Mr. Price to Mr. Kirkwood.
Office of Indian Affairs,
Washington, March 7, 1882.
Sir: I have the honor to be in receipt, by department reference, of a communication from the honorable Secretary of State, dated 1st instant, in which he incloses note from Mr. Zamacona, the late Mexican minister at this capital, in which he reports depredations in the State of Sonora by the Chiricahua Indians who escaped from the San Carlos Reservation, and asks, pursuant to the instructions of his government, that renewed vigilance be exerted in that quarter to prevent similar occurrences in future.
In reply, I have the honor to state that it has been the aim of this office to fully and heartily co-operate with the Mexican authorities in any and all efforts that might be made to put a stop to raiding of renegades upon the border.
The agents at San Carlos and Mescalero have recently been instructed with reference to this matter. A copy of Mr. Zamacona’s note will be forwarded to them, with instructions to redouble their efforts to prevent the trouble complained of. The San Carlos agent has been authorized to employ an additional force of thirty scouts.
In this connection permit me to express the belief that the Indians mentioned in the note of Mr. Zamacona do not all belong to reservations under the supervision of this bureau. The attention of the department has heretofore been called to the fact that the Lipans and other renegade bands from Mexico have for many years been engaged in marauding expeditions upon the border, committing serious depredations against our citizens in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, and after being trailed by our troops across the line have found an asylum in the border States of Mexico and a ready market for their plunder. It is true that some of these renegades formerly belonged to our reservations, and to effect their return large appropriations have been made by Congress, and special agents have been sent to Mexico to conduct them back to their reservations, but these efforts were not wholly successful, owing to the opposition of the local authorities there and to that of interested parties who, our agents state, “induced them to remain in Mexico for the purpose of carrying on trade with them for stolen property.”
It, however, has been, and will continue to be, the aim of this bureau to adopt the most efficient measures to arrest and bring to justice all classes of Indian renegades and outlaws, without regard to nationality or tribe, who commit their forays upon Indians and law-abiding citizens upon both sides of the border.
I respectfully suggest that the State Department be advised of the action of this office respecting the Indians herein referred to.
I have, &c.,
Commissioner.