No. 428.
Mr. Frelinghuysen to Mr. Romero.
Sir: I have the honor to apprise you of the receipt of a letter of the 6th instant from Hon. H. M. Teller, Secretary of the Interior, covering a report made to him by Mr. H. Price, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, touching the alleged recent invasion of the Mexican State of Sonora by Apache Indians from the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona Territory. This complaint of the Mexican Government was based upon certain allegations of the Mexican consul at Tombstone, founded mainly upon news [Page 690] paper reports, and formed the subject of your note to me of the 22d ultimo.
Mr. Price’s information is obtained from persons who have a personal supervision of the San Carlos Indians, and is to the effect that none of them have recently left the reservation. He states that frequent reports made to that office by agents at San Carlos, and which are believed to be perfectly trustworthy, show that the Apaches there have been carefully watched, and that all, without exception, are peaceable, well disposed, and manifest not the least sign of dissatisfaction, but that, on the contrary, their leaders and most influential men express a desire to fight the renegades from the reservations. Mention is also made of a recent dispatch to the Department of the Interior from General Crook, in command of the Department of Arizona, in which it is stated that the Indians who have committed the depredations complained of in Mexico are a small band known as Chiricahua Apaches on their way back from Old Mexico, where they have been living for more than a year past. These Indians are understood to be a troublesome lot, and General Crook, it is stated, promises to do all that he can to exterminate them. That officer’s dispatch also alleges that the agency Indians are behaving well, not one having left the San Carlos Reservation, and that their assistance can be relied upon in case of the return of the Chiricahuas.
It will be perceived that these statements not only confirm and strengthen those contained in my note to you of the 10th instant upon the same subject, but demonstrate that the San Carlos Indians should not be held accountable for any outrages which have been recently committed in Mexico as alleged. Neither is it thought that the Mexican Government can now question the means instituted by the United States to preserve peace among those Indians or its sincerity in restraining and keeping them within proper bounds. Concerning the Chiricahua Apaches, it is not doubted that they, in connection with renegade Indians of like character belonging to Mexico, have been operating with more or less success on both sides of the border, to the injury of life, person, and property of Americans and Mexicans, citizens alike; or that the extermination or subjugation of those Indians would do much to restore a degree of peace and security perhaps not now enjoyed upon the border of either country. The Mexican Government may confidently rely upon the adoption by the United States of whatever measures may be necessary or possible to rid its citizens of these renegade Chiricahuas should they reappear upon our territory, or the authorities of this Government will gladly act in harmony with those of the Government of Mexico in endeavoring to successfully control a common enemy whose predatory raids are a constant source of disquiet to the inhabitants along the borders.
Accept, &c.,