Arizona republican., 1905-01-22

of children were to arrive to be dis | tributed to Mexican families, a crowd l of MeXicians gathered at the station l on the arrival Of the train, together 1 with a few American women of good
 families, the latter being attracted by 1 curiosity and a desire to see the clil- | dren, who. they supposed, were Mexi- 1 cans. The children consigned to the persons in Clifton were taken from the car by those in charge of them. the | Americans present assisting in taking
 them cut. The latter were told by the l agent that no disposition of the chil-
 dren to the Mexican families would be
 made that night, and, on being asked | by one of the American women, said | that in the morning an opportunity
 would be given her to make an apph- | cation for one of the children.
 Upon the arrival of the train the | priest came into the car. The Sister | Anna Michella then asked him what l sort of people they were to whom the | children were to be allotted. He there upon said that they were all good American citizens, moral. and had no | children of their own, and that the | homes were al that could be wished l for Having noticed that some of the | people were not as fair in color as she
 
 asked him if there would be any half | breeds among them, and he said "No." She asked him how the people | lived, and he replied that they lived in frame houses. She then stated to him that it was the rule of the home that the children were only placed out on trial until such time as the homes
 could be visited by the sisters, and that if it were found that any of the homes were not as expected the children would be removed.
 The children to be left at Clifton were taken to the priests house, and fifteen of them, under the supervision of the priest, were turned over that night to the persons to whom they were consigned. No visit to or ex- animation of the homes Of these people was made at any time, either by the Agent Swayne, the sisters in charge or any one on behalf of the petitions. They relied entirely upon the state ment of the priest.
 The evidence establishes, without contradiction, that the persons to whom the children were given as as signed, both in Clifton and Morenci, were wholly unfit to be entrusted with them; that they were, with possibly one or two exceptions, of the lowest class of half-breed Mexican Indians: that they were impecunious, ilIiterate, unacquainted with the English an guage, vicious, and, in several in- stances, prostitutes and persons of mo- tOriOusly bad character: that their homes were of the crudest sort. being for the most part built of adobe, with dirt floors and roofs; that many of them had children of their own, whom they were unable properly to support. Sister Anna AIichella, who was en- trusted with the matter of carrying out the instructions of the hospital au- thorities, was so struck by the un- f1tnes of these people that in th1ee in stances she refused to allow the chill dren to be delivered, and in other in stances, as testified to by witness, gave them up with tears streaming from her eyes''; and from her own testimony it appears that she was not satisfied with the people to who1G they were to be delivered, but that she felt she could not override the authority of the priest.
 On the morning of the second of Oc- tober it became generally known to the American residents of Clifton that the children had been distributed the night before to these people. Much iudigna- tion was immediately aroused, and an informal conference of citizens was held to discuss the matter of the dis tributiCn of the children which had been made. A committee was appoint ed to go to MOrenci and ascertain from the priest and the agent, Swayne, their purposes, and to inform them as 10 the feeling excited among the Americans over the distribution of these white children to these half-breed Indian families. This committee was compos- ed of one Jeff DunagGn, deputy sher- if, and one Thomas Simpson The committee left Clifton about 1 o'clock in the afternoon and arrived in Moren- ci shortly after 2 o'clock in the after noon. They immediately went to see Mir. Mills, the superintendent of the cop per company operating at that place | and one of the leading citizens of. the town, and, In company with him, went in search of the agent Swayne, whom they found at the hotel. Duna gan 1 then stated to the agent the feeling which had been aroused in Clifton | their purpose ir visiting Morenci, and asked him what he would do in the matter
 Both Dunagan and Simpson testified | that in response to their inquiries the | agent, Swayne, said that he knew his business, and did not propose to be | dictated to by the people; that the chiI- | dren had been placed and would stay placed" The testimony of Swayne | qualities the statements of Dunagan | and Simpson as to what was said by | him on that occasion. But whatever may have been the precise reply made by Swayne, it is net disputed that | Dunagan and Simpson telephoncd the information to the people in Clifton that they had seen Swayne and that his reply was that he would not do anything; that the children had been placed and would stay placed.
 Upon the receipt in Clifton of this information so telephoned, a meeting of the citizens was held and a com mittee of twenty-five persons vas named to collect the children from the rAanrnla n rr-l. tlnnr- h n-a ]