The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-02-24

ri lsg sae> diery to the coun-
Ia ~ezslsss Gil tent between
the lines. where
Captain Jack and his bloodthirsty Modocs
Law in waiting on the morning of April IL,
1873 Captain Jack had broken his pledges
again and again within a few days pre-
ceding the "peace talk" which he made
the cover of most barbarous massacre.
Friendly Indians who knew the Modocs'
purposes, scouts, and above all squaw,
who had the privileges of Capt. Jacks
lair, and learned by unerring signs that
mischief was on foot, warned the army
leaders and Indian commissioners not to
trust themselves within reach of the Mo-
docs. 1t was singular state OF affairs
there at the Lava Beds of Tule lake, with
an .army with banners on one side and
handful of fugitives-outlawed savages-
on the other. The troops numbered several
hundred, tie larger part being regulars,
provided with the best implements of war;
including cannon. The Indian warriors
numbered about two score, and had good
small arms, but not much ammunition
The United States forces had been in the
field for months upon an expedition to
force the Modocs to go upon reservation
Several battles had been fought and the
Modocs, generally victorious, had secured
ammunition from the dead soldiers. The
position occupied by the Indians had given
them the upper hand in many desperate
fight with great odds. 1t was in barren
region known as the Lava Beds, where
volcanic upheavals have left regular
series of ridges, broken at the surface by
deep crevices running both lengthwise and
crosswise. The crevices formed hidden
passages for the Indians to move about,
and where it suited their purposes they
blocked them against the invading troops
by rolling huge rocks down from above.
The army officers reported that one man
in the Lava Beds could keep twenty at a
distance.
When matters reached a crisis, however,
the army surrounded the place, and with
its cannon and mounted troops was in
fair way to win at all points. But be-
fore the blow came to settle the doom of the
Modocs forever hostilities were suspended
by orders from Washington at the request
of the Indian bureau. What the diplomatic
world calls negotiation, but in the parlance
of the plains is known as a peace talk"
was to be brought into use at a moment
when the scalping knives of the Modocs
were dripping with blood and their victims
Law uDDuFl61l duu DlCcOlIS MIUAla ho Vi
the council tent. Candy had reached the
spot prepared to fight and finish the busl-
ness. Not that he was cruel Indian Halter.
On the contrary, he was friend of the red
man and had proved it scores of times, even
as far back as the Seminole trouble. But
he thought that patience had ceased to be
avirtue and it was time to cease talking and
go to shooting. The Modocs were not new
sbn co1diorS knayv than and the
settlers as we'll They had grievances, too,
but had become nuisance all the same
the more because of brooding over their
grievances.
In the early days of California, ls47 to
ls4e, they destroyed many whites and were
afterward whipped by Capt. Nathaniel
Lyons forces for their forays upon set
tiers. In 1852 the settlers organized. and
after terrible massacre invited the Mo
docs to peace talk" and killed II out of
46 warriors who responded. Naturally,
savage tradition didn't allow that sort of
negotiation to die out of remembrance.
After years of war, in which they got the
worst of it., of course they coded their
lands and agreed to go on Il reservation.
The band then went on the Klamath,
reservat ion, where they had no means of
living, were cheated out of their supplies.
and torraented by their natural enemies,
the Klamaths. Groups of them strayed
back to their old home on Klamath lake,
and these in 1872 were about forty families
he,dod nv Cantain lack and a son of the
bered;tarv chief Scbonchin Orders were
cant Nv the Indisn agent, tn the army tn re-
move the Modocs to their reservation with
or without force. Accorolngly a de1acn-
ment OF cavalry mace nlgno mafeh, sur
prlsed captain JACK camp WINE Cne ieao-
er and ms warriors were IN oeo' snot down
or gard wounded othefs' ana retlrea WIN
a loss CT i man Killed ana g wounded.
The Modocs got away TO the Lava beds,
massacreing cltizens along tne ROUTE ana
once more the war was on.
Inc soldiers 4oo strong, a1tacked tne
Lava beds IN January, 1910, WIN d loss
OF 40 Killed and wounded ana then zen
Canoy, commanding the department. COOK
hano. bringing ms long experience with
lndians TO pear ne haa previously ADVISED
that FORCE De dispensed WIN, new reser-
vatiop De SET apart ana ehe Mooocs allowed
tilne % move 10 IT, anu otner measures 10
protect tne inuiaiis from insusCice anu se0