Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-07-25
THE INDIAN SITUATION.

Reno and Darlington in which the mat
ter of the army 5 opposition to the sras;
leases was gone into at some length
Everything that has occurred at tht
agency since Sheridan went dowr
there seems TO carry out the theory
set forth in the EAGLE. The gras:
leases are at the bottom Of the trouble
but the bottom we speak of is the mil
itary officers cattle and not the Other
fellows cattle.
\ correspondent of the Globe-Dem.
ocrat struck close to the mark in theil
issue of the 18th when he wrote from
Washington:
1t is gossip about the war depart
ment THAT Gen. Sheridan's mission TO
the reservation win not be complete
until he has looked into the lease Iues-
ton thoroughly. ''Gen. Sheridan
NAV have business TO transact with
some Others than the Indians, said a
prominent official to-day. Mind. |
don't lay il is certainty, but from
what Eve heard | shouldn't be sur
prised if the army was turned against
the cattlemen. Ofcoursc don't mean
there will be fighting batween the
soldiers and the boys-that isn't
it. But the holders of leases on the
Cheyenne and Arapahoe reservation
may be notified that they are yio!at-
ing the law, and they may receive or
der. to leave The reservation and take
their herds with them. | don't say
that will be done, but judging from
the position taken by the admlnlstra-
ton il is not impossible
Tie man who wrote that knew all
about it,
Grover Cleveland has said within a
few weeks that everybody but tie In
dams, Off cials and soldiers. must get
out of the Territory or words to that
effect lie told Senator Vest that The
Territory ought to be erected into au
Indian state. That Sheridan hes but
carried out administration ins,ruc-
tions and that Clcveland's commits
sioners hich the last congress antho-
rized him to appoint, and which COM
missioners were instructed isy law TO
negotiate for the Indian lands, with a
view 10 opening the territory-tIlat
this commission will be appointed to
further the administration scheme, we
have little doubt.
If the leasing Of Indian lands for
grazing purposes TO citizens is an IN
valid act, then 10 lease the same lands
directly or indirectly 10 government
pets would be IN invalid act
There are now at the agency
representative Of the Chicago Trib-
ume, the Herald. and the Times,
and also of the Kansas City Times.
From what we can learn the former
Two have put in their time al the hotel
and with the army headquarters,
while the latter two have gone TO the
bottom of all the facts and surround
ings without reference to the military.
the administration, the cattlenen or
ANYBODY else. We have little doubt
but the two papers last named will
take the same ground OF the EAGLES
late editorial which we will state a
little more fully, as follows:
Before these grass leases were
made, Lee Il Reynolds had q
herd of 10000 head of cattle
on the extreme western part of the
reservation near Camp Supply and
Dickey Bros, had herd of 10000 cat
tie near Cantonment- These held
their cattle on the Indian land only
by sutlerance, of course, of { he mill
tary, and by satisfying such Indians
IL were liable 10 make trouble. When
the leasing took place hickey Bros.
got a lease or slice of one and were
satisfied, but the Camp Supply herd
was crowded of. The latter herd
was supposed TO be owned by military
officers, among whom were
Colonel Potter, Lee, Nike
Sherid IN and maybe others. Ii this
ownership is properly placed il is an
easy matter TO figure out the c2nuec-
lion of the present policy, and animus
of orders touching castle men.
To complete an understanding Of
the situation we will give the views of
an observer who is well acquainted
With the 0vemenis-miiitary and
Ind;an-of that section, and who puts
his observations in the shape ola let
ter:
CALDWELL, july -. %.
To the Editor OF the agile.
Having returned viii try aai fi,-
fill INV promise 10 YOU. An insight ~
to the Z ,eyenne and Arapahne tronb'e
rs saw them, including all the time
of Sheridan's presence up to Tie day
| left. During the last wear Indian
Inspector Gardner spent considerable
time, ofl and on, ut the agency and
became well posted with the actual
feeling among The Cheyenncs. Ia =up-
port of Agent Dyer continued calls
for military support Gardner re
viewed the 81 usIion and recon-
mended that 5000 troops be sent
there Il enforce obedience. This i
on record at Washington. Every time
the Indians we're guilty Dyer would
write up the circumstance and ask re-
specially whether the depart
mcnt intended to sustain him, say
ing il was worse than useless to
make any attempt AT Furnishing crime
until he WIS sure of being sustained.
as a failure after such move would
only make matters worse. Ioa have
gone over the ground Gin Your edito-
rial of how the president ordered
them disarined-how Sheridan pi-
geon-holed the movement: how Dyer's,
Rev. Haiiry's. Capt. Benefits and all
the other Ole officers reports agreed:
TROOPS aud disarming. or war;"
how Sumner, the new commander
and Inspector Armstrong said the
same thing upon arrival. The situa-
ton was dangerous, or all these men
would not have kept calling for more
troops. You know how the troops
!,