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Show 4 -3- . I dwelt at length upon the absurdity of Black Hawk's statement as to the prerogatives of Indian policemen (.as he claimed to have been instructed by Ex-Agent Critchelo-..-) and explained very clearly the duties of Indian policemen; that they wore soldiers of the Government and the agent was their comraanding officer; that it vras an honor to be chosen a policeman, they being selected by the agent from among the better class of Indians, who forwarded their names to Washington for approval by the Department; that faithfulness and obedience to orders were necessary qualifications for an Indian policeman,and that the agent being the representative of the Government upon an. Indian reservation, his orders were the orders of the Government and should always be respected and obeyed, and that similar powers were delegated to superintendents of schools and othei employees of an agency or school '."her, acting under orders of the agent or authority of the Department. All Indians who spoke in this Council referred to the soldiers having been brought to the agency on Denember l.Xh last as having been unwarranted and a great humiliation to thorn, they stating that nothing was intended nor threatened by anyone to burn the school buildings or interfere with employees, as was reported of the..., that 'they concluded to take their children home luring tha epedeaie of measles so that if they died of the disease, which they feared would be the case from one having died that morning, they wanted to have them die at hone. In this connection I desire to state that from my investigating the matter and questioning the Oaptain of police and school policeman "Charley" very particularly regarding the matter, I aa. of the opinion that no threat of burning the school building was made by Black Hawk or any other indian. School policeman Charley stated -.hat agent |
