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Show 54 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFATRS. A number of their hands have never taken part in treaties, hut have ranged at will over a wide district of country, from Kansas to the Rio Qrande,and from the frontier settlements of Texas far into New Mexico, frequently plundering emigrant and merchandise trains, or making raids upon and carrying away into captivity the women and children of the border people. I t is trt~e, beyond doubt, that in the case of some of these raids, they have been induced, in the minds of apart of the Indians engaging in them, by a dim notion that they were really performing a friendly act for the government by attacks upon its enemies. Their agent has labored all the time, and during the last year and a half par-ticularly, to remove this idea from the minds of the tribe, and nearly a dozen prisoners were brought in and delivered to the treaty commissioners of 1865, the chiefs promising that such acts shou~ld cease. Complaints of raids into Texas, however, continue to be made, hut it was thought, until reoently, that they were the acts of that part of the tribes not treated with. This impreesion is destroyed by the evideuce redently presented, implicating the treaty Indians, in the bold avowal pf the most inhuman acts of outrage by chiefs who bad the temedty to come to a military post nearest to their agency and demand a ran-som for some of the prisoners. Xr. Taylor, who had charge of the Arapahoes, kc., in that immediate neighborhood, called upon the chiefs to return the prison-ers without ransom, threatening them with punishment by the government, but they refused to comply,sayiug that the7 would deliver them to their own agent,, Colonel Leavenworth, who was temporarily absent from the State; and it appears that an officer of the United States army, commanding one of the posts, induced by the desire to rescue one of the captives from horrors worse than death, has promised to pay a large snm as a ransom. This is the last informa-tion received from that quarter. ' Measures have been takeyto obtain the par-ticulars of these occurences from the agent of the tribe involved, and prompt action should follow, under the direction of the depar~ment. The Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Apaches, also treated with in 1865, have for the most part well observed their treaty sti'pnlations ; indeed, no complaints whatever have been made of the Arapahoes and Apaches. A small, hut reso-lute and active hand of the Cheyennes, known as the "Dog Soldiers," who did 1 not unite with their people in the treaty, have occasioned much trouble, and doubtloss have committed outrages on the frontier, they refusing to give up the country waterea by the Smoky Hill Fwk. They were conferred with by Major Wynlroop, special agent of the department, last February, and their leading chiefs agreed to the stipulations of the treaty of 1865, which does in effect givc up the Smoky Hill route, bnt allowed the Indians to hunt through that couutry, keeping away from thetravelled roads westward. The Indians appear to have construed their signature to the paper forwarded by Major Wynkoop as only a general consent of friendship with the whites, hut not as surrenderi~~tgh e Smoky Hill country. Late in the summer Major Wynkoop was sent out again and met some of these chiefs, when, after full conference, those present agreed,to yield the, contested point. The representation on the part of the "Dog Soldiers" was, however, very limited. The officer referred to has lieen appointed agent for those tribes, to succeed Mr. Taylor, hut has not yet report6dhis arrival at his post. The latter has recently reportedameet-ing with the " Dog Soldier" chiefs, and their promise to leave entirely the dis-puted country and go south, hut he fears h a t their apparent acquiescenceis only on account of their desire to obtain their share of the annuities now en route. The whole matter is a fair illustration of one of the difficulties incident to the Indian service. I t is believed that the majority of the I<iowas and Co-mancbes are desirous to observe faithfully their treaty etipnlations, and the same rnay he mid as to the Indians of the other agency; yet in the one case some of heir people have committed fiendish outrages upon innocent families in Texas, and in the other an un~vlyh and is alleged to Lace been pe1;petrating crimes in |