, 1906-09-14
A X E
Bill and the Indians

Converse county seems to be in the
paradoxical position of the chap in
jail-who was nevertheless assured by
his lawyers that he was a free nan be-
cause the manne Of his arrest and in
generation was clearly Illegal.
Six hundred Indians with near nine
hundred ponies have been foraging off
this section for more than a month,
and from present indications they pro
pose to winter with us. They have
broken up into three bands during the
past week, one of which is located now
within seven miles of the city, another
about sixteen miles away on Sage
creek, and still another about thirty
miles to the north and east. All OF
these camps are necessarily located on
private property because there is no
other open water, and in each cas-
their stock is destroying range on
which local sheepmen depend for win
sheep camp was reported Sunday, III
which case-as in others previously
complained ola party of tcks delib
erately skinned the wagon of every
thing 1t contained in the line of provis-
ions-leaying the shepherd norhins to
live on except live mutton ami milk
~and-water scenery. Complaint Is
made, too, by ranchmen living along
the Platte where they have camped
since they came that in several in
stances these Indians have deliberate
ly turned their ponies into pastures,
alfalfa fields n even shocked oats
have robbed hen coops and committed
all sorts of petty theft.
We are told that these Indians are
citizens N amenable to the laws in
such case made and provided. Jesse
and yet we are cautioned in the same
breath by Captain Hall-their agent,
who left here Monday without being
able to do anything with them
against any attempt to arrest the
thieves, or any show of civil authori-
ty-that it would surely provoke ser
ious trouble. White men committing
like depredations would have landed in
jail long ago; but these are Indians
and must be let alone. To ferret out
and arrest the thieves from among this
horde of human pack-racks is impos-
sible, anyway. One might as well at.
tempt to Jail a swarm of grasshoppers,
and pick therefrom the insect who cop
ped out a certain hill of corn-there
would only be a big bill of expense
which the county would have to pay,
with no possibility of conviction.
Some newspapers assure us that
these Indians have as good a right to
be here as we-that they are amen
able to the law, and cannot be com
PEELED to owe on. They are defying
the law, every day-and what can we
do? We know that among them are
some of the ~ringleaders in the Meeker
massact9-one of the worst in recent
frontier history. They are ~unfriendly,
or they would be at home. There isn't
a wagon in the outit-which spells
trouble to rhe man who knows them
and their nature. The very fact that
they are here, armed to the teeth and
in open defiance of agency supervision
or even q~uasi-control is proof enough
of their bad temper and that they car
ry a chip on their shoulder, and the
cool assurance with which they COM
nit trespass, robbery and petty theft
is evidence enough that they will raise
hell if interfered with unless confront
ed with a superior force.
There has been nobody killed
there has been no open rupture-there
is no Indian scare on in this coun-
try. But. brethren, We are face TO
face with all the conditions which have
led up to every serious Indian outbreak
in history, and all these things and
more will happen if some plan is not
devised, and that soon, to rid us of
this horde of lousy locusts. They are
killing sheep and cattle; they are open
ly robbing fiockmasters of their win.
ter feed, sheep camps of provisions,
ranchmen of hay, grain and other pro-
ducts-are killing game and openly
violating every law which is presumed
to protect our property-and to which
We are submitting with such patience
as We have on tap. But it must be
stopped.
What are we going to do about it?
Probably what others have done under
like circumstances-what you would
do, if in u shoes-and 1 am fearful
that every day will bring the answer.
Budget