Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-07-28

"Ir IS not at all surprising, says Gen. Crook. "tbat the Indians have not re- ported" We fully agree with General Crook that ~it IS not at all surprising that the Apaches have not come in, nor will 1t be surprising II they never do come in. General Crook has some pecu- liar ideas about dlsarming the Indians. For instance, he says "Try te disarm them and they always have lot of old guns which they bring in and surrender, keeping hid the good ones" Also, "that if you undertake 10 disarm Indians you give them to think you are are afraid of them, and the only thlRg which in- fiuences an Indian is fear It is quite evident General Crook is opposed to dis arming the Indians; but the reasons he advances are not sufficient. There IS no reason why the Indians should not be disarmed They should be dlsarmed fl it takes the entire army of the United
 States to do it. There IS use '-to try to disarm the Apaches," and the people of
 Arizona demand that It shall be done
 They have stood up for targets for these
 worthless vagabonds long enough, and
 they will not submit to it much longer.
 We care not what the Indians think
 about the proposition Of taking thelr guns and ammunition from them; that is the least of our care. But we, the
 
 white people of Arizona think of some things, and 1t seems to us that
 these some things" are entitled to just as much consideration from General Crook as the savage thoughts of the wild Apache. The people think that the
 savages should be dIsarmed, because Il affords the only hope ot safety ID the future. The people have no faith in the
 Indians. The people have also come to the conclusion. after hearing all sides of the recent Sierra Nadre campaign, that We gained no advantages over the rene gades, but on the contrary our frontier is in more danger even, than 1t was be- fore that campaign. General Crook may s'laugh at the stories concerning his hav- ing surrendered to the Indians but there are many other stories Tn connec- tion with his campaign in Sonora that are rather freely circulated throughout this section Of Arizona which are not at all Imaginable. That they are true We do not claim, but that there are grounds ! for the stories We do believe. General Crook himself has sad that ''the United States soldiers were not it for Indian service" Not only this, but his late 1 campaiCn, in which he had but hand | ful of soldiers, proved, If 1t proved any 1 thing, that soldiers could not be success 1 fully used against the Apaches. We | know that they cannot, or will not afford l any protection to the people of Arizona. 1 Settlers who live under the very shadow | of the Huachuca mountains, and m l sight of the Fort, feel that they are in l as much danger as though they were | thirty miles away. Is 1t any wonder | then that the people of Arizona have no | faith in the army? They have long since
 lost faith in the army. They do not be- | heve that the army affords the least pro- tection to the people and they have good | reasons for this belief. The people of
 Arizona believe that the average army | officer cares no more for the average settler of this Territory than be does for so many cattle on the plain, and will
 make no greater effort to save the one than the other. This Is certainly an un-
 satisfactory and unpleasant state of at-
 fairs, but this feeling exists, and there IS no use of anyone trying to hide 1t, or
 express hope for the future when there IS nothing to hope for.