St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-13
DISARBfING INDIANS.
M. III. Day Gives Commissioner
Morgan Roast.

Upon my arrival this morning [ was
greatly surprised upon picking up the
GLOBE to find in it an article headed
Morgan to Mellette," in which the hon.
orable commissioner of Indian affairs
attempts to defend his course by trying
to create the impression that the whites
in Dakota are responsible for the latG
Indian outbreak and that the Indians
are the ones in danger of a massacre
Having been on the ground from the
first to the last during the late unpleas.
antneSs, l trust you will kindly permit
me, through your columns, to set our
people right.
The honorable commissioner says
IF thought there was really any dan
ger of any considerable number of In
dians going upon the warpath, or tina
the surest way of preventing any In
dianS from becoming hostile was to dis
arm all, L should be very slow to inter.
pose any objection to the measure. iii
felt that white settlers were in any Sc
rlous danger of an attack by the In-
dams, and was convinced that their
safety demanded the action above sug.
gested, L could not we'll resist it. But,
so far as my knowledge extends, | car
hardly believe that there is now any Sc.
rious danger of an Indian uprising"
Judging by his hardness in discover
ing that there was any trouble brewing
last fall, we are led to believe that hi
knowledge" is not very extensive ant
his sources of information not very re
liable. The very tone of his languag;
indicates that he Is not sincere and WIN
if he is, does he not say that he would.
If there was danger, do his utmost t(
disarm the Indians instead of reluct
antly stating as above that he %would
be slow to interp0se any objections" OF
81 could not we'll resist it,"
Again he says: ''And yet, during all
the excitement and in spite of bitter
provocation, the Indians have attacked
no white people in their homes, nor, as
far as L know, have they seriously
threatened their peace" Now. this is
outrageously false, and the commissioner
knows it to be so, or he is too ignorant
to fill the position he now occupies.
The Indians did attack many different
settlers i'll their homes along the
Cheyenne river from French to Rapid
creeks, and by such actions and con.
tinued depredations drove hundreds
and thousands of people from theiI
homes. often at night time and
in the dead of winter, com.
polling them to leave upon
moments notice, abandoning all they
had on earth and to flee for their lives.
The indians would then take what they
could use and destroy the rest. | have
ridden forty miles at time through a
thickly settled country and not found a
settler left. Only for the courage and
unSelfish actions of the settlers and The
prompt and efficient aid rendered by
Gov. Mellette, hundreds of those limo
cent people would have fallen victims to
these blOodthurSty bruteS long before
the military could have reached
them. Again: sit would be
great hardship to these Indians
to lose their arms, which they
greatly prize. They use them lin
Strengthening their cattle, in hunting
and in sport" 1t is a we'll known fact
that there is but little, if any, game
upon their reservations in Dakota. and
they have no business to go among the
whites looking for it. as that often
causes trouble. AS for arms to kill
their cattle, any one knows that half
dozen would be sufficient for that pUr-
pose. AS to wanting them for ''spOrt,"
there is where they are so much needed
During the last outbreak they in
dulged in their sport to the ex
tent of constantly attacking the
settlers and firing upon them, and by
killing thousands of cattles for these
but Just, as the commissioner says, lin
sport" Again the honorable commits
siOner says, Recent sad events in
Dakota, where it is said that women
and little children were shot down by
the soldiers of the United States army,
and others were ambushed and slain
without prOVOcatiOn by citizens, ETC.,
etc" Why does not Mr.. Commissioner
tell the people the truth about this mat
ter, as he well knows that had it not
been for the treachery of these pets or
his,and had they not made the attack
upon the soldiers themselves at Wound
ed Knee, not one of them would
have been killed. Why not tell the
people what was fact, that those am
pushed Indians were fifty miles from
the reservation, stealing horses from
the whites when they were killed! Why
not tell the truth and give the facts as
they are? Plenty of sympathy for the
few Indians killed, but how about gal
liant Capt. Wallace and his brave men
that fell on that day? How about that
brave officer, Lieut. Casey, so fOully
murdered? How about the wives and
children of the men who are left to
mourn their loss, while the worst of
these bloody beasts are being Wined and
dined by the government at Washington
and Chicago?
Let the government disarm these In
dians, place it beyond their power to do
harm; then the settlers will return to
their homes with assurances of safety,
and friendly relations would again be
established between the whites and In
dams the same as before, and every
Indian would be safer in Dakota than
in Washington. What the Indians want
is more provisions and less ammunition,
better clothing and less arms. more
work and less idleness. and when
money is appropriated for them see that
they get it, and that when blankets are
issued to them for ''all wool" that they
are not made of cotton, cattle hair and
shOddy, and that 1000 pounds of beef
does not mean 700 pounds, that their
flour is not made out of muSty and re-
iected wheat. In fact, let the Indian
bureau quit croaking about the injustice
done the Indians by Dakotans, and look
to it that the Indians get what belongs
to them, and that they are not robbed as
they have been heretofore. Unless
those Indians are diSarmed before warm
weather comes on, there will surely be
trouble, and if it does come, the people
of Dakota will try and settle 1t this time
for themselves. and once for all. Very
truly yonrS, NJ. II. DAY.
Minneapolis, March II.