470 



RECREATION. 



struck at me 4 times with his shovel, mis- 

 sing me every time. After the last time I 

 ran to my gun and picked it up. When 

 Welsh saw me pick up my gun he started 

 to run toward his house; then I shot him 

 in the back. He fell and my wife and I ran 

 away and went back to the reservation. I 

 had no intention of killing Welsh when I 

 went to see him. I do not know why I did 

 it. I lost my head. I am sorry I did it." 



Nesh-kai-hay expressed his willingness 

 to accompany me to the agency, or to any 

 place I designated. I told him that, before 

 deciding what to do with him, it would 

 be necessary to move my camp to the 

 Farmer's residence, about 10 miles farther 

 up the San Juan, to enable me to get sup- 

 plies and forage for our animals. He ex- 

 pressed his willingness to go; nevertheless, 

 instructions were given to the Indian police 

 to keep a sharp lookout to see that he did 

 not get away. 



While the team was being hitched to the 

 buckboard and the police were saddling 

 their ponies, a great many Indians crowded 

 about us, and when we were ready to start 

 it was discovered that Nesh-kai-hay had 

 escaped. Though the Indian police were 

 immediately sent in pursuit they soon re- 

 turned, saying they could neither see him 

 nor find any trace of him; for he had con- 

 cealed himself in the breaks near the river, 

 where there were so many trails it was im- 

 possible to follow his. 



I subsequently learned that, not only had 

 his escape been planned, but that a large 

 party of his friends were gathered, under 

 shelter of a bluff, presumably, to resist my 

 party and assist him, if an effort should be 

 made to detain him by force, or to re-ar- 

 rest him. 



I held a council with the Indians present, 

 urging them to secure the murderer and to 

 bring him to me, knowing as well as they 

 it would be impossible, under the circum- 

 stances, for the 2 or 3 Indian police, with 

 the Farmer and myself, to find the man, 

 much less arrest him, unless assisted by the 

 neighborhood Indians. After advising and 

 coaxing, I tried threats, but was met with 

 an impudent: " Pooh! We have heard 

 agents talk before. You can't do anything. 

 You can't get troops to come here to help 

 you; that's all talk. 



I ceased talking at once and made prep- 

 arations to go to the Farmer's residence, 

 to send telegrams to the War and Interior 

 Departments, asking for the assistance of 

 troops. Frorn what I had seen and heard 

 from reliable sources, as well as from the 

 character and disposition of the Indians, I 

 knew that, to accomplish anything without 

 bloodshed, it would be necessary to have a 

 force of troops sufficiently large to settle 

 decidedly the question of whether United 

 States authority over these Indians was to 

 be maintained. 



The nearest telegraph office was at Du- 



rango, 45 miles distant. I sent 2 messages 

 by courier, and remained at the Farmer's 

 to await developments. They were dated 

 April 26, 1893. 



The first was to the Assistant Adjutant 

 General, Department of Arizona, Los 

 Angeles, Cal., stating the existing condi- 

 tions fully, and asking for at least 4 troops 

 of cavalry. The other was to the Commis- 

 sioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C., 

 advising him of the requirements at the 

 reservation, as I saw them. 



About 2 o'clock on the following after- 

 noon, a courier, apparently badly frightened, 

 came to the Farmer's residence and told us 

 Whyte's store was surrounded by Navajos, 

 who threatened to burn the building and to 

 commence killing white people. Accom- 

 panied by the Farmer, I hastened to 

 Whyte's, but the excitement was over. The 

 trouble and alarm grew out of the Indians 

 believing one of their tribe had been killed 

 by whites, in revenge for the murder of 

 Welsh. (It is still believed by Indians in 

 that vicinity that the other traders put down 

 the price of wool, and have kept it down, on 

 account of the murder of one of their num- 

 ber by the Indians.) 



This Indian left the reservation late in 

 the afternoon, leaving his pony with 

 friends, telling them he would soon return, 

 that he was going across the river to trade. 

 During the evening his friends heard a shot 

 in the vicinity of the store where he had 

 gone. He failed to return to the reserva- 

 tion during the night and the Indians con- 

 cluded he had been killed. A large party 

 crossed the river in the morning and, going 

 to the store, told Whyte and others if the 

 white people had commenced killing, the 

 Indians were going to commence too, right 

 there, and no white person should get away 

 from the store or the mission alive. 



In the excitement a boy escaped to the 

 river bank, and made his way to neighbor- 

 ing houses, giving the alarm as he went. 

 The whole valley was aroused, all the way 

 to Durango, and by sun-down some 200 

 armed men were on their way to Whyte's 

 store. 



In the meantime Capt. Daugherty, a re- 

 tired army officer, who happened to be at 

 Whyte's, prevailed on the Indians to allow 

 him to go to the store, where the killing 

 of the Indian was supposed to have taken 

 place, to make inquiries about the missing 

 Indian. On entering the store, Capt. 

 Daugherty saw the Indian and immediately 

 returned with him to Whyte's. When his 

 bloodthirsty friends were convinced of their 

 mistake, they sullenly dispersed. Sheriff 

 Dustin, of San Juan county, New Mexico, 

 with a large party, remained at Whyte's all 

 night, fearing the Indians might return, 

 under some pretext, and not again be so 

 easily restrained. There was now wild ex- 

 citement throughout the San Juan valley and 

 the adjacent country, and exaggerated ac- 



