curtains of the coach behind; in this case they did. I do not believe there was an Apache near the scene of the murder. All honest men have the same opinion, if they dared to express it. ""Yours truly, &c.,

""N. A. M. DUDLEY,

"Brevet Colonel United States Army.

"Hon. VINCENT COLYER,

""Commissioner.'"

CHAPTER XIV.

THE PEACE COMMISSION (Continued).

CAMP VERDE RESERVATION-THE APACHE-MOHAVES REPORT OF REV. DAVID WHITE, POST CHAPLAIN-ARRIVAL AT CAMP WHIPPLE, GENERAL CROOK'S HEADQUARTERS-REFUSAL TO ADDRESS MEETING OF CITIZENS DEPARTURE FROM TERRITORY-FINAL STATEMENT AS TO APACHES COMING IN.

"Camp Verde, Arizona Territory,

"October 3, 1871.

"We arrived at Camp Verde on the evening of September 30; General Grover and the officers under his command at the post received us kindly. Early in the morning after our arrival, at my request, the General sent out an Indian interpreter to inform the Apache-Mohaves of our arrival, and to request them to meet us at the Springs, twenty-five miles up the valley of the Verde, on the following noon. Arrangements were made to have one thousand pounds of corn, three beef cattle, and a good supply of clothing forwarded to the Springs, and at daybreak October 2, we were up and ready for the journey. General Grover, a lieutenant (former commandant of the post), Mr. Beal, a citizen, Mr. Ward, the interpreter, and an escort of five cavalry, accompanied us. The beef cattle were driven ahead, and the corn and clothing carried on twelve pack mules. We arrived at the Springs about noon. General Grover selected for our camp a clear hilltop a short distance above the Springs, over

looking the valley. There were no Indians to be seen, though there was smoke burning up a near ravine. The Indian interpreter informed us that he had been to several of their villages, and found many were sick from want of food, but that all who were able had promised to come. General Grover, thinking that the presence of several white men who, returning from a deer hunt, had followed us, might be one of the causes of the absence of the Indians, suggested that they leave us. I agreed with him, and the five Apache-Mohaves arrived. Soulay was so emaciated from sickness and hunger that the General hardly recognized him. He was so weak he lay down on the ground, his head resting under the shade of a sagebrush. There were no trees near. The General thinking that he was suffering from an attack of intermittent fever, I prepared a mixture of quinine and whisky and gave it to him, but he soon asked for food, which we gave him. After an hour or so he recovered his strength and we had a talk. He pointed to the valley of the Verde below, where a white man had erected a cabin the year before, and said, 'Where that house stands I have always planted corn; I went there this spring to plant corn, and the white man told me to go away or he would shoot me; so I could not plant corn there any more. Many white men hunted for deer over his mountains, like the three men who had just gone down the valley; that if they met any Indians they shot them, and that they killed all the game or frightened them so much the Indians could not get near them with their bows and arrows, and as the white people would not let them

have any ammunition, they could not kill the deer. There were some mesquite beans, mescal, and cactus figs on the mountains, but they could not live on that in the winter, and they did not see what was left for them but to die. If they went to the post to get some food they could not get any, and the general scolded them about their young men stealing and drove them off. The chiefs could not get anything for their people to eat; they were gradually losing their influence over their young men, who, finding themselves starving, would occasionally go on the roads and farms and steal stock to eat; they knew it was wrong, but how could he stop it, or blame them, when they were all dying for food?' At my request the Indians kindled more fires, and sent out three more runners to bring the Indians in. During the afternoon four parties of three or four each arrived; they were hungry and nearly naked, and confirmed the interpreter's story that numbers of the Indians in the villages from which they came were too sick to come in. We gave them food and clothing. During the night several fires answering our signals were seen on the mountains across the valley, and early the next morning, October 3, a party of thirty men, women and children arrived. After giving them some food and clothing we had a talk. The chiefs repeated nearly all that Soulay said the day before, and together earnestly desired that the valley of the Verde from Camp Verde up to the old Mexican wagon road, about forty-five miles, and for a distance of ten miles on each side of the river, might be set apart for them as an Indian reservation, and they agreed that if the Apache

Mohaves, who were scattered over the middle and western portion of Arizona, who rendezvous about Date Creek, would come in and live with them, they would make room for and welcome them cheerfully upon their reservations. I asked them if they would not be willing to go over to Date Creek and have their home located there. They said there were too many white people around there, and the country did not suit them as well as the valley of the Verde. General Grover and the officers and the citizens I met at the post, all agreed that the valley of the Verde was the best location for a reservation for them. cordingly, on my return to the post this afternoon, I addressed a letter to General Grover setting apart the valley of the Verde as a reservation for the Apache-Mohave Indians.

Ac

"Since my return to Washington I have received the following letter from Rev. David White, post chaplain, reporting the full success in the coming in of over five hundred ApacheMohaves at Camp Verde Reservation:

"Camp Verde, Arizona Territory,

"November 22, 1871.

"Dear Sir: I write congratulating you on the success of your mission to the Indians of this Territory. Since you left, five hundred and eighty Apache-Mohaves have been in and drawn rations. It affords me pleasure to say that the food given out by Captain Hawley (now in command) is given in good faith. The Indians appear well pleased. There is but little danger in travelling anywhere on account of Indians. I have made