The Nez Perces
They waited in vain. Deprived as they were of their hunting-grounds and the only means of subsistence, starvation and the inhuman treatment of the miners soon drove them to desperation; the records are full of their pleadings with Government agents to give them relief.
"I am not a bad man," says Seattle, a great chief in western Washington, "I am, and always have been, a friend to the whites. I listen to what Mr. Paige says to me, and I do not steal, nor do I or any of my people kill the whites.
"Oh, Mr. Simmons, why don't our papers come back to us? You always say you hope they will soon come, but they do not. I fear we are forgotten, or that we are to be cheated out of our land.
"I have been very poor and hungry all winter, and am very sick now [a fact]. In a little while I will die. I should like to be paid for my land before I die. Many of my people died during the last cold, scarce winter, without getting their pay.
"When I die my people will be very poor. They will have no property, no chief, no one to talk for them. You must not forget them, Mr. Simmons, when I am gone.
"We are ashamed when we think that the Puyallups have their papers. They fought against the whites, while we, who have never been angry with them, get nothing."
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