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BANCROFT
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THE LIBRARY
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THE UNIVERSITY
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.. The ...
Story of Juan Cruz
BY
WILLIAM E. JOHNSON
Former Chief Special Officer of the
United States Indian Service
HJ
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"If thou faint in the days of adversity, thy strength
is small. If thou forbear to deliver them that are
drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be
slain; if thou sayest, Behold we knew it not; doth
not He that ponder eth the heart consider it? and he
that keepeth my soul, doth He not know it? and shall
not He render to every man according to his works,"
-PROVERBS, XXIV: 10-12.
THE LEGEND OF MOINTEZUMA
Montezuma was born in Pecos pueblo. He rode southward
on the back of an eagle, followed by the people. Wherever he
alighted for the night, a pueblo was built. At the last stop,
the eagle alighted on a cactus bush and was devoured by a
snake. On this spot the City of Mexico was built.
In these pueblos or villages, for many centuries, something
like six thousand Indians have lived. They are a happy, trust
ful, poetic, religious people, full of human sympathy, full of
mysticism. They wove cotton cloth before America was dis
covered. They built Christian churches of their own before
the Mayflower arrived. They constructed mills and ground
their corn. Their houses are now and always have been equal
or superior in cleanliness, in their substantial character, to
those of their American or Mexican neighbors.
These villagers, with their herds and fields, lived in com
munion with spiritual things. In the Moon of the Shearing,
they harvested their wool. In the Planting Time of the Corn,
the seeds were covered, with ceremony and prayer. The
Reader of the Stars of Puye interpreted the Heavens. When
the Sun went on the South Trail, the priest of the Winter Clan
got out his ceremonial bowl and repaired to the Kiva, there to
commune with the Ruler of Magic. They wooed the Maid of
the Corn Silk Hair. They lived, married, and gave in mar
riage until there approached the Shadows at the End of the
Trail, always with faith in the Great Mystery.
To FRIENDS OF THE INDIANS. While this pamphlet is for gratuitous
distribution, the actual cost of printing, binding and mailing is
about four cents each in ten thousand lots. Friends wishing
to aid in protecting these. Indians are invited to send in lists of
addresses of any size together with four cents for each name to
cover the expense. Or send in a check for as many pamphlets
as desired and they will be mailed to clergy lists, "Who's Who"
lists, etc. It is hoped that a situation may be created whereby
it will be impossible for another such series of outrages to be in
flicted upon a dependent people for a generation to come.
Address : William E. Johnson, Laurel, Maryland.
YflAHFHJ TIC
JUAN CRUZ
THE STORY OF JUAN CRUZ. 3
And when the Priests of the White God came from the
South, bearing aloft the Cross, the people believed, and, with
their own hands, built Christian churches, churches that are
still standing as the chief thing in the village life, though two
hundred and fifty years have passed.
THE PUEBLO DE SANTA CLARA
It is of one of these pueblos, that of Santa Clara, the most
progressive of them all, that this narrative chiefly relates. In
1689 the Spanish Crown granted this pueblo a "league" of
land surrounding their church, comprising 17,368 acres. The
title of this was confirmed by Act of Congress, Dec. 22, 1858,
and is still held by the Indians, except some small tracts that
they have sold from time to time, and some huge tracts that
they have been juggled out of through the maladministration
of the U. S. Indian officials in New Mexico. Of this, about
eight thousand acres were stolen from the Indians in one deal.
Eighteen years ago, one Smith induced the Santa Clara In
dians to sign what they supposed to be a right of way for a
road through the land. When the paper turned up for record,
in later years, it proved to be a deed to all of the Pueblo lands
East of the Rio Grande River, comprising about eight thou
sand acres. Smith transferred the land to one Hobart, who
claimed to be an "innocent purchaser." On account of pro
tests, Judge William H. Pope, as attorney for the Indians,
filed suit to set aside the deed. But Judge Pope was trans
ferred to the Philippines, and A. J. Abbott was appointed as
attorney for the Pueblo Indians in his stead.
BUT A. J. ABBOTT WAS THE; ATTORNEY FOR HOBART IN THE
SIGHT THOUSAND ACRE LAND DEAL. THIS APPOINTMENT WAS
MADE UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION OF CLINTON J. CRANDALL,
THE PRESENT INDIAN SUPERINTENDENT AT SANTA FE.
THAT SUIT FOR THE INDIANS WAS ALLOWED TO GO BY DE
FAULT UNDER CRANDALL'S ADMINISTRATION OF AFFAIRS.
For seven years the Santa Clara Indians have clamored for
the reopening of the suit. It was not until the complaints be
gan to become public that F. S. Wilson, the present attorney
for the Pueblo Indians, would consent to apply for the reopen
ing of the case. And when he did "reopen" it, he forgot to
set up the only grounds upon which he could reasonably hope
to win the ground of "fraud."
E. C. Abbott, a son of A. J. Abbott, then became attorney
for the Hobart interests. Wilson did not wish to set up the
ground of "fraud" because it might "hurt Abbott's feelings."
Last May, after the investigations of Inspector Shelby M.
Sineleton (whose report is carefully 'Concealed in the Interior
Department), criticisms led to the introduction of fraud as a
4 Tin; STORY OF JUAN CRUZ.
basis for the suit. Abbott was the special counsel employed
by unknown parties to assist in the prosecution of Juan Cruz.
He has since been elected District Judge, and the Hobart claim
will come up in his court for adjudication.
THE CANADA DE SANTA CLARA
On July 19, 1763, Gov. Tomas Velez Cachupin, upon the
representations of Padre Mariano Rodriquez de la Terre,
made an additional grant to the Santa Clara Pueblo of " the
whole of the Valley of. Santa Clara, which runs westward as
for as the mountains, and in which is situated the tract of land
granted to Juan and Antonio Tafoya, and in it no settler shall
be allowed or any grant made." The Tafoya grants mentioned
were conditional grants. The conditions were not observed,
and the grants were later cancelled. 'Under the Cachupin
grant, settlers were frequently removed and the Indians pro
tected in their rights. This grant was confirmed by the Court
of Private Land Claims, in 1894, and was commonly supposed
to consist of about ninety thousand acres of land.
Then there followed eight years of legal surveys and
squabbling over the interpretation of the "valley" or Canada of
Santa Clara. Early in the administration of Superintendent
Crandall, the canwda was judicially determined to mean the
"canon" of Santa Clara River, and the ninety thousand acres
of land dwindled to about nine hundred acres, which were
patented to the Indians. "God gave us the land, but the
United States surveyed us out of it," explained the venerable
and beloved Francisco Naranjo.
The outcry of the Indians at this loss of their lands reached
the ears of Frances E. Leupp, who was then Commissioner.
Through the efforts of Mr. Leupp, a portion of these lands,
amounting to about 30,000 acres, were restored to the Indians
in the form of an "Executive Order" Indian Reservation, at
the hands of President Roosevelt.
"Rut the Indians were not destined to get the benefit of even
this Executive Order land. Through the manipulation of
Superintendent Crandall, a "deal" with the Forest Service
by which the cattle of American and Mexicans grazing on the
Jemez Forest Reserve, were to be permitted to water in the
Santa Clara River, within the Santa Clara lands. In lieu of
this, the various pueblos were to be allowed to graze two
thousand head of cattle on the Jemez Forest Reserve.
The way this deal worked out under Crandall's adminis
tration was this :
T. The Indian cattle on the Forest Reserve would habitu
ally "disappear." The cattle did not "disappear" on anv
other range, so the Indian? were thus forced to withdraw their
THE STORY OF JUAN CRUZ. 5
cattle from the Jemez Forest range, and even from their own
'Executive Order reservation, and pasture their cattle where
they could, many of them hiring pasturage of private land
owners.
