Arizona republican., 1904-05-07

was done, and truth discovered. a.h5r than in the defense of a criminal. for as was clearly stated by MT Mead, the gov ernment desires only to see the laws obeyed and defends its wards only to the extent Of seeing that they are not inn posed upon.
 when the Indian was arrested he was found on the bank of the river hammer ing the hide with a big rock, one of the processes in his method of dressing it pre- paratory to its conversion into mecca sins. The Mexican and Indian say they asked him where he got the hide and he replied that he got it at the Archer ranch. They told him 1t belonged to them and construed confession of theft from the fact that he then gave them fifty cents for it. Mir. Gill said the In dian told him he got it at the Archer ranch and MT Goodman said thH Ind ian told him he found it near the river. His accounting for the possession of it was entirely toe profuse for consistency and instead of winning the court over to his side he kept his honor guessing.
 But the really interesting things oc- cured when Seckaquina vert on t e stand himself. The first hard job was to get him under oath in q way that would make him appreciate his solemn and del icate position. Two efforts Were made to swear him before he even pretended to understand. Finally Mir Mead told him through an interpreter that the great United States wanted him to tell the truth and the court added under h.
  bey inquired what the court thought the Iniun knew about law.
 But he was finally "pedestaled" upon his horror and told to relate the, actual circumstances of his alleged outlaWTy. It was then that his eyes shona with the true romance of the Indian nature and rising above sordid things he declaime1 most poctiCally in the beautifully round ed figures of the Apache tongue. He waXcd eloquent in picturing the eterna l hills that surround Fort Mcdowell: in describing the silvery- thread of the Verde river as it winds its way to it's cOnfiU- ence with the Rio Salado; in painting the pastoral scenes amid which his eighty-six years of life have been spent: in rscapit- ulating his many conferences with Gen eral Crook, General Harney and other mo- table military leaders of the frontier in the days that tried mems souls; but rev. CT word did he utter about the time worn cONhide he was converting into shoe leather when he was ambushed and captured by the miniOns of the law All the testimony that the territory got out of Seckaquina could be written on d very table inspiration to those present who previously thought there was nothing sublime in the conceptions of the native American. There may be yes and no in the Apache language, but such trifling words are not employed in telling things on the witness stand. Seckaouina's tes- timony was finally concentrated into the previously made announcement that the hide came from Archer's ranch
 He was found guilty on the testimony or others and as a result of diversified stories told in his behalf. After the trial was over a man who sympathized with the persecuted poet said he had heard that the hide was an old one used in some capacity on a grain header and was thrown away, when it was picked up by the Indian The bull from which it had been taken had been dead six years But the hide in court had certainly never been used by anybody. not even a bovine, for many a long day. It was as dry as bone and as hard as q piece of armor plate.
 G: Q. Scott the arresting officer. rel 10 introduce some adverse 'character' testimony by asking the defendant if it was fact that he recently sold his wife for thirteen dollars. The question was ruled out as irrelevant and it was thought by some in the courtroom that It was an unwise question even if ad- mittcd, for if Mrs. Scckaruina is any where near as old as her husband the figure named would in no wise reflect upon the business judgment of the de defendant Lots of white men sell young CT women than that for less money.