Arizona weekly citizen., 1890-05-31
AN EXPLANATION
By the Coroner's Jury Through its Foreman to General Miles
Prospector.

Nelson A. Miles, Major General U. $. A
 San Francisco, Cal. SIR
 In handing you the enclosed copy of a telegram sent this day to the President of the United States and to the Asso- ciated Press, the members of the jury, acting as individuals and as citizens of Arizona, and ot I'm mbstone, desire, un- animously and earliestly to represent as follows:
 That as long residents of the territo- " familiar with the Indian question Tn all its bearings aEd phases, as interested and anxious observers as we'll as subse- quent participants of the numerous out breaks of, the past, and the campaigns for their sublection, do most cordially recognize the successful efforts of your self, and of the officers and men of your command in our behalf, and: disclaim any intent of criticism thereof.
 | We have endeavored in the inclosed | telegram to present a simple statement of facts in the effort for relief from condition of affairs that has become to us a matter of life and death, home and | subsistence.
 Since the first white man sought home and livlihood in Arizona, until this, the age of railroads and electricity, | we have been at the mercy of the Apache and his friends. Our school books are | filled with the stories of the heroic deeds of our forsfathers; poets. have sung and historians written of the bloody trials of pioneers in other Indian lands, and monuments have been erected and anniversaries are celebrated to the memory of the victims.
 But in this, the age of peace and en- hghtenment, the telegraph may record the scalping of our men, the rayishing of our wives and the braining of our babies, and we are jeered at as despera- tors.
 Do We complain of our trials and ask relief, We are treated with the silent COG tempt which is considered the need of our deserts.
 Do We attempt to rid ourselves of our constant and merciless foe and he is armed against us and the force of the government is arrayed for his protec- ton.
 We have brief period of security while he recuperates himself, his horse, his ammunition sack at his hotel, ycleped a reservation, and without a word of warming and hundreds of miles from his supposed keeper, he wantonly shoots from behind the shelter of a rock, poor invalid seeking in our balmy air a new lease of life.
 To the wife an babe, who must now in- stead of welcoming home the husband and father, meet his mangled body, shot through with government bullet, sped by finger and eye trained by gov ernment drill, it will be, forsooth, poor consolation and scant sympathy to be told that he was desperado, dapreda- tor.
 Is the one mans life dearer to him, or to his loving ones, thantanother's? The solitary piles of stones, with perhaps a rude cross and a ruder inscription, | studding the face of our land cry No! and the unavailing regrets and the inn placable feelings implanted in our breasts, and the monuments and a per petual anniversary to our victims.
 With each recurring outbreak, par alyzing the momentarily revived effort | of our ranches and prospectors, dis | couragirg the efforts and hopes of the most hGrdy and sanguine, we cry again | "How long, oh Lord! how longw
 With all respect We submit that our l situation is al disgrace to the civiliZa- | ton of the nineteenth century, dis | grace to the government of the United | States, and a disgrace to the United | States army.
 Our county is dotted with garrisons Troops by the hundreds, and munitions of war by the tons are in readiness, while | a handful of painted savages raid our territory and that of neigboring, friend | ly nation, slaughterIng us and our guests, and leaving devastation and terror in | their wake.
 In the meanwhile our soldiers calmly | continue their preparations for sum- mer by the sea.
 In conclusion we desire to re-affirm our confidence in General Miles, and the | belief that in hls policy of deportation | and distribution lies the only solution of | the Apache problem.
 But We also desire, and We feel it our | duty to record in no uncertain terms, | the fact that condition is and has been | for years, unbearable, and that we are | the victims of an injustice almost pass ing belief. at the hands of government | we have been trained to support and re | spect.
 Very respectfully yours, On behalf of the coroner's jury,
 GEO. w. CHENEY,
 Eorapnon