The New York Herald Newspaper, July 21, 1875, Page 3

THE INDIAN RING, —s-—__—_ Herald Investigations of Frand at the Agencies, Disgraceful Condition of Affairs at Fort Peck .and Wolf Point. GRANT, STANLEY & CO. Alleged’ Robberies at the Gov- ernment Stores. Beof and Provisions Intended for “Lo” Eaten by White Speculators, STATEMENTS OF EMPLOYES. Complaints Against the Presi-” dent’s Brother. Fort Burorp, Mouth of the Yellowston duly 5, 187. An army oficer, on his way to inspect the In- Qian supplies at Fert Peck last fall, Was discuss. Ing the Indian question in the pliot house of a steamer when a hostlie Teton fired from the shore anda bullet cut through bis lip, “What do you think of tt now?” he was asked, ‘“Tnesame as 1 have always thougnt,’? he replied, with the blood Gripping to the floor, Isaw this oficer the otner day, and wien he jearned my business Le grasped my hand and sald, “All honest men will bless the Henan for exposing the iniquities practised on the Indians.” FORT PROK, One hundred and thirty miles above tnis place is Fort Peck, Lt is one of the most corrupt agencies on the river. Tuere are no soldiers nor settle. ments nearer thun Fort Buford, which 1s about 300 miles by water, ‘Tere it stands, @ small stockado under a nigh bint, with neither railroads nor tele- graphs within 500 miles, Indians fill the country on every side, Fierce Teton savages scour tho Wilderness between the Missour and the Yellow- stone, while the northern regions swarm with semi-hositle bands. The mountain robbers of Italy conld not ask fora more secluded spot. Itis bere that government supplies have been stolen and resnipped to the remote trading posts of Upper Moutaua. The truth is, the entire region is the home of smugglers and swindlers of every class. Between the desperadoes of the “whoop up” country and the official pira‘es of the Sgencies hovest meno, red and white, Nave little chance to live in peaco, Tie great serpent of the Interior, which reiches from Washington to the Columbia River, and spreads its slime along the Missouri for three thousand miles, cannot hide its trail. ss nest 18 Sioux City and St. Paul, and when it 1s fed at the capital it wiggles its tall In Fort Benton, The agencies are merely rattles. The faugs are in Washington, and such men as Oryille Grant and Commiszioner Smith keep them Glied with poison, Fort Peck was bulit seven years ago by Durfee & Peck, who owned a line of steamboats and con- trolled tne trade of the river, They bought out the interests of the Northwestern Fur Company, and named the fort after the junior partner, Colonel Peck. When Orville Grant came into power all the licenses of traders on the river were revoked and he bought most of the stocks of goods, Altiough he was but a common traMcker In merchandise he travelled through the country like alord, Kscorts were furnished him at the various military posts, and his precious body was transported in government vehicles, drawn by government horses, Lust fall he walked Into Duriee & Peck’s store, at Fort Peck, and said that bis name was O. L. Grant, ni tnat he had come to buy their goods. Of course the proprietors had to snbmit, for their * dicense was cancelled. - Three days were spent in invoicing, but he wanted the stock so cheap that they refused to sell. Mr. Grant satd all right, he had the thing in his own hands, and he consid- ered the invoice list worth $3,000 in sclecting a new stock at St. Paul. Theo he leit, and the Leightons—father and two sons—hecame his partners. in January they began business within the agency duildings, which belonged to the gov- Ment. 113 was contrary to custom, at least, At Standing hock and ovber places the trader's store Is uutside of the government stockade, separate and distinct from the agency, 80 far as bulidings are concerned, Duriee & Peck were refused a new permit to trade, notwithstanding the law that any responsible persyn may trade with the Indians on taking out # llcense, So they moyed across the river and opened again. To stop them the reservation was extended, although the country there had been opened to settlement and acoupty lald out. They stayed, however, and the Indians patronized them Itberally, They bonght three-fourths of all the robes of the sea- 50n, Which amonnted to about %,000, Good prices were paid, and goods sold much cheaper than hy Grant, weighton & Co. On the Sta of June the Leighton boys went over the river and offered to buy the entire stock at satisfactory prices. An inventory was texen end the goods ferried back to the fort. The papers of agree- ment were sent down to the elder Leighton who is post vrader at Fort Buford. He retused to sign them, and avout that time an order came from Wasuingvon for Durfee & Peck to close their business there entirely. Their ayent to charge ut Peck then resolved to Investigate some of the trroguiarittes of the agency. He is a United States Commasioner, and it was just after he had left with the Unitea Stat s Marshal that [ arrived ou the ground, Vortuuateiy | found hos- | Ditable shelter and entertainment at his house or | I should have been obliged to go out and camp with the Indians. / NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1875.—TRIPLE SHEET. He recently married | most meless character. ap estimable young lady, who has the entire sympathy and regard of all who know her. Toe Leigntons come from Ottumwa, lowa, Secretary Belknap and Orville Grant are claimed to be their bosom iriends, aad it i¢ well known that the father has great imfuence with the sominis- travion. His wife i@ the daugnter of | & wealthy Baitimore manufacturer, and | 17 is said that brought | husband $100,000, The doys are shrewd and da: ing. One of them w chargea with riding a horse into asaloon back in the States. But that was beiore he had reiormed, Tue father is Known as~ Al Leighton and the boys as Joe and Jim. They are nO common traders, The father is the post trader here at Buiord, and he is the princi- pal owner 01 the establishment at Fort Lincoln, so lam told, He is a favorite wit) some of the oMecers, and what he joses by selling to them at reduced rates he makes up on fhe sol-ilers, Some