ARREST OF A NAVAJO INDIAN MURDERER. 



47i 



counts reached the newspapers. The set- 

 tlers felt a climax had been reached. 



At a place known as West Water, 15 

 miles from Whyte's store and about 25 from 

 the Farmer's residence, there was water in 

 springs and holes, the only watering-place 

 for stock in the vicinity. The Navajos had, 

 for years, claimed the water. The whites, 

 knowing it was some 5 or 6 miles outside 

 of the reservation, disputed the claim. 

 Several Navajo families, whose heads were 

 notorious cattle thieves, were in the habit 

 of wintering near West Water. 



Sheriff Dustin's party, numbering about 

 30 of the best men of the San Juan valley, 

 had armed themselves and hastened to the 

 assistance of Whyte. From what had oc- 

 curred' they believed the time had come 

 when they should take affairs into their 

 own hands, regardless of Government au- 

 thorities, and drive all the Navajos in the 

 vicinity back to the reservation. Accord- 

 ingly, on the morning of April 28th, they 

 started for West Water, with this intent, 

 sending word to me, that I might know 

 what steps they were taking. 



Accompanied by the messengers as 

 guides, I rode as rapidly as possible toward 

 West Water, but, through unavoidable de- 

 lay in crossing the river, it was long after 

 the hour appointed by Dustin for the work 

 to begin, before we got near West Water. 

 We pressed forward as rapidly as our 

 horses could travel, but on arrival found no 

 disturbance had yet occurred. After some 

 argument with the men I convinced them 

 it would be better to leave the driv- 

 ing of the Indians to the regular soldiers; 

 for then the Indians would have no ill-feel- 

 ing toward the settlers, always accepting 

 anything done by regular troops as ordered 

 by " Washington." 



When notified of the trouble at Whyte's 

 store I had renewed my appeal for troops. 

 In the meantime the Indians sent word to 

 me they wanted to " talk." I replied I was 

 through talking until the troops came. 

 Later they sent a message, asking to know 

 whether the troops would be kept away, if 

 the murderer should be given up. My re- 

 ply to this was that it was too late to pre- 

 vent the coming of the troops, but, I as- 

 sured them, if the murderer was given up, 

 no one who had not misbehaved would be 

 disturbed by the troops. 



The Indians sent out spies, to find where 

 the murderer was hiding, and finally sent 

 word to me that they would try to catch 

 him and bring him toward where I was, 



provided I would meet them with a party 

 sufficiently strong to resist any attempt of 

 his friends to rescue him. I promised to 

 meet them when sent for, and, as the troops 

 had not arrived, asked a United States mar- 

 shal to hold a party in readiness to go with 

 me. 



About 2 o'clock, Sunday morning, April 

 30th, an Indian runner aroused the Farmer 

 to tell us Nesh-kai-hay was being brought 

 in, and that the Indians who had him 

 wanted us to come at once to meet them. 

 There was neither time nor opportunity to 

 send word to the marshal to join us, so we 

 set out at once. We met the party about 

 5 miles from the Farmer's residence. 



Nesh-kai-hay was securely bound with 

 ropes to another Indian, who rode in front 

 of him on a pony. The Indians were still 

 fearful of being overtaken by friends of the 

 murderer. It was too dark to recognize 

 persons readily and while making some in- 

 quiries as to who was in the party, the Ind- 

 ians cautioned " silence and hurry." We 

 travelled along at the foot of a bluff in- 

 dented with ravines, or arroyos, expecting 

 momentarily a rescuing party might rush 

 out. Once we were startled by the sound 

 of hoofs rapidly approaching, from the rear. 

 A solitary Indian, undoubtedly a spy, rode 

 up, evidently to ascertain the strength of 

 the party. We then numbered about 14. 

 which was probably considered too large a 

 party to attack. We reached the Farmer's 

 safely. 



The jail, at Aztec, the county seat, was 40 

 miles distant. We crossed the river, pro- 

 cured a conveyance and by 5 o'clock 

 started for Aztec, arriving there at 9 

 o'clock. A few minutes later the murderer 

 was safely lodged in the county jail. I re- 

 turned to the Farmer's the same day. 



Nesh-kai-hay was subsequently tried and 

 sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment in the 

 penitentiary at Santa Fe, N. M., where he 

 is now serving sentence. At the prelim- 

 inary trial my evidence was explained to 

 him by the interpreter, and on being asked 

 if he had anything to say he replied, " No, 

 the Agent told it all, just as it happened. I 

 can not tell any more." 



At the trial a lawyer was assigned, by the 

 Court, to defend Nesh-kai-hay, and every 

 effort was made by Seeds, the U. S. Judge 

 presiding, to have the Indian understand 

 his rights and to give him as fair a trial as 

 if he were white. 



The troops I had asked for came, though 

 too late to assist in the capture. 



" Our janitor was sick all summer." 



" What was the matter? " 



" It prostrated him to see us getting all 

 the hot air we wanted without appealing to 

 him." — Chattanooga News. 