2. The American and Mexican politicians, under color of
this "deal," took possession of the Indian thirty-thousand-acre
reservation and also of their fee simple lands, and held pos
session for seven years without compensation to the Indians.
Again and again did the Indians complain. Again and
again did the priest of the parish, Father Haelterman protest.
Seven months ago Commissioner Valentine tr\ei to correct
the injustice, but was balked by the Department intrigues of
Assistant Commissioner Abbott. Both Singleton and myself
personally pleaded with Abbott in behalf of the Indians. One
friend of the Indians personally pleaded with Assistant Sec
retary Adams, but the only reply of Adams was : "Oh hell ;
there are- a lot of white and Mexican cattlemen down there
whose interests we have got to consider as well as the
Indians."
Adams sustained Crandall and Abbott in their manoeuvers
to keep the cattle on the land as late :as September. On Octo
ber first, I left the Government service and exposed this
outrage in the newspapers. The Department thereupon per
mitted Commissioner Valentine to hurry down to New Mexico
and order the cattle driven off. In this act, the outcries of the
Indians for seven years were justified. It required seven
years of protests an-d finally a public scandal to induce the
Department to correct this robbery.
SOME VAGARIES DRUG STORE WHISKEY
In the meantime, the Indians began accusing Superinten
dent Crandall of selling whisky illegally at his drug store iri
Santa Fe. They worked up evidence in three good cases
against the store and tried to get indictments from the grand
jury. The foreman of the grand jury was a partner with
Crandall in the drug store. The District Attorney is the
attorney for the Hobart land interests against the Indians and
was the one employed by interested parties to assist in the
prosecution of Juan Cruz in Rio Arriba County. The In
dians naturally got no indictments against Crandall's store.
This, together with complaints about their being plundered
of their lands, enraged Superintendent Crandall and he started
out on a campaign of revenge. He proposed to the Indian
Office as a "punishment" for the Santa Clara Indians that
they be deprived of their Executive Order reservation, that
some additional land be added and that the whole amount be
created into an Executive Order reservation for the benefit
THE STORY OF JUAN CKLZ. 7
of all of the Tehuas Indians, of which the Santa Claras are
but a small part. Assistant Commissioner Abbott promptly
got in behind the plot to plunder the Santa Claras, but he was
crafty enough to not call it a "punishment." He put on his
benevolent face and solemnly talked about his scheme to "be
nefit the Pueblo Indians by getting them more land." The
plot was tantamount to a proposal to rob the Irish of their do
main and give the land to the Scotch for the benefit of the
United Kingdom. Abbott had this plunder scheme nearly
through the Interior Department when it was temporarily
blocked through the efforts of -Inspector Singleton.
A STUDY IN HUMAN SYMPATHY
Eight years ago, there came to the Santa Clara Pueblo, as
"government housekeeper," Mrs. Francis D. True, the widow
of a Confederate Army officer. Her daughter, Clara D. True,
was installed as "teacher" in the Government Indian school.
It was a "grass-hopper year," and Indian crops were well-nigh
nil. The following winter, came a dreadful epidemic of
diphtheria of the most malignant type. Within two weeks one-
tenth of the entire village died. Fourteen children out of the
Indian school were buried. In a frenzy of terror, the Indians
drove away the doctor. The military were appealed to, but
refused to take a hand because the Indians were "citizens."
The Territorial Board of Health refused aid because the In
dians were "not citizens." Superintendent Crandall, who dis
played -great energy in keeping away from the danger zone,
finally wired Miss True to do the best she could.
For two weeks, no white person came to the village except
Father Haelterman, the devoted parish priest. In that time.
Mrs. True and her daughter renovated and fumigated sixty
Indian homes every house in the village. They burned the
old bedding and blankets. They pacified and comforted the
Indians. They purchased on their own credit new bedding,
new blankets, disinfectants, groceries and supplies. They
stamped out the epidemic. Crandall did not come till "the
grass came," the Indians tell me.
Then Miss True sought Superintendent Crandall's aid in
inducing the Gjovernment to re-imburse her for the bedding,
blankets and supplies purchased during the epidemic. He flat
ly refused. "You had no authority to make those purchases."
he angrily declared, "and I will just make an example of you
for exceeding your authority in this way; you will have to pay
for those things yourself."
And for two years Mother True and her daughter set aside
a portion of their salary each month in paying- these bills on
the installment plan.
8 THE STORY OF JUAN CRIZ.
Out of this warp and woof was woven the devotion that has
since existed on the part of these Indians for their fornu-r
teacher, Clara D. True, a devotion that has been perfected and
amplified in a thousand different acts during the eight years that
have followed. "Miss True is the only sister that I have,"
said old Francisco Xaranjo to me one day as a big tear trick
led down the furrows of his swarthy face. "I want to maka da
straight way for my people, and you and Miss True must show
me how," said Governor Santiago to me one morning after
we 'had spent the night together, rolled in the same blanket, up
in a mountain canon. "As long as I live, Senora True will be
my mother," said Leandro Tafoya to me one day, while I was
trying to help him locate the boundaries of the new village
school grounds. Leandro will be ninety-one years old next
February, and is twenty-five years older thas his "mother."
Last July, in Santa Clara Canon, the flood tore out all the
Indian farms that the Mexican cattle had not destroyed. Stock
was drowned and orchards wiped out. Mrs. True and her
daughter, with their friend, Mary T. Bryan, at once gave nec
essary immediate supplies to relieve distress and put a dozen
of the Indian men at work on their ranch at good wages, as a
relief measure. The representatives of the Interior Depart
ment, with almost superhuman intelligence, as a relief meas
ure, benevolently offered to sell the Indians some government
barbed wire at fifty cents per bale more than the market price,
and take the pay for it in work.
I1N HONOR OF THE RETURN OF VIRTUE
Two years ago I began operating among these Pueblos in
divers ways, all looking to the rooting out of the liquor traffic
which was playing havoc among them. I had made previous
attempts working in connection with Superintendent Crandall,
but obtained no results. The Indians would have nothing to
do with any of my deputies who worked in connection with
Crandall, for whom they had a deep-seated hatred.
I then sent into the field, Harold F. Coggeshall and employ
ed to assist him. as my deputies. Miss True and Perdo Baca.
the latter an influential, earnest. Pueblo Indian, who had been
educated by the Jesuit Fathers. Results came in rapid suc
cession. The Indians by the score flocked to the total abstin
ence standard, as well as began assisting in securing evidence
against persons guilty of selling liquor to Indians. In this,
the Santa Clara Tnd ; ans took the lead. Out of nearlv three
hundred of these Indians, only three or four are left who
drink. The Santa Clara men became crusaders. They con
verted almost the whole village of San Tldefonso. They sent
missionaries to Cochiti. to Picuris. to Jemez, to San Juan, to
io. THE STORY <n- JUAN CRUZ.
Iseleta and other Pueblos. They formed a total abstinence
society, adopted a badge consisting of a silver arrow, and
practically the whole village enlisted. They sent a delegation
of four Indians to the recent W. C. T. U. Convention at Las
Vegas, where they made addresses in Spanish before the
Convention, before the Y. M. C. A., and before the Normal
University. They formed a Federation which now comprise?
practically every Indian Pueblo in New Mexico, the chief pur
poses of which are to cut out the liquor traffic and to endeavor
to protect themselves from the land and pasturage robberies
that were being inflicted upon them. The Chief of the Federa
tion is Francisco Naranjo, the most influential of all Pueblo
Indians. Last spring, the Indians saw that which they had
done was "good." So they set apart a day in celebration.