omcers get thelr liquor free, while the boys in blue pay twenty-five cents @ drink, one of Leighton’s friencs tells the truth, J paid him seventy-five cents for a cheap pocket nandkerchief, such a8 are sold fur forty cents in country stores. At Fort Peck 1 paid his sons $1 for a handkerentef but littie better, and eignty-fve cents & cau for plums whicn sell in Colorado for thirty-five cents. ‘The freignt to Denver is just half what it ts to Fort Peck. The Leightons also have the stores at Fort Belknap, Fort Tourney and Medicine Lodge, which are between Fort Peck and the British Posses- sions, Some say that Grant shares equally with | them Ip the profits—they furnisning the money | and he the licens nd intimidation, while others | who are well informed say that they pay Orville $200 & Month for each trading post. THB PKAUDS, It ls impossible to give the exact dates of the various jrauds, but the following facts can be proved In a@courtof lawif the accused wisn to contestthem., I have the names of those who Will substantiate them ander oath im every !n- Stance, It should be understood thas all of Leigh- ton’s provisions, &c., have been kep& in the gov- erpment warenouses at the fort with the Indian supplies, and some kinds of goods were not even | separated irom those of the government, Early | last fall a train load of government flour (800 or 1,000 sacks) Was taken from a lot that had been received in the summer, and was sent up the river ip wagons. These wagons belonged to Storey, who is &@ merchant and contractor in Bozeman. The teamsters suid it was consigned to Storey, and they drove away with it, Tuero were between filteen and twenty wagon loaas. As soon as this flour was removea from the ware- house Stanley, who,1 am told, superintended, ordered 75 or 100 fresh sacks to be piled up in front of the place where the stolen four had lain, thatits absence might not be noticed by out- Siders, He told the men to keep the matter secret, When they began work Matt Alderson, the agent’s son, came and locked the door, so that noone could get ia, The agent wasin the buiid- ing and be knew ail about it, In August or Sep- tember eighty-five barrels of sngar came from Storey in Bozeman, It was taken from the boat and stored in the government warehouse. Tne full consignment should have been between 200 and 300 barrels, but thege eighty-five barreis were all that was ever received, Brands were then | scraped off from enough barrels of the old stock on hand to supply the deficiency and Storey’s brand pnt on with a steacil plate which Mr, Stanley had provided. About Christmas 110 sacks of corn were sent to Butord by land, Stanley gave it to Leighton, who hauled it away, and {t waa used to feed Leighion’s stock at that post. The corn has never been returned to this day. But this was not considered strange as the Leightons were in the habit of keeping their mules and horses on government corn at the agency and other piaces, Some time in Maren fifteen or twenty sacks of bacon were taken from the government ware- house in one night. The Leighton boys sent it up to their agent at Me-licine Lodge in Red Kiver sieds, They also took 1,450 pounds of sugar and two sacks of coffee, About this time some corn and three bales of cotton goods were missing, and they have not been seen since. Staniey and the Leighton boys have a wood yard just below Milk River, between Fort Peck and Woll Point, Six or seven hundred cords of wood were chopped for them last winter, They hired from five to eight men and gave them $1 2 a cord, and for s few weeks fed them on govern- ment provisions. At the agency seven or eight men are employed. They live onthe Indian sup- plies and the Leightons furnisn the cook. Tue agents’ mess is select. It ls composed of W. W. Alderson, his son Matthew, Dr. Stone, young Leighton and nis clerk. Flour, potatoes, sugar, bacon and pork are taken from the government warehouse and also used in this mess, A few days ago the agent said that 400 sacks of four were to go up the river soon, He has them laid aside. He says they were sent to him to be stored until ordered to be sent up the country, ‘his story might do could [not prove that he has been tssu- ing Irom this same flour to the Indians. Mr. Storey, the Bozeman coutractor and alleged re- ceiver of stolen goods, came tosee lis friend, tho agent, ina carriage last year and had a delight. | ful visit. A geutioman who Is familiar with the workings of the agency says that 700 corda of wood were cut at Fort Peck last winter and moved down the river by Leighton and Stanley's men. Laborers paid out of the government funds were engaged in piling and hauling it. What is notsold to steamboat: is turned in to Mil contracts for supplying the j agency. My informant says that the flour and | bacon sent to Mediciny Lodge were cousigned to | O. L. Grant & Co, for trading with the half breeds, ‘The agency 18 nuthorized to bave @ carpenter and | blacksmith; but it had none last winter, except an engineer; but 1t had men working at Wolf | Point, and the agent told them the other day that | Leighton would pay them. George Cooley was hired at $50 month as herder for that place, When he asked for bis pay the agent said he had no money vut would pay bim in Indian provisions, | A man who has herdeu for the agency and knows all about the peculiar manuer of doing business, | says that the cattle have never been weighed, There are no scales, Tho weight is guessed at and the herd averaged and issued on foot, THE BLANKETS, which are annuity goods, did not come last fall, and the Indians complained bitterly. This spring, in May, when the weather was flue, they arrived in good order, and in @ few days the agent pre- pared to issue them. The Indians were indig- ‘The moment I reaged the shore a certain man giepped up to Matt Alderson, the ageut’s son, and whispered, “A GOVERNMENT DETECTIVE HAS COM?” I quietly went over to Duriee & Peck'a stockade, which joins the agency buildings, and found safe and pledsant quar.ers, Spies were sent over to watch me. ‘They played cards day and night in an old building, witn Durfee & Peck’s men, and especia) pains were taken to apot