The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-10-07
GEN. MILES AND HIS CRITICS.
The Captor of Geronimo and Natchez De-
tends His Terms of Surrender.
Points from the Report of the Utah Commits
sion-Federal officials Who Are Candi-
dates Before the People Must Resign.
THE APACHE SURRENDER.
General Miles Defends His Action, and Saw
agely Denounces His Critics.


General Miles Defends His Action, and Saw.
agely DenOunces His Critics.
ALBUQUERQUE, N. NJ, Oct 6-General Miles
was asked to-day what he thought of the pub
lished statements, or bulletins, assumed to have
been written upon official information furnished
at the War Department, as to his capture of
GERONIMO.
"Those reports" replied the General. 'eman-
ate from the brains of some interruptions and
envious person, whose object appears to be to
distort the truth, with the intention Of injuring
me. regardless of the Just praise due the troops
for their extraordinary services In achieving
permanent peace in the Southwest Many Of the
statements are entirely devoid of truth; others
are weak arguments and labored theories. The
pretense that the surrend Of Geronimo and the
other hostiles was other than the result Of the
gallant, arduous operations of the troops in the
field is simply childish. One might imagine from
reading some OF these statements, that the red
handed Apaches have been all summer trying to
get up cheap-rate excursion to the yellow fever
districts of Florida. Surely no intelligent man
would believe that the Apaches, who have been
roaming over this mountainous region for gen.
eratons, masters of the situation, would have
thrown down their arms sacrificed their prop
erty surrendered their liberty, accepted perpet
ual Punishment from their native country and
placed themselves and their families at the
mercy of the government unless they had been
subjected by the military forces. TIE mild
est punishment evidently in store for
them far exceeds in severity that ever before in
fiicted upon any body Of Indians in this coun-
try"
General would you mind giving me copy
of your official report Of the surrender was
asked.
81 am quite willing that every official act of
| mine in this enterprise should be known and
these extracts and distorted statements should
be thrown out The people of this country are
quite intelligent enough to draw their own con-
illusions, and 1t is not necessary that official doc
uments should be filtered through the poisoned
| brain of some enemy and then so colored In part
as best to answer personal interests
Nv ould you mind saying in what respect your
| course has differed from your instructions2'
II am glad to answer that question, in order to
put at rest a very inaccurate statement / was
| duct the campaign. Even General Sheridan
who commands the army and knows more about
Indian matters and the topography of the coun-
| try than all the army officers in Washington to-
gether. declined to give me any specific instruc-
| tons"
what has been the effect of removal upon
| other tribes of Indiansp
1T has stricken terror into those living in the
| adjacent country Even the powerful Navajos,
numb ering 20, 900 souls are now afraid they may
| do something for which they will be liable to be
sent away from their native country. already
regard it more effective than If forty executions
would have taken place."