USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. VIII > Part 18
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THE PEACE COMMISSION.
the trip alone from here to Prescott. Others have done the same.
" 'Respectfully, your obedient servant, """'DAVID WHITE, " 'Chaplain United States Army. " 'Hon. VINCENT COLYER.'
"Camp Whipple, near Prescott, Arizona, "October 6, 1871.
"We arrived here on the evening of the 4th, and were received quite cordially by General Crook, who insisted upon my making his quar- ters my home. Indeed, throughout my journey in Arizona and New Mexico, I have been received with the utmost kindness by the officers of the Army, as I have before reported.
"The general and I differed somewhat in opin- ion as to the best policy to be pursued toward the Apaches, but as these differences were honestly entertained and kindly expressed, it did not lessen the cordiality of our intercourse; and as he desired me to frankly express my opinion if there was anything in his official action which I questioned, and as he had been pleased to do the same with me, much to my satisfaction, I told him I could not help expressing my regrets that he should have felt it to be his duty to censure Major Wm. Nelson for his manly defense of the Indians on the reservation at Camp Grant.
"The following day, with the advice of General Crook and that of Captain Frederick Van Vliet, who commands at Camp Hualapai, we arranged that the Hualapai Indians, who congregate around Beal Springs, a military post, about two hundred miles to the northwest of Prescott,
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
should be fed at that post, and a temporary reser- vation be declared one mile around the camp until a more permanent reservation could be selected. The recent discovery of silver mines, and the uncertainty of their precise location, in the country inhabited by the Hualapai Indians, made it impracticable for us to do any more than the above for the present.
"General Crook also thought it not advisable to attempt to move the Apache-Mohaves who range through the country in the neighborhood of Date Creek, this winter, to the reservation at Camp Verde, but that they should be fed at Camp Date Creek until the spring, when they may con- sent to move. With his advice, we therefore de- cided to name that post, and for one mile around it, a temporary reservation, and General Crook issued the necessary orders accordingly.
"Mr. Merriam, (Marion), the editor of the 'Arizona Miner,' and several other gentlemen, called to invite me to address in public meeting the citizens of Prescott on the Indian question. I read to Mr. Merriam, (Marion) his editorials, published before my arrival, wherein he called me a 'cold-blooded scoundrel, ' 'red-handed assas- sin,' etc., and said, 'Colyer will soon be here, *
* * We ought, in justice to our murdered dead, to dump the old devil into the shaft of some mine, and pile rocks upon him until he is dead. A rascal who comes here to thwart the efforts of military and citizens to conquer a peace from our savage foe, deserves to be stoned to death, like the treacherous, black-hearted dog that he is,' etc., and told him that I had no hankering after that kind of 'mining.'
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THE PEACE COMMISSION.
"The gentleman assured me that they would protect me with their rifles and revolvers; but as my official duties were wholly with the Indians, and the officers of the Government having them in charge, and I was unable to see sufficient rea- sons for addressing a public meeting in which I should have to be protected with rifles and re- volvers, I respectfully declined. Mr. Merriam (Marion), gave me a beautiful specimen of gold quartz, and I thought we had parted pretty good friends, but three days after he published an edi- torial containing several gross calumnies, and abusing me worse than ever .- V. C."
"Washington, D. C., December 20, 1871.
"We left Prescott for home Saturday morn- ing, October 7, accompanied with many expres- sions of goodwill from the officers of the Army stationed at Camp Whipple.
