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Show 88 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFIBG. back to Oraibi under a guaranty of right. treatment by the friendlies in occupation there. Of the rest, 53 renewed their declaration of hostility to the Government and were placed under arrest; and upon these, and 20 more whowere arrested the next day, a sentence of ninety days at hard labor on the roads of the reservation was imposed. Immediately after the arrests the children wewgathered in, those whoa parents consented being placed in a local day school, and 117 others sent to Keams Canyon. They not only did not shed any tears, but seemed much pleased to go. This was most grati-fying; since, but for the sake of these little ones and the respon- 'sibility, both moral and legal, resting upon me to see that they should have their chance in life as our own children have theirs, I should not have deemed it worth while to attempt anything more at this time than to put a quietus upon the quarrel between their ' elders. The simplest humanity, however, demanded such interven-tion as I made in the children's behalf, where their parents were so utterly devoid of foresight or reason with regard to their funda-mental interests. With the removal of the long-sentence prisoners from Keams Canyon to Fort Wingate, we were able to dispense with the services of the troops on the reservation. And I wish, before closing this chap-ter of a unique story, to record thus publicly, as'I have already in my formal official corre'spondence, my appreciation of the fine handling of their work by the military contingent. The sympathetic yet dis-creet counsels of the commanding officer, Captain Holbrook, and the admirable discipline of the men, contributed in the largest measure to the successful issue of a very delicate and difficult undertaking. At the outset of this whole complicated business it was assumed that the hostiles evicted from Oraibi would build another village somewhere; and my purpose was not only to let them choose its site for themselves but to lend them such encouragement and aid as I eould consistently with the other plans in hand. In addition, I was going to give the new village a day school of its own, if the Indians would make use of it in good faith, either under compulsion or other-wise. Ort in case later the two factions could be brought to tolerate each other as neighbors and settle down in peace together in the old pueblo, it was my wish to help them improve the place, and I should have increased the capacity of the present day school to the point of accommodating all the children. Other projects for their welfare were under consideration, one of them being a hospital to be erected by private munificence and run on a cooperative plan. But all these matters had to be pushed aside to make way for the immediate needs of the hour and the still difficult disposition of the Indians. The women and children were provided with temporary |
