Arizona silver belt. [volume] (Globe City, Pinal County, Ariz.) 1878-19??, 1883-08-18
Saturday, August. Is, 1883.
Gen. Crooks Official Report.

Possibly, with the best intentions to
do right, General Crook is sadly
troubled with verbal obliquity, as is
evinced by his numerous interviews
with newspaper reporters, as in
stanced in room No. %, of Porter's
hotel, Tucson, June 22d, A. D., 1888,
whea "in his shirt sleeves, sitting on
the edge of the bed reading the last
issue of the Citizen" On that occa-
sion, he was agreeable interrupted by
Citizen reporter who enquired,
How many, then, (referring to the
Chiricahuas) did surrender y To
which the General replied, II don't
Know of any who did not, except Ju,
and he had been cast out by the In.
dians. He took his brother and their
two squaws, and has gone into the
Yaqui country The latest news
from Sonora relating to raiding CHR
icahuas, which will be found on first
page Of this issue, would seem to stul.
tity Crook, and lead to the belief that
the Generals talisman, his little hatch
ct, had been dropped somewhere, and
it is thought his grip upon it was lost
about the date Feb. %, when he "took
his pen in hand" to endite that very
remarkable letter to Secretary Teller,
endorsing Wilcox, which'abounded in
such luxurious growth of fiction,
and savage denunciation of men as
favorably regarded as himself, and
which, at the time 1t was written, was
deemed of sufficient Importance to
flash it over the wires to the Associa-
Press. Notwithstanding its volubil-
ity, piquancy and freshness, it is ex-
celled by his report to the Secretary of
War, wherein he offers as reason for
not disarming the Indians, who fol-
lowed his command from the Sierra
Madre, Mexico, to the San Carlos Res
eryation, Arizona, (under the assur-
ance of receiving kind treatment, and
plenty of grub, that the retention of
their guns was necessary to protect
their homes and property against
white scoundrels." II is our opinion
that that idea popped into the Gener-
ais head to fill vacancy, and was
offered for the purpose of hoodwink-
ing the Secretary of War, and it would
seem that the Secretary swallowed the
hook, bait, line and sinker, much to
the amusement of Western men, who
fathom the joke played upon the inno-
cent sprats in Washington, who do
little else than draw their pay, look
wise, and suck their thumbs.
The idea of protecting Indians
against "white scoundrels" is a novel
one, which may be infringed, if not
wholly appropriated-unless General
Crook files a caveat, to protect his
rights in the premises. We have re-
sided ON this frontier for twenty-five
years, and cannot now recall sim
Gle instance where Indians were ever
molcstcd in their homes and property
by white scoundrcls; but we can cite
many instances where whites have
been molested in their homes and
property, maimcd and murdered, and
that, too, almost, if not quite within
the presence of U. S. soldiers. To
say more upon this subject would be a
waste of ink, and we would not have
referred to it at all had it not been
for the insult offered to the citizens of
Arizona. We will, however, for the
sake Of the truth Of history, correct
1.-The report" wherein it is stated, and
offered as an excuse for the dilatori-
ness of "the captured and paroled
Chirieahuas,' in reaching the rescrva-
ton, that some of them---Loco's band
were 66 days on the road, which
statement may well be questioned.
We compute the time consumed in
that memorable and struggling march,
at 20 days less than stated by the Gen
eral of Heavenly memory. 1t is now
% days since General Crook turned
his face homewards, on the Sierra
Madre, the scene Of his victory(?), and
where he endangered the jackwax of
his neck in retrospecting in the direc-
tion Of the Chiricahuas, who had Just
been lost to sight, but not to memory
dear. Our first page of this issue tells
where the Chiricahuas are, and what
they are doing with their arms, which
they were permitted to retain as a
means of protection against 'white
scoundrcls."
The Prescott Journal takes uS to
task for exagserating the height OF
@ l.. l.