Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1880.djvu/24

22 as much as it might be deplored, is not an uncommon occurrence throughout the country in the midst of civilization and enlightenment.” Great excitement ensued in the settlements near the Ute Reservation; and the trial of Mr. Berry, the United States Indian agent, was vociferously demanded on the ground that he, in confiding Jackson to the escort of three white men and one Indian, had deliberately betrayed him into the hands of Indians eager to avenge the death of one of their people. Mr. Berry was subsequently arrested by the United States marshal, and taken before the United States district court at Denver, where his case is now pending. Before his arrest he showed great skill and influence over the Indians, in keeping them quiet and preventing further disturbance on their part. It is to be hoped that the State and local authorities in Colorado will use their best judgment and endeavors to allay the excitement existing in that State, so as to restrain evil-disposed persons from invading the Indian reservation and provoking collisions with the Indians, which would be especially deplorable at a time when the so-called Ute problem is on the point of successful solution by just and peaceable agencies and in accordance with an agreement successfully concluded.

The case of the Poncas has continued to be a subject of public as well as private attention, on account of the hardships suffered by that tribe in consequence of its removal from Dakota to the Indian Territory. I have repeatedly in my reports expressed the opinion that the Poncas had a serious grievance on account of that removal, and that a generous indemnity was due to them. I am free to say, also, that a clear knowledge of their case at the time of their removal, which happened at the very beginning of the present administration, would have induced me then to oppose it to the extent of the discretion permitted by existing law to this department in such cases. The question how that grievance was to be redressed admitted of two different answers. One was that they should be returned to Dakota and the other that their condition be made as comfortable and prosperous as possible on their new location in the Indian Territory. There were several reasons against their return to Dakota. Their lands in Dakota had, by the treaty of 1868, been ceded to the Sioux, who had been their old enemies, and whose hostile incursions in, years past had called forth among the Poncas themselves a desire to get out of their way by removal. The great problem in the management of Indian affairs at that time was to insure the general pacification of the Sioux tribes, in all over 30,000 souls strong. The Sioux occupied the Ponca Reserve for some time in 1877, shortly after the removal of the Poncas to the Indian Territory had taken place. Two large Sioux bands, numbering over 13,000, are now permanently located in the southern part of the great Sioux Reservation, at a distance from the old Ponca Reserve, but within comparatively easy reach. The Poncas could