Ke-ki-o-Kah

While the stone is not unusual, the story behind the stone is a legend in the area. This is in a cemetery near my house, the story goes:

In about 1888 there came to Carthage a stocky figure wearing fringed buckskin with long black hair reaching almost to his shoulders. This gentleman had just delivered a lecture at a town up the road and came here to repeat it. This gentleman's name was Ke-ki-o-Kah, better know to the locals as Blazing Star, he was a member of the Cheyenne tribe. (We had at the time several people who were a mix of Black and Cherokee living in the town) After the lecture he went back but decided he liked Carthage and the residents and returned, making this his headquarters for about three years. Any time he would run low on money he would leave and give his lecture in the surrounding towns. Seems for most of the time he would wear his plain buckskins but later added fancy bead work in several designs but he adopted ordinary cloths. He like to hunt and was considered and expert with either the rifle or shotgun. For a time he lived in one of the local hotels and later moved in with one of the local people. He died at the age of 32 from pneumonia on 2 Feb 1893, and was buried in Riverside Cemetery. A collection was taken up in order to provide him with a tombstone, he shares it with the owner of the plot a man named Weaver.