Arizona silver belt., 1883-03-17
Crooks Correspondence.

NiIS PupilSueu uS, puI uealS III a few generalities and inuendoes:
 HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF
 sv. ARIZONA, WHIppLE BARRACKS.
 PRESCOTT, Feb. 9, 1888.
 ehe Hon. H. M. Teller, Secretary of
 the Interior, Washington, D. c.
 DEAR SIR:-In the newspapers of the Territory there have appeared within the past few days statements that charges of a serious nature, re- fiecting upon the integrity and capac- ity of Mir. P. F. Wilcox, the agent at San Carlos, had been forwarded to your department. My first impression was that I should take no notice of the matter, which concerned officers of another department of the govern ment, and especially of one which is peculiarly tenacious of its own rights and jealous of anything like intermeddling with outsiders; but the more 1 reflect upon the matter the more 1 am satisfied that it is my duty to express myself upon this business, and to lay before you opinions which may aid you in sustaining Agent Will COX. In the first place it is a matter of vital importance to the military that the agent at thasSan Carlos res ervation should possess the best quail fications for the position; that he should not only be honest, but have an understanding of business and be man of nerve and decision. He must consequently aid the military in sup pressing disorder, ere it attain the proportions of an outbreak, and recip- rocally must be aided by them in many of the details of his administration. The functions of the representatives of the War and Interior Departments in a place like the San Carlos agency. touch close at the edges and overlap so frequently that unless the respec- tive officials be men of peculiar fitness for their duties, constant wrangling must result with disastrous conse- quences to the best interests of the government. No tribe of anything like the same numbers is to be found in the country to-day which could in- flict so much damage upon property and destroy so many lives as could the Apaches, in the event of an outbreak. The Southern Pacific, Atchison, Tope- ka & Santa Fe, and the Atlantic & Pa cific railroads are rapidly building upon the communities which would suffer terribly in such contingency. So far as my abilities admit, I do not intend that there shall be any out break, but in every way possible shall l try to lessen day by day the chances of occurrences of such a calamitious condition of affairs as overwhelmed the settlers and miners in southeast Arizona less than a year ago. To assure future, there is no question to be compared to a good agent now. do not wish to appear as the eulogist of Agent Wilcox. I haven't a doubt but that he has his faults, just as other human beings have, but while going about among the Apaches last fall, l learned to know Mir. Wilcox, and unhesitatingly say, that if you don't support him fully you will re- gret it. MT. Wilcox has to contend against nest of the vilest bummers, men for whom no words in the dic- tionary are too strong, the remnants of the old Indian ring of this Territo. ry, who never made an honest penny in their lives, but grew fat on the pro- ceeds of Indian hostiles. These men are vampires who gorge themselves on the blood of their fellow creatures. A number still hang around San Carlos agency. and, so long as one is there to be found, just so long you are going to have trouble to root them out. From them have come all the lying reports of discontent among the Apaches in the past six months, reports which have been scattered broadcast over the country and have done much to keep numbers of our rich mines in Arizona undeveloped. It is perhaps hardly proper for me to make the as- sertion, but l do assert that the Apaches of the San Carlos reservation since my conference with them in September, October and November last, have been as we'll behaved and as well disposed as any equal number of aborigines in the west. They are now preparing their lands for tillage. and require but one boon and that is the expulsion or destruction of the nest of irresponsible parties hanging about the agency and throwing Instructions in Agent Wilcox's path. There is a humorous phase to this assault,a phase which leads me to believe that the devil is at last about to turn monk. Agent Wilcox is accused of immorali- ty, charge which, with eastern peo- pie will be likely to condemn him without a hearing. If you could only know little of the mode of life of most, if not all of the men who are antagonizing Mir. Wilcox, of their fla grant and absolute contempt of the first principles of decency, you would throw that part of the charges into your waste paper basket and give it no further concern.
 I must apologize fGl. iay iong letter, which hope you will ascribe to my deep interest in the subject of keeping the Apaches on the path of peace and progress, and of lending to your de- partment the assistance not alone of the military forces of this department, when called for, but of my experience and observation among these Indians, which you may find of some value, are a; least to be dictated by perfectly dis