USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 20
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 20
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Indiscriminate slaughter of elk, deer and ante- lope out of season, and merely for the hides.
But the Meeker massacre was the crowning in- famy, and the most earnest desire of the people of Colorado is that the assassins should be punished, and that right speedily. So many crimes of the Indians have been condoned, or only winked at by the Government, which assumes the prerogative of dealing with the Indians directly, instead of leav- ing them in the hands of the courts, that Colorado has had enough, and more than enough, of such business. If any foreign power, however high and mighty, had massacred Meeker alone, to say noth- ing of his associates, the United States would have
demanded and exacted instant reparation, instead of appointing peace commissioners to " investigate" the affair, and, if possible, to "arrest" the mur- derers. Father Meeker was dear to the people of Colorado, and his untimely and awful taking-off was a terrible shock even to those long accustomed to Iudian duplicity, treachery and barharity.
The following sketch of Mr. Meeker's life will serve to show that he was no ordinary man, and it will be found interesting. It was written before the news of his death was received :
" Nathan C. Meeker, the Agent at White River, is about sixty-four years of age. He was born in Euclid, Ohio, near Cleveland. The place is now known as Callamer. At an early age, he began to write poems and stories for the magazines. When he was still in his boyhood, he traveled on foot most of the way to New Orleans, where he arrived without money or letters of recommendation. He succeeded in getting work on the local staff of one of the city papers, which barely gave him a living. In a year or two, he returned to Cleveland, and taught sehool until he could earn enough to pay his way to New York, whither he went with the friendship of George D. Prentice, whom he had met during his Southern travels. In New York, he was encouraged by N. P. Willis, and he con- tributed poems and sketches regularly to the New York Mirror, a literary journal edited by Willis, and which attracted considerable attention from good writers of that day. The young man's style was quaint and somewhat melancholy, and his poems were copied, but he could scarcely earn bread to eat, and his sufferings were so great that he abandoned poetry for the rest of his life. He man- aged to raise money enough to enable him to pro- ceed on foot to Pennsylvania, where he taught school and continued his literary studies. After- ward, he returned to Ohio, and, in 1844, when about thirty years old, married the daughter of Mr. Smith, a retired sea captain, at Claridon, and took his bride to what was known as the Trumbull Pha- lanx, which was just being organized at Braceville, near Warren, Ohio. The society was a branch of
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the Brook Farm and the North American Phalanx, of which Hawthorne, Curtis and Greeley were leading members. The Ohio Phalanx was com- posed of young and ardent admirers of Fourier, the socialist. There was no free love, but the members lived in a village, dined at common tables, dwelt in separate cottages, and worked in the community fields together and allowed the procceds of all their earnings to go into a common fund. Manufactor- ies were established, the soil was fertile, and pros- perity would have followed had all the members been honest and the climate healthful. Fever and ague ran riot with the weeds, and the most ignor- ant and avaricious of the Arcadian band began to absorb what really belonged to the weaker ones, who did most of the hard labor. Mr. Meeker, who was one of the chief workers, was glad to get away alive with his wife and two boys, the youngest of whom was born shaking with the ague. Mr. Meeker was the librarian and chief literary authority of the community, but he lost most of his books, and when he reached his Cleveland home he had but a few dollars. In company with his brothers, he opened a small store and began business on a 'worldly' basis ; and he prospered so that he was invited to join another community, the disciples and followers of Alexander Campbell, a Scotch- Irishman, the founder of the religious sect the members of which are sometimes called 'Camp- bellites.' Gen. Garfield is a follower of this faith, and he became a fellow-townsman of Mr. Meeker. The 'disciples' were building a large college at Hiram, Ohio, and Mr. Meeker moved his store thither and received the patronage of the school and church. While there, he wrote a book called 'The Adventures of Captain Armstrong.' " In 1856, when the great panic came, he lost nearly everything. Then he moved to Southern Illinois, and, with the remnant of his goods, opened a small store near Dongola, in Union County. For several years his boys 'ran' the store, while he worked a small farm and devoted his spare hours to literature. His correspondence with the Cleve- land Plaindealer attracted the attention of Arte-
mas Ward, and the result was a warm personal friendship. When the war broke out, he wrote a letter to the Tribune on the Southwestern political leaders and the resources of the Mississippi Val- ley. Horace Greeley telegraphed to A. D. Rich- ardson, who was in charge of the Tribune at Cairo, this dispatch :
"' Meeker is the man we want.' Sidney How- ard Gay engaged him, and, after serving as a war correspondent at Fort Donelson and other places, at the close of the war, Mr. Meeker was called to New York to take charge of the agricultural de- partment and do general editorial work on the Tribune. He wrote a book entitled " Life in the West," and his articles on the Oneida Community were copied into leading German, French and other European journals. In 1869, he was sent to write up the Mormons; but finding the roads be- yond Cheyenne blockaded with snow, he turned southward and followed the Rocky Mountains down to the foot of Pike's Peak, where he was so charmed with the Garden of the Gods and the un- surpassed scenery of that lovely region, where birds were singing and grasses growing in the mountains, that he said, if he could persuade a dozen families to go thither, he would take his wife and girls to live and die there. Mr. Greeley was dining at the Delmonico when he heard of it.