all who came “pear me, It was amusing to study the innocevt | gaze of those men, Leighton’s outit” haunted the gateway and patrolled the yard. One oO! the Leighton boys, who 1s about as smurt as they make them, dropped in for o genteel game of poker, which extended far into the wight. As I Watchod him fork over the cas I could nut help thinking of the other game ho had played all Winter, when he and the agent were getting away with government provisions, Matt Alier+ Son cullcd at unexpected hours, while bis father Slayed at home and looked alter the employs. But 1 had enongh evidence against vem belore | came in sight ol the landing to ruin the reputa- tions o/ ordinary men, THR AGANE AND HIS PARTNERS. The agency {8 managed by W. W, Aldergof, his gon Matthew and Oarl Staniey, the snief clerk. Dhoy bail irom Bozeman, Montana, ‘Mr. Alderson was a broken down preacher when he took the fgensy, He had aranch near Bozeman, out ho was in debt and his progeriy was mortgaged, Now he siands high onsnercantile registers, and has (he confidence of business men, He has paid his debts nud builp the finest bouse in Bozcoman, He drives a fine team and bis herds are valuable. Stanicy, formerly of Missour, lad @ ranch and halfway house on the road between Helena and Bozeman, We ta considered a sharp man, who always enforces bis threats, He ty the chief man at the agency, nd the sales told of him are of the | punt, and many refused to touch them. Finally # part of the issue Was accepted, The agency had every reason to get rid of them, as each olanket boars tle indelible brand of the Indian lDepart- ment, | cannot say that ali of the blankews h been received. Between forty aud fifty baiea | were broaght up from the boat. In February or March, when a lot of flour was being carried through Letghton’s store trom the warenouse to be shipped to Medicine Lodge, Pole Cat, an Indian chief, satd to Stupley, “Way don’t you carry it outortbe agency doorr We know that it is our flour.” A few weeks 420 #0me English officers came to Peck, abd were negotiating with steamers to carry them to Fort Benton, when Staniey stepped in and arranged to carry them himself, He took three government horses and a government wagon, and away they went over the plains. [ am informed that he did not return until Isaw him land trom ihe boat, on the 2th o/ June. Per- haps the team will return in good time by another route, A PEW FACTS. Osrl Stanley has been in ine habit of relling agency goods to bis workmen. He sold four for $10 a sack, veel at &c., Coffee at 4%., sugar at 20¢., pork at 40c,; and when ® inan who had bonght | gome of these articics came to settia the agent, | W. W. Alderson, deducted the amonns they came | tofrom his wages, Trerefore he cannot say that he is gulitiess Of such transactions, A certain man, who 16 ready to testify tu conrt, saya that he | was givea $150 for cutting wood for Stanley & Leignten, aud Stanley guaranteed to sell tim goods ous of ihe Indian supply as certain prices, One | Thomas Buckles received @ list of prices from — Stanley, Whercon bacem was quoted at twenty-five | cents and four at $10. That the prices iigat not | | be raised after he emtercd tho woods he asked | Stanley to mut B19 Mame to the paver, Stanley | Leighton are preparing seized the paper, toe it in pieces, and reaching for }18 revolver Grove the man from the room. He probably suspected @ trap. Outoi tne fourteen boarders at the agency, who are fed on guvern- meut food at various times, nine of them were working for Leighton, Grant, Stanley & Co. A Mr. Smith, employed by the agency, was discharged wille Iwas there, and the agent gave bim an order on Leighton, which read, “Onarge to our ac- couut.’’ I have seen the teamster who on the 15th of March baulec fifteen sacks of sugar trom the government warehouse to Medicine Lodge, eignty- five miles from Fort Peck, and delivered the sugar vo Dr. Gaylord for Leighton, The sugar was put up iy corn sacks, Whether this was one of the shipments previously reierred to | cannot say. WOLF POINT, FORTY-FIVE MILES BRLOW FORT PROK. This 19 really a fine location for an agency, one of the best on the Upper Missourt. The graz ing is goou, there is plenty o timber, and the soll {8 fertile, It 1s called the Assiniboine Agency, and is a branch of the agency at Fort Peck. The Leightons have made money out of it auring the winter, and Stuniey has managed things in nis own way. Iam told thas Agent Alderson ts making arrangemenrs to move the Peck Agency thither and have only one establishment to look er, And 1 guess the statement is true, for several men have been as work there this spring. A saw mill ts going up, and Stanley & to erect bulldings. About 700 Assiniboine Indtans are camped on a neignbdoring slope, and they are the most friendly and respectable Indians in the country. But they have been treated shamesuily. After swimming two rivers and mak- ing a litte trip of ninety miles on horseback I reached Wolf Pot at sundown. I had no idea that it was a regular agency or that 1 was eating government food until t was indebted to tnem jor supper, The man in charge had been there but @ few days, He seemed like a fine gentleman and 1 could not ask for better treatment, He haa noth- ing to do with the irauds, so far as 1 can learn, and was only working temporarily for Alderson, The beef was velicious and I was sorry that he conld not take pay for the accommodations, and when 1 found that the place belonged to the In- dian Department I felt somewhat embarrassed, Letghion, Stanley & Co, have had men at the Point cutting wood during the winter, Stanley hired them—some to work for the government, someto chop. All were fed on Indian supplies, Leighton & Stanley expect to have the contract for patting up th®government buildings, so they have taken the liberty of beginning work in ad- vance, Men were hired by the agency for the gov- ernment and Leighton has paid them. ~* This created much dissatisfaction, and one man sent up to the agent and asked whom he was working for, whereupon ho was Qischarged and Leighton paid him off. Stanley hired this man on the 14tn of May to work for the government at