Arrayed in fantastic attire, they 'gave their historic dance in
honor of the "Return of Virtue," a ceremonial which is never
given except in honor of some great event that has wrought
great benefits to the life of the people. Hundreds of Indian-
participated in this great event, Pedro Baca being the "Master
of Ceremonies/'
THE TRAGEDY OF CHAJV11TA
Among the early recruits to this band was Juan Cruz, a
young Indian Sir Galahad from Pueblo San Juan. Cruz had
the spirit of a crusader. He was devoted to his church, to
his young wife Dolorita, and to their baby Jose. Little Jose is
said to be the first Indian child ever christened in the Espano-
la Valley without wine. A year ago, Assistant Chief Cogge-
shall had made Juan a deputy posseman in my name and em
ployed him on various occasions to assist, sometimes in dis
tant Pueblos. I paid Juan officially for these services.
In the midst of these activities. Supt. Crandall advised the
rough, drunken Indians that my deputies had no ''authority"
and that no attention should be paid to them. Under the in
spiration of that advice, four rough Indians of bad character,
attacked Juan Cruz, while he was in the act of taking a bottle
of whisky which the leader, Dolores Garcia had just pur
chased. The Indians beat Juan with stones and clubs, mashing
in his mouth and loosening two of his teeth. Juan drew his
revolver and in defense of his life, fired into the darkness, the
bullet hitting Garcia who died an hour later.
Cruz was arrested and held to the grand jury. n charge of
murder in the first degree, conviction for which, under New
Mexico law, could be nothing less than death. Superintendent
Crandall sent in a hostile telegram to the Indian Office. To
a telegram of inquiry from the Indian Office. I replied :
STORY OF JUAN CRUZ. n
Santa Fe, N. M.,Feb. 7, 1911.
INDIAN OFFICE, Washington, D. C.
Your wire yesterday re Cruz shooting. Crandall misinformed
about Cruz claiming to be policeman appointed by Miss True. Last
fall he aided Coggeshall as posse. At present time he was acting
under instructions Governor of Santa Clara Pueblo. Santa Clara and
other Pueblos have banded together to eliminate liquor on their own
motion and their attempt to do this led to shooting. I regarded it best
to withhold defense for present. Drew out prosecution and Cruz was
held without bail.
JOHNSON.
I had just reached Santa Fe and the information that I
gathered quickly was chiefly from Supt. Crandall and F. S.
Wilson, attorney for the Pueblo Indians. Upon later and
personal investigation, I found their information to be un
reliable and worthless. I had not yet ascertained the part that
my regular commissioned deputies played in events leading
up to the tragedy. Attorney Wilson advised me that a non
commissioned employee in suppressing the liquor traffic among
Indians was not a "deputy" de jure. But whether he
was a de jure deputy or not, it was clear that he was acting in
good faith and I felt it my duty to stand behind the boy to the
last ditch. I was, therefore, astounded at receiving the fol
lowing telegram from Assistant 'Commissioner Abbot order
ing me to abandon the boy to his fate :
Washington, D. C., Feb. 9, 1911.
JOHNSON, Special Officer, Care Supt. Perry,
Albuquerque, N. M.
Your telegram seventh, Cruz shooting. Since Cruz not authorized
Government employee your service, take no steps regarding his de
fense. Consult Supt. Crandall and give him all information in your
possession.
ABBOTT, Assistant Commissioner.
There were no living witnesses to the shooting except the
three living assailants, all of whom swore at the preliminary
hearing that the shooting was entirely unprovoked.
I could not see the boy go to the gallows undefended. I
appealed to Crandall to do something. He complacently re
ported to me that "all the facts had come out at the hearing"
and that nothing could be done except to work on the sym
pathies of the Judge.
I appealed to Wilson, but he refused to undertake the defense
unless he received an extra fee. He later tried to manipulate
the affair so that the Juan Cruz Defense Committee would
employ his law partner. And when the proposition was turned
down, Wilson wrote me kindly that Cruz would have to "take
his medicine."
12 THK STOKY OF JUAN CRUZ.
I then went to the ladies of the Woman's Christian Temper
ance Union, at Sante Fe, and laid the life of the boy at their
feet, telling them frankly the situation. They quickly formed
the Juan Cruz Defense Committee and sent out circulars ap
pealing for funds with which to employ counsel for the Indian.
In the meantime, I took the matter up personally with Com
missioner Valentine. Then came in angry protests at the
brutal action of Assistant Abbott. Commissioner Valentine
acted quickly, overruling the order of Assistant Ab1>ott, in the
following telegram :
Washington, D. C.. March 23, 1911.
JOHNSON, Special Officer, Denver, Colo.
Office telegram February 9, concerning Cruz shooting, hereby re
voked. Help in his fullest possible protection every way in your power.
VALENTINE, Commissioner.
I shall never forget the patient, earnest, devoted work of
the Juan Cruz Defense Committee, consisting of : Mrs. H. M.
Byrd, Santa Fe, N. M. ; Mrs. Katherine B. Patterson, Santa
Fe, N. M.; Mary T. Bryan, Espanola, N. M., and Clara D.
True, Espanola, N. M.
Mrs. Patterson, who acted as the Treasurer of the Defense
Committee, is also Superintendent of the Department of Sys
tematic Giving, of the National W. C. T. U.
From the first. Assistant Commissioner Abbott schemed to
discredit the work of this committee, sending out letters and
telegrams intimating that the women were collecting funds
under false pretenses. He even brazenly denied sending me
the telegram of February 9. On May 20 he telegraphed Laura
Stone Power, of Redlands, Acting President of the California
Indian Association :
Replying to your telegram of the i8th inst. No instructions were
ever issued to Chief Officer Johnson forbidding him to help in the pro
tection of Juan Cruz, the Indian murderer.
In addition to denying that he had sent me the telegram of
February 9, Abbott, on the even of the trial, \va> officially
branding the boy as an "Indian murderer."
The Defense Committee employed J. H. Crist of Sante Fe.
one of the ablest criminal lawyers in New Mexico as counsel
for the Indian. At the request of Commissioner Valentine,
the Department of Justice instructed United States Attorney
David J. Leahy, of Las Vegas, to assist in the defense
Commissioner Valentine also ordered F. S. Wilson, attorney
for the Pueblo Indians, to assist. This is the "assistance"
Wilson rendered:
THE STORY OF JUAN CRUZ. 13
1. For two days he endeavored to induce me to advise
Cruz to plead guilty to murder in the second degree and go
to the penitentiary. Apparently his object w.as to justify the
distorted reports of the case that he had been sending to
Washington.
2. He spent much of. his time .around the street corners
abusing the trial judge, applying violent epithets to him.
3. On the crucial day of the trial, when Juan was freed,
Wilson was off fishing ,and knew nothing of what was go
ing on.
4. After the trial, Wilson marshaled the witnesses for the
prosecution at Santa Fe and tried to get Cruz re-indicted in
the Federal Court on charge of murder for the same offense.
His diabolical scheme was blocked by United States Attorney
Leahy, who refused to allow Wilson to take the witnesses be
fore the grand jury.
In preparing the case for trial, I felt the opposition of
Superintendent Crandall. I desired to use as a character wit
ness, one of his teachers, a most estimable lady, who was
especially well qualified' as such witness and eager to serve.
She Pegged of me to excuse her and I did excuse her, on the
ground that she was fearful of Crandall's vengeance upon
her if she aided in the defense of Cruz.
After a week's fight in the court, in which unknown inter
ests employed special counsel to assist in the prosecution, Judge
John R. McFie ruled that at the time of the shooting Cruz
was employed as a Federal officer in the discharge of his
duty and, as such, was not answerable to the Territorial Court
for an offense committed while in the discharge of his duty.
