4

therein set forth, and asked of Gen. Wright
a copy of the charges preferred against them,
which made these extraordinary measures
necessary, and requested that he institute an
investigation of the truth of those charges.
The Court of Inquiry, composed of Capt. C.
E. Douglas, President, and Lieut. P. B.
Johnson, Second Infantry, California
Volunteers, Recorder, met at Fort Wright
December 18th. The first witness examined
was James Short, who testified to the
following facts: He is an acting Supervisor on
the Nome Cult or Round Valley Indian
Reservation, has been on the Reservation since
the Ist October, 1861; has never had any
difficulty with any of the settlers in fact in
the valley; that on the 1st of August, 1862,
twenty-two Wylackie Indians were killed,
the largest portion of whom had not been on
the Reservation more than a month; that the
settlers complained of the Indians killing
their stock; and that there was not sufficient
food for them on the Reservation; that five
hundred Indians left the valley last fall, the
largest number being Cancows; that the
wants of the Indians drove them to kill stock
and when caught by the settlers the latter
shot them as thieves; that at present there
are about 1,500 Indians on the Reservation,
and that the latter place is the worst
managed place or concern he ever saw.

From the testimoney of nearly all the
witnesses it appears that the Wylackies are
wild and dangerous Indians, committing all
manner of depredations on stock, and that
the whites were in fear of their lives as well
as property; that the killing of the Indians
was solely in defence of both, and that the
charge that the settlers had wilfully broken
down the fences, if the feeble protection to
the small and insufficient crops planted can
be so dignified, were untrue.

From a careful perusal of the testimony,
it seems that Mr. Hanson, the Superintendent,
either through his own fear, or for some
other motive, induced General Wright to
place the district named under martial law,
and put soldiers there, where they were not
needed, and can be maintained only at a very
heavy expense. It is to be hoped that the
matter will be thoroughly investigated — in
fact, the extraordinary conduct of the
Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the northern
portion of the State, has created considerable
excitement throughout the district which he
has charge of. Mendocino county is sparsely
populated — the few who have settled in
Round Valley did so by the express
permission of previous Indian Agents — they are not
intruders upon the Government land, as Mr.
Hanson would desire the Department should
believe. Grave charges are rumored about
in reference to this settler business — too grave
for us to repeat— and justice demands that if
the settlers and Indians are to be protected in
their relative rights, the Department should
provide not alone a suitable custodian and
guardian, but a sufficiency of means to feed
and clothe the Indians, such being the method
by which their savage instincts can be
appeased; for hunger and want are powerful
incentives to crime.