OCR Text |
Show Complaints have been very frequent in Kansas during the summer, and till a recent period, of outrages of various kinds, involving, in some cases, the loss of life and the infliction of savage barbarities upou defenceless frontier settlers; and the atltho~itieso f that State deemed it necessary to take measures to put a stop to them. I t has not appeared that the military authorities of that dis-trict were either unable or unwilling to take the matter in band, though such may have been the case; but this office was advised that a general of the Kan-bas militia was engaged in persuading a large number of the men of some of the tribes, residing upou reservations in that State, to'join his forces in an expedi-tion to chastise tlie bauds engaged in the outrages referred to. Directions were at ouce sent to the ~uperinteudeut, Hr. Murphy, to prevent his Indians from joining in any such expedition, as it was not deemed advisable to allow of the employment of tbose Indians, and the inevitable hostility to be aroused be-tween them and other Indians with whom they might come in contact. I t was at tbe time supposed that the "dog soldiers" of the Cheyennes were the authors of tbose alleged outrages, but by recent correspondence between General Cloud, the Kansas officer above alluded to, and Superintendent Taylor, they appear to he charged upou the Ottoes, Pawnees, and Omahas, of the northern superin-tendency. General Clood, as agent, appointed by the State authorities, re-quested the supe~int,endeutto send down to a point named in western Kansas some of the chiefs of the tribes named, that they might attend an investigation of these matters, proposed to he had at that place. Superintendent Taylor has referred the correspondence to this office, and has heen instructed to decline sending a delegation of the chiefs, as requested, but to assure the parties who are seeking to identify the guilty parties that if they will present their evideuce, the most careful investigation will be made in each tribe, in order to ascertain if such parties are ha~.boreda mong them. 'I'he superintendent expresses a very decided opinion that neither the Omabas nor Pawnees a1.e guilty, but is not sure that some of the Ottoes may not have been engaged in these outrages. The Omahas have had a very prosperous year, and have, as usual, paid much attention to farming. If the stipulations of their treaty providing for the allotment of their lauds in severalty were carried into effect, the agvnt thinks the tribe would abandon the chase altogether. Every year more of the men and less of the women labor in the fields, the latter being left to their honsehold work. The population of this trihe by the last census was 997, showing a slight decrease since last year. The people have raised this season ahout 65,000 bushels of grain, and 8,000 bushels of potatoes and other vegetables, their crop beii~rv alued at S35.725. The"v disn.ose o f their surn, lus nroducts to advantage 2 - am0i.g the whites, and are in n very conlfortahle rondirioa. A change has Lec.11 made in ihe sspt>riurende~o~f t[ heir mission srl~oola, nd tho result Itas been bcnrfirial. The reuorr shows 61 scholars in attenda~~cwc,i rh a progress generally satisfactory. The agent expresses the opinion tbat there should be a more general diffu-sion of educatiou among them, tbat sufficient facilities should be provided for educating all their children within certain ages, and that attendance should be compulsory. The theory is a good one, and were the means at hand to pro-vide the necessary buildings and teachers, the plan could, at all events, be tried. The Omahas last year showed their willingness to adopt such a system, by agreeing to the insertion of a clause in their last treaty by which the annui- .ties of those who should refuse to send their children to school should be sto-p -p ed. The clause was not inserted, however. Estimates for the survey of the reservation, with a view to allotments, have been prepared, and it is contemplated to effect this mnch-desired improvement in their condition in time for them to labor upon individual lands next year. Our accouuts from the Winnebago agency are quite favorable, and the agent, |