We had a complete defense for the boy aside from this,
which defense, it was not necessary to present to the jury.
Much of the details of this defense Mr. Crist and myself kept
from the knowledge of Attorney Wilson, fearing treachery.
Systematic attempts have been made and are being made
by agents of the Interior Department to blacken and discredit
every one who has made an attempt to protect these Pueblo
Indians. Agents of the Department caused me to be thrown
into jail on my last trip to Slanta Fe on a fake charge of crim
inal libel. I was seized at breakfast and hurried before a
Mexican Justice of the Peace, a friend of Crandall's, who
promptly held me to the grand jury under bonds of $3,000.
I went to jail and at once sued out a writ of habeas corpus
in the District Court where I was promptly released, the
Court holding that there was no evidence to warrant the pro
ceedings. Then I was sued for one Ir.mrlred thousand dollars
*4 TIIK STORY OF JUAN CRUZ.
damages on account of some of these exposures, the complain
ant being Clinton J. Crandall who divides time between selling
whisky at Santa Fe and teaching Indian children at the Gov
ernment school. For two months Mr. Abbott has been trying
to find some way to hold up my accounts for expenses incurred
in the defense. of Cruz in spite of the fact that the law office of
the Indian Office has given their opinion that the expenditures
incurred in this matter were legal. There seems to be no limit
to the wrath of the Department at my successful defense in
this case.
In addition to the various assaults on me, agents of the De
partment of the Interior have been making a great variety of
attacks upon the ladies of the Juan Cruz Defense Committee.
These attacks have ranged all the wiay from circulating lying
whisperings against their integrity to bringing fake litigation
against Miss True, and even to Superintendent Crandall's re
peatedly cutting the barb-ware fences of Mrs. Byrd's ranch.
For this he narrowly escaped indictment at the hands of the
grand jury; the foreman of the grand jury was Crandall's
partner in the liquor selling drug store.
Prior to the trial, both Wilson and Crandall used every
effort to involve Miss True in a crime by trying to prove that
she furnished the revolver with which the shooting was done.
Wilson even reported to Washington on February 14, "Mr.
Crandall and I have not given up hope in connecting her
with the matter in such a way as to punish her as she deserves."
This is apparently one reason why these men wanted Cruz
convicted, as a preliminary to some sort of a prosecution
against one of the best friends of the Indians. A little later,
while I was in Washington, one of the most important of
ficials of the Indian Office asked me if I could "not conjure up
some sort of a criminal prosecution against Miss True so she
will keep her mouth shut."
In striking contrast to the operations of this Departmental
crew of wriggling, squirming, sword-swallowers, there stands
silhouetted against the horizon of the situation the character
of this Indian boy. When he was in the penetentiary waiting
trial, I visited him with Mr. Crist, to discuss the case. Otae
statement had been misinterpreted to us, making it appear that
Itian was contradicting some statement of the state's witnesses
in a trivial matter. Mr. Crist made a casual remark that the
unnecessary contradiction made it more difficult for us. Mr.
Crist's remark, not intended for Juan, was interpreted to him.
Quick as a flash came back the retort, "I will tell the truth if
they hang me for it." Later, when the trial was over, and he
was free, the Indian said. "I knew it would come out this way.
THE STORY OF JUAN CKUZ. 15
I was doing God's work and the whole matter was in His
hands."
The next day, Juan, as he started home with Dolorita and
Baby Jose, threw his arms around me in a farewell greeting.
I felt then, as I feel now, that all of my work in his behalf was
not in vain, that any vengeance which the Interior Depart
ment and the liquor fraternity might inflict upon me could not
make me suffer as much as th^e. Santa Clara Indians have suf
fered because of this decade of maladministration by the worst
plunderbund that has disgraced good government since the
days of William M. Tweed.
The night the trial closed, and Juan was set free, the In
dians came to Miss True. "I knew that Scnor Johnson would
bring Juan back to us. We have all been praying every
night," said Valentine Naranjo, devoutly baring his head.
At the recent Convention of the Society of American In
dians, formed at Columbus, O., Tom L. Sloan, a Winnebago
Indian, voiced Indian sentiment when he said : "What we
want is for the Department to send us Superintendents who
are at least honest, and who are as capable of managing the
affairs of the Indians as the Indians are themselves."
The Reader of the Stars of Ptiye is doing the best he can to
find where the end of it is.
JOHNSON ANSWERS ADAMS' POSTHUMOUS
"CHARGES"
Laurel, Md. December, 9, 1911
Hori. Samuel Adams,
Assistant Secretary of the Interior,
Washington, D. C.
My dear Mr. Secretary :
I have to reply to your letter of the 29th. ult.
On October 29th, Secretary Fisher gave out to the news
papers at Washington a statement that I preferred to resign my
position as Chief Special Officer of the United States Indian
Service ''rather than meet certain definite charges against him."
These clippings were called to my attention in the far West.
Inasmuch as no charges whatever had been preferred against
me which I refused to meet, I wrote the Secretary on Novem
ber nth, requesting a copy of the alleged charges to which he
referred, that I might make a defense thereto.
Your reply dated November 29th is a general roast of thir
teen pages in which is mixed argument, innuendo, imputation,
vituperation and some definite statements. I will assort the
definite statements from the mess as best I can and make reply
thereto.
First, permit me to inquire : If definite charges had been
presented to me and that I resigned rather than to meet them,
what business had you as an administrative officer to accept
my resignation which I have in my possession signed by your
own hand. Outside of the Interior Department, the acceptance
of a resignation is regarded as a clean bill of health. I waiv
ed my rights in this matter and invited you to file any charges
that you might conjure up after you had accepted my resigna
tion, and to make them public if you desired.
Your attention is called to the fact that on September 17,
after I had handed in my resignation, you yourself gave out
to the newspaper correspondents a statement that "no fault
had been found with Mr. Johnson's integrity or his character."
You also complimented my service.
Your attention is also invited to the fact that only a few days
prior to the giving out of Mr. Fisher's interview, he himself
definitely stated to Clara D. True, while she was his guest on
MRS. KATHERINE B. PATTERSON
Treasurer of the Juan Cruz Defense Committee and Superintendent
of the Department of Systematic Giving of the
National W. C. T. U.
his private car through New Mexico, that there were no
charges against me at all. I herewith submit a letter from
Miss True.
Espanola, New Mexico, October 25, 1911.
MR. WIUJAM E. JOHNSON,
Denver, Colorado.
MY DEAR MR. JOHNSON :
The recent statement of Hon. Walter Fisher in the press that you
resigned rather than face "certain definite charges", seems so peculiar
in the light of my late conversation with Mr. Fisher, that I have
written him for fuller information.
In his private car en route from the Pacific coast to Washington
not long ago, I called upon him and by invitation rode with him a dis
tance between Albuquerque and Lamy Junction. Mr. Fisher seemed
troubled by your resignation which he said he had not expected, or
desired, and that there zvere no charges against you. The situation is
peculiar. Someone has blundered. Very sincerely,
C. TRUE.
18 Tin. STORY OF JLA.N CKLZ.
After 1 announced my intention to resign, and after you
knew it, an emissary came to me from your office stating that
you were willing to accept my resignation provided I would
go away and ''keep my mouth shut." 1 replied, in substance:
"I will agree to no such thing. I am going out a free man.
I prefer to be dismissed, and want to be dismissed. If you
don't dismiss me today, I shall resign today." You failed to
dismiss me and I resigned and you accepted my resignation.