"In passing through Kirkland Valley, near Date Creek, the stage stopped at a farmer's house and inn toward evening, where we found the fam- ily greatly excited over the murder of an Indian. The landlord declined to give me the details of the affair, and I vainly endeavored to obtain them from a corporal and two soldiers who were stand- ing there; they having been sent for from Camp Date Creek to protect the family. The landlord asked for seats in the stage for his wife and daughter to go to Wickenburg, saying he feared an attack upon his house that night by Apache- Mohave Indians, and wished to have his family in a place of safety. As the Apache-Mohaves had been for the last two years at peace, and were not included among those against whom General Crook was conducting his campaign, and, as I
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have reported before, are estimated to number over two thousand people, the affair was impor- tant. The ladies, who were refined and intelligent persons, were taken in the coach, and from them I learned the following particulars:
" 'The Indian was standing in the front door of the tavern, when three white men came up the road on horseback, and demanded a Henry rifle which the Indian held in his hand. 'No,' was the reply, 'this is my gun,-my property.' 'Jump off and take it,' says one to another; upon which one of the riders dismounted and reached for the rifle. The Indian stepped back. The white man sprang forward and seized the rifle, and with the butt end knocked the Indian down in the door of the tavern. We screamed and begged the party not to murder an Indian in the house, or his tribe would retaliate by murdering the inmates. The Indian was dragged out and killed and buried there in the yard, when the party mounted and made off with his rifle. The day following a straggling party of the same tribe of Indians- the Apache-Mohaves-was coming up the road, soliciting work from the farmers along the route, as is their custom. When within a mile of the tavern where the Indian was killed, three farm- ers, who supposed they were coming to attack our house, fired into the Indians-about twenty in number-and wounded and killed several of them, who were carried off by their associates in their rapid retreat.'
"The killing of the first Indian took place while the landlord was absent, or he said he would have prevented it. He had thought it prudent to send his family by stage to Wicken-
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burg, but, with the aid of the soldiers and some neighbors, he intended remaining, and would endeavor to pacify the Indians.
"On our arrival at Camp Date Creek, near midnight, I awoke Captain O'Beirne, the com- mander, and delivered the orders of General Crook, arranging for the feeding of the Apache- Mohaves at his post. I informed him of the above facts in the hope that he would investigate the affair.
"At Culling's Rancho Way Station (Cull- ing's Well) on the desert, east of Ehrenberg, I found nearly two hundred and fifty Apache- Mohave Indians living in temporary wicki-ups, and hanging around begging at the ranches. I called the head men together and inquired why they did not go to the agency on the Colorado, or at Date Creek, and what were their means of
obtaining a living. They said that at the Colo- rado Agency, Iraytabe, the chief, discouraged their coming, drove them off, and threatened them with punishment if they returned. At Date Creek they could get nothing to eat, and 'it only made the officers mad to see them.' Mr. Cullings fed them occasionally, but they were half starving and naked. I distributed some wheat among them and gave them a letter to Colonel O'Beirne at Camp Date Creek, request- ing him to look into their condition, and if they belonged to the band which usually reported to him, to feed them under the President's order.
"At Ehrenberg I met Dr. J. A. Tonner, agent for the Mohave-Apaches, on the Colorado River, who reported everything peaceable and pro- gressing hopefully at his agency. He said he
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would take care of the Indians at Culling's ranch, and remonstrate with Iraytabe at his in- hospitality. He earnestly asks for help in the establishment of schools, and reported the chil- dren eager to learn.
"Arriving at Los Angeles on the 13th of Oc- tober, I regretted that my time would not allow me the pleasure of calling upon General Stone- man, at Wilmington, as his position as former commander of the department of Arizona would enable him to give me much information on In- dian affairs. I addressed him a note, however, and on my arrival at San Francisco, October 19, I received a very kind reply from the general, accompanied with a copy of his final report on Arizona.
"AT SAN FRANCISCO.
"General Schofield was glad to see me. The many exaggerated reports in the newspapers of the 'cross-purposes between General Crook and the peace commissioner,' had made him desirous to learn the truth. When he ascertained that instead of placing the Indians on the reserva- tion which I had selected, 'under the care of the proper officers of the Indian Department,' as I had been directed to do in my instructions from the Secretary of the Interior, I had availed my- self of the clause which allowed me 'full power to use my best discretion,' and I had left the whole business under the supervision of General Crook and the officers of the Army, I believe that he was satisfied that the 'cross-purposes' only existed in the imagination of a few worthy people in Arizona, and those whom they have misled.
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THE PEACE COMMISSION.
"I arrived in Washington on October 27th, and made my verbal report to the President in the presence of the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of War, on the 6th of November. By direction of the President, on the following day I made a brief report in writing to Hon. Secre- tary of the Interior, giving a description of the reservations selected in New Mexico and Ari- zona, which was inclosed to the President by the Secretary of the Interior, with an indorsement recommending that 'in pursuance of the under- standing arrived at in our conversation with the Secretary of War on the 6th instant, that the President issue an order authorizing said tracts of country described in Mr. Colyer's letter to be regarded as reservations for the settlement of the Indians until otherwise ordered, I have the honor to suggest that the proper officers of the War Department be directed to notify the various bands of roving Apaches that they are required to locate on reservations immediately, and that upon so doing they will be fully protected and provided for by the Government so long as they remain on said reservations, and preserve peace- able relations with the Government, one another, and the white people, and that unless they com- ply with the request they will not be thus pro- vided for and protected.'