"' Tell Mecker," exclaimed he, ' to go ahead. I will back him with the Tribune.'
" A letter was printed, a meeting held, subscrip- tions invited, and $96,000 were forwarded to the Treasurer immediately. Mr. Meeker was elected President of the colony, and Horace Greeley made Treasurer. So many applications were sent in that it was thought a larger tract of land would be needed than seemed to be free from incumbrance at Pike's Peak. Several miles square of land were bought on the Cache-la-Poudre River, where the town of Greeley now stands, and several hundred families were established in what had been styled ' The Great American Desert.' Horace Greeley's one exhortation was :
"' Tell Meeker to have no fences nor rum.'
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
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" On this basis the colony was founded. To-day, Greeley has 3,000 population, 100 miles of irrigat- ing canals, a fine graded school, and is the capital of a county 160 miles long.
" Mr. Meeker went to the White River Agency with his wife and youngest daughter, Josephine, who taught the young Indians, and was a general favorite. Mr. William H. Post, of Yonkers, was his 'boss farmer' and general assistant. Mr. Post had been a competent and very popular Secretary of the Greeley Colony. He was at the Agency at the time of the outbreak.
" Mr. Meeker's plan was to have the Indians raise crops and support themselves in an improved way. He encouraged them to live in log houses and have some of the miscellaneous conveniences of civilization. Mr. Meeker's family consists of three daughters and one son. Two of the daughters, Mary and Rose, are at the homestead in Greeley, while Josephine, aged twenty-two, is supposed to have shared the fate of the father and mother, both of whom are of venerable years."
All that could be said against Father Meeker was, that his rugged honesty and almost Puritanic devotion to principle, instead of " policy," unfitted him for Indian management on the most successful plan. He was inflexibly just, rather than preter- naturally kind. He would not compromise with wrong, or what he thought to be wrong. Perhaps his idle, dissolute and vicious wards did find his words bitter at times, but his heart was softer than his tongue. He might rebuke them for their mis- deeds, but he would have shared his last crust with them with equal pleasure.
It is a singular fact that the foregoing history of Ute depredations in Colorado includes but one sol- itary instance in which the Indians suffered at the hands of the whites. One Ute was shot in Middle Park, in the summer of 1878, by a party of ranchmen, who had banded together for protection from the inso- lence of marauding Indians. The rest of the gang suddenly departed from the Park, but as they rode past Mr. Elliott's ranch they saw the old gentleman standing peaceably in his doorway, and shot him down as they would a deer or a dog.
CHAPTER IX.
THE "PEACE COMMISSION" FARCE.
THIS record closes in the last half of Decem- T
ber. Nearly three months have elapsed since the Thornburg fight and the Meeker mas- sacre. The captives were released two months ago. Merritt's magnificent army still waits at the ruins of the White River Agency, and Gen. Ilatch's soldiers are still spoiling for a fight down south. The hostile Indians are quiescent, but are still resting on their arms and the laurels of their late victories. Nothing is being done toward wip- ing out the miserable murderers, but a "Peace Commission " has been taking Indian testimony at the Los Pinos Agency.
Of all the dreary, disgusting farces ever played in Colorado, this has been the worst, and the white
members of the Commission have been nearly if not quite as much disgusted with their work as have the people of the State. Acting not only under instructions but by daily direction of the Interior Department, the Commissioners have had neither choice nor discretion as to what they should do or leave undone.
