Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/241

 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN AGENT. 233 at the cascades of the Columbia and that a well-defined bullet hole was observable in his head. No further inquiry was ever made as to the cause of his death. He was a half-breed In- dian, and as a rule inquiry as to the cause of death in the whole- or half-breed Indian stops at the bullet hole. From the foregoing facts, almost every person would infer that Agent Barnhart was the principal offender, but he may have been ignorant as to the identity of that kind of property carried upon his papers, as I was all the time. Such matters must be entrusted to the employees who have charge of them, the superintendent of farming and especially the farmer. The farmer under Agent Barnhart was his brother George, who was present when I accepted the cattle and vouched for the truthfulness of the agent's transaction and the validity of the government's claim. Evidently he knew what cattle be- longed to the Indian Department and how many must be turned over to balance his brother's papers. For awhile I assumed that Mr. George Barnhart had made a mistake and that three head of government oxen were still upon the range, to discover which I instructed the farmer to inquire of the white settlers round about, and also to hunt for them himself. Mr. Montgomery said that he could not obey such instruc- tions, for the reason that he did not want to have people think me "green," neither did he relish the task of hunting for cattle which had no existence except on paper. While he had no personal knowledge of Barnhart 's affairs, he said it seemed to be well understood by the employees and many of the In- dians that I had been tricked into signing a receipt for three more oxen than belonged to the agency. So I concluded and let the matter drop. Agent Abbott purchased cattle for the use of the agency, in Wasco County, and lost several head on the road. Hearing that four of them bearing the Indian De- partment brand were still roaming upon the Umatilla Meadows, some twenty miles distant, I secured them and thus made good my loss.