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CHAPTER XIII.

EARLY PIONEERS AND SETTLERS (Continued).

WILLIAM S. OURY-MEMBER OF EXPEDITION AGAINST INDIANS PARTICIPANT IN "CAMP GRANT MASSACRE"-HIS OWN STORY OF IT— MENTIONS MANY KILLED, WOUNDED AND ROBBED BY INDIANS-INDICTMENT, ARREST, TRIAL AND RELEASE OF PARTICIPANTS IN MASSACRE-FIRST PRESIDENT OF ARIZONA PIONEER'S SOCIETY-GRANVILLE H. OURYCOMMANDED EXPEDITION OUT OF TUCSON TO JOIN CRABB SENT AS DELEGATE TO CONFEDERATE CONGRESS AT RICHMOND-RETURN TO ARIZONA-TWICE DELEGATE TO CONGRESS FROM TERRITORY OF ARIZONA.

William S. Oury was born in Wythe County, Virginia, on August 13th, 1816. In early life he drifted to the west and was with General Sam Houston, at the battle of San Jacinto. He came to Arizona in 1856, and engaged in stock raising and trading. He bore his part in the early history of the Territory, and was a member of several expeditions against the Indians. He organized the expedition against the Indians which resulted in what has been called the "Camp Grant Massacre." The following is his own story concerning it; and is a paper read by him before the Society of Arizona Pioneers on April 6th, 1885:

"Having been chosen by our President to give a paper upon some events connected with the early history of Arizona, the writer has selected

for his theme the so-called Camp Grant Massacre, believing it to be one of the events most important in its result to the peace and progress of our Apache-cursed land. To give a mere recital of the act of killing a few more or less of the blood-thirsty savages without the details of the causes and provocations which drove a longsuffering and patient people to the adoption of remedial measures so apparently cruel in their results, would be a great wrong and injustice to those of our friends and neighbors who in various ways gave sanction and aid to the undertaking, and would fall far short of the object and aim of the writer to give fair and impartial history.

"In the year 1870, in accordance with the peace policy which had been decided upon by the U. S. Government, the Pinal and Aravaipa bands of Apache Indians were collected together and placed upon a reservation around Old Camp Grant at the junction of the San Pedro and Aravaipa creeks, about fifty-five miles from Tucson, under the supervision of military stationed at that post. One or two agents for them had been taken from civil life, but in a short time their management proving unsatisfactory, one Royal E. Whitman, a lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry, U. S. A., was assigned to duty as their agent. Being what is termed a sharp man and of thrifty disposition, he soon saw that there was money in the Apache, and lost no time in the practical application of that knowledge, to do which required outside partners, who were soon found in Tucson. A settler's store was first started, followed by a blacksmith, butcher, and a

number of others chosen in various capacities, ostensibly for the benefit of 'poor Lo,' 'affidavy' easy conscience witness-men, for the boss, and, as a trite saying goes 'hell was fully inaugurated.'

"The Indians soon commenced plundering and murdering the citizens of Tucson, San Xavier, Tubac, Sonoita, San Pedro and every other settlement within a radius of 100 miles of Old Camp Grant, in the confidence that if they escaped to their reservation, they reached a secure haven. During the winter of 1870-71, these murders and depredations were SO numerous as to threaten the abandonment of nearly all the settlements outside of Tucson, especially that of San Pedro, the most numerous and most important of them all. In the meantime, the citizens of Tucson were aroused, meetings were held upon the occurrence of each new murder or outrage, representations were made to the right Royal Whitman, that his Indians were plundering and murdering our people, which he denied, and stood ready to prove by every striker on the reservation that his Indians never left the place. Meanwhile, the work of death and destruction kept up with ever increasing force until the slaughter of Wooster and wife on the Santa Cruz above Tubac so influenced the people that an indignation meeting was held at Tucson. A great amount of resoluting and speechifying was indulged in, and it was determined to raise a military company at once for which a paper was drawn up and signers called for, to which eightytwo Americans signed their names. The writer was elected Captain, and all hands pledged to

eat up every Apache in the land upon the recurrence of a new outrage. A committee was appointed to visit Department Commander General Stoneman, at the time on the Gila near Florence, consisting of S. R. DeLong, J. W. Hopkins and the writer. The result of the conference with the august personage, General Stoneman, was that he had but few troops and could give us no aid that Tucson had the largest population in the Territory, and gave us to understand that we must protect ourselves. With this cold comfort after a trip of one hundred and fifty miles, and the loss of a valuable mule, we returned to our constituents, and although no public demonstration was made, at a quiet assemblage of some of our ablest and most substantial citizens, it was resolved that the recommendation of General Stoneman should be adopted, and that we would, to the best of our ability, endeavor to protect ourselves.

"A few days afterward, in the beginning of April, 1871, the arrival of a courier from San Xavier brought the sad intelligence that Indians had just made a descent upon that place and driven off a large number of horses and mules. The alarm drum-the usual way of collecting our people was beaten, a flaming cartoon carried by a man who accompanied the drummer was displayed with the following inscription: 'Injuns Injuns! Injuns! - Big Meeting at the Court House-Come Everybody-Time for Action has Arrived.' This device had been so frequently resorted to, and the results had been so unsatisfactory, that it failed to draw. Meanwhile a party of citizens had saddled their horses

and learning from the San Xavier courier the direction the marauding Indians had taken, rode off, hoping to intercept them before they reached Cabadilla Pass. In this they were disappointed because the Indians had gone into the pass before they arrived, but they met the pursuing party from San Xavier and the whole party followed through the pass and overtook the rear Indian driving the stock, on a tired horse, and killed him and recovered some of the cattle-the other Indians escaped with the horses and freshest cattle. Upon the return of the party to Tucson, I hunted up Jesus M. Elias, and had a long conference with him in which he said to me: 'Don Guillermo, I have always been satisfied and have repeatedly told you that the Camp Grant Indians were the ones destroying us. I have now positive proof, the Indian we have just killed, I will swear, and others will swear, is a Camp Grant Indian. I have frequently seen him there, and know him well by his having his front teeth out, and, as a further proof, when we overtook the Indians, they were making a direct course for Camp Grant. Now, it devolves upon you as one of the oldest American residents of this country to devise some means of saving us from total ruin, which the present state of affairs must inevitably lead to if not remedied. See your countrymen, they are the only ones who have money to furnish the supplies necessary to make a formal and effective campaign against our implacable enemies. I know my countrymen and will vouch that if arms, ammunition and provisions, however scant are furnished, they will be ready at the first call.' I replied, 'Don Jesus,

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