"These recommendations were approved by the President, transmitted to the Secretary of War, and, under General Sherman's orders, were directed to be carried into execution by Lieutenant-General Sheridan and Major-Gen- eral Schofield, commanding the division of the Missouri and Pacific.
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
"Late advices from the agents and Army offi- cers in charge of the Apache Indian reservations established in New Mexico and Arizona, under the President's order, state that the roving Apaches have come in in large numbers. There are now reported to be at Cañada Alamosa nine- teen hundred; Camp Apache, Arizona Territory, thirteen hundred; Camp Grant, Arizona Terri- tory, nine hundred; Camp Verde, Arizona Terri- tory, five hundred; Camp McDowell, Arizona Territory, one hundred-total, four thousand seven hundred.
"No reports have been received at this office from the feeding stations temporarily estab- lished until the reservations can be selected, at Camp Hualapai and Camp Date Creek, where there are probably one thousand more. With- out counting these there are more than one-half of all the roving Apaches of these Territories now at peace and within call, reaping the benefit of the 'peace policy.'
"Of the complaints made by the officials and editors of Arizona of my want of courtesy in not accepting their generous hospitalities, as well as of the threats so freely made to 'mob,' 'lynch me,' 'hang me in effigy,' 'stone me to death,' as a 'thief,' 'robber,' 'murderer,' 'red-handed assas- sin,' etc., and abuse generally of the press of Ari- zona and elsewhere, I have taken little notice, as the business upon which I was sent to Arizona and New Mexico was successfully accomplished, has received the approbation of the administra- tion and I trust to time and the good results which I believe will follow as my vindication.
"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"VINCENT COLYER."
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THE PEACE COMMISSION.
The foregoing letters of Vincent Colyer, which are embodied in his report to the Secretary of the Interior, are instructive in many particulars. They show conclusively the condition of the In- dians at the time of his visit, and bear out the statement heretofore made, that the hostiles were demoralized, both in the east and the west. An unrelenting war had been made upon them, particularly from 1868 up to this time, 1871, a period of three years, during which time the entire Apache country had been surveyed, mapped and outlined. The waterholes were known to the whites; the trails were known; roads had been built through that country, and forts established in its very heart, so it is not surprising that the Indians were willing to meet the Commissioner more than halfway. Many of them had been gathered around the forts and were working, employed by the military in chop- ping wood and furnishing hay, which was paid for in corn, a pint cupfull at a time. The bucks cut the wood and hay; the squaws brought it in on their backs, and yet the Indians furnished it at a rate much lower than the contractors had been getting.
All through his report it is shown that the In- dians, even where rations were furnished them, were half starved, and compelled in many in- stances to rob, steal, or die. The feeling, of course, of the whites, at that time, was bitter against the Indians, because at no time were they safe outside the settlements, unless in large bodies, and wherever an adventurous pioneer at- tempted to establish a home, the Indians came in and deprived him of his stock and whatever else he had of value to them.
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
It seems, according to the statements of Col- yer, which are unquestionably correct, that there were gathered in over four thousand Indians, which comprised fully one-half of all the tribes which had been at war with the whites; the Coy- oteros, a great many of them; the most of the Tontos; many of the Pinalenos; the Apache- Mohaves, and the Apache-Yumas. The warring tribes, those which were still ready to fight to a finish, were the Chiricahua Apaches under Co- chise, with a few Mescaleros and Pinalenos; the Apache-Mohaves under Del Shay, with a few of the Tontos, and the Wallapais.
About the time that Colyer was leaving the Territory, occurred what is known as the Wick- enburg Massacre, which is referred to in his re- port, a full account of which is given in the suc- ceeding chapter.
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THE WICKENBURG MASSACRE.
CHAPTER XV.
THE WICKENBURG MASSACRE.
