OCR Text |
Show 56 COPdMISSIONEI1 OF INDIAN AFF4IB8. Thomas E. Brent$, a special o5cer of our service, whom I had de-tailed to assist in the search. On his first trial the jury disagreed. While again being tried in November, 1914, Ashley escaped from the custody of the deputy sheriff. He was retaken by the same special o5cer February 24,1915, and on April 4 was found guilty of murder and sentenced to be hanged by a judge presiding over the State dis-trict court at Miami, Fla. In this trial, for the first time in the history of the Florida Seminoles a member of that tribe appeared as a witness in the white man's court. The Seminole Indians are now said to have more confidence in the friendship of the Government than ever before. The other case was that of Juan Chacon, a Mexican herdsman, who on March 30,1914, was found murdered on the Ute Mountain Reser-vation in Colorado. Everett Hatch, or Tse-ne-gat, was arrested on a United States warrant charged with the commission of the crime. Being supported by his father, Old Polk, and a number of other Indians, he declined to surrender and fled to Utah. Much excitement prevailed in that section of the country when, after arming them-selves, they fled into a canyon and defied the authorities. During the conflict several white men and Indians were killed. Seeking to bring about a peaceful surrender, Maj. Gen. Hugh L. Scott, United States Army, was requested to act as an intermediary. Gen. Scott arrived at Bluff, Colo., on March 11, and 10 days later Tse-ne-gat and his associates surrendered. The officers of the Federal court released all of the Indians except Tse-ne-gat, who was put upon trial for murder and acquitted. HISTORICAL WORK, The historical societies of Illinois and Wisconsin hare in the past half year taken photostatic copies of over 14,000 papers from our old files, embracing the period from 1797 to 1841, inclusive. Later periods will be taken up during the winter. The valuable old files have also been consulted by historic investigators from the Central and South West States and from Gorth Carolina and Louisiana. UTE JUDGMENT FUND. Systematic plans were formulated during the year for the expendi-ture of the interest and a part of the principal of the $3,000,000 "Ute judgment fund," as appropriated each year by Congress, for the benefit of the Indians under the three Ute jurisdictions, par-ticularly at Uitah and Ouray, where the situation with respect to . the water rights demanded immediate attention. This situation was brought about by the fact that the State laws have been made applicable to the operation of the irrigation project on that reserva- |