Your account of the "conference"' preceding my resignation
is a very good burlesque of the facts. It is true that I was
called to Washington by you. About an hour before the con
ference, a politician and office-holder who is intimately con
nected with the Interior Department officials asked me by tele
phone to meet him at the Metropolitan Hotel. He said to me :
''I have inside information from the Interior De
partment as to what is wanted of you. You ar,e get
ting too many convictions and it is causing trouble.
They are just going to raise hell with you today and
try and hammer you into a frame of mind whereby
you will be willing to go to sleep on your job."
I was ushered in your presence without any specific infor
mation as to what was wanted. You were seated at a large
flat-top desk around which were three 'other officials and on
which was a large pile of papers and documents. You would
not allow me to sit at the desk where I could examine or refer
to the papers. You twice savagely ordered me to sit in a chair
some distance from the desk. For two and a half hours you
inquisitors took turns in a fusilade of rapid-fire questions to
me. The questions involved a great multiplicity of small items
and expenditures, legal decisions, technical authorities and re
cords, and my records were a thousand miles away. I had
nearly a hundred men in the field, all spending money, and I
had approximately nine hundred different criminal cases pend
ing on the dockets. Many of your questions were insulting,
insinuating and accompanied with sneers. There was plenty
of innuendo in your questioning, but no "'charges'' of any sort
were presented to me, and my 'attention was called to no
"'charges" of any kind or character, an;l ymi \vell know it.
The first charges that have been called to my attention are con
tained in your letter of November 29th. The only paper of
any kind that I was allowed to examine at the conference \vu-
an affidavit of George Anton, in which he swore to receiving
three dollars from me and that he did not know what it was
for. There was no charge in connection with the matter. You
asked me to sav what T had to sav re^anlin^' the affidavit "at
THE: STORY OF JUAN CRUZ. 19
my convenience.'' I complied about a week later. I deal with
this matter later in this letter. Your whole course during this
"third degree" performance fully confirmed the advance infor
mation that I received in the Metropolitan Hotel as to your
real purposes.
You make a specious argument of four pages in an effort to
prove that I was "insubordinate" in matters growing out of
certain New Mexico complications. The real story of this
matter is this : OKving to long continues abuses of your de
partment in New Mexico, the six thousand Pueblo Indians had
been compelled to form a Federation in order to protect them
selves against the maladministration of your office, a scandal
of years standing. The Indians complained because you em
ployed a liquor dealer as their Superintendent, and accused
him of selling liquor illegally. They had numerous other
grievances which were habitually ignored by your office. Be
cause they complained, your agents went out on a campaign
of "punishment." Mr. Abbott withheld approval of all my
deputy appointments in New Mexico, nearly all of whom were
Indians. The District Court came on at Albuquerque and the
Federal Court at Santa Fe. I wished to prosecute one Jesus
Castellano for selling liquor to two of my Indian deputies.
The District Attorney would not pay their witness fees be
cause they lived outside of the county at a distance. I had no
authority to pay them anything except as deputies, and you
held up their appointments, thus blocking the prosecution of
Castellano.
I desired to prosecute in the Federal Court, Claro Marino,
who was peddling whisky to Indians under the guise of ped
dling vegetables. I had already instituted prosecutions against
her in the Territorial Courts. It was necessary to employ an
Indian deputy to run down some witnesses. I could not do
this because you would not allow me to employ such deputy.
In this way you blocked the prosecution of both of these cases.
I also desired to employ an Indian deputy to assist the Dis
trict Attorney and constable as interpreter and scout in pre
senting to the Grand Jury half a dozen cases which had been
bound over in the Justice Court at my instigation. You would
not allow such employment, and five of the six cases were
saved only because the Indians loyally came to the rescue and
did the work unofficially and without compensation.
As these events were developing, I took this situation up
with you by wire, and you still refused to allow me to employ
the Indians, but ordered me to send a Special Officer. The
nearest officer was exactly 1007 miles away, and all the officers
were engaged on other urgent work. It would require an ex
penditure of several hundreds of dollars to comply with your
2O THE STORY OF JUAN CKUZ.
order, and the officer could not do the work needed in any
event, as they could not interpret. They could not employ in
terpreters because you have never given me authority to em
ploy interpreters. I have always used deputies as interpreters,
and you had blocked my employment of deputies in New Mex
ico, thus blocking my use of interpreters there.
1 tried to explain this to you again, asking if you desired
me to abandon the cases. I stated that if you insisted I could
send a Special Officer. You wired me to place a Special Officer
ai: your disposal for New Mexico operations, and 1 promptly
did so ; but even then you did not send the officer whom I had
placed at your disposal for this purpose. You thereby blocked
the prosecution of both the Castellano and Marino cases and
jeopardized the prosecution in all the other cases.
These tactics of yours are by no means new to me. By simi
lar intrigues your department has blocked my prosecutions in
something like 250 cases of various sorts during the past two
years.
Aside from the interfering with the successful prosecution
of these cases, your purpose manifestly was to trick me into a
color of "insubordination." If I had not suspended the opera
tions of the New Mexico deputies, whose appointments you had
refused to approve, you would have had me on the carpet for
"insubordination" ; now you accuse me of "insubordination"
because I DID suspend their operations. Apparently you were
determined to get me going or coming.
You charge :
"Including in the moneys paid out by you at the
time of the defence of Juan Cruz, was $61 paid to
Pedro Baca as a posseman, in the face of the fact that,
by Department telegram of February 18, 1911, you
were directed to terminate the employment of Pedro
Baca who had been formerly employed by you as a
special deputy officer."
It is true that Baca's activities in suppressing the liquor
traffic among Indians, and his criticism of Indian Superinten
dent Crandall for illegal sales of whisky 'was followed by de
partmental orders to dismiss him, without cause. On February
9th, Assistant Commissioner Abbott telegraphed me to take no
steps to the defense of Juan Cruz, an Indian, who had been
employed by me to assist in the suppression of the liquor
traffic among Indians. Through the intriguing of Indian
Superintendent Crandall, who is himself a liquor dealer, four
drunken Indians had murderously attacked Cruz when in the
discharge of his duty. In self-defence Cruz was alleged to have
THE: STORY OF JUAN CRUZ. 21
shot the principal assailant. Cruz was held for murder in the
first degree and the prosecution was being strenuously sup
ported by special counsel having been employed by interested
parties to assist the District Attorney.
The ladies of the W. C. T. U. then undertook to raise funds
to defend the Indian's life, the fight for which Mr. Abbott or
dered me to abandon. The Abbott order caused so much
criticism against your Department that on March 23rd Com
missioner Valentine overruled the same order in the following
telegram, addressed to me:
"Office telegram February ninth, concerning Cruz
shooting hereby revoked. Help in his fullest possible
protection every way in your power."
Under the authority of this telegram and under my general
authority to employ deputies and posseman temporarily, I em
ployed Baca to assist. He was an important witness ; a well
educted Indian, and could do the necessary work better than
anyone else. It was a matter of life or death. Your real ob
jection to the matter seems to be your anger that I was suc
cessful in saving the Indian's life and securing his freedom.
After he was released, your own representative, F. S. Wilson,
attorney for the P'ueblo Indians, and officer of your own De
partment, marshalled the witnesses for the prosecution before
the Federal Court and tried to get Cruz reindicted by the Fed
eral Grand Jury on the same charge of murder. After your
own official agents had tried to get Cruz reindicted, and failed,
you had the nerve to tell me that you " would not harm Cruz
if I could."
You charge :
"From your accounts it appears that you employed
Sylviano Roybal as a deputy special officer from June
1 6 to June 21, at $5 a day. Mr. Roybal was the
sheriff who had the prisoner Cruz in his custody. It
it difficult for me to see in this payment to him of $30
as a special deputy any motive on your part but an im
proper one."