The Commission, as constituted by appointment of Mr. Secretary Schurz, consisted of Gen. Hatch, who was elected President of the Board; Gen. Adams, nominal Secretary, and Chief Ouray, who represented the Indians. Besides the Commis- sioners, there was a sort of Judge Advocate Gen- eral, in the person of Lieut. Valois, of Gen. Hatch's staff, and an official stenographer.
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
The Commission was created at the instance of Chief Ouray, who assured Gen. Adams that, if permitted an opportunity, he would ferret out every Indian concerned in the uprising, and turn them all over to the Government for such punish- ment as it saw fit to inflict upon them. This apparently generous offer was well calculated to satisfy the heads of the Indian Bureau, and was accepted with a flourish of Schurz trumpets, as an evidence that the Utes were "good Indians " at heart, and deeply regretted the unfortunate occur- rences at the Ageney and Milk River.
The Commissioners received notice of their ap- pointment immediately after the return of Gen. Adams from his pilgrimage in search of the pris- ers, and Ouray agreed to have the hostile Indians in his camp within ten days. The ten days would expire Saturday, November 8, and the first meet- ing of the Commission was fixed for that day at the Los Pinos Agency. Gen. Adams came north in the interim, and took the written and sworn testi- mony of Mrs. and Miss Meeker and Mrs. Price, at Greeley, soon after they had reached home from their captivity.
Returning immediately south, Gen. Adams reached Los Pinos about the time for the first session of the peacemakers, but Gen. Hatch was detained until the Wednesday following, and the work of the Commission dates from November 12.
The first sessions of the Commission were not marked by any wonderful revelations of fact by the Indian witnesses, but, on the contrary, their dense ignorance of what had happened up north was something fearful to be contemplated. Before testifying to anything, they required the dismissal of Mr. MeLane, who had accompanied Gen. Hatch to the Agency. Their antipathy to McLane resulted very Indianaturally from the fact that, last summer, they had murdered his brother on the plains, east of Denver, and suspected that his visit to the Ageney boded no good to his brother's murderers. It should be borne in mind, too, that they did not know, except inferentially, what McLane was there for, but they didn't want him
there on general principles. Gen. Hatch held that McLane was there as a witness, and had as much right to remain as the Indian witnesses, but Adams and Ouray said that Mr. MeLane should go, to please the Indians. He went. First blood for the Utes.
After the solitary white witness had been bounced, the Indians began testifying, the Com- mission sitting with closed doors and most of the witnesses with closed mouths. They were the " squaw Indians," as those engaged in the Agency massacre were designated to distinguish them from the fighting men who, under Chief Jack, defeated Thornburg. These squaw Indians were the fol- lowers of Douglass and Johnson, principally. The testimony of the late captives had directly impli- cated most of them in the massacre, but when they took the witness' stand and the Ute oath (the latter with great solemnity, to all outside appear- ances), most of them swore, with equal solemnity, that they had never heard of the massacre and didn't know Mr. Meeker was dead. The following burlesque report of Johnson's examination is but a trifling exaggeration of the actual facts :
THE PEACE COMMISSION.
Grapevine Telegram to Laramie Times :
Los PINOS, Colo., November 17, 1879. Chief Johnson was again called to the stand this morning, and administered the following oath to himself, in a solemn and awe-inspiring manner :
" By the Great Horn Spoons of the Paleface and the Great Round-faced Moon, round as the shield of my fathers; by the Great High Muck-a-Muck of the Ute Nation; by the Beard of the Prophet; by the Continental Congress and the Sword of Bunker Hill, I dassent tell a lie !"
When Johnson had repeated this solemn oath, at the same time making the grand hailing sign of the secret order known as the Thousand and One, there was not a dry eye or seat in the house. Even Gen. Adams, who is accustomed to the most ghastly, bloody forms of horrible death on the gory battle-field, sobbed like a little half-fare child.
RESIDENCE OF J. F . BROWN, DENVER, COL.
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Question by Gen. Adams-What is your name, and where do you reside ?
Answer-My name is Johnson-just plain Johnson. The rest has been torn off. I am by occupation a farmer. I am a horny-handed son of toil, and don't you forget it. I reside in Greeley, Colo.
Q .- Did you or did you not hear of a massacre at the White River Agency during the fall, and if so, how much ?
