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Show 132 Washington, and matters continued to deteriorate. When the Utes returned to camps near the agency in the late summer of 1879, a confrontation occurred. The incident arose over the land of a Ute named Johnson who had requested a farm and then used the land as pasturage for his 150 horses. Meeker decided to plow 50 acres of Johnson's pasture. As the plowmen began their work, warning shots were fired by the Indians, giving clear warning that they meant to resist Meeker's tactics. Meeker had for months hated the recalcitrant Utes. They now returned his hatred. A conference was held between the opposing forces with little gained, except to inflame the problems that were already apparent. The Utes loved and spent their time raising horses. Meeker saw the Utes as incipient farmers and the horse herds as his great enemies. After arguing with the Utes, the distraught agent accosted Johnson and suggested that the only solution was for Johnson to shoot some of his horses. This so angered the horse- V loving Ute that he seized Meeker, dragged him from his office and was in the process of beating the man when agency employees broke up the altercation. The shaken and furious Meeker telegraphed Washington stating that his life and the lives of all the whites there was in danger and asked for troops to defend lives and property. In reply, the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs, E. J. Brooks, wired Meeker instructions to arrest the leaders of the |