Sheriff Roybal receives no salary, only fees. Every lawyer
in the United States, outside of the Interior Department knows
that it is the duty of a sheriff to subpoena witnesses for the
defense in criminal cases as well as for the prosecution. We
asked Mr. Roybal to secure the attendance of various wit
nesses in the Cruz case in the usual way. The County Com
missioners refused to pay him for the work; I therefore paid
him officially as my deputy for his time. Some time ago, the
22 Tin-; STORY OF JUAN CRUZ.
Auditor for the Interior Department called my attention to a
Federal statute forbidding the acceptance of services to the
Government without compensation. Your anger at my success
in the Cruz case seems to so blind you that you regard it as
improper for me to obey the law.
Talking about "misappropriation of funds," how about that
thousand dollars of Indian money which Superintendent Cran-
dall got, ostensibly to "improve the roads in and about the
Indian Pueblos?" He spent the money to aid the construction
of an automobile speedway along La Bajada hill, and eight
miles from the nearest Indian. The "speedway" is through
the property of the chief political boss of New Mexico. See
Singleton's report for full particulars of this particular graft.
The report has been in you possession for seven months. You
yourself personally condoned this job.
You charge:
"You paid Miss True $72 for 24 days' alleged ser
vices as posseman, when, as shown by your letter of
July 20, you had been instructed by the Department
to discontinue the services of Miss True and Pedro
Baca You admitted that Miss True
would have worked just as hard for the defence of
Juan Cruz without employment and without payment
at all. It therefore follows that your payment of Gov
ernment funds for this purpose was a misuse of much
funds."
The Department, it is true, compelled me to terminate the
services of Miss True and Pedro Baca on account of their
activities for the Indians, and for their criticisms of illegal
liquor selling on the part of Indian Superintendent Crandall.
For the details of this booze peddling superintendent, you only
have to refer to the voluminous report of Inspector Shelby M.
Singleton, which report has been in your possession for seven
months, and which apparently is also "difficult for you to see."
During the six weeks before the infamous Abbott telegram of
February ninth was overruled by Commissioner Valentine, this
devoted woman was spending almost her whole time and hun
dreds of dollars of her own funds in trying to protect the In
dian boy. After I was officially directed by Commissioner
Valentine to "help in his fullest possible protection every way
in your power," I employed Miss True for a few days, paying
her as a posseman. She was a vitally important witness for
the defense, and much of this $72 was for her time in attend
ance upon this court as a witness. The Court, while discharg
ing Cruz from custody, refused to allow the fees of any wit-
THE: STORY OF JUAN CRUZ. 23
nesses for the defense, on the theory that that was a proper
charge, under the circumstances, upon the Fed'eral Govern
ment. Having this attitude of the Court in mind, -and having
in mind the Federal statute against accepting gratuitous ser
vices in behalf of the Government, T paid Miss True for her
time.
FRANCISCO NARANJO
Chief of the Federation of Indian Pueblos, and Presidente
of the Pueblo Indian Temperance Society.
I have been making payments of this sort for five years with
the full knowledge of your own Department. These payments
have been uniformly approved during all this time. Some
months ago, the Comptroller specifically and in writing ap
proved this class of payments. But when the attempt is foiled
to hang an Indian boy who had 1 been indiscreet enough to
criticise an Indian Superintendent who is one of your political
24 THE STORY OF JUAN CRUZ.
associates, for selling whisky illegally, then and not till then
do you rise up in your might and shout about such payments
for services being a "misuse of governmental funds."
Did you ever hear of 'the inebriate who wandered all over
Washington buttonholing people and saying, "I smell Lim-
burger cheese in your pockets?" When the toper gol home,
his wife went through his pockets, as wives do, and found a
whole pound of Limburger cheese in her husband's pocket
You charge :
"It appears that you also paid J. H. Crist as a spe
cial deputy officer from June 13 to 17, at $5 per day,
when to your knowledge Crist was employed to defend
Cruz by the socalled Juan Cruz Defence Committee.
. . . Revised Statutes, Section 189, forbids the
employment of attorneys or counsel at the expense of
the United States."
I did not employ Crist as an "attorney or counsel/' and you
know it, and as your charge indicates. I paid him for his time
as a "deputy," to gather evidence in the Cruz case and some
other matters connected with the suppression of the liquor
traffic among Indians. There are scores of attorneys employed
in the Indian Office and field service, in other capacities than
as "attorneys." I have employed dozens of them as deputies,
but never as "attorneys." I have done this with the full knowl
edge and consent of your own Department. Your own De
partment is at this very hour employing many lawyers to do
precisely the same class of work that I employed Crist to do,
and you very well know it.
You charge:
"You also paid George Anton as posseman on June
2 ist, $3. An affidavit to the effect that he did not
know why the money was paid him was turned over
to you on the day of the hearing, with the request that
you prepare an answer to the affidavit. Instead of
preparing such answer, you handed in your resig
nation."
The affidavit was not turned over to me to "answer." It
was turned over to me to make an "explanation in writing" and
at my "convenience." I made the explanation on my arrival
at Denver about a week later. That explanation has been in
your own office since last September. You will find it pigeon
holed, perhaps with the Singleton report, in some rathole of
the Interior Department, unless too "difficult for you to see."
I will repeat the substance of the "explanation." On the
THE; STORY OF JUAN CRUZ. 25
morning of June 21, Anton, an ex-saloon keeper, and an em
ployee of one of Superintendent Crandall's personal friends,
came to me stating that he .had evidence and could get some
more within a few days work that one "Shorty" Frank had
been selling liquor to Indians. I told him to work the matter
up, and that I would pay him for his time. An hour later,
Miss True told me that Anton had just come to her stating
that he had an appointment with the Cruz jury for nine o'clock
that night, and that he .wanted her to go with him to "fix" the
jury. (Since writing my "explanation" I found a witness of
the highest character who had hid behind a door and over
heard the whole conversation, thus corroborating Miss True
completely.) I immediately reported the matter to United
States Attorney Leahy. Not knowing of the corroborative
testimony, we decided to take no action as it would simply be
Anton's word against Miss True's. I did, however, immedi
ately dismiss Anton, put paid him three dollars for the day's
work he actually did. The three dollars were paid by an of
ficial Treasury check in the usual way, and the letter of trans-
mittal stated that the check was for "payment of your services
on June 2ist." Your office has a copy of the letter of trans-
mittal and 1 knows all about the transaction. You, apparently,
seem to be incensed that I did not fall into the trap set by par
ties interested in the prosecution of Cruz.
You charge:
"The most serious thing in connection with the
matter seemed to me to be 'the paying of Juan" Cruz
$6 as posseman, for the days of February 3 and 4,
ibeing the day before and the day of the shooting of
Garcia by Cruz. This payment* was not made until
May 26."
I paid this claim as soon as I was convinced' that it was a
just claim and not before. Sometimes it takes the Department
years to find out whether a claim is just or not.
In support of the above charge, you quote from various
letters of mine written before I had conferred with Assistant
Chief Coggeshall, who originally appointed Cruz in my name,
and who had immediate charge of the New Mexico work;
letters written before I had personally made an investigation
and at a time when I was depending chiefly on Superintendent
Crandall and Attorney Wilson for information as to the case.
Investigation showed these sources of information to be value
less.
You carefully refrain from quoting from my report made
after a thorough personal investigation, which, from your near-
26
THE STORY OF JUAN CRUZ.
sightedness, it is again ''difficult to see.'' In these subsequent
reports the facts were fully set forth, and my former letters
thereby modified and corrected. You are still hunting for that
Limburger cheese. The Justice of the Peace pettifogging me
thods to which you resort in the above charge do not seem
to call for an extended reply.
