The Washington critic., 1890-02-24
WHAT MILES WILL SAY.
SKETCH OF AN INTERVIEW HE IS
EXPECTED TO GIVE.

ments of the Pursuers OF the slip
perry GeronimO-Gcneral CrDOk's
Policy and That of His Successor.
While two eminent brigadiers Of the
Regular Army are conducting the
Apache campaign in the District Of
, Columbia the unfortunate settlers in
Arizona are pouring in protests against
their own possible slaughter, should the
Crook bill pass and Geronimo and his
murderous band be sent to Fort Sill in
the Indian Territory.
While the War Department and In
dian Office in particular are trying to
find ont whether or not Brigadier
Crook, who did not capture them, or
Brigadier Miles, who did, is the hero Of
this occasion, the distressed citizens of
Arizona, who will be directly affected by
the order, are completely lost sight of.
But so long as Brigadier Crook secs
the eagle on Brigadier Miles shoulder,
and goes him one better, there Is apt to
be more or less delay in the solution of
the Indian problems.
Within the past three or four days
the Mexican Minister has supplemented
the Arizonians 10y filing letter of pro
test against the passing OF the bill. He
claims that the Mexican Government.
after years of experience with these
raiding bands of COmanches from
across the border, does not want repe-
tition of such outrages. He says, fur
ther, that since the settlement of the
Northern provinces, over 10000 people
have been butchered and their lands
again and again laid waste by these
savages.
To the mind of the plain civilian, II
begins TO look as if this entire Apache
removal, so deeply concerning the East.
ern philanthropistand Southwest settler,
were based on the official difference OF
two blue and gold brigadiers rather
than the interests of the white settler
| or the Improvement of the Indian.
The removal bill, having passed the
Senate, is now being warmly discussed
in the House, and it is claimed by the
friends OF Brieadier Miles that the en-
issaries of Brigadier Crook, several
beardless cadets just assigned to duty
from the Point, are here in Washing.
ton testifying before the House com
mittee and otherwise managing the
campaign of the ranking brigadier
against his insubordinate subordinate
However much Brigadier Miles may
have blundered in his Apache cam.
paign, it certainly appears that he cap
tured and corralled the hostile band.
which had already massacred over 600
of our soldiers and settlers in the South.
west 1t likewise appears that Briga-
dier Crook, who had previOuslywrestled
with this same Geronimo, did not cap
lure him, and the natural sentiment
among the people still desirous of pre-
serving their lives and property is q
very decided objection to a renewal OF
Crook policy.
Within day or two Brigadier Miles
will probably be interviewed by an es
teemed contemporary and will. in all
probability say:
years ago it was proposed to gather
all the Apaches and place them on 4
reservation in the Indian Territory, but
it was never intended that part Of
them should remain in Arizona, a par
in Mexico and the hostile bands in The
Indian Territory, from which grount
Of vantage they may and would 81
easily escape to renew their depre
dations."
When Brigadier Miles is questioned
dier Crooks scouts he will probabl,
say:
1T was unnatural and unreasonabl,
to suppose that Indians of not only th,
same tribe but having brothers, sister
and mothers with the hostiles, would
make reliable scouts to hunt down thei
own people Even savages coulC
scarcely be depended upon to commi
so unnatural crime, especially sine,
the clannish spirit of the Indian is 81
well known"
When questioned concerning the cap
ture of Chato, the scout, and his i'm
pIisonment, General Miles will admi
that he was with Geronimo's band il
the last raid, but that che was one o
the most brutal of them all, and stand
before the Territory indicted for tn
most atrocious murders ever committed
there"
To the question as to whether or no
these Apaches can escape from thu
reservation in the Indian Territory an(
find their way back through familia
country to their instructive occupations
the General will probably answer b.
asking:
"Why not?"
Should he be pressed for solution o
the question and asked to name a regio
where these savages can be properl
cared for and gradually educated an
civilized, the Brigadier General wi
undoubtedly say: Keep them east c
the Mississippi. Remove them entirel
from their native surroundings, proven
them from sowing discord in the peace
full trib es of the Comanches and KiC
was; keep them within the refining il
tluences of an impregnable and estat
lished Christian civilization"
Moral suasion and boiled shirts fo
the savage, and not the temptation @
native heath, are what Brigadier Mile
will demand
A prominent Army officer, comment
ing yesterday on the Indian situation
remarked:
Between the extreme brutality o
the West, the unguided philanthropy O
the East, the Indian agent, the India
Office, the Army and Christian whisky
the poor devil of a savage has har
row to hoe"
This same officer, we'll grounded i
the petty jealousies and heart burning
of regular army life, says: Because o
mere personal feeling of pique on tn
part of a ranking officer, the people G
both Arizona and Mexico will be force
TO again suffer the same uneasines'
terror and loss of life and property;
more than that he insists that "Brigl
dier Crook is inconsistent when h
says in his late report that it would b
unsafe to return them TO their old re
eryations, and yet urges that they l.
sent to another, from which escape
| easy and almost certain.
,, The war Of the Brigadier is not Y,
done, and Arizona must wait the cal