, 1862-08-30
The Umatilia Agency.


be seen that in the communication he makes
several charges against agent Barnhart for
detrauding the government in various trans
actions. Mr.. Goodnough is a gentleman
OF unquestioned veraeity, and as such the
charges he now makes, or those which he
may make in the future, are entitled to the
confidence of the public. But the truth
fulness of those he has already preferred
rests not alone upon his own veracity, as
he has in his possession certificates from
disinterested parties known to have been
cognizant of the facts, which amply attest
the truth of the charges.
Believing these charges to be true to the
letter, and placing confidence also in fur
ther statements made to us by reliable men
touching the conduct of affairs by agent
Barnhart, we are forced to the conclusion
that stupendous system of fraud and pee
ulation has been diligently practiced upon
the government by said agent from the time
he came upon the reservation until he left
it. In this distinguishing feature of the
agents management, he has most beauti-
fully illustrated the truth of the statement
made by Senator Nesmith in his recent
speech upon the Indian appropriation bill,
wherein he said I" Mr. President, if there
is any one department of our government
,vorca roapsrad tbor ooo4bo~ - :: 49,
which relates to our Indian affairs Mis-
management, bad faith, fraud, peculation,
and downright robbery, have been its dis
tinguishing features" Whether the SEN
ator had his eye particularly upon agent
Barnhart or not, is perhaps an open ques-
ton. The fact that the statement has been
so accurately verified by the conduct of
said agent, looks little significant. That
Senator certainly had as intimate an ac-
quaintance with Barnhart as did the people
in general, and was entirely competent to
utter prediction which should have lit
eral fulfllment Possibly other agents
have had an eye to personal emoluments,
but we are satisfied none of them have to
such remarkable degree as in this instance,
devoted their whole energies and laid every
thing within their reach under contribution
to further their own private interest. By
a system of peculation which ramifed every
department of the reservation, he succeeded
in pocketing thousands of dollars in the
brief period of eieht months, at the same
time only entitled to salary of fifteen hun
dred dollars year. He is charged with
keeping upon the reservation an open store
for trade and traffic. This is not only in
violation of the law, but it is unparalleled |
in the experience of Indian agencies and
their management has certainly never been
any too free from 50 frauds and populations"
From this store, he daily retailed to min
ers, packers and Indians, the government
goods which were sent forward as annuit
putting every dollar of the money in his
own pocket, thereby cheating the Indians
out of the actual necessaries of life, for which |
they have been taught to depend upon our
government, and of course swindling the |
government out of the amount of his trans
actions of this character. By this system
of palpable injustice, and by the willful and
uncalled for killing of one of the indians
whom it was his duty to defend and protect,
he has thus early brought himself to dis
grace in their estimation, and to the morti-
flying alternative of leaving the agency for
his own safety. We are informed that he
does not intend to return, and for the credit
of the country and the welfare of the In
dians, we sincerely hope he will not. At
the present time the management Of the af- !
fairs of the agency is in the hands of Mr..
John S. White. We shall doubtless refer
to this matter in future issues, and give
publication to some certificates more fully
showing to the public the infamous charac-
ter of this model agents transactions.
Is it to be wondered at that under such
a system of management, the Indians upon
our reservations have no confidence in the
agents, and but little faith IN the pledges
of the government? Who can blame the
Indians for not being satisfied with such
treatment, and for desiring rather to subsist
themselves upon lands which they claim,
owing to these manifest frauds in our treat
ment of them, have never justly passed from
their hands ? Again, how aptly and forci-
bly, the following paragraph from the speech
above referred to applies to the management
of the affairs of this agency:
In the meantime the treaty slub bers in the Depart
ment the Senate and when, after years of "hope
deferred, the promised annuities arrive def
or stolen By the dishonest agents Of the government
trusted to5th their management deJiUery the Indian
robbed of his hunting ground and his home has
tracted all of the vices of the white man. but none of
his virtues, and knows nothing of the government
except the frauds and injustice which he has suffered
at her hands, becomes vagIant, and either from vice
or necessity, commits depredatons which involve his
tribe in wars; and he only survives the conflict of
arms to fall by the more insidiOus foe concealed in the
miserable whisky of the inscriptions trader.
---
WARREN's DIscovERY.-We have seen
a number of persons during the week who
have visited the new mining region south
east of Florence, known as Warren's
discovery. Some of them bring encour-
aging accounts of the mines, while the
statements of others are quite the reverse.