STAGECOACH ATTACKED BY PARTY OF MOUNTED
MEN, FIVE PASSENGERS KILLED, Two WOUNDED-DIFFERENCE OF OPINION AS TO WHETHER OUTRAGE COMMITTED BY INDIANS OR MEXICANS - VERDICT OF CORONER'S
JURY - DESCRIPTION OF KILLED AND WOUNDED-C. B. GENUNG'S BELIEF AND STATEMENT-MIKE BURN'S IGNORANCE
OF OCCURRENCE.
What is known as the Loring Massacre oc- curred on the 5th of November, 1871. On ac- count of the prominence of some of the victims, it was commented upon very extensively, not only in Arizona and California, but throughout the East.
The Wickenburg correspondent of the "Jour- nal-Miner" gives the following account of the massacre, the communication being printed in that paper on November 11th, 1871 :
"At a point about nine miles from Wicken- burg a party of mounted men, either Indians or Mexicans disguised after the fashion of Apache warriors, rushed down upon the stage as it was passing through a canyon, and fired a volley into the passengers, killing all but two persons, and slightly wounding these. The wounded, Mr. Kruger and Miss Sheppard, not being disabled, immediately sprang from the stage and started together towards Culling's Station, while one de-
VIII-19
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
tachment of the bloodthirsty demons.surrounded the stage, and the other went in pursuit of the fugitives, and kept up a desultory fire, which, be- ing all mounted, was unsteady, so that only a slight wound was received by Miss Sheppard, and neither sustained further injury than the wounds inflicted by the first fire. The pursuit was kept up for a distance of nearly half a mile, the pursuers being kept at bay by Kruger, who still retained his revolver and fired upon them whenever they came too near, causing them to scatter and retreat, but only to rally again to the pursuit until finally they withdrew and joined their fellows. The fugitives continued on their way toward Culling's Well Station until they hailed the eastern bound mail a few miles from that station. Here they were picked up by the driver, who retraced his steps to the station, from which point information of the calamity was sent to Wickenburg via the Vulture Mine, the bearer fearing to proceed by the direct route. The dis- patch reached Wickenburg about midnight, when two parties of citizens started for the scene; one of them to bring in the dead bodies, and the other, under command of George Mun- roe, to take the trail of the murderers. Upon reaching the stage a most horrible picture was presented to their sight. Five men, Messrs. Lor- ing, Shoholm, Lanz, Hamel, and Salmon, who, eighteen hours previous left Wickenburg full of life and hope in the happy anticipation of soon again greeting their friends after a prolonged absence, lay side by side rigid in death and drenched in blood; the unavenged acts of a mur- der as dark and damnable as ever stained the
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THE WICKENBURG MASSACRE.
hands of an assassin. The mystery which sur- rounds the identity of the murder exists in the disposition of the mail and baggage. One mail sack was cut open and its contents scattered over the ground, the other was left untouched. The baggage of the passengers was broken open, and while articles of little value were carried away, large sums of money and other valuables re- mained. All this would suggest the work of igno- rant savages, but as neither the ammunition nor animals had been removed, some are of the opin- ion that the outrage was perpetrated by a band of Mexican bandits from Sonora. Mr. Kruger, who has really had the best opportunity of de- ciding this question, states positively that they were Indians, but at all events the next mail may bring reports which will place the guilt of this terrible crime where it properly belongs, when we hope it will not be left to the local authorities to redress the wrong or avenge an outrage against the Government and their people at large."
The passengers on this coach when leaving Wickenburg, were in high spirits, anticipating no danger whatever along the route. Their arms were stored beneath the cushions of the seats for convenience and safety. All were in high glee, anticipating soon a reunion with their friends and families. Miss Sheppard and Mr. Kruger, and three others sat on the inside of the coach. Young Loring rode on the outside in company with the driver. The first notification of danger was at a point about nine miles from Wicken- burg when they were startled by the voice of the driver, calling out: "Apaches! Apaches !! "
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
Scarcely was the alarm given when a volley was discharged from the rifles of the savages into the stage coach, succeeded almost instantly by a sec- ond volley. The driver and two passengers were killed outright at the first fire, and the remaining four passengers, with one exception, were wounded. "At that time," says J. M. Barney, "the survivors were Miss Sheppard and Messrs. Hamel, Kruger and Loring. The last named had thus far escaped uninjured. As the Indians were rushing upon the stage, after firing the first volley, Miss Sheppard and Mr. Kruger sprang to the ground at the side opposite to that from which their assailants were approaching, and es- caped with their lives. Unfortunately for Messrs. Loring and Hamel, in the excitement of the moment, they lost all presence of mind and jumped from the stage at the side occupied by the Indians.
