The weekly Arizona miner., 1871-11-04
The @ ainer.
THE INDIAN QUESTION IN ARIZONA

come 10 our notice, lS Cofllinunlcatton rom some unknown person in Prescott, who signs himself New Englander," to Erery Snturddy, a weekly journal published in Boston, Massa- chusetts. A foul misrepresentation, by the journal in question, of the so-called Camp Grant Massacre. was the cause which intlu- enced !" New Englander" to explain. After having descanted faithfully upon the series of murders and robberies by which the citi- zens were aroused, he tells of the pursuit, which led the purSuers, on the trail of the Indians to Camp Grant reservation. He then proceeds as follows:
 "Who are the people of Arizona and what is their character It seems to be sup posed at the East that they are blood thirsty and rapacious people, every man the enemy of bis neighbor, and all in unison seeking the blood of the Indians! If such be their character, New England schools, New England churches, New England culture oed dafistys are Iesponsible for. jt,. slt Ipay that fully two-thirs of the white male pop ulation of Arizona is from New England, and from families of the best repute and social standing in the communities from which they came; and, in my opinion, they have not left at home any better representatives of the best class of New England people. Many of them are personally known to the writer. They left home as young men, at the time of the California gold excitement, in "forty- nine," or at the time of the ''Washon and later mining settlements, and have finally, through one cause and another, found their way to Arizona.
 Yet they have led no vagabond life they invariably carry with them, not alone the rifle, but the axe, the plough, money, or working capital in tangible and immediately available form, with freight train following them. With these they engage in farming, mining, freighting or trade; making their mark wherever they go, not in blood if they can help 1t, but in improvements that are lasting; opening mines, starting new lines of communication, cultiysting the soil, in fact developing the resources of the country They are among the best "Pioneers of Civil ilizatiou," and a desirable addition to any community.
 No one can be cognizant of the disasters with which they have had to contend here. and not feel much sympathy for them. Wives. brothers, cousins, children, murdered under their own eyes ny the Apaches, their farms stripped of working stock and other cattle themselves forced to follow their blows, their herds, and their trains with their pistols at their waists and their carbines at their backs sleeping with their rifles at their sides. and eating with an eye on the horse tied at the door,
 "These are some of the difficulties they have to contend with. And shall it be said in view of this, that the people from whose lons they sprang deny them their sympathy and support, and give it to their most bar barous and inhuman enemy, the Apache God has denied them rain and crops for two years; let us hope that their kindred will not add to their misfortunes by turning their hands and hearts against them And yet these people do not ask for sympathy. They ask only to be protected, as other citizens of the Republic are protected, from murder and outrage in the pursuit of their honest callings. They ask nothing for the past. They ask no revenge for murdered relatives, But they do ask, and that with an earnest anxiety. that their constant, inyeterate and implaca- ble enemy be pursued with the power of the Government, and punished to such extent as to convince him that death to himself and tribe is sure to follow the act of raising his hand against white man except in self defence. Is this too much to ask2 No! Their Christian charity and their early Chris tian education alone leads them to ask little have witnessed the fortitude and resolution with which they meet disasters, and the de- termination and courage with which they try again;' and, as a New EngIander myself. am compelled to say that New England should be proud of her children in Arizona.
 "Who is the Apache2 and what is his originl Upon this subject history gives us no light that l am informed of We simply know him to be the natural enemy of every thing bearing the stamp of civilization, and especially of the white man. This immense Territory is covered with the remains and evidences of occupation by a partially civil ized people, Of which Spanish colonial histo- " gives us no record; there is not even Lgead left. The best informed infer that they were expelled or exterminated by the Apaches. Is it not time that the Apache. in turn, was himself subdued, expelled or ex- terminated If one or the other is not done under the law and by the law, it will and must be done by the citizens in self-defence !; for they cannot much longer submit to the murderous Outrages which have discolored their cabin floors, their farms and their high ways with the blood of their kindred slain It is my opinion that fierce and unrelenting war must be made upon the Apaches until their tribal organizations are desaroyed Then every individual Indian will endeavor to subsist by labor, beggary or theft. Then and then only, will be tine time for the mis- slonary and Vincent Colyer to present them selves; and the sooner it comes the better it xill be for Anzona.
 The writer of this has no interest in Ari. zona whatever, beyond that which is com mon to every. American citizen; and, resi- dent Tn Arizona for more than eighteen months past, he IS as much without prcju- aice m ms views oi matters, as any one can be who has learned daily of the slaughter of