Indian elopement is a purely commercial transaction, and one of a very shady character too, being nothing less than a desire to avoid paying the usual price for a girl.  It is in fact a kind of theft, an injustice to the parents; for while paying for a bride may be evidence of savagery, it is the custom among Indians, and parents naturally resent its violation, though ultimately they may forgive the elopers.  Dodge relates (202) that among the Indians of the great plains parents prefer a rich suitor, though he may have several wives already.  If the daughter prefers another man the only thing to do is to elope.  This is not easy, for a careful watch is kept on suspicious cases.  But the girl may manage to step out while the family is asleep.  The lover has two ponies in readiness, and off they speed.  If overtaken by the pursuers the man is liable to be killed.  If not, the elopers return after a few weeks and all is forgiven.  Such elopements, Dodge adds, are frequent in the reservations where young men are poor and cannot afford ponies.  Moreover, the concentration of large numbers of Indians of different bands and tribes on the reservations has increased the opportunities of acquaintance and love-making among the young people.

In an article on Love-Songs among the Omaha Indians,[234] Miss Alice Fletcher calls attention to the fact that the individual is little considered in comparison with the tribal organization:  “Marriage was therefore an affair of the gentes, and not the free union of a man and woman as we understand the relation.”  But side by side with the formal marriage sanctioned by the tribe grew up the custom of secret courtship and elopement; so the saying among the Omahas is:  “An old man buys his wife; a young man steals his.”  Dorsey says (260): 

“Should a man get angry because his single daughter, sister, or niece has eloped, the other Omahas would talk about him saying, ’That man is angry on account of the elopement of his daughter.’  They would ridicule him for his behavior.”

Other Indians take the matter much more seriously.  When a Blackfoot girl elopes her parents feel very bitter against the man.

“The girl has been stolen.  The union is no marriage at all.  The old people are ashamed and disgraced for their daughter.  Until the father has been pacified by satisfactory payments, there is no marriage.”  (Grinnell, 215.)

The Nez Perces so bitterly resent elopements that they consider the bride in such a case as a prostitute and her parents may seize upon the man’s property. (Bancroft, I., 276.)

Indian elopements, I repeat, are nothing but attempts to dodge payment for a bride, and therefore do not afford the least evidence of exalted sentiments, i.e., of romantic love, however romantic they may be as incidents.  Read, for instance, what Mrs. Eastman writes (103) regarding the Sioux: