Part 60 (2/2)

To JEFF. C. DAVIS, U. S. A., _Commanding Department of Columbia, Portland, Oregon_:--

At the hour of the execution of Captain Jack and his co-murderers at Fort Klamath, on yesterday, the sheriff of Jackson County was present with bench-warrants and certified copies of the indictments of the Lost-river murderers, and demanded their surrender to the civil authorities of this State for trial and punishment. A writ of _habeas corpus_ has also been issued by Justice Prime, of the circuit court of Jackson County, commanding that the indicted murderers be brought before him, and cause be shown why they are withheld from trial. I respectfully ask that you communicate the proceedings to Was.h.i.+ngton, and that final action in the premises be taken by order from there.

L. F. GROVER, _Governor, Oregon_.

To which was received in reply:--

Shown by the Secretary to the President in Cabinet to-day. It is understood, the orders to send all the Modocs to Fort E. A.

Russell, as prisoners of war, given the 13th September, 1873, will be executed by Gen. Schofield, and no further instructions are necessary. Signed,

E. D. TOWNSEND,

_Adjutant-General_.

Thus was the matter disposed of, no further action being taken in regard to this question.

Gov. Grover expressed what he believed to be the wishes of the people of the Pacific coast, when he demanded the surrender of the Indians who had been indicted by the local authorities. The President and cabinet were actuated, doubtless, by humane and charitable motives in thus disposing of a serious question.

Knowing all the facts in the case, I do not believe it was just, or wise, to cover the worst men of the Modoc tribe with the mantle of charity, for turning traitors to their own race, and at the same time to sanction the sentence of death on the victims of their treachery.

The terrible tragedy is closed,--it only remains to dispose of the survivors, after having placed the four dead bodies in the ground, and filling up the two empty graves, sending the intended occupants to San Francis...o...b..y. The living are ordered to the Quaw-Paw Agency, Indian Territory. Here is the official statement:--

FORT MCPHERSON, NEB., November 1, 1873.

EDWARD P. SMITH, _Indian Commissioner, Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C._:--

Modocs consist of thirty-nine men, fifty-four women, sixty children. Detailed report by families forwarded to Department head-quarters October 30.

J. J. REYNOLDS, _Colonel Third Cavalry_.

_Thirty-nine men!_ Why, Captain Jack had _never_ more than fifty-three men with him, all told. Call the roll, let us see where they are now:--

1. _Captain Jack._ A voice from--well, it's uncertain where,--a slanderous rumor says, from a medical museum, Was.h.i.+ngton city,--answers, ”_Here_.”

2. _Schonchin. ”Here,”_ comes up from one of the graves in the parade-ground, Fort Klamath.

3. _Boston Charley. ”Here,”_ whispers a spirit, hanging over one of the graves in the same cemetery.

4. _Black Jim. ”Here,”_ comes up through the thick sod beside ”Boston.”

5. _Ellen's Man. ”Here,”_ answer scattered bones that were drawn off the Dry-lake battle-ground, by a Warm Springs scout, with a reatta, and now bleaching in among the rocks of the Lava Beds.

6. Shacknasty Jake, from a skull which furnished several scalps during the three days' battle, when its owner was killed in petticoat, comes in hollow voice, ”_Here_.”

7. Shacknasty Frank; the ashes of a warrior who was wounded in a skirmish on the fifteenth of January, and died in the Lava Beds, answers, ”_Here_.”

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