The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-11-25
SwEETwArER CAxroNMrMr

SwEETwATER CANroHMENr. }
NoVembyr |, 1875.
Editors Democratic StatssHaaa-The ocea-
sion was hunt gotten up tor the benefit of
some Foreigners, accredited by the authari-
Ties at Washington TO the commanding
ofhcer at Sill, aud the party went cut under
tue Pleasantest auspices. We went abuu,
cue west until We were some five miles west
OF the Salt Fork of Red River, aud then
turning to the northwest reached the can
tonnient alter passing two weeks in one of
the best grain countries ON the continent
The Germans said that the country only
needed population TO make it a garden-spol.
and for abundance of game they had never
seen anything TO equal it. We found the
buildings of the new post on Sweetwater
Fork OF North Fork of Red nearly com
pleted, the tirst company moving into quar-
ters while We were there. Ii Is six com
pany post, and promises to be a defense for
the early colonization of the Pan Handle of
Texas, IN which 1t Is situated, sbout TWEEN
ty-thres miles west of the hundredth meri-
dian. The section in which it is situated
Is certainly the best outlying land in the
State for agriculture, and ON our return To.
ward Fort Sill We met four or five immi-
thfes c0ft6fheH th9jS rtSaH on 9nt rTha 6sat
their way TO the Canadian. OIe notices
that all the in-comers are men, and, us is
usual. on the extreme border; they are fire.
quently of the sort that resorted to the Cave
OF Adullam. We had some proof of this 90
ing up. At the crossing OF the North Fork,
about sixty miles to the southeast of the
cantonment We came on government wag-
on train without any stock, six horse thieves
having Jumped" them two DAYS before
and driven off every animal they had. The
Indians are so perfectly sub6ued that no es-
| cort is deemed necessary against them, and
| it was hardly TO be supposed that white
thieves would be SO daring as they proved
to be. Scouting parties were Immediately
sent out alter them, and were struck by
Lieut.. Wood, of the Fourth Cavalry, who
recaptured all the stock, and also brought
in five of the thieves.
PfrIABLE HUMILIATION OF THE RED MEN
But what struck me most forcibly Was the
utter and complete state OF sublrction 10
which the Comanche aud Krowa tribes have
been reduced. A four year continuous nc.
quaintaDce with our western and north.
western frontier had given me a very correct
Idea OF the character and frequency of In
clan depredatiOns us well as tile tribes who
comm TIED them, who were, almost without
exception, kiUwas and Qua-had da Conan
ches, with now and then u few Apachss or |
young men from the other three Comauche
tribes amaigated in their bands. A wear ago |
when left the frontier these Qua-had -das, |
who had never been all forced into a reser- |
vatlon, were scourges of the entire frontier !
line. Since the change m 4de i'll gsrrisoning |
Sill, which deprived us of the Fourth Cav
airy on the Rio Grande, the Qua had -das |
have, except nine, been brought to FortSlll |
and kept there within five miles of the post.
None of the Indians ar, all o., H.,
day, except that at intervals a party is al
lowed TO go out with government transpor-
tatlon for the dried buffalo meat that they
bring back @to the whole tribe They are
individually given passes 10y name, to be- |
absent about twenty days as a rule. and |
are accompanied by two or three soldiers.
whose duty it is to call the roll and see that
no one of them is absent for over TWEEN
ty-fouI hours. Any of them who 90 below
Red River, or violate their passes in any
way, are punished 10y confinement and hard |
labor. The result of this is that since such
mTegme Was l1lSlaSsd @ tahegs haYe life s se dh hid
went 10 rancbe -hltt- .lAi..sA--aA-1
breaking stones, and no more humiliating |
punishment eau be devised for them. As
one of them, Mab-o-way, q Comanche chief, |
gave me proof. We were sitting on the grass |
before his lodge where his squaw was cut
looked at the operation with an air of con-
Tempt and told me. through the interpre- |
ter, Mr.. jones, that he did not know how |
to do that; when he had killed a. buffalo,
then his work was done, the squaw did the |
rest Il
AS an indication of their quietness, we
had about twenty Kiowas and Qua-had-das
with us on the hunt, and frequently went
out, both by day and after nighJfsll, accom-
panied only by an Indian to carry my game.
There has been no raid on the north western
frontier since Major Jones's fight at Lost
Valley last May. The Indians making this
were a portion of that Qua- -had-da remnant
who went over to the Apaches. OF the
raiders all but two were killed in the fight
OF the two who escaped one has since come
on to the reservation the other is still at
large. a.
The change, so material to the interests of
Texas, has been affected without any in
crease of authority from the government,
but simply by will to keep the Indians in
the reservation, which heretofore seems to
have been lacking in the men charged with
their surveillance. Ia these times Of re-
Jrenchment il is an item to be able to dis
pense with the State frontier force ON the
northwestern frontier, which can be done
with safety while the present ruie prevails
at sill. And while on retrenchment let me
respectfully call the attention of the gentle
men composing the Constitutional Conven-
ton to a custom which prevails among the
Chickasaw Nation, and which struck me
forcibly in passing through Fish-a-mingo,
their capital. II is one replete with wisdom
and worthyto be borrowed even from demi-
savages. The greatest outcries raised Against
legislative bodies are born of the leagth Of
their sessions and the inferred corruptness