SANTIAGO NARANJO
Governor of Santa Clara. He says : " I wan-ta
mak-a da straight way for my people."
You say that Assistant Commissioner Abbott denies com
pelling me to write a laudatory letter of June 29, to Mrs.
Patterson, in which Abbott is extolled as a man of "high
character." I expected Mr. Abbott to deny it he is that kind
of a man. But a portion of the original draft of that letter is
in Abbott's own handwriting. You say "your making the
-tatement above set out shows that you were totally unfit to
THE STORY OF JUAN CRUZ. 27
holdi any position involving the exercise of discretion." That
is probably true from the standpoint of men like you, whose
purposes seem to be best served by 'concealing and hiding
things from the public, just as you are now concealing the re
port of Inspector Shelby M. Singleton, detailing the appalling
rottenness of your own administration in New Mexico. You.
further observe regarding the statement, "whether true or not,
it shows you to be guilty of moral cowardice in an extreme
measure." Perhaps. But Mr. Adams, if your superior, Sec
retary Fisher, should come to you demanding that you prepare
a letter extolling his high character, wouldn't you do it ? I did
not give Mr. Abbott away in the matter until I got out of the
service, and I did not do it then until it became necessary in
order to protect the Pueblo Indians from Abbott's vindictive
schemes.
In this connection, how about you accepting my resignation
with laudatory observations to the newspapers -regarding me,
and Fisher telling Miss True that there were no charges
against me, and then, when the scandalous conduct of your own
Department is exposed, you rend the air with maledictions
against me to cover up the rottenness of your own Department
as shown in Inspector Singleton's report.
You mention a charge of "inattention to duty" but state
nothing of what the charge consists. The records show that
the Service, under my direction, filed during the last fiscal year.
1717 new cases, secured 1168 convictions, and had only 34 ac
quittals at the hands of juries. We have secured approxi
mately 3400 convictions since I have had charge of this Service.
All this has been accomplished in spite of the subterranean in
trigues of that bedlam of incompetency officially known as the
Department of the Interior. Your conception of "my duty"
seemed to be that of sleeping on my job. From that standpoint
I am justly accused.
You gave out your letter of November 29th to the news
papers before sending it to me. I have no objections to that.
I will give out copies of this letter to the newspapers. Let
everything come out. Suppose that you now give out copies of
the big report of Inspector Singleton on the rotten condition
of your administration in New Mexico. People are clamoring
for it and you are standing them off with letters saying that
the "report is still under discussion," etc. You have had it
"under discussion" for seven months. Why not turn it loose
and let the people "discuss" it for a while.
My dear Mr. Secretary: Look in your own pockets you
may find that Limburp'er cheese there.
Respectfully,
WILLIAM E. JOHNSON.
28 THE STORY OF JUAN CRUZ.
MEMORIAL OF THE SANTA CLARA PUEBLO INDIANS
Espanola, N. M., Oct. n, 1911.
DEAR FRIEND: We are forced to make an appeal to you in hope
of securing some redress of grievances and wrongs which we have
suffered and are suffering at the hands of the Indian Bureau.
We own several thousand acres of well-watered land. Part of
this is an executive order reservation and part is fee simple land
owned by ourselves under a Spanish grant confirmed by the United
States Courts.
For seven years something like a thousand head of cattle belong
ing to politicians have overrun our lands, eating up our pasture,
breaking down our fences, destroying our crops, devastating our
fields, and depriving us of our principal means of livelihood. The
Indian Office compels us to submit to these wrongs.
Several months ago the Secretary of the Interior sent an honest
man down here to investigate, Mr. Shelby M. Singleton, attorney for
the Chicago Citizens' Association. He reported fully the outrages per
petrated upon us by representatives, of the Indian Office and not
only recommended, but personally pleaded that justice be done us.
Mr. Singleton's report was suppressed by the politicians and he
was disgraced for recommending that the abuses be corrected. We
beg of you to call upon the Indian Office for a copy of Mr. Single
ton's report and get the whole truth.
We solemnly protest against a notorious liquor dealer who is
president and director of a drug store in Santa Fe, which we have
repeatedly caught selling liquor unlawfully, being retained as super
intendent of the school where we have to send our children.
We plead with you to call for and make public the report of Mr.
Singleton and help us protect ourselves against the wrongs heaped
upon us by the Indian Office in the interest of corrupt politicians and
liquor dealers.
(Signed) SANTIAGO NARANJO, Governor of Santa Clara Pueblo.
VICTORIANO SISNEROS, Lieutenant Governor,
FLORENTINO SISNEROS, Captain of War,
CANDITO TAFOYA, Sheriff,
JOSE MARIA NARANJO, Cacique,
JOSE MANUEL NARANJO, Priest of the Winter Clan,
LEANDER TAFOYA, Ex-Governor,
FRANCISCO NARANJO,
ex-Gov. and Chief of the Gen. Fed. of Pueblo Ind.
MANUEL TAFOYA, Principale,
PEDRO CAJETE, Principale.
PEDRO BACA, Principale,
ULOGIO NARANJO, Principale,
JOSE DOMINGO OGUSTIERREZ," Councilman,
VIDA OGUSTIERREZ, Councilman,
VALENTINE NARANJO, Councilman,
SEVERO NARANJO, Councilman.
THE STORY OF JUAN CRUZ. 29
GRIEVANCES OF THE SANTA CLARA INDIANS, REPORTED AT
THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE FEDERATION
OF PUEBLO INDIANS, MAY, 1911
1. We have been lied to and lied to about by the Superintendent
until the situation is intolerable.
2. The attorney for the Pueblo Indians has refused to serve us
in any capacity.
3. We have a worthless and really hostile set of men quartered
upon us for the ostensible protection of Santa Clara Reservation, but
really to keep us out of the use of the lands.
4. We are getting little use of our reservation lands, although we
own in fee simple nearly all the water, if not actually all, of Santa
Clara Creek. The Forest Service assumes the right to pasture our lands
and distribute the water to white cattle men. They say they need the
water. So do we and we own it. There is other water for the white
men's cattle. We do not get anything in return for the depredation of
our lands or the use of the water, although we are supposed to receive
grazing and wood.
5. We want to know our legal status under the Treaty of
Guadalupe.
6. We want competent legal protection, which we have never had,
except for. the short time Judge Pope was in office as Pueblo Attorney.
7. WE INSIST UPON THE SUPPRESSION OF THE
LIQUOR TRAFFIC.
8. We ask for the backing up of our Indians when they take up
this work of liquor suppression.
9. We want better schools. Our schools grow poorer every year,
partly from the lack of easily supplied equipment and partly from in
difference.
10. We ask for the efforts of the Indian Office to be used for the
eradication of eye troubles and consumption. This work was begun,
but 'because it interfered with Mr. Crandall's policy of suppression of
publicity of the distressing condition of the Indians under his care, he
used every means to discourage it.
11. We want better farming instruction. Our present farmer is a
farce.
12. We want a better Indian police force. The present head of the
police force wears a black eye a good part of the time, given him by a
drunken wife.
13. WE INSIST THAT ALL GOVERNMENT OFFICERS,
WHITE OR INDIAN, BE DISCHARGED FOR DRUNKENNESS.
14. We want investigation .of the Hobart lands, which we do not
believe we lost, and we want investigation of the Guachipangi water
situation, which we believe a fraud upon us Indians.
i. We ask that the boundary lines of our reservation be straight
ened by making an addition to the reservation from the forest of
Jemez. his land is ours anyway. We bought it from private owners
more than a century ago.
