Alamogordo news-advertiser. (Alamogordo, Otero County, N.M.) 1912-1914, 1913-03-15
SENATOR FALLS
INDIAN SPEECH
FT. SILL APACHES NOT
WELCOME In N. MEX.

Extracts from speech on RE
moval of Apache Indians from FIT.
Sill Military Reservation deliv-
cred in the senate of the United
States, Tuesday, February 25th,
1918:
Mr. President, before the Presi-
dent pro tempore rules on the point
of order | should like to be heard
for a moment
At the last session of Congress,
Mr. President, when this bill was
up for consideration the conference
committee in it's report presented
to this body a provision that $780,
600 should be appropriated for the
purpose of removing these Ft. Sill
Indians to the Mescalero reserve
in New Mexico. =. The Fort Sill
Apache Indians did not come from
the Mescalero Agency. They are
not Mescalero Apaches. They were
the Hot Springs and San Carlos
Apaches of Arizona None of them
are Mescalero Apaches. They fol-
lowed Geronimo in the Apache war.
A few of these men claim to have
married relatives of some of the
Indian women now living upon the
Mescalero reserve. Now it is sought
to send them back to Mescalero.
Mr. President, the entire people
of New Mexico are protesting
against this action. have here
upon my desk a resolution from the
legislature of New Mexico, pass ed
unanimously, requesting that such
action as / now advocate and as is
embraced in this amendment be
adopted by the congress of the
United States.
If senators want to know why the
headmen of the Mescalero Indians
agreed that the Fort Sill Apache
Indians might be sent back there
and that they would receive them
| will say that l have the documents
here, coming from the office of the
| Secretary of the Interior himself,
showing exactly why. 1t is be-
cause the superintendent of that
agency has told these people that
| he would secure for them-the Mes
caleros-s3. 100000 to be distribut-
ed among them if they ould agree
to receive the FIT. Sill Apaches. l
hold in my hand letter from the
| present agent of the Mesealero In
dians. in which he says that at
present, if the lands of the Mes
calero Indians were allotted in sew
crafty to the 450 Mescaleros now
residing on the reservation, there
would only be from 10 to 15 acres
of land which it would be possible
! for them to use for agricultural pur-
poses. Now it is proposed to place
upon that reservation 200 more In
dians, who never belonged there,
who never were any part of the
Mescalero Tribe, and who have no
rights there whatsoever. ....
All their headmen have agreed to
these people coming back because
they have been told that immedi-
ately they ould receive $50O,000
from the Government of the United
| States. This is the true inwardness
of this proposition.
We have no objection to the FIT.
Sill Apaches being removed from
the Ft. Sill Reservation; We have
absolutely no objection to their
being discharged as prisoners OF
war; but we do object most serious
ly to receiving them back in New
Mexico, where they themselves and
their fathers made the ground run
red with the blood of Americans
descendants of whom are yet liv-
ing around the Mescalero Reserve
| know whereof I speak, because
the reservation is in my own coun-
ty in New Mexico. Around this
reservation are little cairns OF
stones thrown up where Americans
and Mexicans may see them as they
pass by to indicate where some man
or some woman or some child was
murdered by these Apaches. Those
piles of stones have been erected
In accordance with the Mexican Gus
tom, to the memory of the deceas
ed.
Mr.. President. when l originally
went to New Mexico the first towT
that | went into was Silver City
and as | got off the train in thu
streets of Silver City one of tn.
first things | saw was an American
holding In his hand the bleeding
scalp of a woman who had beer
killed by one of these Fort Sil
Apaches within a mile of the cour
house of Silver City that afternoon
The Indian who scalped her ha'
been shot.
Can you not find some other plac
to take these Indians? Is IL pos
sible there Is not sufficient land II
all these great United States L
} which Indians can be taken an
where they can be kept withou
forcing them back to live anon
: the people whose relatives the
: murdered? Why should they no
t occupy the land which has bee
T given them adjoining the Fort ST
! Military Reservation In Oklahoma
What use is to be made of tn
! of the land from which the Apact
es are to be withdrawn We car
nothing about that. We agreed Q
the last session OF congress with th
{ Representatives of Oklahoma O
! the Indian Committee In conferene
J that no part OF this money shoul
be used under any circumstances
0 locate these Indians In New Mex
co.