Arizona Citizen

Chiricahua Indian Management.

We are in receipt of a very long communication from a well-known gentleman of Pima county, relating to The Alta's charges against the Chiricahua Apaches and the Agent's management of them. It is entirely too long for our columns while the legislature is in session. We will give only a few extracts from it. Referring to Gov. Pesqueira's reported inability to discover Indian rancherias in Sonora, the correspondent says:

The fact that Gov. Pesqueira has not succeeded in finding a rancheria of Apaches in his State, is a rather weak basis on which to establish the argument that there are none there, for the troops in this Territory have had many successful campaigns without discovering a rancheria, and it is almost an impossibility to find one without the aid of Apache scouts. I am forced to believe that Gov. Pesqueira's anxiety regarding the affairs on the border, and his continued reports concerning the Chiricahua reservation, are somewhat of a pecuniary nature, for if he can convince his government that the Chiricahua Indians do visit his State by the hundreds--as he asserts--he may possibly succeed in his endeavors for the restoration of the sixty thousand dollars per annum for the maintenance of the State troops.

Regarding Indians leaving reservations, the correspondent says Agent Jeffords issues no passes and all others have done so, and that since the Howard treaty in 1872, only the following described thefts have been committed south of the Gila by Indians to-wit:

Eight taken from the San Pedro; eight from the Patagonia, and five taken very recently. That those taken from the San Pedro, were tracked to the White mountain reservation by Major Brown, and the animals were retaken from the Indians by Major Randall: that those taken from the Patagonia, were found upon the Chiricahua reservation and that every animal was returned; that those stolen recently were stolen by renegade Indians from other reservations; that as soon as the Agent learned of the theft, he sent Indians to see if the animals were brought upon his reservation; that three were returned as soon as detected, and the remaining two were tracked to the Hot Springs agency, and Agent Shaw was at once notified of the fact and requested to recover them if possible; that agent Jeffords has never given a pass to an Indian since he accepted the position he now holds.

These are facts which are not only known to the inhabitants of Pima county, but are acknowledged in Washington, where Capt. Jeffords' resignation has been lying for over a year, and as it has not been accepted, the supposition is the authorities are satisfied as well as the people of southern Arizona.

The correspondent is anxious to have The Alta reply to these among other questions, inasmuch as it asks quite a number best to the point:

If the Chiricahua Indians are so bad, why has the commanding officer of Camp Bowie received instructions not to interfere with them? and why is an application forwarded for the abandonment of Camp Bowie, which is the only post affording protection from Mesilla to Yuma, a distance of six hundred miles?

Did you ever see an Arizona paper which did not chronicle the killing of individuals and the stealing of stock by Indians, other than the Chiricahuas?

Was it the Chiricahua Indians who twice left their reservation, a year after peace was declared, and butchered the inhabitants of old Camp Grant?

Were the teamsters at the San Carlos, and the men who met their fate at Sunset Crossing, indebted to Captain Jeffords and the Chiricahua Indians for their death?