16. We ask that Assistant Commissioner Abbott's recommendation
as to this addition be most carefully looked into. He recommended
that it be made, but that our reservation be taken from us and divided
up with all the Tehua tribes. This would not be anything but a punish
ment to our tribe for its independence, and the other tribes do not want
to steal from us. There is plenty of land to give them without taking
away ours.
30 THE STORY OF JUAN CKUZ.
"SMALLPOX" TACTICS
Espanola, N. Mex., April 23, 1911.
MY DEAR MR. JOHNSON:
That you may realize some of the difficulties under which your men
labor with Mr. Crandall's constant underground opposition, I beg to
call to your attention the fact of his sending out letters to the South
ern Pueblos commanding them to avoid Santa Clara and San Ildefonso
as we have smallpox in those villages. He says in these letters that
in addition to having smallpox, the Santa Clara's are bad people. The
Governor of Cochiti received one of these letters and gave me the in
formation I here quote.
There is not and has not been a case of smallpox in either San
Ildefonso or Santa Clara for many years. There in no smallpox any
where else that we have any knowledge of in all the Espanola country-
There is not even a sick man, woman, or child in Santa Clara, as I
can make affidavit, and nobody knows of any in San Ildefonso.
The two villages mentioned have quit drinking. Your work pros
pers in both places. Mr. Crandall is afraid other villages will come
over on our side if there is any intercourse. He did not suppose I
would get the information.
If the Indians in San Ildefonso and Santa Clara were infected with
any contagious disease, making a quarantine necessary, San Juan
would be infected too, as it is only six miles from us and we s-ee each
other daily. But San Juan is a drunken village and Mr. Crandall did
not wish other Indians to keep away from there.
I am very sorry our Superintendent secretly hinders moral refor
mation. I hope you will call the attention of the Commissioner to this
matter. We should have a hard time to clean up the villages even if
we had all possible encouragement from officials. As it is, the matter
is extremely difficult. Besides being your deputy here, I am a full-
blood Santa Clara Indian and therefore I think I should protest.
Very respectfully,
SEVERO NARANJO,
Deputy Special Officer.
FATHER HAELTERMAN TELLS OF THE REFORM
Santa Cruz, N. Mex., September 25, 191 r.
MR. W. E. JOHNSON,
Denver, Colo.
DEAR SIR:
The Friday's issue of the Denver Times telling of your resigna
tion as Indian Official came as a shock to me; it was the last thing
I had thought of.
The Service never had a man who worked more strenuously and
unremittingly than you have done for the suppression of the liquor
traffic among the Indians.
I was hoping the men in Washington at the head of the Indian
Bureau would show their appreciation of your work by soon giving
you a well deserved promotion and am at a loss for words with which
to express my sorrow at your resigning, as it will be a difficult task to
find a man so well suited to your place.
The good you have done among my Indians here by your tireless
efforts in their behalf is already apparent. Among the Santa Clara's
for instance, where a few years ago much drunkenness and abuse ex
isted, there is now perfect harmony. Several men who were accu?-
THE: STORY OF JUAN CRUZ. 31
tcmed to beat their wives are now model husbands since they leave
liquor alone.
Another man who was under the influence of drink all the time
and very quarrelsome and troublesome among his people is now one
of the most respected and respectful men I have in my parish.
Your absence from the Service would be a great loss to the In
dians, all of whom consider you the best friend they have. It will be
a loss to me in many ways, as you have helped my people where others
failed.
Every man in Washington who knows of your work cannot but
admit that in accepting your resignation the Indian Service loses the
best man it ever had.
In view of all this I beg you to reconsider the matter and recall
your resignation.
Such men as you are too scarce, we cannot afford to lose a single
one. Very sincerely yours,
REV. G. HAELTERMAN,
(Missionary Priest in charge of the Parish of Santa Cruz.)
AN INDIAN APPRECIATION
Espanola, N. M., Sept. 19, 1911.
MR. W. E. JOHNSON,
Chief Special Officer, U. S. I. S.,
Denver, Colo.
DEAR SIR: The Pueblo of Santa Clara, mindful of its regenera
tion through your efforts, most cordially invites you to be its guest for
as long a time as you will -enjoy it. Horses, saddles, guns, guides and
tents, with the best rations at your command, will be provided you as
long as you can make use of them. We hope you will come to us and
go to the mountains for a much needed rest. All w>e have is yours
now and always. This is but small pay for the manhood you have re
stored to this village by stopping the liquor traffic here. We know yon
helped us at the price of your position. No other man in the Indian
Service would have risked his head by staying with us and saving the
life of Juan Cruz. You may go down in apparent defeat before the
whisky ring at Washington but in the Hearts of a quarter of a million
American Indians, you are a hero. There is probably not one of this
great number but what has come under the influence of your work.
Come and be a good Indian with us.
Very sincerely,
THE COUNCIL OE SANTA CLARA,
By VlCTORIANO SlSNEROS,
Acting Governor.
THANKS FROM THE JUAN CRUZ DEFENSE COMMITTEE
Tierra Amarilla, N. M., June 21, 1911.
COMMISSIONER INDIAN AEEAIRS,
Washington, D. C.
Juan Cruz today declared Federal officer in the discharge of his
duty, when he killed Garcia, February fourth, McFie rendering opinion.
We desire to thank you for assistance of Chief Special Officer Johnson.
His service in this case cannot be too enthusiastically described. Not
only did he save the Indian, but he secured from the Court a decision
which will go down in the legal history of New Mexico for the pro-
32 THE STORY or JTAN CKUZ.
tection of future operations by Indian Office employes engaged in the
suppression of the liquor traffic.
MARY T. BRYAN, Secretary,
Juan Cruz Defense Committee.
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED AT THE TERRITORIAL CONVENTION
OF THE NEW MEXICO W. C. T. U., AT LAS VEGAS,
N. M., OCTOBER 19, 20, 21, 1911
Be it resolved, That this convention congratulates the Indians of
Santa Clara Pueblo on their attitude in the liquor suppression ques
tion and commends that village for its splendid record of nearly 300
Indians who have become total abstainers through the reform move
ment instituted in New Mexico by Chief Special Officer of the Indian
Bureau, W. E. Johnson.
We deplore the present conditions of the liquor suppression de
partment of the new state, resulting from official departmental hin
drances, and an effort to sustain in position over the Indians, men of
notorious character and men directly interested in the unlawful sale
of liquor.
We deem the matter of sufficient importance to warrant the wid
est publicity of our sentiments and shall supply to the officials in
charge of Indian Affairs, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Chair
man of the Indian Committee in the House and Senate, copies of this
resolution.
JOHNSON DEFIES HIS PERSECUTORS
[TELEGRAM]
Santa Fe, N. M., Oct. 10, 1911.
VALENTINE, Indian Office, Washington, D. C.
Yesterday the booze interests here had a very good inning. Super
intendent Crandall had me in jail for several hours. I had to get an
order from the District Court t>efore the Sheriff would accept a thou
sand dollar bond from sureties who were able to qualify in more than
two hundred thousand dollars. The Woman's Christian Temperance
Union furnished the bail pending habeas corpus proceedings. Hun
dreds of the politicians' cattle are in possession of the Santa Clara
Indian lands and the Indian Office refuses to interfere. You are de
priving these Indians of their means of livelihood for political graft's
sake. I am ready to go to jail as often and for as long as the Indian
Office and the liquor interests desire if it will help remedy these out
rages that the Indian administration is inflicting upon these defence
less people. You can't make me suffer as much as you have already
caused these Indians to suffer.
WTT.T.TAM TV
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