The Indian Dispossessed
astonished squatters had been undertaken, with varying success. One agent reports the accomplishment of squatter removals without serious difficulty, and adds, "What these men will do under the circumstances I know not. They have been seeking relief through their representatives in Congress, but the result is not reported."
Far more interesting is the account from the Round Valley reservation. It was here that, fifteen years before, suits of ejectment had been summarily dismissed because "Lobby influence at Washington was too much for the Indian Department." In this year, 1887, as in 1872, the trespassers were firmly entrenched behind their local political forces; they met the Government order for removal with a prompt refusal; they unhesitatingly arrayed themselves against Federal authority, and Federal authority bravely undertook to vindicate itself by calling into requisition a section of its little army. It is a comedy briefly but concisely told in telegraphic despatches between Gen. O. O. Howard, commanding the Department of the Pacific, and the War Department. General Howard opens the play:
". . . Captain Shaw's company, First Artillery, was, August 17, sent to evict trespassers upon Round Valley Indian reservation. On 19th instant he commenced evictions and was thereupon served with injunction, issued by Judge Superior Court of Men-
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