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Show In submitting the case to this office the agent said: It is e ~ i d e ntth at the Zuni Indians who took part in the hanging and torture of the old woman referred to mU8t be severely punished. * * * Crimes of this char-acter have been frequent among these Indians; only a few year8 ago two of them were hung for witchcraft. This case is also referred to in the agent78 annual report, page 199. Upon the request of the Department, dated March 13,1897, the gov-ernor of New Mexico directed the district attorney to prosecute the oEenders to the fullest extent of the law. August 18 the acting agent reported the necessity for the presence of an armed force to assist the civil authorities in making the arrests, an opinion which was concurred in by the United States attorney at Albuquerque. Three troops of cavalry were therefore detailed for that purpose and four Indians, Hay to1 si, No mo si, Ny u che, and Key i si, were arrested at Zuiii, without any violence or disorder, and taken to Las Lunas for trial. They were bound over in the sum of $5,000 each for the aotion of the grand jury, the next term of court being held iri February, 1898.' Inasmuch as the acting agent feared that personal violence to the white residents and employees of the Government was likely to follow the arrests, one troop of cavalry was ordered to remain at Zuiii for a while. In June last, prior to these arrests, a Carlisle graduate was brutally beaten by some of the Zuiiis. ASSAULT UPON NAVAJOES, ARIZONA. Prom a report made to the Navajo Agency by Mr. 3. C. Tipton, addi-tional farmer, stationed at Tuba City, Ariz., it appears that January 18, 1897, the board of supervisors of Coconino County placed upon the records the following order: Ordered that it is hereby authorized to employ not more than 20 men, st a. com-penaation of $2 per day and furnished, for the pnrposa of assessing the property of Navajo Indiana within Coconino County. On that date there were '16 Navajo families tending their flocks in a grazing district bounded on the east and north by the Little Colorado River, and on the west by the Colorado River, a portion of the tract being within the boundaries of the "Grand Canyon, National Park." On this national reserve most of the Indians were pasturing their stock-a tract of country which they had thus occupied for genera-tions and which has never been surveyed. No copy of the order was served upon the sheriff of the wunty, who was ex-officio assessor, and the legal time for making assessments was several weeks later than the date of the order. Nevertheless, the very next day, January 19, the sheriff with an armed posse visited each of these 16 families and lSince this report wss written the question of the liability of the Go%-ernment for the aost of food for these prisoners while committed has been raised by the local authorities. The Depmtment of Justice has decided that the expense map fairly b? deemed a part of the costs of the $rial within the meaning of section 11 of the act of Maroh 2, 1897 (26 Stst. L., 1004), and way be defrayed by the Qovernment. . |