No. 509.
Señor de
Zamacona to Mr. Blaine.
[Translation.]
Legation of Mexico,
Washington, August 8,
1881.
Mr. Secretary: The newspapers of to-day publish
two dispatches, which the Department of State will find in the inclosed
slips, and which
[Page 839]
refer to the
alarming increase in the depredations of the Apache, Mescalero and
Navajo Indians in the frontier districts between Mexico and the United
States. I call the attention of the department to these dispatches, not
so much on account of the testimony which they bear in relation to the
magnitude of the evil, as on account of the fact that, while they point
out the causes, they also furnish proof of the statements made by this
legation in its notes of March 16, 1880, and of May 24 and July 18,
1881, touching the results to which the location and management of
certain Indian reservations lead.
These results are felt in a peculiar manner in Mexico, as the Department
will see by another dispatch which appeared in the papers on Saturday
last, and which I likewise inclose. It is therein stated that the
Mexican Government has been obliged to organize military operations on a
large scale against the Indians who cross the frontier and devastate
certain districts of the neighboring republic.
I flatter myself with the hope that the Department of State will be
pleased to utilize the information contained in these dispatches, and to
cause such measures to be taken by the proper authorities as the case
demands, the necessity of which I had the honor to point out as long ago
as during the spring of 1880, in my aforesaid note of March 16.
I reiterate, &c.,
[Inclosure 1.—Extract from the National
Republican, August 8, 1881.]
with the red skins—the situation said to be
serious—what general hatch says about it.
A Times special from Santa Fé, N. Mex., dated Saturday, says:
“General Edward Hatch, accompanied by Lieutenant Steadman and Major
Henry, left this afternoon for Fort Craig to personally direct the
movements of the troops now out after the renegade Apaches from the
Mescalero Agency, where depredations have already been reported.
“General Hatch thinks the situation serious as the Navajoes are very
restless and chafing under an agent, Galen Eastman, whom they hate.
General Hatch informed the Times correspondent that he had sent five
companies of cavalry and about 40 Indian scouts against the Apaches.
The rest of the Ninth Cavalry is on active duty in the Blue
Mountains in Utah, and the infantry garrison at Forts Wingate,
Stanton, and Bliss must be left intact to keep the agency Indians in
check.
“The Mescaleros, of whom there seemed to be at first about 30, must
have been joined by some Navajoes and probably by some Navesbalds
from Chihuahua. Their recent victory over a party of citizens, and
the capture of 30 head of horses from the latter give the Indians an
advantage which may induce some more of the Navajoes to join them.
However, Guilfoyle’s Indian scouts and a company of the Ninth
Cavalry have already struck their trail, and news of a light is
hourly expected. Another party of Indians stampeded and captured 8
horses from a Mexican train on the Jornado Del Muerto, while still
another party captured all the horses of Warner & McConkey’s
stage line to the Black Range, 20 in number, and wounded the two
herders. Thus far eight Indians have fallen hi the raid.
“The Mescalero Indian Agency is to blame for all of this, as it is
favorably situated as a starting point for raids and a secure haven
of refuge when the Indians are too closely pressed. For six months
last year the Mescaleros were disarmed and kept prisoners by the
military and were kept quiet. As soon as the military are withdrawn
they commence their deviltry, slipping off by twos and threes,
combining at some place of rendezvous, committing murders and
depredations, scattering and doubling on their trails, and by-and-by
appearing within the agency limits as good Indians.
“More troops are needed, and until the Indians are entirely disarmed
and dismounted no peace can be expected.”
Las Vegas, N. Mex., August 7.
A dispatch to the Gazette says Nane, with 50 renegade Apaches,
crossed the line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad,
near Eagle Station, on Friday, in the direction of Argha
Mountains, near where Lieutenant Guilfoyle had his first brush
with the band.
[Page 840]
[Inclosure 2.—Extract from the Critic,
August 6, 1881.]
from the mexican capital.—war of
extermination against indian depredators.
City of Mexico, August 6.
* * * * * * *
General Boquet has left the city for Chihuahua to assume command of
the troops in that district. His orders from the government are
understood to be to collect and combine such of the scattered forces
of that State as can be got quickly together and carry on a war of
extermination against Indian marauders who have crossed the border,
and who are reported as devastating the country.
