Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-03-25

and Posey and their Indians had gone
to the Navajo mountains, some 125
miles west of Bluff. We stayed day
in Bluff and then went to Mexican Hat
on the San Juan river, twenty-eight
miles west of Bluff.
1--WE sent a friendly Piute, called
Jim's Boy, out to tell the Piutes that
wanted to see them. Some of them
came in near where we were camped
but it was not until the third day that
any dared to come to the camp.
"Posey and four other Indians then
came into camp. We talked little
through a Navajo interpreter. 1t was
in the evening and l just asked them
how they were. l told them did not
fell very we'll and did not want to talk
to them until the next day. They
helped us kill beef and we gave them
good meal, the first they had had
for weeks. They we're poorly clad and
we gave them some blankets. Posey
and his men did not have any weapons
but have reason to suspect that they
had hidden them in the rocks nearby.
The next day Polk and Hatch and
about twenty-five others came in to
see me. | asked them to tell me their
come in the daylight on horseback and
surrounded them, shot their children
and wounded a squaw. They said they
didn't like the cowboys. 1t seemed
they had previously had trouble with
the cowboys.
Then | told them some Of my
troubles. l told them I didn't think
think they would like to have their
children chased by soldiers and cow
boys all over the mountains and
killed. told them I would not like
to have my children treated that way
and that | would be glad to do any
thing I could to stop it. l did not try
to push matters with them. l told
the agents to see that they had pro-
visions and blankets for the rest OF
their people and for their squaws and
children. I told them that after they
had thought matters over wanted
them to tell me what they wanted to
do about it. They talked together
and then said they wanted to do just
what | wanted them to do.
Then we sat down in circle and
said: The marshal wants you, and
YOU and you indicating Posey, Polk,
Hatch and Posey's boy, to go with him
to Salt Lake The rest of you can go
back to your people and to the reserva-
ton with the agents. Is that all
right?' They said it was, and further
they said that if I said so they would
all come to Salt Lake. -.
"Then we broke camp and all rode
ponies back into Bluff. We rode ahead
and let the Indians follow us. They
have never been ironed or shackled,
not even led to believe they are pris-
oners. They never tried to get away.
Why. | don't believe we could get rid
of them if we tried. At night they
have slept together and nobody has
stood guard over them.
They are perfectly harmless now.
All the Indians are satisfied. The
whites are over their scare and there
will be no more trouble from this band
of Indians. These Indians are just
children, easy to alarm and sometimes
hard to appease. They had worked
themselves up to a pitch where they
were getting very dangerous. They
were attempting to get large band
of Navajos to join them in an out
break. Where they were camped in
the wild, broken country near the
Grand canyon. they would have been
mighty hard to dislodge. 1t would
| have taken a large force of cavalry,
two regiments probably, to subdue
them. and it would have cost the gov
eminent $4,000 just to get the soldiers
! in here
None of the four Indians talks Eng
lish. Through an Interpreter, Tse-Ne-
Cat or Hatch, said he was not guilty
of any crime. When asked about the
Mexican he is accused of killing, he
said:
"The Mexican was my friend. We
camped together I did not kill him.
Why should | kill my friend?