The affair came off in a hogan, which is entirely too restricted a
place for serious shooting. Taddytin’s gun twice missed fire, and the
persons sent to arrest him, having been in line with the gun, became
nervous and, strange to relate, lost their judgment. They should have
reprimanded Taddytin for carrying a defective weapon. Instead, they
felt it necessary to shoot Taddytin several times, and although not
using one of those fancy .22’s that O. Henry was wont to ridicule, the
first two bullets failed to knock him down. Unfortunately the last shot
killed Taddytin, which was entirely opposed to all policies of moral
suasion.
My brother superintendent, who acts as Indian Agent no longer, defended
himself in the Federal Court, first against a murder charge, and then
one of perjury, from the Spring term of 1916 to and including the
Spring term of 1918. He stood quite alone, save for the testimony of
all those who knew anything about Indians and Taddytin in particular.
It cost him quite four thousand dollars in cash, to say nothing of time
and mental disturbance. The full history of this case may be found in a
Congressional Report (House Doc. 1244) to accompany H.R. Bill No. 5639,
dated September 19, 1922—a bill to reimburse the man after his
persecution had ended; a report that is probably forgotten. According
to that report, the superintendent, acting as Indian Agent—
did not receive the support from the Indian Bureau in connection
with this matter to which he was entitled, but instead he was
vigorously, and your committee believes unjustly, prosecuted by the
Federal authorities.
You see, the superintendent became the official goat, and suffered that
a glowing policy of big wind and puffery might not be embarrassed.
As this affair occurred to my next-door neighbor, it had a serious
effect on law-and-order conditions within my by no means peaceful
jurisdiction, to the end that I was once reported as murdered and often
threatened with having the report confirmed.
No; I did not urge my Tewa policeman to give a too realistic picture of
loyalty to my commands.
XIII
A DESERT VENDÉE
One noticeable thing about all the Calhoun letters is the
complaint of inadequate support from Washington.—Abel:
Correspondence of James S. Calhoun
It was a hot sweltering desert day in July when I proceeded westward
from Oraibi to survey for the first time the contentious pueblo of
Hotevilla, Chief Youkeoma’s retreat. I did not expect to meet this
strange personality, but his very name caused me to have an interest in
so rare a character: You-ke-o-ma, or “something quite nearly
complete”—as one might say, “almost perfection.” An American Dalai
Lama.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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