Objected to by defendants' counsel, because it is irrelevant, immaterial, unconstitutional and incon- gruous. Most of the forenoon was spent in arguing the point before the court; but it was allowed to go in, whereupon defendants' counsel asked to have the exception noted on the court moments.
A .- I did not hear of the massacre until last evening, when I happened to pick up an old paper and read about it. It was a very sad affair, I should think, from what the paper said.
Q .- Were you or were not present at the massacre ?
Objected to by defendants' counsel, on the ground that the witness is not bound to answer a question which would criminate himself. Objection sustained, and question withdrawn by prosecution.
Q .- Where were you on the night that this massacre is said to have occurred ?
A .- What massacre ?
Q .- The one at White River Agency.
A .- I was attending a series of protracted meetings at Greeley, in this State.
Q .- Were Douglass, Colorow and other Ute chiefs with you at Greeley ?
A .- They were.
Court adjourned for dinner. Gen. Adams re- marked to a reporter that he was getting down to business now, and that he had no doubt that, in the course of a few months, he would vindicate Schurz's policy and convict all those Utes of false- hood in the first degree.
After dinner, court was called, with Johnson still at the bat, Douglass on deck, Gen. Adams short-stop, and Ouray center field.
Q .- You say you were not present at the massacre at White River ; were you ever engaged in any massacre ?
Objected to, but objection afterward withdrawn. A .- No.
Q .- Never ?
A .- Never.
Q .- What ! never?
A .- Well, dam seldom.
Great applause and cries of " Ugh !"
Q .- Did you or did you not know a man named N. C. Meeker, or Father Meeker ?
A .- Yes.
Q .- Go on and state if you know where you met him, and at what time.
A .- I met him at Greeley, two or three years ago. After that, I heard he got appointed Indian Agent somewhere out West.
Q .- Did you ever hear anything of him after that ?
A .- Nothing whatever.
Q .- Did the account of the White River mas- sacre which you read mention the death of Mr. Meeker ?
A .- No. Is he dead ?
Gen. Adams .- Yes, he is dead.
At that announcement the witness gave a wild whoop of pain and anguish, fell forward into the arms of Gen. Adams and is still unconscious as we go to press.
We do not wish to censure Gen. Adams. No doubt he is conducting the investigation to the best of his ability ; but he ought to break such news to the Indians as gently as possible.
Ridiculous as this nonsense may sound, it was almost duplicated a few days later by the testimony of Sowerwick, an Indian upon whom Gen. Adams relied for "reliable " testimony. Sowerwick said that he knew nothing and had heard nothing about any trouble at the Agency ; whereupon Adams asked him how the women and children happened to be captives in the Indian camp. He denied all knowledge of the captives, too, though Adams had met him and talked with him when
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the prisoners were recovered, and Sowerwick had taken an active part in the council which was held before the prisoners were surrendered.
Said Adams, " Now, Sowerwick, didn't I meet you in the captive camp, on Plateau Creek, and didn't I talk with you in your own tent about the women and children ?"
The innocent savage turned half around to look Adams in the eye, and unblushingly answered, " No."
It was a monumental falsehood, for Adams had known Sowerwick intimately for years, and could not possibly be mistaken. Moreover, the Indian had not denied or attempted to conceal his iden- tity at the time mentioned, but had met Adams as an old friend whom he was glad to see, even under circumstances which, ordinarily, might be embar- rassing.
Of course nothing was gained by such testi- mony, and finally Gen. Hatch refused to hear any more of it. Ouray was also terribly disgusted, but was powerless to compel the Indians to testify. They were afraid to say anything, lest they should give themselves away. They were terribly suspi- cious of the Commission, and Ouray was com- pelled to guard the white men at the Agency, to save them from assassination. Richelieu was com- pletely nonplused. He begged for time, which was granted him, and which he used in haranguing the Indians, but to no avail. The story of the Agency massacre never passed their lips.
The testimony of the captives was read to Ouray, and objected to by him as " squaw-talk." IIatch and Adams, however, said the testimony should stand unless disproved by the Indians im- plicated. Another lease of time was asked and granted by direction of Schurz.
