Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-07-30
INDIAN AGENT WHEELER AND
 OTHERS.
In Connection wIih the Claim or the Mar tIneE Family tO Land at san Xavier The surveyor General sharply Fakes WheeIer and Defends Our titiIens frnm nia Charges.

from ni- Charges.
 a AscenciOn Rios, the Papago chef. re
 gently signed two letters, written, as he
 testified under oath, by "old man Troll, a without his knowing their contents, one
 of them being addressed to the Secre' ! tary of the Interior, and the other to Agent Roswell c. Wheeler. Wheeler
 then transmitted the letter addressed to g the Secretary to the Commissioner of
 Indian Affairs, and accompanied 1t by
 one of his own. which contains mean ,. and untru,hful charges against the peo-
 pie of Tucson generally, and also weak 2 and foolish ones against the Surveyor
 General The ISdian Office supplied
 the General Land Office with copies of } the several letters, and the latter for
 warded copies to the Surveyor General
 tween the Land Commissioner and the
 Surveyor General:
 , DEPARTMENT OF THE INFERIOR,
 GENERAL LAND OFFICE, WASHINGTON. D. C., July IS. 1882.
 John Wasson, Esq, U. $. Surveyor
 General, Tucson, Arizona-Sir: l here
 with transmit copy of letters of Acting . Commissioner of Indian Affairs to this
 office dated May %, 1882, trans hitting
 copies of the following named docu-
 ments, transcripts of which are here with inclosed for your information.
 Letter of Roswell G. Wheeler, |. :. Indian Agent, Pima, MaricOpa and Pap
 ago Agency, dated May 8, lcS2, ad-
 dressed to Hon. Commissioner of Indian
 Affairs.
 Letter of AscenciOn Rios, PapagO
 chief, dated May 8, 1882, addressed to
 the Hon. Secretary of the Interior.
 Letter of AscenciOn Rios, Papago
 chief, without date, addressed to Major
 Roswell G. Wheeler, U. $. Indian Agent.
 Respectfully,
 N. c. McFARLAND,
 Commissioner.
 On receipt, the Surveyor General mo- tified the attorney of Martinez, and re quested that witnesses be produced to show the facts of the case, and as show ing the result we give the following let ter, which it is believed Agent Wheeler will understand, and which properly states the relations of the people of Tucson with the Papago Indians:
 . [. $. SURVEYOR GENERALS OFFICE,
 TUCsnN, Arizona, July 2S, 1882.
 Hon. \. C. Mcfarland. Commissioner of the General Land Office, Washing ' tOu, D. C.-Sir; am in receipt of your ' letter CD of date 18th instant, and als, ' the copies of letters therein referred to Every charge, direct and indirect, re HectIng upon the conduct of this office. or upon my self as man and officer, II | the DremIseS, contained ln each and al | ut sad letters, Is false, and 1 behev, malioiously so. In addition, the letter; | | exhibit base IngratItude on the part G l | the authors I gave patient heaunss l | tune and again, tO the statements au, l 1 representations Of the Pdpugus, us rei [ esrLted by their chief and hIs assist
 IutS, aRd alway in good faith. with l sincere purpOse tU aId the Indians an, also protect all who had lawful right | no matter who might eudeavor to destroy | such righls. In order that 1 might d full justice to the PgPdyO Indians, , ! nave Speut mDuths of patient search 10 iutuUutI-s uy which l cOuid ln pregua J.y ,staUii- h, n sO far as ihis Oihce cuui, to so, the PapasOs IL every right tus laws, u,aEes aud customs Ut Spain anD Mexico warrant. 1 have To husItanc, 1 in saying that 1 believe l have fully auC accurately informed myself m the prem ises. Iu dOIug thIs 1 had no iuteEtlo, ,s trying to deprive any poor or rIci | human being Ot 90 single ngnt, but Oi -ue cJItrHry Co eudeayOs tO secure to al without rt gard Co race, the precise right lawfully belonging tU them. Had tn, United States Agent of the fapagOs and tLe miserable aud selfish human. Sretches Nhu. under tine guise of friend ship and possible IntermaTriage with tn, Indians, spent half the time with tlth, of the sincerity, in endeavOrs to legally and rightfully aid the Papagos that l nave, those poor put misguided indiaus would be much better of to-day. Ind l Ian Agent Wheeler is doubtless a yer, l jealous man so Jealous that he a, 1 times acts as If manhness and truth l -.geIe useless elements in his official con. iuct with at7 C..tEser .liEaer ,slways anxious {. aid him and those under hRs charge ] During the present year he published TalsehOod as to what I said about land $ titles on the Papago reserve. publicly [ exposed lt, and since then, as seems nat $ ural to men who should never be in- , trusted with public affairs, he IS appaT- 0 ently revellng in spacious attempts L. . misrepresent my acts, and also the feel u Ings of the people of Tucson and sur t towards the Papagos. It l. ! doubtless true that he does not know q that the PapagO Indians are citizens of e the United States and, as sucl, are a amenable to the laws of the Territory U Jf ArIzo9a. The officers of the law ar- e rest and imprisOn thieves and criminals I without regard to race, and in doing Sc n they frequently arrest thieves who art a PapagOs, and also once indicted Roswell i. c. Wheeler for doing acts which very intelligent and honest men believe wer' l. under the statutes. A volume :, of irrefutable facts could be written to Ii show that tue people of Tucsun and sur q rounding country are as a body friendly il 70 the PapagO Indians. They are, as z, pody, not friendly to murderers, thieves. q slanderers and persons who commit ar d, son. It seems unfortunate that all men |, to not understand that they may be ef- q .icient. just officers without being slan- h te-ers. But 1t is needless to be more ~ specific on the general proposition. V 1 submit the testimony, taken in con h 1ectIon herewith, of the follOwin, D named persons: Francisco <. Leon. l D Asce lcion Rios, (chief of the Papagos, 70 Nm. r. Scott, Santiago Ainsa, Rufus l.. 9
 
 Hrrrrias, Auselm Rodriguez, Maria q, @ .us Angeles SOiOss and Andrea Ora a nillo.
 The witness Leon has been personally ' known to me for twelve years. He is a n man of unblemished reputation and hls al testimony is entitled to the fullest "- credeuce. He IS personally familiar D with the reputation Of the Martinez n iamily- that of the murdered father of the children who are trying ID a lawful way tO secure confirmation to the land from which their subsistence has been honestly produced for over thirty years, e. we'll as of the living members. He says they were and are of good reputa- n ton in all the essentials of good citiz, h. J ship. He knew all the persons whose 1T names appear Tn the title paper and n about when they died. He unhesitat- A lngly recognized the writer of the title document and his signature therein. (. His testimony Is wholly reliable and 1t O all makes directly for the genuineness st of the tltle paper, tbe honesty of the s, claim and claimants. W Ascencion Rios, the Papago chief who al wrote the letter to the nl Secretary of the Interior of N date May 3, 1882, appeared and gave c, testimony. l believe his testimony in NJ the-main reliable. By 1t, 1t Is shown b, that man named Troll wrote the letters p by request, and that he (RiOsl signed ss them without knowing their contents. c, He also testlfies that this man Troll has bl just the same right to live on the res sC ervation as has J. M. Berger. Troil IS b evidently a mischief maker. Rios tc testimony shows clearly that he did not of zuOw the rOnterfa of the Iatterz ba tt