Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-11-15

H.made six copies and sold them
- other WHITES at $50 each. Inus
sbere were seven gangs besides tns
saginaw fellows in the forests "
,he reseryatIon before patent wac
iss,e,i striving to get the lndlsns
hor,nd 10 sell 10 them. Government
SSscov 49,. the fraud, cancelled me
re-elections aud ordered o ne" I
m he made in secret. The wDLs
was finished on a Saturday,
Government agent had 70 travei 10
miles 10 reach a train. Three men,
thieves, went on the stage anu
bribed the driver TO arrive w -.
for the train. The agent nau 20 ie
main over Sunday. The tnIss
stole his list and copied IL
went back to the reservation anu o
fore the patents issued they haH
sscloufs, or bogus Claims on nOie
than half Of the reservation. do'eIn
nent discovered this ffauh also Anu
arrested the thieves. They vert
carried to Detroit for trial, but Sot
clear on the technicality that they
hai only s'copied a public doeu
uent.D Government was TOO IN
different to follow 1t up and they
escaped the penitentisry. Two OF
those three men have been hounulns
ne for years because Iexposed thelr
rhine against the Indians
In IS7l-2 patents We're issued 10
i7On INDIANS on the reservation,
1862 being competent" Inside oil
NO years there were only two OF
those Indians who owned n foot OF
land. OF tie IS ''not so competent
white man now living told me |
that he paid the agent, a Methodist |
priest, SO each to get % Of them |
hanged 10 competent" in WASH
ingtOn, and that ne then bought |
hem from the Indians. Such was
the end Of great experiment TO
,ivilize the Indians. The govern
nent wasted a quarter OF n million
dollars, permitted white thiefs to
get il and the Indians were driven
from their homes worse than before
the experiment began. The govern
'..''t was party to the shameful
wrong.
Or me methods 10y which the
thieves obtained the Indians land
| will give you some account in an
,ther article. Here | can only say
hat history can hardly show more
| ..ruel robbery and crime than the
iespoiling Of the Isabella ChiT-
penas.
In 1882 went to the reserva-
ton knowing what government had
done and expecting TO find a high
| ,itgree Of cIvlnZttiOl ameng the
Indians. / found That there were
,nIy about 800 Of them and only
three or four families that were net
IN a state Of beggary. The man had
lied Of hunger and cold, or wan
| dered away. / at once began an ex-
oCsure of the maltreafm-nt VI tire
Indians. An investigation was
| ordered by Prssiden: Arthur, but
the thieves were all republicans.
They broke it down 10y assuring the
I authorities that II it were allowed To
90 on il would throw the State into
che hands Of the democrats In 1881
In the fall OF 1854 went 10 the res
ervatiOn determined 10 carry my
work through under Cleveland.
I intended to remain three
months, and gave Sunday lectures
to cover my design, which
was TO get complete history Of the
| frauds. When Ii was discovered
what was doing the thieves bought
an outfit for a paper and hired a
1 Ht..h s..,.-N ,,.I,c ,,.Ct.II Ia -. 100, a
bonanza for the Salt Lake Tribune
TO fight me. They also employed a
Methodist priest who had been con-
81 ted of stealing from a child. !
remained on the reservation eleven
mouths. Twice was attacked by
hired rougbs- The thieves went 10
Washington and had me shut out Of
the Indian Office. | appealed 10
\ Cleveland. He ordered Lamar TO
investigate. A special agent was
sent. lie and the Indian agent FOR
the State spent three months and
sent in n report that cOTTObOrsted
my exposure OF the frauds, and the
agent was instructed 10 obtain evil
deuce AID prosecute as fast as posi-
bic. Had the work been done years
before when government knew OF
the wrongs and the Republican
party was in its zenith Of power
those men would have been ssut 10
the penit-niiaIy. When / finally
compelled Washington to look at
the case the limit Of criminal prose
cution had long pas, ed. But a
dozen men were convicted In
civil suits, all Christians, and some |
Of them worth millions, and the |
frauds were thoroughly broken up.
| The remnant Of the Indians are
better Off today than for many |
years, but they have lost their prop
erty forever. But / have shown l
you only part Of my work. The |
real friends Of the Indians In the /
East were working hard 10 have |
government recognize "the man
hOud' OF the Indian and give him
his lands in fee. In the West |
thieves were urging the same thing, |
knowing that once the Indian got /
his patent a bottle Of whisky, n gun,
pony, or n few dollars would soon 4
relieve him of it. Some Of the l
thieves whom | had exposed were
urging it. 1 at once sounded an
alarm. showed what had resulted
from the fee simple plan on the lisa
bella reservation. | warned the /
friends Ofthe Indian that they were
only preparing n way for his des-
tructiOn, and urged that all allotted
lands should be held in trust. 4
copy Of the Dawes bill was sent 10
me In 1866 for an opinion. | urged
that the Indians be allowed TO select
and that their lands be held in trust
for generation, at least, and better,
II for fifty years. When tine bill
became law there was n prUvisO
creating trusteeship for 25 years
and giving the President power to
extend ii il the Indian was shown
10 he then incompetent to take care
Of his property and protect him
self.
Ii is my satisfaction TO know that
| helped to secure that provision.
II is all the protection over 800. 900
Indians have today against the
white thieves who would rob them
and destrny them without hesitation
IL they once became the owners in
fee OF the last aim they have on
earth. For doing this work | have
been prosecuted by those Michigan
thieves without oeasing. They
swore in 1855 that they would "kiil
that id Ellis, if it cost SlOO. 600. y
am on deck yet and expect to re-
main so. But il seems that they
have followed me 10 Salt Lake.
CHARLES ELLIS.