Days dragged into weeks and weeks dragged away. At last Ouray announced a grand coup. Jack and Colorow were coming in. They came. They mounted the witness stand. They acknowl- edged their leadership in the attack on Thorn- burg, and told the story of the fight-told it straight, too, but of course laid all the blame on
poor dead and gone Thornburg. They didn't want to fight ; oh no. They were driven into the battle by a stress of unfortunate circumstances, over which they had no control. If they had been printers, no doubt they would have called it a typographical error.
Finally, after exhausting the story of the Milk River "accident," they were asked about the Meeker massacre, and every ear was strained to hear the first syllable of their reply. The first syllable was "katch." It was also the last and the middle and the whole answer. "Katch " has no English synonym; it is too expressive for that. It means, in a general way, that the speaker has no information on the subject, and nothing to say. And thus ignominiously was ended the hearing of testimony by the Ute Peace Commission-testi- mony as valueless as can be imagined.
There was great curiosity in Colorado to know why Jack and Colorow came forward and testified so freely about the Thornburg fight; but curiosity was soon exchanged for disgust when it became known that they testified under a guarantee of immunity from punishment. It appeared that an arrangement was effected between Schurz, Ouray and Jack (a sort of tripartite alliance), by which Jack and his band were to be whitewashed, pro- vided they came forward and testified and consented to the surrender of the " squaw Indians," Doug- lass, Johnson, et al., or, rather, the surrender of twelve of them named by the captives as partici- pants in the Agency massacre. But the crafty savages, as usual, got the best of Mr. Schurz. They only testified to what he knew already, and to what everybody knew. They paused at the very point where their testimony might have proved valuable.
The next question was in relation to the surren- der of the twelve assassins already spotted, and more time was asked, as usual, and, as usual, was given-by orders from Washington. The Indians assembled at Ouray's house and deliberated for several days, varying the monotony by an occa- sional war-dance, in which Ouray (although,
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nominally, one of the "Peace" Commissioners) joined, in full war-paint and feathers.
Finally, the Commission was reconvened to hear the verdict of the defendants. The Indians came in heavily armed, and filled the council-room. Ouray announced the ultimatum. The twelve would be surrendered, provided they could be tried at Washington. Colorado justice had no charms for them. Colorado was all against the Utes. The Commission was against them. Adams and Hatch were their enemies. The poor Indians had no friends this side of Washington. The twelve must be tried there, and a delegation of chiefs, headed by Ouray, must go and see fair play, talk with the President, and have a good time generally.
Adams withdrew in disgust, but that stern war- rior, Gen. Hatch, opened out on the Indians with
undisguised bitterness. His remarks were inter- rupted by Colorow drawing his knife and throwing it down on the floor-the gauge of battle. Every other Indian drew a knife or revolver, but as the whites present made no answering demonstration, no conflict resulted.
The conference broke up in disorder, and the Indian demand was telegraphed to Washington, whence the answer came back that the ignomini- ous terms must be accepted. Further time was then demanded for the surrender of the twelve, and that, too, was granted. It has now expired, however, and the surrender has not been made, though Ouray still promises that it shall be done. Perhaps it will, as the twelve have little to fear from the results of a trial-at Wash- ington.
CHAPTER X.
THE UTE QUESTION IN CONGRESS.
D EEPLY disappointed, not only with the results of the negotiations just noted, but still more deeply at the failure of the Government to allow the troops an opportunity of settling with the still hostile Utes, the eyes of the people turned naturally to Congress, as a court of last resort, where the foul wrongs which they had suffered would be atoned in some measure. They were pre- pared, by the experiences of the past few weeks, to see the Meeker and Thornburg assassins go un- pumshed, but they insisted that Colorado could no longer shelter the savages whose hands were still steeped in blood.
Congress assembled on the 1st day of Decem- ber. Senators Teller and Hill and Representative Belford were in attendance, and, early in the ses- sion, introduced several separate measures for the removal of the Utes from Colorado, claiming, in general terms, that the Indians had forfeited their rights under the Brunot treaty, by which they bound themselves to live in peace with the whites.
Judge Belford's bill for their removal did not sug- gest any asylum for the assassins, but simply pro- vided that they must depart from Colorado. Sena- tor Teller introduced a joint resolution to the same effect. Senator Hill's measure authorized the President to treat with them, with a view to their removal. It would have been better, perhaps, if the three movements had been consolidated in a simple demand for their removal, leaving all else out of consideration.
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