The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-01-24
Our Indian Policy-Jobbery in Human
Life.


dams than it was in the practical annihila-
ton on Wednesday of the remnant of the
band that left its reservation in September
last. Seventeen Indians were killed and
nine wounded in the last charge in the
gully, and as upward of thirty had been
killed in the various collisions since their
rush on January 9, the whole number--at
closely accounted for. Our dispatches
from the scene Of this last charge.
supply the reader with distinct
and straightforward history OF the final
scene in this strange piece OF contemporary
history. They constitute the only direct
and authentic account the public will get
till the commanders of the troops have had
time to report, as, indeed, our special de-
spatches from the field have formed hitherto
the only complete chronicle Of the progress
of these events General Crooks remarks
to our Omaha correspondent deserve special
consideration at this time.
Secretary Schurz and General Sheridan
have lately exchanged many phrases on the
subject of our dealings with the Indians,
and as champions of one or another view
of what is right and wise in these dealings
they were not evenly matched; for General
Sheridan knows the Indians personally, as
one may say, and knows even more in
timately the men through whom the gov
eminent deals with them, while MI. Schurz
knows both the Indians and the agents in
scholarly way, and precisely as he knows,
it is to be presumed, the campaigns OF
Epaminondas. But while these gentlemen
were exchanging their highly colored COM
pliments on this side the continent, this
drama, so bloodily ended on Wednesday,
was in progress on the other side. As they
unused the fire burned, and though neither
the Secretary nor the General settled
great deal by their letters this tragedy was
terribly eloquent in its exposition of the
folly Of an attempt to handle q reservation
Of redskins as if it were a plantation of
negro slaves; to deal with it through the
bureaucratic system, with its inevitable
chicanery and fraud, rather than with
soldiers whose lives may answer for their
own faults, but ought not to answer for the
practices Of common cheats
About four months have been occupied
in the various stages of this Cheyenne
hunt. In the early days of September the
Cheyennes left their reservation in the In
dian Territory, broke away in open revolt
and moved north-to join the Sioux, it was
supposed. Dissatisfaction with their agent
was the reason, for Red Cloud, who had
their spokesman, when in q powwow with
government officers regarding the escaped
savages he said: -"Bad white men
stand between the Great Father and
the Indians and make his promises
lies" Now, the promises referred to were
statistical ones and touched the subject Of
rations. An outcry was raised at the time
that the Indians had been starved and that
the fight and defiance was its natural conse-
quence; but the agency implicated de-
Tended itself by statement that the Indians
had not only received all that was due them
by treaty, but much more. 1t was alleged
that coffee and sugar rations had been with
held as penalty because no agricultural
labor was done, but that beef and other
rations were in excess of what was due, and
so much in excess as to more than supply
an equivalent in value for the articles with
held. What value is equivalent to any
much treasured article of diet when the
article is withheld only an Indian agent
can tell.
Evidently that report was cooked for the
occasion for the implicated agency, thrown
Oh its defence, went in too desperately.
1t proved too much, inasmuch as it showed
the existence of an irregularity in the SER
vice of rations that was apparently habit
ual. 1t was the stroke of bungler to
declare that within short period the
Indians had had two thousand dollars
worth of food more than they were entitled
to-because il that was possible the fact
alleged by the Indians was also possible.
Moreover. that agency was charged with
misconduct, and its own statement was
not suffic lent answer. But all the wit
nesses we're against it. Army officers re-
ported that the rations issued to the In
dams for seven days lasted them only three,
and that specific allegation, so completely
at variance with the allegation that the
rations were in excess, almost necessarily
implies falsehood on one side or the other.
Certainly the soldiers had no motive to
make false report, and the very nature Of
the case implies that the agency people
had.
Troops from Fort Reno were ordered in
pursuit of the Indians September 10, caught
up with them by the 18th, skirmished two
or three days, and seemed to have them at
bay on September "a. In severe fight
that day Colonel Lewis was killed. It was
said that the Indians had one hundred and
thirty warriors in that battle. On the next
day it was discovered that the Indians had
got away through the lines in the night,
and on September 20 and 30 they appeared
in the pleasant valley Of Kansas, on the
little streams that run into the Republican