to us]. But I think that they are not able to read this letter written in Cherokee. Also, sometimes [all of us] Cherokees should do what we are thinking. But I made a mistake—I meant us full-blood Cherokees. That is what I meant to say. Seems like I would not make a mistake, being a si-qua-yah [natural being], but sometimes it’s really confusing. This is the truth.

Is this what I am supposed to say instead, if speaking as an adult? I am glad to receive your letter this evening. Our family is doing well. (Though we are all boys here, talking [chattering] all day long.) Sometimes, when we think of the best things, our faces start frowning a little, and we pout [lips stick out]. But when they put boiled beans and brown syrup on the table, we feel better for a while. As for me, I tolerate whatever they give me. But if someone else might refuse it, I will also refuse it. But in my mind, I am used to things here. Truly. Forgive me, I have written this like a crazy person. I greet all of you. Hello, are you well? Yes, and you also.

Me, Tsa-li.