Wolf Point, but he told him that bis pay would not begin until the following day. This obliged him to pay his fare down on the boat, which was so much In Stanley’s pocket. The man was to have $504 month for issuing rations and working around the fort, Now, by a happy coincidence I can prove that the tran: tlon was & scheme to put money in Leighton’s and Stenley’s pockets, Hunter & Lunt had 4 wood yard below Peck, and this man was their pest chopper. object in hiring him was to smash this opposition wood yard and get contrul of the wood business along the river, The result was as he expected, in part. Hunter & Lunt went unéer, but wheao Stanley & Co, undertook to raise the price to $5 a cord the steamboats started other yards, and the Leighton combination were beaten at vielr own game, notwithstanding they bad every advan- tage, for they ted their men on government rations, The man who was discharged for asking questions is hostile to the Indians in every pos- sible way, but he does not hesitate to declare that | they have been treated like dogs by Alderson and Stanley. Me was issuing clerk for a while at Wolf Point, and he says that the rations for a lodge for seven duys wus at the best only two gallons of flour, two pints of sugar, one pint of cofee and four pounds of pork AN IMPORTANT WITNESS, Ihave learned many facts about the manage- ment at Wolf Point irom Mr. George Jonndrov, — the late government engineer. He was sent to the agency by a government official from Minne- sota, Alderson never liked bim, but he was forced to keep him. He came with a saw and grist mill waich was to be erected for the benent of the agency. I found him at Wolf Point As s00n as the agent learned that we were together he discharged bim and accused him of general in- efficiency. This was entirely false. I bave taken some pains to inquire about him ana find that he is a first class sawyer and engineer and that he ts a hard working, industrious man, He 1s a native of Vermont and a graduate of Massachusetts machine shops and Maine and Minnesota sawinills, But he 1s too honest for an agent like Alderson. Alderson discharged nim with threats, aud, put- ting bis hand on his revolver, said that he would blow bia brains out. But sovn, after this the dis- tinguished ex-preacber became gentle as a lamb and he settled by giving the engineer a draft on | the First National Bank of Bozeman. On the same day anotuer government employé was dis- charged and sent to Leighton for his pay, and he gov it, MR, JOHNDRON’S STATEMENT. T came to Fort-Peck in October as engineer in charge of machinery, which was directed to Porcupine Creek, below Peck, on the Missour! River. There was no one to receive it; the neigh- borhood was full of hostile Indians and 1 had to, The agent was | leave it exposed to the weather, in Bozeman, I waited three or four weeks until he came. I took two men down to the creek to watch the machinery. The Indians were bad. Boats were fired on and we had no protection, It was about thirty miles to the fort. I stayed fourteen days, when the men demanded reinforce- ments, I went to Peck, but could got no assist- ance from Stanley, and finally the two men had to leave, Tae agency would neither send a team to bring the men away Dor men to stay with them. | When I went back a few weeks afterward the en- | gine and mill were greaily damaged. The In- dians bad carried away some of the lighter pieces and stolen the ecrews, The wheels were found on the ice and the finer parts of the machinery were almost worthless, Alter @ while the agent shipped @ part of the mill toasafer place, and this last winter 1 tried to get him to move the rest, but he did nothing until May, The mill is now eat Wolf Point The reason that I could mot get the government teams to movo the machinery Was because they were busy hauling Stanley & Leighton’s wood, which had been cat on the reservation to sell to steamboats, Last winter Leighton’s men were boarded at the government cook house, It was hard to tell who Was running the agency—the trader or the agents clerk, A wood chopper cailed at Leigh- ton’s mess once, and was tuformed that ne could | have mothing to cat unless he paid a dollar a meal | in advanoe, The axe handles for the trader's wood choppers were supplied by Stanley from the goveromieut stores. Governmont teams drew the wood to the yards. 1 was ordered to shoe horses for Leignton and L refused, Thom they abused me aud threatened to discharze me, Two trata loads | | of bacon, corn and sugar were taken {rom the Indian supplies and sent to the trader’s store at Bulord, and 1 had to walk down to Wolf Point because the teams were so heavily loaded. The government cattle were halt starved, 1 took ten yoke of oxen and a ton of hay to feed them with, and went to get some of the machinery, which | was only nineteen miles up the river, They were so Weak that two yoke fell down, and I had to leave them before 1 rowchod the place. 1 ound that the eight yok¢ could not bani the engine. Then 1 wok a iight Rad River sied and Started back, ‘Three head died on tho way down and there was no load, Three of the mon who were asaistiug mo to do this govern- ment Work were wired by Leighton, the trader. In May potatoes were carried from government storos to the wood choppers in Mulk River, From ten to filteen men were working at Wolf Pourt for a woodman ond for themselves, dnd they lived of the Indian sappites, ‘They were sent down thither on wages so as pot to be around the agency at Peck. There are men now (June 26) at Wolf Poins employed by the trader who are ied Stanley told a friend of mine that ms_ on government rations. A beef animal 19 re- quired every two weeks to supply the traaer’s men. Leighton’s goods have been in the ware- house that was occupied by the Indian stor 1 winter since the 10tb of January. Leighton keys to the stockade and the government ware- house, I beteve that he bas furnished a cook and & barrel of dried apples, I have helped issue ra- tions a! Fort Peok and at Wolf Point and am fa- miliar with the workings of tue agencies. I had charge of tocking the stockade at Peck once duriug the winter, ‘The Indians Nave