Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-08-06
INDIAN AFFAIRS.
Work Mapped OEt For the Aru tEiied
 stale, District Attorney.

! communications reldIiNt ID tuc Uttch- ton and trial of eleven Indian prisoners now held at San Carlos on tie charge of murder. It is the intentisu Of the Col onel to take speedy action ID the mat ter, and if upon the proper inquiry it is found that the crimes with which the Indians are charged were committed on the Reservation, they will then be tried by the United States District Court, but if committed of the Reservation they will then be turned over to the Territo- rial authorities.
 DEPABTNEST OF JUSTICE,
 WASHINGTON, July 24, lSo2. J. 4. ZaBBIsKIE. ESQ, L.. ;. Attorney, | Tucson, Arizona
 SIR: | enclose copy of a letter of the 18th instant from the Secretary of the | Interior relative tocertain Apache Indi- | an prisoners held by the agent at Sam Carlos Agency. Also copy of com l municatIOn dated the 10th instant, from the OOmmissiOner or Iadian Affairs to the Secretary ot the Interior, together with copy of letter of the 9th instant, addressed by said Agent to the Commis- ! HAOnEE. ! ~tr lAN Glo.H NtIlAe1 0A IHu NEAF- grams dated fle 18th and llth of March, | respectively, from the Department to | the then District Attorney.
 These papers ali have reference to the | speedy trial of these Indians, eleven in number, who are held in chains by Mr. | Tiffany, the Agent, awaiting trial on the charge of murder.
 You will please inquire into the facts, ! . !. slNlrHrca mitted upon territory under iurisdic- l | tion of the United States, you will have | l the prisoner. transferred to the custody | of the Marshal of the Territory and | have them brought to trial before the l first court that sits, having jurisdiction | of the cases: if in your judgment the | | crimes as alleged were committed upon | territory within the jurisdiction Of the Territorial courts, yOu will see that the | prisoners are delivered Co the Ter | ritorial authorities. Very Respectfully, |
 ;. F. PHILIPS.
 Acting Attorney General
 DEPAETNESr OF THE INTERIOR, I
 OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, l
 WAsHINGTOS, July 15, lSS2. ' | HON. II. VI. TELLER, Secretary of the h.
 terror.
 Sir. have the honor to inclose herewith, copy of a letter dated 9th inst, from the acting |. ;. Indian Agent at San Carlos Agency, Arizona, request ing-for reasons therein stated, which seem to me to be gUOd,-that action be taken to relieve the Agent from the care and anxiety of holding in cOniine- ment eleven Indian prisoners who are understood to be charged with murder and who were turned over to him by the military authorities with the ex- pectation that they would be speedily tried
 In connection with the matter have to state that under date of lst of March last, while these Indians were still n the hands Ol the military at Camp Thomas and Fort Lowell. the Hon. Attorney General informed the Depart ment that las requested by the Hon. Secretary of the Interior in letter of 2jth February, he had instructed the |. 5. Attorney for Arizona tJ set for trIal at the earliest date practicable, the case against the Apache Iudian pris- oners then in confinement
 The prisoners were afterwards trans ferred to the custody of the Indian Agent and on the jth O5 AprIl, General Sherman telegraphed your predecessor from San Carlos Agency, 9 follows:
 "Col. Tiffany, your Agent here, holds 'as prisoners, siXty-seven White Noun ''tain Apaches who surrendered on &C., count of the Cibicu atiair last Septem- "ber. They are here with lil their families. leaving astray all their horses, "cattle, sheep and everything they l "pOssess, lu tLe northern part of the 1 reservation. Some of the prisoner "have been tried and executed, tre- ''ferring to the military scouts who had "beeu cSecutedI, a few more may 'deserve trial and punishment, but "the mass should be allowed to return ito thelr homes to collect their stock and 'tO get ready for their corn. ] am "cOHvInced that Col. Tiffany knows all ''the facts and all the parties, and should be allowed discretion to Set at "lbeIty such as are not guilty of mur- "der, pertidy or robbery, and that the guilty parties should still be held or "be delivered over to the civil court of Hong talk and I am convinced there Is "uO danger of repetition, and that sub ''stantial justice will result" In referring this telegram to this office 1 On April Gth, Secretary kirkwood said:
 
 Sis a very large one; but m view of the great delay that seems inevitable in having e trial before the courts, he had better be instructed to discharge those ( feast implicated, -Teserving for trial "those accused on good grounds of the . worst crimes. Perhaps such course ' may tend to hasten the action of the ! courts as to those not liberated. Instruct Agent Tiffany as above in- "dicated, and write tO Governor of Ari- I "zona, informing him and urging him { 'to hasten, if possible, the trial of those still detmned." ' The Agent was instructed accordingly on the 6th of April, and Governor Tritle, who was written on the llth, replied on the 23rd, that he had called the atten- tion of the |. $. District Attorney to ( the matter, and should use all hIs efforts ' to hasten the trial of the Indians. [ In yOur letter of 9th May last, to this [ office, the Opin on k expressed that If l q these Indians are charged with murder they ought tO be tired as soon as pos e sible:' and under date of lith ult., the T Hon. Attorney General iB returning to | the Department papers which accom- panied your predecessors letter of 23rd February last, suggests that the prison CTS referred to in the acting agents c letter. If there is reasonable evidence s for theI- gullD should be brought to T trlal before the civil authorities" In view of the danger to be appre a hended from these Indians while com a fined at tho Agency, surrounded as they O are by other Indians who liable at any y time, in the present unsettled condition Of affairs among these Indians. to at tempt their rel6Gsc, (which has been attempted once since their confinement ! there, resulting in the killing Of several T of the prisoaers), and in view of the ap- ! parent uncertainty as to when they vIil n be tried, I respectfully recommend that q the Hon. Attorney General be requested l T to direct the proper civil officers m the u Territory Go take the prisoners m charge D and coufiue them in the nearest suitable n prison until such time as they can be tried. Very respectfully,
 Your oblt. Servant, |
 E. PRICE,
 Commissioner. n UNITED STATES ISDIAN SERVICE. l0
 SAN CARLOS AGENCY, A. T..
 July 5, lS-2 ' Tf..ar.rr....ra..-.-r. |