Bisbee daily review., 1914-11-13
0VERALLS TANGLE
 SELVES IN SEARCH
 FOR LOST PAPERS
Special Agent of Indian Bureau Finds Lost Document Among
 ArChieveS of Tribe After a Long, Endurance Testing Trip.

Long, Endurance Testing Trip.
 The quest of the government of the United States for an ancient and im- portant document supposed to exist among the archives of tribe of Ari- zona Indians has just been brought to a successful end. though 1t is stated that the result is not entirely satis. factory to the agent of the govern ment who had charge of the expedi- ton.
 A great many years ago a group Of these Indians lived on a Spanish land grant in the southern part of the state Some white man from the east whose name has been withheld visited the Indians and entered into some sort of agreement under which they were to relinquish their claim to half the grant. As the territory was not a part of the public domain they were able to transfer in this manner what ever interest they might have in the territory occupied by them.
 Whatever arrangement was made was entered into with ten chiefs Of the tribe. all of concurrent powers, and it was supposed that some con tract had been signed, the white man retaining one, and one of the chiefs the other. All the government knew of this contract is gained from the heirs of the white man who died many years ago. The last of the ten chiefs has been dead three years.
 The heirs filed a suit in the court of private land claims for a confirma- ton of their interest in the grant and the matter was referred to the Indian bureau. which sent a special agent to Arizona a couple of weeks ago to as- certain if such a contract as had been described by the heirs, existed among the Indians. The agent arrived at Tucson, where he outftted for a jour. ney to the Indian village 125 miles distant. over the desert The expe- dition was an imposing one and might have been mistaken for a large fill bustering movement against the neigh boring and friendly republic lying to the south
 The agent and his retinue arrived at the Indian village one afternoon and the former was overioyed to learn that such a contract was somewhere in the vicinity Every man, woman and chIId in the village knew about it. They described it to the interpreter as a very valuable paper though in what respect it was valuable none of them quite understood It seemed to be regarded by them as a mysterious and sacred document
 They said that it was in the posses sion of a son of one of the ten chiefs who at that time was at his rancheria l5 miles farther on. The agent with his expedition moved forward, think ing however that he would have to return to the village, since the custo- dian of the contract would not be likely to be carrying the precious document around with him.
 But when they at last found him it turned out that that was precisely what he was doing He always car ried it about his person. It was with great difficulty that he was persuaded to exhibit it. Like the rest of the villagers he did not understand in what it's value lay. It had been be- queathed to him and he was going to pass it on to the next generation. But at last he yielded He brought forth a package about the size of a brick wrapped in several folds of a gunny sack There were many inner layers of cloth and when they were removed there was disclosed an envelope bear ing signs of great age and some wear. The edges all around had been worn away and had been sewed together
 with thread. When the contents, O