been starved and Leighton’s men wi poorly fed and yet he was haniing government corn to his store at Buford, Tue trader and the agency put their ice ‘ogether into three common icehouses and have sold (t to the bo: The annuity biankets which should have come last fall were not fgsued until June, The Indiana were so evraged that one of them put a cocked pistol into’ the agent's face and threatened to finish him on the spot. They called him altar, a thief, a white dog, &c, This was at Fort Peck. Ine Tetons, Yanktons, Assiniboines, santees, Uncapapas and Gros Ventres were clamoring for food, There was plenty of flonr, but not much sugar and coffee. The white employés of the agency could hardly Satisty their own hunger, They were miserably fed. The same amount of rations was issued to all lodges alike, no matter whether they contained one or a dozen Indians, The ration for a lodge, Supposed to represent seven persons, for a week, was ‘lve scoops of flour, one or two scoops of | Sugar, Nalfa pound of coffee and a tablespoontul of | baking powder, Bacon was given only ence in | eight issues; cee only im the fall aud on foot. ‘The cattle were not weighed, and some of them were not ft foradogtoeat When rations are issued in bulk one sack of four is allowea for fit- teen lodges once a week, Which is about a pound of four to each person if the lodges are fuil, and they generally ave, With each sack of flour they receive seven pounds of sugar, half a3 much cof- fee and haif a plug of tobacco per lodge. The trader claims to sell to white men one-third lower than he does to the Indians, He charged white men fifty cents a pound for bacon, $9 a sack for flour, forty cents a pound for soda crackers and $2 60 for Jayne’s hair restorative, which 13 marked $1 @ bottle. AS a rule there 18 | little game In this part of the country, and most of the Indians are hard up for food. There was one exception during the winter, A band of Sante went out and shot alot of deer. When they re- turned they sold venison hams to some of the white men for fifty cents apiece. Leighton puta stop to it, and getting the Indians into his store he bought tie lot at his own price, Some only r ceived a box of matches (Worth ten cents) for each ham, Early in December an Indian out- break was imminent. The gate of the stockade was kept tocked night and day and ail hands were put on guard, From 2,000 to 3,;00 Indians were camped around the fort. TH® ASSINIBOINE AGRNCY. At Wolf Point there are 113 tepees or about 700 Indians, Ration tickets are issued once a month, and they are punched as exch issue is made, The weekly ration, according to Mr. Johndron, who has issued these, was from one and a ball to two pounds of pork for a lodge of one or seven per- sons.) The Indians, who are the best of any on the Upper Missouri, if not in the West, satd that the agent told them tf they would come down there they should have plenty to eat and he would give them seed and plough theirland. Sv far, thir- ty-flve acres have been broken, and about twenty acres are in Wheat, corn apd potatoes, but for want of seed the rest has not been planted. The agent visited them once and stayed all night (on tho day that the HeRaLp correspondent leit ho | came again with his friend Leighton, Mr. Stanley having returned from above). When the sawmill, which was half destroyed at the mouth of the Porcupine, was brought down to Wolf Point, I had no one to help mo put the remnants together, except ordinary workmen. New castings will have to be ordered before the muii can run. Leighton, the trader, has six horses here and they are fed on government corn and bis cattle on government hay. Such Is the statement, a3 given by Mr. Jonn- Gron, ana he is ready to swear to lt if the agent wishes to carry the matter tuto the courts, From other sources I find that elghty-eight head of cattle leit Fort Pock for Woll Point last Septem- ber, They were mostly old and in poor condition. Twenty of them were cows, twelve were killed by the starving Indians, sixteen were sent to Peck for the ageucy mess (composed of Stanley, Alder- son, Leighton and men), and five head were killed for the men at Wolf Point, and thirty-four head were alive in the spring, Out of the entire eighty-eight head the Indians got only ten head from the wssulag clerk and twelve head by steal. ing them, STRAY NOTES, county Keep squaws. This, of course, will shock Eastern people. But the society where every man has a dusky wile ts far superior in a morai potut of view to that of the trontier towns, where the whites patronize dancehouses and have white mistresses, Night brawls are unknown at tho river forts. Perhaps it is because there is go little whiskey, Washing ts filty cents a piece, or $6 a dozen, and it 1s tearfui to benold, Freshly troned bosoins 100K like leather, Now, one can get a | nice, well-behaved Indian maiden for $30, Why pay $6 4 dozen for washing when $30 wilt Insure clean !inen for @ hiietime? The citizen of Mon- of his Pocahontas, The Leighsons sell bacon at filty cents a pound, Steamboats charge only seventeen cents for the same article. Rere are sume ot the prices asked at the trader’s store which Mr. 0. L. Grant bas established for the benefit of the poor Inaian:— Wasnboards (which cost 17¢.), 75c.; beads (which | cost 10c.), 60e.5 brown sheeting, 60c,; cailco, | 831-80. 