Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-02-18
THE CASE OF TIE poscA INDIANS.

The testimony of Bishop Hare on the
cause of the removal of the Poncas, given
before the Senate Committee. as detailed
in our dispatches yesterday morning, does
not tend to modify the conclusions which
have been reached by all who have given
this shameful case any examination. The
Bishop stated that the Poncas were re-
moved in order to get them out of the
reach of the Sioux, who had been raiding
upon them. This statement of course in
yolved the admission that the United States
Government was afraid Of the Sioux, and
that rather than have any trouble with
them it was willing to commit cruel out
rage upon loyal and peaceable tribe.
Bishop Hare's own part in the removal Of
the Poncas appeals to have been altogether
unjusti6able, even on his own showing
but it is necessary to point out that his ex-
PLANTATION of the cause of the removal OF
the tribe does not agree with the official
statements of the Secretary of the Interior,
or with the facts as ascertained by special
inquiry Last November a public meet
ing of the merchants of Boston was
held, and it was votedeso appoint COM
mittee OF five "to investigate the wrongs
"of the Ponca Indians, and the general
management of all the Indian tribes, and
" to report In print" The committee APP
pointed consisted Of Hon. Thomas Talbot,
Governor of Massachusetts, Hon. Fred o.
Prince, Mayor of Boston Rev. Rufus Ell
lis, d. D.; Hon. John w. Gambler, and
w. H. Lincoln. The report Of that com.
mittee has been printed, and is now before
us, and it embodies mass of evidence
concerning the treatment, not only of the
Poncas, but of all the Indian tribes, Of the
most shameful and humiliating character.
are not easily to be gathered from official
documents, for the reason that the most
inconsistent and contradictory stories
have been told in successive reports.
Thus, in the report of the Secre,
tary of the Interior for 1876 it is stated
that during the year the chiefs and head
linen of the Brule Sioux asked for and
"obtained permission to visit the Poncs
Agency, for the purpose of making 8
"treaty with the Poncas, with whom they
chad been on unfrendly terms for years
"This treaty was effected and entered
"into with the best of faith" In 1877
however, the Secretary's report says that
| the removal of the Poncas twas resolved
"upon for the reason that it seemed de-
"sirable to get them out of the way of the
"much more numerous and powerful
"Sioux, with whom their relations
"were unfriendly = the treaty between
the Poncas and Sioux, of the previ
Gus year, having apparently been forgot
ten. In his report of 1879 the Secretary
takes new departure, casting aside the
stories of the preceding years, and says
GO That the Poncas were grievously wronged
by their removal from the location or
"the Missouri river to the Indian Terri
"tory, their old reservation having, by
''mistGke i'll making the Sioux treaty, been
transferred to the Sioux, has been at
length and repeatedly set forth in my
reports" In 1878 Commissioner Hayt
said in his report SIT should be remem-
"bered that their old reservation in Da-
'kota was confirmed to the Poncas by
"solemn treaty. That treaty,
",clach is still an force, also recognized Ger.
tain depreciation claims which are still
"unadjusted. By 5lunder in making the
"Sioux treaty of 1868, the $4,000 acres
belonging to the Poncas were ceded te
"the Sioux. The negotiators had no right
whatever to make the cession."