The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-06-05
1anr and the Modocs.

Tho case Of these remarkable Ind'ahs II
,r;opc The Philadelphia Press says 1na'
.s,ha object of the Modoc war will be 10 give
ut,e American people better OPINION q
u,h. indian character and bis capacity LOT
uciyi,ization, and to make ir'enos o' 'he
nno,;cv tbs, would reclaim him from par
..bsrism." II it only te to suggest some
c,meucv towards the much-oppressed ana
wronred Modocs. that will be the best thing /!
we can hope for.
We entirely differ with the Press when
saws that the career of the hodocs proves
the high character of the Indian for clViliza' |
ton. We don't believe it. 1t proves nothing
mere than we have long known--that the
Indian is brave, and that be loves his native
soil. its streams and mountains, and Will
fight as long as any race of men before ne
will give them up. he is vastly superior 10
his high trait of heroiSm to the negro.
But as to ciyiziug the Indians 1t more
promising than the negro? Not bit.
Ciyilizius the Indian has been tried, aud the
result was that he was civilized into the
grave. You may as we'll take horse from
green pastures. and placing green spectacles
on his eyes, attempt to prolong his life by
feeding him on shavings. GoD made the
grass for the horse, and man cannot reform
him so that he will live on sharings. The
Indian is wild mdn-he lives by the
chase-he is forester. Cop made him so;
and when he is surrounded by civilization he
NAV as we'll be in the bottom of the sea-he
is as good rs dead.
But. Indian civilization and nonsense
aside, let us look at the Modocs. Their case
is one that may be reached by philanthropy.
It is clear that our Government cruelty took
them from the land they knew and loved,
and placed them in one in which they had
NOT the art to subsist, and put them with their
bitter enemies. the klamaths. They would
not stay there, and wandered away. Our
Government ordered them back, and it was
the attempt to force them buck which they
resisted and which brought on the war in
which their chief for SO long out-generalled
our army officers.
This is quite enough to excite our sympa-
thieS for the Modocs. They are heroic
people. But the killing of General CANDY,
after inveigling him into talk, is their
great offence, for which the Government, it
is claimed, must make them suffer extremely.
Let lis see -
Should we be surprised ut JACKS savage
retaliation when, according to pretty well
attested facts, JACKS father was similarly in
weighed into trap prepared for him, and
was thus shot down like dog? The crcun,-
stance Of the killing Of the old man and
some forty of his braves by BEN. WRIGHT
has been printed in the papers and though
partially qualified, the fact Of the killing by
surprise has never been denied. 1t was
stated, moreover, that WRIGHT poisoned
many Modocs by treating them to fresh beef
poisoned with strychnine. The latter asser-
ton has been denied. But correspondent
of the Wing. writing from Bllcony Falls,
Rockbridge county, offers evidence to prove
that the whole story is true. We quote him
as follows:
And as am on Indians l will put in a
word about Captain Jacks father. | re-
Gently met William Skein, an old California
forty-niner,' living in Rockbridge, and
perfectly reliable man, who was with Cap
tain Ben. Wright when he murdered Jacks
father. After killing forty of old jacks
braves this brutal Wright invited old J.lck
and thirty more to a friendly talk and feast,
and then and there, Skein swears, poisoned
the whole lot with beef impregnated with
strychnne Us the quickest way to end the
war then going OH. Captain Jack has done
pretty rough things. but his mode of killing
Candy was certainly tairer way than
Is IL, thar Cl.atn
fronliersmen, didn't blame Wright's mode
much, and thinks any way too good for an
Indian"
1t is impossible that those who have JACKS
fate in their hands shall shut their ey es to all
these circumstances. They may kill him and
quarter him but they will do so under re-
bellious censures of the act in their own
hearts.
The Modoc war has cost much money and
many lives, and may well furnish food for
reflection to our rulers. The Indians gene
rally deserve our kind consideration. We
have their lands, and we keep them "moving
on" while we would treat the negro, their
inferior, with the voc and the first-cass
tickets in all things. The discrimination is
indetensible and detestable; but at least let
lis hope that in "moving on" the Indian
we shall not drive him from fair lands, |
sweet waters, and delightful shades to bar
rem rocks and irreclainablc deserts. Let |
our Government profit by the wrongs done |
the MoGocs aud the money and blood they |
cost us. 1t is well for tyrannical people TO /
remember the sting of the worm.
JUDGE HOFFMAN AND THE UNARGuED CASE. |