5 canned /rult, two-pound cans, $1 exc! brown sugar, 50c.; three point blankets, $20 a | pair; scarlet cloth which costs $1 65 a yard is sold at $4. Hard tack, which costs only four and @ half cents, Is sold ai fifty cents @ pound. Pow- der, which costs $0 a keg (twenty-five pounds), ts | edge, these wicked deeds have been committed | i Nothing is done | sold for $2 a pound, Tea costing twenty-six conts sels for $2, and so J might go on swelling the list of infamy. INE INDIANS. There were 633 lodges or 4,000 Indians at Fort | Peck until the 20th of June. They were mostiy | Asainibotnes, Santees, Upper Yanktons and Te- | tons. The latter are flerce, and all of tiem are wild cnongh for the warpath, though the Assini- boines are very friendly, What siruck me most on my arrival was their immense stature as com- pared with many of the lower Indians, Their | muscular development is stuply wonderiul. Some | of them could pick up a white man tn each hand | and shake the life out of them, They handie | their heavy rifles as theugh they were pistuis, With the exception of the Assiniboines, they are | hard to interview, much more so than those of the Soutiern tribes, flowever, I visited fourteen of the principal chie/s, tueiuding Mr. Afraid of the Bear, White Eagie, Good Hawk, Long Fox, Black Catfish, Thundering Bull and Redstone, the distinguished friend of the whites, I told thom what I wapted, and Thundering Bull, of the Cut Head Stoux, was appointed speaker. They assem- bled ina ring and lgnoted the p.pe of peace. wasa pleasant, smiling group until Thundering | Bull took the door, ‘Then & marvelous change fol- lowed. Their faces darkened. Every man was silent the grave. The orator became another man, All of the outrages and yillanies of the agency must have appeared in lines of fire before his eyes, or @ midnight blackness came into them, His muscles swelled, and his whole body was con- vulsed with emotions. Then bis deep rich volee kindled with passion, and he poured out a stream of rhetoric that rolled like an angry river. His gestures were masterly, No interpreter could follaw Bim, and none but a nitro-glycerina short- | hand machine could take half of what he said had it been spoken in the English tongue. A minute bad hardly passed before tho perspiration was streaimug down the faces of his brother ohlets, and be mmseif looked like Vuican taking @ Turkish bath, When he had finisied @ peaceful smile shone on his face, as the sun shines ou) On p stormy sky, and he took bis seat With the alt of a country poy in the House of Lords, HIS SPRECH. From what the joterpreter was able to catch I learned that the agent bad two houses ome for Folly two-thirds of the whites In this upper | tana so!ves the conundrum by fleeing. to the arms | the anvuities and one for the food. He (the speaker) had seen the houses flied with olankets {nd rations, buteach day bis people were grow- ing poorer, The 600 lodges never received what belonged to them, For threes years their eyes had Seen their blankets and flour disappear, but they could not tell whither they went, When the [n- dian goes tor f.0d to the agent he puts sume be- fore him and says, “this is for you;” but he don’t tel! bm where the rest nas gone, ‘The agent bas a door which opens for none but those who rob the Indians, The Little Father tells them to come, then he sends them away, then says come again, and atiasthe gives them what a white man would throw away. The Great Father talks well, satd the speaker, ‘and promises to keep his young men {rom spoiling oar country, He seut the agent blanke\s, Wesaw tuemcome. But they stopped in the agent’s house. They didn’t come to us, We get no rations, 80 we bave to eat our dogs. The whites poison wolves; our dogs eat the wolves andaie, We received no biankets last winter when it was cold, and the =moons were dark with {ce and snow, But now, when tne sun shines and the grass grows, tis Little Father of ours says, ‘come and get your blankets.’ ” lasked Thundering Bull what rating they gave him, A sarcastic smile ran around the lodge, and he continue: ¥or an ordinary teepee one pint Of Sugut, EWO Scoops of flour, bacon the same as nove and. beef none, that any one knows of, Once they gave us a handiui of coffee, but there is none how. The little father talks well, but we are still hungry. MR. AFRAID-OF-THE-REAR, of the Yanktons, said his peopls were to be pitied. They wanted some guns or provisions. Now they could neither shoot nor eat. The steamboats come With much for us, said oe, The agent gives us little, My beart ts full to find that at last the Great Father senas to hear our complaints, The two agents have not treated us right, and it makes our hearvs had. J have known the country for fifty years, All of us, the men, the boys, the squaws and the little papooses, want anew agent. What does the agent do thatis good? He doeatt all bad, He made me one of bis children, When tne cattle cume he put the fat ones in his own corral and gave the poor oues to us. If we go to his house to speak witn him ne locks the door. The traderis bad, He sells our goods. Wo had rather have the old trader (Durfee & Peck), He gave us more for our skins and money. My talk is small, but 1t 1s enough for the white nation to hear. REDSTONE, CHIEF OF THE ASSINIBOINES. Itis@ pleasure to talk with this man, All the whites agree that he has rare intelligence and & good heart, He wore a Hungarian military hat, with @ string of decent beads around his neck, His chest and shoulders were bare, but a dark blue blanket fell from his waist, and he looked like @ sailor in the tropics, His face ts melan- choly and he Is as quies and gentlemanly as a member of the New York Farmers’ Ciub 10 its paluiest day. He said that he represented 600 lodges and 500 warrio! le had been around the agencies three years; was first at old Fort Union, near Fort Buford, There they traded with him well, Since then the cups of flour and sugar have been growing smaller. The traders are bad since Durfee & Peck closed, Leighton had treated them worse than all the rest, The old traders used to make the ciie’s a present or give them a feast when they came from a distance to trade with them. When he came up from Wolf Point that day Leighton gave nim a quarter of a yard of flannel. Our weekly ration, said he, | 1s two kettles of flour, a pint of sugar, ®& pint of coffee and a pound of pork, and this {s all to feed seven persons seven days. They wont let us have guns to shoot game or to defend ourselves against the Tetons. { have always been iriendly to the whites and have obeyed the Great Father, We are looked on as dogs. I have thought that be would help us if he knew how badly we were treated, Alas, I can- not read nor write. 