Just hours after the bodies of the executed Dakota warriors were placed in a shallow, common grave, a doctor by the name of W.W. Mayo bribed a soldier standing guard.
With the help of others, Mayo stole the bodies of the 38 Dakota warriors who had been executed on the day after Christmas 1862 in Mankato.
The bodies were sold for medical research, but Mayo kept the remains of Cut Nose, according to author Loren Dean Boutin. He writes about the theft of the bodies in his newly published book, "Cut Nose Who Stands on a Cloud.''
Boutin, of St. Peter, said the full skeleton of Cut Nose was kept for a long time in a large rendering kettle in the Mayo home.
Mayo was practicing in Le Sueur at the time. His sons Will and Charles founded the Mayo Clinic. Boutin writes that Mayo used the bones to teach medicine to his sons.
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More than a century later, Boutin appears to have played a role in seeing that at least some of Cut Nose's remains were given their proper respect.
His book "Cut Nose Who Stands on a Cloud'' includes reprinted correspondence in which he asked the Mayo Clinic of Rochester for the return of the remains of Cut Nose.
The clinic denied any knowledge of having American Indian remains in its possession, according to Boutin, but he persevered. He turned over his correspondence to Arvol Lookinghorse, a sacred pipe carrier for the Dakota who was working on the repatriation of Indian remains.
Later, the Mayo Clinic turned over two skulls to Hamline University.
It was determined that there was a "high probability'' that one of the skulls was that of Cut Nose. It was buried at the Lower Sioux Reservation on May 19, 1998, Boutin writes in his book.
The author also writes that many years ago a skeleton identified as that of Cut Nose was on display in the lobby of the Mayo Clinic. It was on display in a museum for perhaps 50 years afterward. The skeleton is no longer on display. Boutin said the curator of the museum told him he could not be sure that the skeleton was that of Cut Nose.
Boutin said he still wonders about the fate of the remainder of the skeleton.
