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Show REPORT OF AGENT IN COLORADO. lullj, for whiell they dnwvvb grzur crealir, vrprrinlly when ir isrnkeu in aunaiderarioll tl~nt until rarv rreanrly il Urn Iwlinn regarded tuann~al laloor as degrndinc nncl alto. oethar beIo\v Li3 dirnirr. lu vo!aet.,lncn.l.n o i rile suceeas ahic~h ILaac !udlriduald Have attained men? o t h r Indians df progressive proolivitiea are anxious to follow their example, if they can obtain the necessary assiatanoe from t,he Government. Al-though I have repeatedly applied for such aid, the Department has granted the same only to a very limited extent. There are at present 300 acres of good land under fence, 250 of which have been onltivated and have prodneed fair orops. Supplies are issuedweekly. Tha amouut furnished this sgenoy is sadly inadequate to the wauts of the Indians. If i s~u e dac cording to inatructiona, each individual re-ceives per week only about one and three-quarter pounds of beef, the aame quantity of flour, a, few grains of coffee aud sugar, and a lit,tle baking-powder, salt, and soap-not enough to keep them from starving., They receive nothing elsein the line of pro-visiou+ no bacon, no corn, no potatues, no beans; in fact, absolutely nothiug else. When it is remembered that there is no game left to speak of, it is hard to see how they will manage to exiat. In former years, when game was plentiful oo the reserre, they were fumi8hed supplies in isbundanos. Now, when tlla psmo is nearly exter-minated, their suppljea are systemstioali reduosd fiom year t,o lea=. If no relief is granted them, they will be compelled By hunger to steal aattle, snrl oantiunous troubles, perhapti an Indian war, willbe t.henna~oidsbleco nsequence. Jlesnsshould be promptly taken for their relief. During the past year a school-house, offices for thengent aodfbrthephyscian, have been erected,and n new dnelling-house for the agent has been partly completed. The latter should be finished aithuut delay, and ell of these new buildings should be paint,ed, in order to protect the lumber from the weather; but so far I have not been able to obtain authority to have it dons. A der-sohool has not been ooened. no autharitv bavine as yet been manted to en-t, he szeson, the bay crop for &is fear will be small. The agency phyeician, who has been here for several years, possesses their confi-dence in agrest degree, not only as s. physician, but also as a friend, and is constantly oonsulted by them. The native medicine-mm, however, still maintain8 his position among them, they being very superstitious, and sspecinlly inclined to belief in witch-orsft. On the morning of the 19th day of June a cruel outrage was perpetrated on a party of these Indians, who were hunting eome distance *om the reserva-tion. An entire family of six persona, oonsist,ing of men, women, and children, were murdered by some white seollndr~lsw hile aslcep in their teepees. Newa of this oc-currence was brought to me by Indian runners on the Plat ds. of June. I immedi-ately proceeded to the acene of the maasacre, aocompa~iedbylau mber of chiefs, part of my police force,and two oompafiies of United States cavalry. We were guided to the apot where the murders were committed by a. squaw who had escaped from the maasacre. On arrivin there we found the hodiex of six Indiaus in a oonditioll which clearly proved that t,tey had been attthaoked and killed while aaleep and could have given no provocation for the atrocious urime. The perpetrator8 of this foul murder have not been tliseovsred, and even if they were known I doubt whether the State authorities would take steps to arrest and punish them. An Indian is hardly con-sidered s human being by a certain class of the whites with which thispart of the country is disgraond. Them osn be no excuse for this foul crime, and it will always be n foul blot npon the reputation of this country. Idle rumor8 of threatened Indian outbreaks became numerous after this, and were asrefully nourished and widely ciroulated by irreaponsibla and subsidized newspaper aorrespondents and interested parties. Appeal6 for militia were made to the guv-ernor of the State, who, however, after careful investigation, declined to respond. In view of the fact that money ia Boaroe here at present and businessvery dull, o. great many people were andoubted17 disappointed by this refusal. The majority of such rumors are originated by parties who would be benefited by having troops stationed in this part of the oouutry ; fur instance, ranohmen, whose limited faoilities for dia-posing of their crop8 would he greatly enchanced by the presence of larger bodies of troops, or small shopkeepers, to whom the presence of military would open an era of unaocustomed prosperity. The efficiency of the Indian police is not what might be desired. They are, however, grsduslly improving. I hsve not deemed it advisable to Us0 them where, in perform-snce of their duties, they wonld he brought in oontaot with the whites. No Indian courts have as yet been established here. I have repeatedly mentioned the matter to the ohiefs, but finding no encouragement from them, I hsve dropped it until some future time. The Southern Ute Iodians am no donbt making aomeprogreas towards oivilization. |
