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Show REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 35 laughing and chatting in anticipation of the pleasure they expected in entertaining their guests, Johnson told those of the parly who had remained behind trapping of the ol'l'er of the governor, and with such details of temptation as easily overcame any scruples such men might have. As they were all armed with rifles which were always in hand, day and night, together with pistols in belt, they needed no preparation. The howitzer, which the Indians might have supposed to be a small keg of whisky, was placed on the ground and pointed at the group of warriers, squaws, and little children around the lire, watching the roasting meat. While thus engaged, with hearts full of kindly feelings toward their white friends, Johnson gave the signal. The howitzer was discharged, sending its load of bullets scattering and tearing through the mass of innocent human beings, and nearly all who were not stricken down were shot by the rifles of the white men. A very few succeeded in escaping into the ravine and fled over the dividing ridge into the northern valleys, where they met others of their tribe, to whom they told the horrible story. " The Apaches at once showed that they could imitate their more civilized brothers. Immediately a band of them went in search of the other company of trappers, who, of course, were utterly unconscious of Johnson's infernal work. They were attacked unprepared and nearly all killed, and the story that ' the Apaches were treacherous and cruel ' went forth into all the laud, but nothing of the wrongs they had received." The " Penole treaty by Kin- g Woolsey," as it is called, of 1853, narrated by J. Ross Browne, esq., in his " Adventures in the Apache Country," ( 10th chapter,) in which twenty- four Final and Tonti Apaches were treacherously murdered by Woolsey's party of white men and Maricopa allies while they were seated by their side in perfect confi-dence and security, having laid down their arms and come in under a promise of protec-tion and pledge of peace. The killing of the Coyotero Apache chief, Magnus Colorado, arrested through deception and under false charges, by pushing a heated bayonet through the canvas tent in which he was prisoner, and shooting him when he moved, under the pretense that he was trying to escape. The equally treacherous attempt to kill his brother- in- law and successor, the present famous chief Cochise, by inviting him in under a Hag of truce and then attempting to take him prisoner, and, as he bravely cut his way out of the tent, shooting him in the leg and killing his relatives who re-mained prisoners in the tent. And more recently the massacre at Camp Grant, \ vhich has shocked all Christendom, wherein one hundred and eighteen women and children and eight men were killed in cold blood by white people of Tucson and their Papago allies, while they were sleeping in confidence under the " protection" of the American, flag " as prisoners of war." ( See Appendix A b, No. 2.) Events like these and many others would seem to be quite sufficient to have made these Apaches the " blood- thirsty and relentless savages" they are now reported to be. With these official records before us, showing the injustice and folly of their treatment by the Mexicans in denying them any rights to the soil on which they lived as the original occupants; their good- will toward the Americans, who, on their first acquaintance, treated them justly ; their industrious habits and peaceable charac-ter when placed upon reservations and allowed a fair opportunity to gain a livelihood; the inhuman treachery and cruelty on the part of white men, which has made them our implacable foes, and the heavy cost, both in life and treasure, which these events have entailed upon us, we have felt it to be our duty, for the last three years, to endeavor to better the condition of the Apache Indians of Arizona. Of the present character of these Indians there is not much difference of opinion between " Christians" and " Exterminators," but in their treatment as one believes in their salvation, the other in their destruction there is disagreement. Congress, at the earnest solicitation of the board, having passed the appropriation ot $ 70,000, referred to in our report of last year, " to collect the Apache Indians of Arizona and New Mexico upon reservations, furnish them with subsistence and other necessary articles, and to promote peace and civilization among them," the board at its meeting in May directed " its secretary to visit the Apache country, to take such measures as might seem expedient to prevent the perpetration of further outrages like the Camp Grant massacre, and, if possible, avert the apprehended war." On the 13th of July, in company with Commissioner George H. Stuart, I called upon the President at Long Branch, New Jersey, and reporting to him the condition of affairs in New Mexico and Arizona, we received letters from him to the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of War, directing that enlarged powers be given to such agent as the Secretary of the Interior might select to etiect " so desirable an object" as above indi-cated. ( See Appendix A fr, No. 4.) The Acting Secretary of the Interior having selected me as the agent, authorized and requested me to proceed to New Mexico and Arizona Territories, and there take such action as in my judgment seemed wisest and most proper for locating the nomadic tribes of those Territories upon suitable reservations, bringing them under the control of the proper officers of the Indian Department, and supplying them with necessary subsistence, clothing, and whatever else might be needed. The Department invested |