"The former, being unarmed, could offer no resistance, and so endeavored to escape by flight. This effort, however, was hopeless. He soon found himself in the center of a group of savages, and there fell, pierced by two bullets and dis- patched by a lance thrust in the breast. Mr. Hamel was killed at about the same instant, and those who were best acquainted with the Indian customs believed that he must have fought bravely for his life, as he was the only member of the party who was scalped-it having been custo- mary among the savages to disfigure in such a manner only the bodies of those who fell while fighting courageously to defend their lives.
"The trailing party (under George Munroe) then returned to Wickenburg, where Captain
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THE WICKENBURG MASSACRE.
Meinholdt and some soldiers were met. Some of the citizens then joined Captain Meinholdt's party, and, returning to the scene of the attack, again picked up the trail of the murderers and followed it until both citizens and soldiers be- came thoroughly satisfied that the authors of the deed had gone on to the Camp Date Creek Reser- vation.
"It was apparent to the relief party that while awaiting the approach of the stage coach, the savages had been secreted near the roadside, be- hind piles of grass and shrubbery, which they had collected and arranged in a manner not to attract attention, placing the bundles in an up- right position to give them the appearance of clumps of shrubbery produced by the natural process of growth. These hiding places ex- tended parallel to the road for some distance and, it was evident that, when the stage had reached a point about the middle of the ambush line, it was raked by the fire of the assassins in three direc- tions-in front, in rear, and directly opposite the side.
"At a late hour on Monday night, the bodies of the victims were brought into Wickenburg, and, on the following day, the inquest was held, the following being a copy of the verdict rendered :
"'We, the undersigned, summoned as a jury to hold an inquest on the bodies of the following named persons, found murdered in the stage coach, about six miles from the town of Wicken- burg, on the La Pas road, on the morning of the 5th of November, 1871, from all the evidence ob- tained from the two surviving passengers, do find that C. S. Adams, John Lanz, Fred W. Loring,
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
Fred W. Shoholm, W. G. Salmon and P. M. Hamel, (found scalped), came to their death by gunshot wounds, received at the hands of Indians trailed towards the Date Creek Reservation.
" 'F. Purcella, Julius A. Goldwater,
David Morgan, W. W. Weber,
Aaron Barnett,
Dennis May,
Charles H. Richardson Charles Barbour, Mack Morris, Foreman.'
"The survivors, Kruger and Miss Sheppard, were confident that the murderers were Apache- Mohaves from the Camp Date Creek Reserva- tion. They had on the blue pants worn by the Reservation Indians and had the gait, appear- ance and bearing of Apaches during the whole time they were under observation. In addition to this, Captain Meinholdt, of the 3d Cavalry, who had been detailed to find out, if possible, who they were, followed the tracks in the direction of Camp Date Creek. The footprints were round toed, after the manner of the Apaches. On the trail a reservation hunting bag was picked up, and a pack of cards, with the corners cut off, such as were used by the Apache-Mohaves. He de- clared in his report to his superior that it was his firm conviction that the murderers were Camp Date Creek Apaches. Furthermore, subsequent to the committal of the murder, two of the Reser- vation Indians died of gunshot wounds, but whites were not permitted to see them.
"The suspicion that had at first been expressed by a few-that the crime might have been com- mitted by Mexican bandits-furnished sufficient grounds for the starting of such a rumor. Thereupon, interested, so-called friends of the
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THE WICKENBURG MASSACRE.
Indians, here and elsewhere, seized upon this flaw in some people's judgment for the purpose of making capital out of it, but a number of well- known Wickenburg citizens, who had examined and buried the bodies, as well as followed the trail of the murderers, published over their sig- natures a letter containing the best of proofs and reasons for asserting that Indians had com- mitted the deed. The letter was as follows:
" 'Wickenburg, November 12th, 1871.
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