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Show REPORT OF THE CO>I.IJIISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 57 Of course from a salary of 800 per month a matron can not provide herself with the needed small honse for headquarters, a horse to enable her to visit distant families or camps, food and medicine for the sick, sewing materials of all sorts, and household appliances to be distrib-uted in destitute homes. In some cases these are furnished from agency supplies, but more often they have been provided hy private charity whose interest has been quickly enlisted in this practical method of elevating the conditiou of Indian women. SALE OF LIQ~OR TO INDIANS. Perhaps the most serious difficulty arising out of whisky drinking by Indians which has been brought to the notice of this office during the year, is the accidental shooting of an Indian by the physician and overseer in charge uf the subagency on the Leech Lake Reservation at.tached to the White Earth Agency, Minn. Thecorrespondence shows that after a per capita payment had been made to the Indians last May, they obtained a large quantity of alcohol and whisky and assembled at a remote point on the reservation where they remainedfor several days drinking andcaronsing. Dr. Walker, the physician, havingheen advised that a new supply of whisky was to be brought on the reservation, intercepted a11 Indian who had in his possession a valise which the doctor believed to contain whisky in bottles. As the Indian assumed a threatening manner, the doctor drew Itis revolver hoping thns to intimidate him, and the doctor says that the weapon was accidentally discharged inflicting a slight flesh wound in the face of the Indian. The shooting so incensed the Indians that it was found necessary to send troops to the reservation to prevent them from killing Dr. Walker and destroying Government property, and Dr. Walker was placed under arrest by the United States marshal. From last reports, which were received through military channels, it seems that the Indians are now quiet and no further trouble is anticipated. Much trouble has arisen at reservations in the vicinity of military posts, where enlisted Indians are stationed, by the sale of liquor to the Indian soldiers, who, in turn, furnish it to the Indians of the reserva-tion. The following instructions in regard to the responsi6idility of an agent for Indian soldiers enlisted from tribes under his ,jurisdiction was addressed October 15,1892, to Hal. J. Cole, United States Indian agent for the Colville Agency in Washington, in reply to his report of Sep-tember 2, 1892, in regard to the sale of liquor to Indim soldiers by a man named Fox : In reply I have to say that this office believes that the United States is not relieved from the rtsponsibilit,~as sumec1 byit for tho protection of Indians against inflnences calculated to degmcle them moral17 and prex-ent them from advancingin the knowl-edge and oustoms of eiriliration by rlre mere fact of tlreir having been enlisted in the armies of the Government. Tlrej, nre still vnrds ma. sense, and shot~ldb e matla |