Part 3 Divine Feminine Pretty Wolverine Woman's Epic Saga
Char Coal's insidious and crazed behavior leaves Pretty Wolverine Woman and Sleeping Woman fighting fort their lives.
Part 3: Pretty Wolverine Woman’s Saga — Divine Feminine
Officers from Fort Macleod, Fort Kipp, and Fort Whoop-Up were uniting to search for Char Coal and his captives. Superintendent Sam Steele at the Cardston NWMP office directed Sergeant William Brock Wilde to take men and tribal volunteers as scouts and follow the map along the Beaver River to look for Char Coal and his victims. Inspector Jarvis would take a group of men and tribal volunteers to search in another direction. Sergeant Wilde would do the same in another direction.
In his insane quest to kill some important person to herald his eventual entrance into the Big Sand Hills (heavenly realms), he attempted to kill Red Crow (the current designated Chief of the Bloods, although the Kainai, White Weasel People, considered themselves the tribe of many chiefs, as they all shared decision-making), but missed and wounded a friend of Red Crow’s. He then shot Edward McNeil through the side, and a bullet grazed Sergeant Armer on the forehead as he bent over the watering trough. There were indications from a few tribal members who encountered the crazed man that he intended to kill Farm Agent Wilson, as he was deemed to be a notably powerful man in town.
With one murder (as they did discover the bullet went through Medicine Pipe Stem’s eye) and three attempted murders, along with six kidnapped victims, the need to find Char Coal and incarcerate him was of the essence.
Char Coal realized that he was being hunted and that his encampment would be discovered. So he left his daughter, mother-in-law, and the two boys in the tipi and told them not to move, that the officers would find them. He tied Pretty Wolverine Woman and Sleeping Woman to a rope and pulled them along through the ice and snow, they trying to walk while he rode his pony.
Throughout the ordeal, Char Coal had screamed that Pretty Wolverine Woman was an adulteress and had been the cause of all of this upheaval. He swore he would kill her when the time was right. In the meantime, he would keep those two wives with him deeper in the forest.
The captives were discovered by Inspector Jarvis and his men and were taken to safety. They obtained more information about Char Coal’s state of mind and the threats he was making toward Pretty Wolverine Woman. They all warned the Mounties that Bear Knife Medicine and Discarding One’s Life mode created a supernatural power for Char Coal, and that only other powerful tribal members would be able to locate him.
Pretty Wolverine Woman’s son, Bear Head, revealed to the officers that he heard Char Coal raving that he would take his wives to the Porcupine Hills and camp in a grove of tamarack trees. The Mounties chose to incarcerate all of the rescued individuals and all of the other family members of Char Coal for their own protection.
On the trail, Sergeant Wilde and his men, along with the tribal scouts, saw a lone rider approaching them slowly. The closer the rider got to the posse, the faster he galloped. When the rider came to a halt within shouting distance, the sergeant saw the looks on the tribal scouts’ faces and realized that they had encountered Char Coal.
The sergeant shouted to Char Coal that he was under arrest. Char Coal had his rifle under the blanket wrapped around him and raised it, shooting Wilde through the lung. Wilde fell dead on the ground, and Char Coal escaped.
Now began the largest manhunt in the history of Alberta, Canada. He had killed a police officer in addition to his other heinous crimes. Officers from all over the province joined in the manhunt with no luck.
It was true: only another tribal member with great medicine could find the deranged coyote. Nobody—neither Caucasian nor tribal—wanted that maniac on the loose when he was on a killing spree to ensure his welcome into the Big Sand Hills.
During this last foray into criminality in the lowlands, Pretty Wolverine Woman and Sleeping Woman had been tied together to a tree branch by their abductor. There was snow on the ground, and their camp had no tipi.
Sleeping Woman had taken the stance that all of the acts were due to Pretty Wolverine Woman’s adultery. The older wife persuaded the younger that neither of them would be spared from death by Char Coal in his exacerbated state of delusion. Convinced, Sleeping Woman agreed to pull on the ropes and detach the limb, leaving them tied up in the mud and snow.
They rolled and rolled, over and over, loosening the ropes in the snow and mud, both getting “messy backs,” from which the name Ba-Ti-Ga-Sa-Pi was given.
Then the epic journey toward freedom began for the two women.
They knew that Char Coal would return very soon, and they had to make headway as fast as possible. They were not warmly dressed, and their moccasins were not designed for running or for the snow and ice, but their adrenaline was pumping and they were making ground swiftly.
But they heard the deranged coyote screaming not far behind:
“I will kill you, Pretty Wolverine Woman! You cannot escape me. Sleeping Woman, give her up—you are in no danger.”
Sleeping Woman hid in the rushes by the Waterton River in the darkness while Pretty Wolverine Woman used her phenomenal medicine to communicate with the beaver family in their nearby lodge.
They were admitted into the beaver lodge near the bank, and all remained still and quiet while Char Coal passed, howling like a coyote and laughing hysterically. He could not detect their footprints in the mud and snow, as they had begun to tread along the muddy banks of the river’s shore.
