Year: 1876



 cry, etc. etc.

 Agent Cum, of the San Carlos Agency, writes to the Citizen long letter detailing the circumstances of an attempt by an h. dian chief (Dis-a-lin) to commit deliberate murder on the person of one of Mr. Clum's clerks, who, so far as appears from the mar ration, Lad not injured or even insulted the treaeherous savage in any manner. MT. Clum had abruptly ordered him, a minute before, to leave his room and go iEto the office, but Mir. Sveeny, the clerk, does not appear to have said word, and the chief evidently intended to murder him in lieu of Cum, whom he saved because there were too ma ny persons present to suit his purpose of kill ing him in his room.

 Mir. Cum attributes the hostile action of this Indian to domestic difficulties in which he, as agent, had decided against him and in favor of two of his wives who had become tired of his tyrancal treatment and wished to leave him.

 This may be the real present cause, but when MT. Cum shall have observed the In dian character as we have for nearly thirty years and witnessed the butcheries an helish conduct of the internal fiends whild pretend ing the utmost friendship for their victims, as we have witnessed it, he will begin to re- alize the danger he exposes himself and his employees to, in trusting to their good faith without the presence of troops. Dr. Whit man, of the Walla Wala Mission, long ago attempted tue same thing, and had progress ed much farther in civilizing the Cayuse tribe than it is possible for Mir. Cum to have done in the limited time since he first came among the Apaches, and had even taught many of them to read and write, and placed as much confidence in their friendship as if they had been his own children, when sud denly, and without the least apparent prov ocation, they arose in the night and murder cd every white person in. the Mission, num- bering, if we remember aright, some twenty souls, except one Frenchman, and, perhaps, a little girl whom he managed to save and es- cape with to Fort Dalles.

 This is only one instance of Indian treach- cry out of more than hundred that have come more immediately under our notice. We might mention the case of the family of John W. Jones, of Bear Creek, Shasta coun- ty, California, and another near Chico, only few years ago, where, long years after every one supposed all hostility had ceased be- tween the two races, and they were being employed on the farms and as domestics about the houses, and while protesting the tenderest affection for the children of these families, sneakingly and treacherously mur- dered them, every enc, submitting them to the most horrible imaginable torture. But, the instances are too numerous to refer to in detail, and we only mention these to illus trate the general character and disposition of the wild tribes of this coast, and to draw an inference from the experience of the past as to what may be expected in the future.

 The fact that these Indians, at the ap- proach of winter, when rations are of great consequence to them, are willing, in defense of the agent and the white people on the reservation, to kill their own chief, and that his own brother fired the fatal shot, which is regarded by the agent as true devotion to him and his interests. we fear he may find to be the most dangerous element in their na- ture. The disposition which caused them to kill their chief and brother, to please the agent, can easily be reversed, and should some disaifected and influential Indian take it into his head to get up a mutiny, nothing would please this same Indian police better than to exercise their prowess in brufAlly murdering and torturing all the whites with in the range of their power.

 We would not play the part of an alsrmist without probable cause, but having had am pie opportunities for observation, and not having been an entirely dsinterested spec tator in many of the scenes of carnage, butchery and inhuman torture to which we have alluded, we feel it duty we owe to hu- msnity to add our testimony to that of ev- cry old resident of the Coast who has been in position to observe the character of the wild trbies at the west, and to warn the au-

 

 absence ot troops or other power of which they stand in fear.

 That Mir. Cum is man of strong will and much force of character we are prepared to believe from all we have heard of him, but never having met him we only know him as an officer in the civil service of the Govern ment, who has been but short time on the frontier, and if by friendly voice of warn ing we could be of service in assisting him to avoid W sat we conceive to be imminent danger we should feel that we had done him as we'll as those under him . real service.

 It is hardly to be expected that these warnings will be needed, or that the present. Agent will abandon the idea of ruling the Apaches by moral suasion apart from the wholesome influence of the presence of troops, but when the day of wrath comes as it.is quite likely sooner or later te come, we shall have the conscious satisfaction of hay ing done our duty, and cansa "We warned you and ye would not" s. Happy indeed shall we be ifthese forebod-