Los Angeles herald., 1892-03-22
The CuriO Collector Causing
DiscOrd.
Report of Trouble With the
Cahuillas Indians.
Chief Cabazon to Be Replaced in His
Power.
An Interesting Letter From Salton- In
dian Agent Rust's Peculiar Express
sion of Opinion-He Shows
Ignorance of Indians.

Ihe following are extracts from let
ter in the San Francisco Chronicle of
Sunday:
SALToN, March 14.-Perhaps the most
picturesque of all the picturesque char
acters that have lived on or passed
through the Colorado desert was old
Chief Cabazon, who died not 30 many
years ago at Indio. He was a remark
able man, intelligent bevond his fellows,
and possessed the gift of statesmanship.
He was king of the Cahuilla Indians and
ruled them wisely.
Since the advent of Mr.. Rust, the
present agent for the Mission Indians,
there has been bad blood among the
Cahuillas. 1t has been caused by his
determination to break up the tribal re-
lations, and in defense of his dangerous
policy he says that he has authority
from the supreme government.
met Mr.. Rust when he was on one
of his predatory relic-hnnting tours at
Palm Springs, about one month since.
Before mixed company the Indian
agent said:
81 am a.going to break up this here
tribal relation, and that feller Cabazon
ought to be locked up, for he is a bad,
wicked Indian"
A sympathetic lady who had been
listening to his utterances regarding his
immaculate valor, asked him whether
his life had not been endangered by the
Mission Indians.
"Frequently," said Mr.. Rust, "fre-
quently. That fellow Cabazon is always
tryin' to incite them to violence. He
is bad Indian and he won't let them
work. He won't do what tell him and
am agoing to make him, and if he don't
do what want him to do I'll lock him
up. Jail amt good enough for him."
did you say, Mr.. Rust" l asked,
''that Cabazon will not let the Indians
work ?"
"Tbat's what. He keeps few In
dians loafing around him and also one
or two captains who are drunken,
disreputable fellows and all ought
to be locked up, too. I am going to
break them up bad. I've already
commenced with them by max
ing Billy Williams chief and they've got
to accept him as chief whether they like
it or not. We've all got to accept rules
we don't like. / don't like that 'ere
Benjamin Harrison or that Grover
Cleveland, and didn't 1 have to STUN
mick both, and they shall stummick
Billy Williams"
Mr.. Rust either showed great ignor-
ance of the Indians around Indio or
grossly nisroprvsoutvd facts TO make his
position tenable. Captain Jim has
| quite rancho near the spur, where he
raises good fruit and corn; Large num-
bers of Indians are employed by Mr..
w. Durbrow has generally from twenty
m fUnnfU-tva Tpdionc NJ ~
for him at Salton. There cannot
be found more honest laborers. 1t is
false to say that the Indians around In
dio and under the dominating influence
of Cabazon are idle, and that he is de-
sirous of keeping them as savages. 1
have known Cabazon for nearly two
years and a half and have been i'm
pressed with his manliness and his
spirit OF fair dealing.
1t is Mr.. Rust who is keeping these
Indians agitaied. His action in ap-
pointing Billy Williams as chief has
raised much bad blood, and his use of
Billy Williams as catspaw to incite
the Cabazons to acts of violence 30 that
he may have them "where the hair is
Short" as he has POLITICALLY termed it, is
most unwise. A few days ago Billy
Williams came from his village to
Torres and seized and carried off wagon
belonging to Cabazon. He attempted
to excite Cabazon to resistance
go that Mr.. Rust could have invoked
the strong arm of the law to have him
(Cabazon) arrested. Mr.. Rust has fire..
quently intimated that he would bring
the military to aid him in his project ol
breaking up the tribal relation. White
men who have expressed indignation a,
his methods have been threatened with
arrest, and Mr.. Rust has informed the
Indians how and when he intended
to show his transcendental pow.
ers.. During his stay at Palm
Springs, which was an official
trip, Mr.. Rust employed much of his
valuable time in travelling from house to
house trying to sell car load of date
palms to the enterprising rancheros
"for the beautefaction of this here
place." as he expressed it. He filled in
the interstices of his time by trying to
find metates and other relics. He did
spend few hours on Sunday morning
! listening to the Indians, which labor
exhausted him mentally as wella phys
] ically.
His behavior on this tour exasperated
all the Indians, and even caused disaf-
fection among the few who follow the
fortunes of Billy Williams. It was de-
termined by them that the time had
come to assert their rights and depose
from the leadership Billy Williams.
For the past two weeks Will
Pablo, captain at the Potrero,
Banning, has been visiting the
camps at Salton, Indio Spur, Martinez,
Fig Tree Springs, Walters, Banning and
Palm Springs. He finds that he can Sc
cure 130 votes for the election of Caba-
zon, while Billy Williams has but 6S fol-
lowers. The election is to be held some
time during the next week at San Ber-
nardino, and this is the petition which
Will Pablo has formulated and sent to
the various settlements. He has written
the petition himself, and the Indians