The herald., 1895-02-23
lnsurreCtiOn Threatened on an
Indian Reservation
THE BRAVES ARE DIVIDED
Strange State of Affairs for Which the
Agent Is Blamed
ChIeftains Looking for Supremacy All the
Same as Politicians In
City Ward
Special to the HERALD.

the factions OF the tribe of Coahullla In
dians who should occupy one reservation
in Riverside county, near this place, is
exceedingly good. The various factions
of the tribe have been quarreling among
themselves for nearly two years, and the
trouble has now reached point where
the redskins are ready to fight. The
hereditary chief of the tribe is an old man
80 years of age, named Cabazon. He sue,
ceeded to the chieftanship some years
ago, when his father died at the green old
age OF 140 years, he the father, having
been one OF the builders of the San Ga
briel Mission. Until the advent of In
dian Agent Rust, about four years ago,
the tribe lived in peace and Cabazon ruled
supreme. The Indians were scattered in
villages over the two sections (3l and 32)
of their reservation, and many of them
lived in tepees outside of the reservation,
where the males worked for the railroad
company, coaling engines at Indio or
working as section hands, but all yielded
implicit obedience to Chief Cabazon, or
'Bushy Head,' as the name is trans
lated. The chief governed the villages
by appointing over each captain, who
kept the men in order.
During Agent Rust's term of office he
is said by the Indians to have Travelled
from village to village and robbed them
Of the baskets they make and other curios
which they manufactured to sell to tour
lists. The main diet OF the tribe on the
outlying reservation is mesquite beans,
and hence the few pennies they secured
from the sale of curios were of immense
value to them, inasmuch as it allowed
them to purchase delicacies in the way of
bacon, etc. The Indians complained to
Cabazon that Rust was robbing them and
that some of his Captains helped him to
do it, The Chief investigated the COM
plaints and refused to take any action in
the matter. Then it was that Joaquin
Torres, one of the tribe, revolted, and
with number of followers set up sep
crate camp or reservation on the other
side of the valley from Indio. Torres ap-
pointed captains and they interfered with
the captains of Cabazon. The outcome
was that Torres one day arrested one of
Chief Cabazon's s captains on the charge of
shooting cattle and tied him up in his
camp. Cabazons people, who number
about 350 to 100 in the rival camp, made a
sortie and released their captain and took
orres, the rival Chieftain captive, and tax
ing him to Salton, imprisoned him. This
was about four months ago. Torres people
applied to the new Indian Agent Francisco
Estudillo to release Torres and make Ca
b:szon behave, and he at once went to the
reservation to investigate. He called for
the Indians to meet him, and, after hear
ing the testimony on both sides, ordered
Torres released, Chief Cabazon, under the
penalty of arrest, to leave the Indio vii
lage and reside near Walters, and directed
Antoine Razon, one of Cabazon' S captains,
under arrest and sentenced him to Jail for
fifteen days and to do five days work for
Torres, the rival chief.
The situation today was simply this:
Cabazon's people say their captain, An
tone Razon, must and shall be released,
or they will go over to Torres camp and
release him; Cabazon says he will not re-
move from Indio reservation and will
defy arrest, and Torres people say An
tone Razon shall work five days for them,
and if Cabazon comes over with his peo-
ple-well some of them will stay there.
All the above story is necessary to
understand swhat follows. Heretofore the
Coahuillas have been the most tractable of
Indians, but they are redskins just the
same, and have lying dormant in their
nature all the savagery and courage of
their ancestors. Until now they have
been practically an unarmed people as
we'll as peaceful one. But things are
changed. The males, or bucks, of both
factions have been working for the rail-
road, earning 81 week, and the females
have earned money selling baskets. They
have, in consequence, money to buy guns
and ammunition, and Cabozon's men
and Torres followers have laid in sup-
ply of both. This I know, for I have
seen them.
. Before going to call on Cabazon on his
reservation l hunted up Captain Jim,
Torres representative in Indio, who
works there and acts as spy to keep
Torres posted upon Cabazon' s movements.
Captain Jim shoves coal when not pokng
around Tingmans store to listen to the
Indian talk He talked to me through
an alleged interpreter, his son, who talks
worse pigeon English than the average
Chinese who has been in this country six
months. He defended Torres, and said
''Bushy Head" was too old and too much
tied up with the Government officers to
be of any good to his people any more
When it came to the question of what
the Indians in Torres camp and village
would do if Cabazon and his men came
over to release Anton Razon, Captain jim
smiled, not childiike and bland smile,
but a grin that gave his mouth snarl,
and he said: "Let Cabazon and his men
come"
The trip to the reservation of Cabazon
was made early in the morning. l ex-
pected an interpreter to meet me there,
and had been cautioned to allow no one
TO know | was going. The tramp wasn't
such long one, but it was lonesome, with
only sand sagebrush and an occasional
coyote scurrying away in the early dawn.
When | reached Cabazon's camp the
Indians were up, but were anything but
hospitable. My interpreter had failed me
but he told me enough the day before to
enable me to look around for myself and