Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/498

 constant misunderstandings, much friction, with complaints and recriminations. Captain Crawford had won in a remarkable degree the esteem and confidence of the Indians upon the reservation, who looked up to him as a faithful mentor and friend. They complained that certain cows which had been promised them were inferior in quality, old and past the age for breeding, and not equal to the number promised. This complaint was forwarded through the routine channels to Washington, and the Interior Department ordered out an inspector who reported every thing serene at the agency and on the reservation. The report did not satisfy either Indians or whites, but upon receiving the report of its inspecting officer the Interior Department requested that Captain Crawford be relieved, coupling the request with remarks which Crawford took to be a reflection upon his character; he thereupon demanded and was accorded by his military superiors a court of inquiry, which was composed of Major Biddle, Sixth Cavalry, Major Purington, Third Cavalry, Captain Dougherty, First Infantry, as members, and First Lieutenant George S. Anderson, Sixth Cavalry, as Recorder. This court, all of whose members were officers of considerable experience in the Indian country, and one of whom (Dougherty) had been in charge of one of the largest Sioux reservations in Dakota, set about its work with thoroughness, examined all witnesses and amassed a quantity of testimony in which it was shown that the Apaches had good ground of complaint both in the character and in the number of cows supplied them: they were in many cases old and unserviceable, and instead of there being one thousand, there were scarcely six hundred, the missing cattle being covered by what was termed a "due bill," made out by the contractor, agreeing to drive in the missing ones upon demand.

There was only one serious case of disturbance among the Chiricahua Apaches: the young chief "Ka-e-ten-na" became restless under the restraints of the reservation, and sighed to return to the wild freedom of the Sierra Madre. He was closely watched, and all that he did was reported to headquarters by the Indian scouts. General Crook was absent at the time, by direction of the Secretary of War, delivering the address to the graduating class at the Military Academy at West Point; but Major Barber, Adjutant-General, carried out Crook's methods, and the surly young man was arrested by his own people, tried by his own people, and sentenced to be confined in some place until he learned sense. He