Arizona silver belt., 1885-07-11
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AeA-N " VI N" RAf&a AaAN v INV hAN4aNlFhAstHS A-----------
 From 6 reported interview by Grant 0urys tho special representative oE the Pioneer Society of Arizona, with the Commisaoner of Indian Affairs, 1t seems that that august official, who knows as little concerning Arizona Indians as tho astute Pixley, is follow ing in the wake of the latter gentle man, who editorially declared Arizo- mans outlaws, and lower in tho social scale than the Chiricahuas, who flecked southeastern Arizona and southwest ern New Mexico with blood of citizens ef tic respective Territories. The gonimissioher's idea, as expressed in tho Interview ieferred to, is, as mat ter of ptecaution, before disarming the Indians, to see that all the cowboys of the tWe Territories first be disarn,ed. Can it he that the Commissioner & laboring under the Authorization that cowboys are also warning upon the whites, and occa- sionally invade the San Carlos Indian reservation and indulge deep seated propensity for shedding human blood, free, as the Commissioner expresses it, ito shoot anyone on sightng
 If the Commissioner is correctly re- ported, what hope is there for relief for citizens from maraudlng Indians? 1 We, however, should not despair be- fore learning the determination of the President and Secretary of the Int. rioc. If they, too, should entertain the same oplnion as the Commissioner, that cowboys are more dangeraus to the welfare of Arizona and New Mex 1 ico than marauding Indians, and re- fuse to grant tho asked for relief, it then becomes question what step is i necessary for the whites to take for their own preservation. It is, there fore, not improbable that citizens will
 be constrained to repeat the bloody I work witnessed some years ago at old Camp Grant, where Apaches were taught lesson of fearful import If such thing should occur, peaccable Indians must necessarily suffer with the guilty and in that event would not the authorities in Washington, having the power to avert the threat- eied danger De amenable for tho de- struction of human life? Our courts in the case of the Camp Grant affair held citizens charged with retaliation upon Indians, gniltless. The equestion
 has become a serious one and should
 be hee'ied before citizens, driven to
 despair Of redress are forced to the alternative of protecting themselves. l We had hoped that Democratic
 administration would have fully com prehended the situation of our people exposed to the cruelties as practieed
 by incursive Indians, but that hope, it
 seems, is 'but tue dream of those that l wake The Secretary of War con.
 tinues Crook, thc officer Of repeated
 failures, in command of Arizona and
 has given him carte blanche to act
 as his superior judgment may dictate. \ The Commissioner ot Indian Affairs
 turns a deaf ear to our petitions and i asks that the cowboys, a worthy class l Of citizens, be first disarmed before
 considering the necessity of dlsarm.
 ing the Indians. He may rely upon I it that neither cowboys nor citizens I will be disarmed, nor do We believe
 the Commissioner himself, If contenl- 1 plating trip in Arizona or southern
 New Mexico, would leave his firearms at home ca the piano, or buckle them in
 his grip sack, for the reason that he
 might want them, and want them just
 then more than he would a polyglot
 bible, containing marginal notes and
 references; net to guard against cow boys, but lnd.ans whom Arizonans arc 1 asking to be disarmed.