Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/132

98 member, held on March 20, 1880, shows that Mr. Brooks, the chief clerk of the Indian Office, was before you for examination. You asked him: “Were you requested to furnish the Committee with copies of any papers that might be in the Indian Office bearing upon the killing of Big Snake?” He answered, “I was, and I have them here.” You asked him further: “Do they contain anything additional to what has already been testified to before the Committee?” The answer was: “Really my time has been so fully occupied that I have not had time to examine them, and cannot say whether they contain anything additional or not.”

From this it appears that Mr. Brooks had before the Committee copies of the papers existing in the Indian Office bearing upon that case, and that you were aware of it ten months ago. But to obtain the greatest possible certainty as to the delivery of the papers I asked Mr. Brooks, (who is at present in Florida, no longer in the public service,) by telegraph, for his recollections of this matter, and received the following reply:

, Feb. 5, 1881.&emsp; Hon. ,

Secretary of the Interior, Washington, D. C.:

At Mr. Dawes's request made full copies of Big Snake papers and tendered them to him at meeting of Committee. He suggested that there might be others and asked me to hold them prepared until search was made. Found nothing, and at subsequent date, at conclusion of meeting of Committee, gave him all the papers in the case, together with some data concerning Cheyennes. I and he know it. &emsp;

The record of the investigating Committee and the dispatch of Mr. Brooks support one another so strongly as to remove all reasonable doubt.