The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1879-01-24
INDIAN JUSTICE.

Indians may be Disseminated against
in many respects by the government,
and they are certainly often cheated by
Indian agents, but in n respect, the
Indians are favored too much, and that
too, on a most vital point. We refer to
the amnesty that is too generally un-
derstood when marauding Indians are
captured. Take a recent instance, that
of the Fort Robinson outbreak. The
C%heyennes were prisoners, and as such
they brokeaway, killing several soldiers,
who were at the time representatives
of the law. A number of other soldiers
were also killed while In pursuit of the
runaways. Most Of the bucks have been
killed or captured, and the balance soon
will be, doubtless. They committed
crime, the greatest known to the stat
utes. which is murder, but does anyone
suspect that they will even be tried,
much less punished, for their offensep
No. 1t is the peculiar privilege of the
red savage to kill as many soldiers as he
p~leases, and suffer no punishment.
Suppose, however, that a band of
white men had been similarly guilty of
killing soldiers, either while breaking
out of prison or on the trail. Every
body knows what their fate would be
when captured. They would be tried
for numbering soldiers, condemned and
hanged. All of which would be per-
fectly proper, too, and the same laws
which mete out stern Justice to the
white man should also secure the saw
age his just deserts. But the Indians
well know Of the distinction made in
their favor and they no more hesitate
to kill soldiers than game.
One great evil in the whole business is
this thing Of recognizing every tribe of
Indians as a foreign nation and making
treaties with them. The same idea is
carried out in all their insurrections-
wars, they are politely termed. Pris-
oners are treated like prisoners of war
when civilized nations are in contest.
The murders by the Indians are gra-
ciously considered as the fatalities of
war, and the perpetrators are held no
less in honor on that account. 1t mat
tiers o as to the size Of the bands of
the red devils. A score of painted and
numbering savages are treated, when
captured after heavy expense and the
shedding of blood, with as much distin-
guished consideration as a formidable
band Of 5000 bucks could hope for.
This is all wrong. Justice and eight
feet of hemp should be melted out to
every Indian concerned in murder, for
it is a well established principle Of law
that all who assist at a murder are
equally guilty. White men would find
this law executed rigidly; why not red
menp
1t is doubtful whether Captain Jack
and his Modoc followers would ever
have been hanged had they not so
treacherously murdered Gen. Candy
and DIR. Thomas. Although they had
we'll merited the death penalty before
the preparation Of this deed, they
would have been forgiven. We must,
however, give the government credit
for having ordered the Cheyennes to be
delivered over to the civil authorities Of
Kansas for trial. That was n notable
instance wherein the government rose
to a of its dignity and duty.
What next? 1t is already rumored that
when the balance of the Indians are
recaptured they will be removed to
Florida. If this be true, it will furnish
another instance of the governments
weakness in condoning murder. 1t has
been urged that to summarily punish
these Cheyennes, or allow the people of
Kansas to punish them, would cause
an outbreak among their relatives, the
Sioux. Must then, the government
paralyze its laws in the face of savage
threatsP 1t is well worth while to in
quire what civilization and government
in the Indian country mean, anyway.
Let every person who commits a muir
der Ike punished, be he red, white or
black. The certainty of punishment
will soon teach the evil-disposed that
the government is not to be triled with,
and there will be less crime, for that is
all that Indian depredations are. When
Indians go on the war path they are
criminals; let them be punished rs such,
the same as white men are punished for
their crimes.