The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-24
CALL FOR SOLDIERS
SECRETARY HOKE SMITH wANTS
LAwLESSNEss SUPPRESSED.
He Asks the War Department for Aid
I'm Hunting Down the Outlaws
That Infest Indian Territory.

Hoke Smith has requested the Secretary or
War to send troops to the Indian Territory
to suppress the lawless bands which have
been operating there and In the adjacent
country. Accompanying the request was
the communicates Secretary Smith yester-
day received from the Indian Territory, de-
failing the deplorable condition of affairs
there. Secretary Smith. in his letter to the
War Department, says that in view Of the
obligations of the government as set forth
in the treaties with the Indians OF Indian
Territory. to protect the five civilized tribes
against domestic strife and hostile inva-
sion, and to guarantee those people the
peaceable enjoyment OF their country. he
recommends that troops be sent as re-
Quested.
Commissioner Browning, In a letter ac-
~companying the Secretary's. suggests tina
a troop of cavalry be sent into the Indian
Territory to assist Agent Wisdom in pre-
serving the peace. 1t is expected that the
troops would then be used to hunt down
and drive out the marauders who are
harrassing the people. Agent Wisdom to-
day wired the Indian Office asking authori-
ty to incur the necessary travelling ex-
penses of the Indian police in assisting
United States marshals who were hunting
down the thieves and making arrests. Such
authority was granted.
These communications reached Acting
Secretary Doe at the War Department this
afternoon and, after reading them carefully,
he referred them to General Schofeld. COM
handing the army. General Schofeld
looked into the matter and then returned
the papers to the Acting Secretary, with a
suggestion that the request for the aid Of
troops he maturely considered with a view
to ascerts ming the legality of the proposed
action. This Endorsement from so high an
authority upon the complex relations be-
tweeE the military and the civil branche
of the government undoubtedly will cause
the War Department to move with great
cauto on in acting on this request for troers,
and .t the end may result In a refusal
ritories. from an administrative point OF
view, /, the fact that the national govern
ment is bound by treaties with the Indians
to protect them frc n domestic violence.
But, ir. the absence of express stipulation
and kw. it has been held that this protec-
tor must be extended exactly as IL Is to
ly, through the judiciary. The posse conf
tatus law prohibits the employment OF
troops as posses. except as provided by or
ganic law, and that law provides, first for
the exercise OF the judicial power In quell-
ing lawlessness. and then for the employ
ment of troops upon application of the
judicial officers based on their inability to
enforce the processes of law. So far as
the War Department is advised. the judi
Vial II kHC old mas NV up
pealed for the assistance of troops, and, as
In the case of the disturbances OF last sum-
mer, the government will not move until
such application is made and after the judi
cial officers have shown a proper disposi-
ton to restore order in the Indian Terri
tory.
The War Department, 1t is stated, has
taken notice of the efforts of the express
companies to secure governmental protec-
by no means well disposed toward the
project. Army officers in charge of af-
fairs feel that the express companies have
rection of guarding the property confided
to them. and hold that by placing one or
two determined and fearless guards in the
express cars they could soon check the at
tacks of train robbers which endanger the
lives OF passengers.
Mr.. ..BiII" Cooks Gang mt Work.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark, Oct. 23.-Last
nights programme in the great carnival of
| crime which is now holding the boards in
the Indian Territory consisted Of the
wholesale robbery Of several small towns
in genuine desperate style by Mr.. 'Bflr'
Cook. supported by a strong and desperate
company of eight or ten followers. Four
men rode into the town of Watova early in
the evening, making their approach known
by a discharge of firearms. The bandits
terrorized the inhabitants, and most of
them sought safety In their homes behind
every store in the village and ran the mer-
chants away with Winchesters and re-
volvers. They took from the stores all the
money they could find and everything else
they wanted. The Watova postofhce was
robbed of about $50 in cash and $50 in
stamps. The gang then rode on to Tala,
ten miles away. where they repeated their
depredations. They rode into the town and
proceeded at once to rob stores right and
left. Every store In the place was visited
and the proprietors compelled at the muz-
zles OF revolvers and Winchesters to turn
robbed OF stamps and a small amount of
money. The bandits entered the town bold
ly and made no effort to conceal their iden-
tity, none being masked.