Sioux chief's body to return home

The body of a Native American chief buried in a British cemetery more than a century ago is to be returned to his descendants in the United States. Little Wolf, a chief of the Sioux tribe, was buried in 1892 after he died from bronchial pneumonia while working for Buffalo Bill's Wild West show on a site now occupied by the Earls Court arena in west London.

His grave was discovered some years ago and surviving members of the Sioux tribe were tracked down to inform them of Little Wolf's final resting place, which was still owned by Buffalo Bill, whose real name was Colonel William F Cody.

Descendants of Little Wolf, who is thought to have fought against General Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn, have now asked for his remains to be returned to his homeland in South Dakota.

But workers at Brompton cemetery in west London could face problems in removing Little Wolf's body from his grave, which is currently adorned with a string of Indian beads and a feather, left there by relatives last year.

The Sioux chief - real name Schoonganoneta Hoska - is buried 13 feet under the body of an Indian child named Star, who died just after Little Wolf while also working for the show.

Peter Weyell, the cemetery's superintendent, said the exhumation could not go ahead until permission was granted by Star's relatives in America to disturb her body as well.