1 am helpless, We are in the hands of bad men, and we have to take what wecanget. Beef has been sent tous. We got The trader cheated us and tne agent would not give as food, The steamboat Fontenelle came up the river, and | went to trade with her, for 1 was hungry. I sold some furs and aid well, Then Leighton, the trader, put astop to tt and made the captain pay a fine of $500 for seliing us goods at honest prices, and his boat was tied up tothe | shore until the fine waspatd. I have received no blankets until now, ‘The squaws got some in the spring, At Fort Belknap the Indians nad to eat horses and dogs, The white men put tobacco in Our sngar so that we could not use it. They gave us two cups of sugar for @ robe, Iknow just what the agent and all his friends will say on reading these letters, A man spoke for him the other day. ‘Keep all white men from the reservations ana there will be no tronbie, If ; they persist in coming, shoot them and throw ‘em into the river.” Even men who pretend to be | honest have sald iu my presence that agents can with their management, In other words, they want to be let alone so that they can brand and rebrand thelr stolen good: sleds in the dead of winter and send them away to the lonely posts of tne North and there make way with the Indians’ food, so that they can rob | and grow rioh and flaunt thelr wealth in the faces | | | | two weeks ago that some chiefs came to me with thetr eyes blazing and said that Iwas trying to | steal their lands; the agent's interpreter bad just | told them so, and the agent advised them to keep only six cattie for 113 lodges during the winter. | do nothing i! white men are allowed to interfere | so that they can load their | of honest men and starving Indians. It was only | ——— news from the lower country, a8 geverai partion prospects rough that reg! ave not been eard from. Major Benham, commanding at Fort Ellis, shouid certainiy be seot more troops, as he has not sufficient to keep the [udians in oneck. THR INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE. The Indian Commission appointed to investigar the charges preferred by Professor Marsh bave been nard at work ail day. They have rooms at the Fiftn Avenue Hotel, and yesterday hela three sessions, morniag, afternoon and evening, Ex: Governor Fleteher, of Missouri; Hon 0, J. Faulk: ner, Of Virginia, aud Hon. Mr. Harris, of Massa- chusetts, represented the commission, and Com- Department, ‘The aoe missioner Siniih, of the Indian looked after the interests of the bureau. ness of the day comprised examination of Pcofessor Mars) througa his pimpulet and nature of the charges he made, furnished the addres-es of witnesses tM. mission would be able to when they convened to Wyoming, The investigaton will ve resumed to-day, as the Commiss:oners are anxious everything in Working order beore they go to the seat Of their chiefiabors. The case azains’ Savil at Red Cloud 1s pretty cl nd, un ess the Com- | mission are hoodwinked the agency, they will nd all the evidence they may require, "i THE HERALD AT THE ANTEPODES, <jncaiiildintichiates [From the Auckland Soutnern Cross, June 10.) Among journiis which atand foremost in whe Tanks of enterprise and daring experiment, un known and unthought of a score o! years ago, Is the New York Hexarp, Wherever inteilgence ig to be obtained there Its correspondent ts to be found, If it ison the bieak plains of Turkestan, or among the dense forests o: Africa he is there, atthe far-off northern shores of ancient Iceland there he ts, takiug part at Reikiavik« in the cele. bration he thousandth anviversary of that sub-Arctic setuement, he 1s to be found sending Maps and plans of the Island, where, for seven | centuries, Mierature has beed careinily cultivatee | Every event oj jmportance, no matier where i! occurs, finds usually the earliest men. tion tm the New York Ueaarv, 1 | it 18 war with the turbulent indians i | the Lava Beds, there, tov, is tle correspon dent, and lis accounte, like those of his con/réres at Iceland and elsewhere, are iliustrated ana ex: plained by maps and plans of the locaity, I Cardinal Manning writes an important letter on the subject of his church aud its claims itis tele. graphedto the New York tHenacp, and, by cour tesy, its great Englisa contempurary, the Times, is favored by that journal witn @ copy of the same. Itruns @ special train as lar as Saratoga to de liver its papers along the line, On the 19th o) April last, the centenary of the battle of Lex. ington, near Concord, in Massachusetis, when the British troops were defeated by @ siall body o Massachusetts militiamen, tie New York HERaLE reprinted {ac-simiies of Bosiou journals, giving, just a hundred years old, an accouat of the en- gagement, and marking the Iuterest waich reigned in the district and throughout tne Statesin re | membrance of tlils, the first victory im favor 01 American freedom. The MpraLp’s Staniey- Livingstone expedition and = its results aro known, and again 15 , nas sent Sraniey to make further discoveries im Africa, whe the icy northern polar region is again to be interrogated and the story ol the logs Franklin further imvestigated by the enterprise and open-handedness of the Mew YoRkK HERALD, who aids Lady Franklin in this effort to learn the last of her husvaud, There, tov, wili be the ubiquitous correspondent. Thus, really, near Greenland’s icy mountains, on Afric’s coral strand, up Nile’s mysterious highway, in Salem's Sacred land, the representative of the most enter: prising newspaper in the worid taxes his stand, andenlightens the keen appetite of Amoricuns with that, knowledge of the history, the science, the literature and geography of the day, of woich the modern newspaper in great centres of popu- jation 18 mow the uneclipsed and vuspproached exponent, The exampie of the New York HBHALD 1s now being largely followed by ihe chie! London jouroals, an the great strides of modern journal, ism ts one of the astonishing progressive features of @ progressive age. WATERING PLACE NOTES. S ! | | General Sherman and family will spend a por. tion of the summer at Geneva Lire, Wisconsin, Count de la Rochefoacald, of the #renck Lega- tion, is at the Ocean, Newport, General Svhenck, United States Minister at London, and iamily have gone on @ two months’ trip to Sweden and Norway, Ex-Ministers bancroft and Jay are at Newport. Doesn’t the stay-at-home grandmother think, when she sees a whole famuy vu! her descendants packed o/f after breakfast in a parlor car, to be jolly and brigit among the mountains at sunset, | that the moderaizea wold muves!—Sos/on Tran. script. William T. Adams, Ds, Leavitt and Sol Smith Russell have started ona janot for Lake George, | whence they are to go to Montrea!, Toronto, Col- | lingwood, Vuluts and St. Paul; thence down the | Mississippi to St. Louls and thence to Chicago, General Belknap and party were recently dodg- ing about Couucil Bladgs, the quarters of Gencra) @. M. Dodge. Nude bathing at Newport has been suppressea— only to be renewed, probably, at couvenisat op portunities. The summer at Newport, itis said, will not be | ais hey dey until the arrival of the New York | yacnt sqaadron. | sir Edward voornton, the British Ambassador, | away from me. The agent wens to Woll Point, nay qhandoned wis contemplated trip to England, | the next day threatening to drive away all WMil@™ oq wis spend (he summer at his coun!ry seat on men (except his own), andareport came that | the Hudson, making o visit to Mr. L. P. Morton at stricter rules would be enforced at Fort Pecs in Newport in August, Lay Tnoraton is in London, 4 | It | the fature, The brazen impudence of the Ring is unparal- leled. Every pains is taken to prevent inves'iga- | tion and fair dealing. The representatives of the | cottage, Newport, for the season, | grandest government on earth stoop to the level | of a common fraud, and the nation’s shiell is | made to cover the most contempitbie acts of the | robber, For the last two years, to my own knowl. | and reported at Washington. but to grant new favors to the gulltiest members of the Ring. Legalized awindlers are escorted through the country by orders from Washington, The President’s brotwer organizes and protects a chain of stores that become depots for stolen | goods, The well-fed demagogues at the capital sneer at the complaints of the Indians and bur- | lesque their claims for justice, but a day of ret- | arrived at tue Ciliton House, Niagara, for une | ripuuon is coming. Ii the jaw refuses to adjust | these wrongs the tomahawk will sarely have its revenge, and the bioody massacres of Minnesota will be repeaced beyond the Missouri. No white man can visit this country and behave | | mimseul without creating fl will and suspicion. Ii he pays his biils and attends to his business he will be set down as aspy orathief. Ihave been | followed day aiter day and openly insulted, only | bec 1 was on the track of government vil- \ laing, The military must feel the indignities that are offered them, When men who have fought | for the honor 0} | the call of such men as these agents, wid jive by | piunderimg the Indians, it 1s tne for a general uprising of the people. OPERATIONS OF SITTING BULL AND BAND NEAR CROW AGENCY—GENERAL ALARM AMONG THE dren BozeMAN, Montana, July 10, 1875. Sitting Bull and his band have now been raid- ing round this district for the past two weeks, aud committing murders and depredations ol a s rious nature. They commenced operations withan attack on a camp Of teamsters at the mouth of the Suilwater, where they murdered Mexican Joe, the herder, andon the following morning they ran of twenty-two head of stock. Messrs. Lindley, ‘Adams and Fridiey arrived from the Yellowstone on the evening of July 8 and vrought totelligence | of the murder of James: Hughes, Hughes and a discharged soldier were diiviy Tule team, ana were attacked on Jaly 7, near i uns, by a pi | of about thirty-five Indians, ug! A 3 was uiiled, cs ad the soldier escaped With a bullet throayn his arm, TWO mMen-named Caspee and Fox Wore fol- | lowing the same trail when they were pu: sued by | Q large Party of Indians, bot succecded in dace ing to Bensoms, ‘ue Satire country Find the Crow Agency 13 PULL OP INDIANS, and a report has just come in that two men were Killed last might Boot eight miles south of the auency. The citizens hore are very auxious sor f vneir country are subjected to | | and will return with herfamily (vo Washington tn | the fail. The Portuguese Minister has taken the Barciay W. Rhinelander Stewart, Lispenara Stewart, J. J. Vial, C. G. Elis, Jr; RW. Hilts, Lewis Ash morn aud J. J. Klons, of New York, are among the recent arriva.s at the Ocean, Newport. A good deal of curlosity was excited at Newpors | lately to see te signature Ofalive French count | and countess on the register at the Ocean, The | excitement was iessened, however, wien It was | ascertained that the signatures were in the hand. | writing of the couut’s vaies. | George Lacy aad wife, Mrs, ©, M, Saria and son, | Mrs, Augusta Bonn and famtly, 0, K. Kennett, Mr. | Abranam and Sir. Lovell, of New Orieans, have a son, | Among the nocabilities at Richfield Springs, | N.Y, are:—- —— Bishop and wile, his sister, Mrs, Cleveland, of Boston, and daughter; J, A. | Appleton and family, of New York; Judge A. S. Jownson, of the Court of Appeals; Judge L. V. | Bradsord and (amu, of Poiiadeiphia; Jonn B. | pevelin and family, of New York; T. 5. Faxton | ana family, of Utica; G@. M, Woutman ana family, | Edward 8, Whelan and family, of Philadelphia; | Colonel Vitearueva and Captain Moragues, of the | Spanish Ordnance Commission; Colonel Squire, of Lion; Meister Viymer, of Pennsylvania; Mayor MeKinuey and family, of Binghamton; Mrs. Thomas Andrews and aanghter, of New York, and others. Mayor Hutchinson ana javy, of Utica, are frequent Visitors at Richeld Springs. ERIE RAILWAY ELECTION. The new Board of Directors met yesterday morning for the purpose of organization. The | programms was evidently all laid oat before without any preliminary business, the geniiemen Were re-e! jected :—Jewett, Shearman, Treasurer, aod MacDon- No report of the Dusiness of ti ewest Was appoluted receiver 10 Presideus; \ | Secretary. THE WEATHER YESTERDAY. ‘The following record will show the changes in enty-four hours @ Of last at Haa- | the temperaiure for the past br Pi | onding di in comparison with (he corresp ise te -inatcated by the thermometer | huv’s poarmacy, WeRALD Baildlog — | 1st4, | 3AM. oe 0 Bs ot 9 P.M. 83 iY) n M, atare yeatorday .. > . for corresponding