A copy of this letter has been sent direct to Agent Cowart. Yours Respectfully,
A. B. Greenwood, Commissioner.
Elias Rector, Esq., Supt: Ind. Affairs:
Fort Smith, Arkansas
TROUBLE BREWING AMONG THE CHEROKEES WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
The Fort Smith (Ark.) Times says: We noticed a week or two ago that there was a secret organization going on in the Cherokee Nation, and that it was among the full-blood Indians alone. We are informed by good authority that the organization is growing and extending daily, and that no half or mixed blood Indian is taken into this secret organization. The strictest secrecy is observed, and it is death, by the order, to divulge the object of the Society. They hold meetings in the thickets, and in every secret place, to initiate members. We are told that the mixed-bloods are becoming alarmed, and every attempt to find out the object of this secret cabal has thus far proved abortive. The Joneses are said to be the leaders in the work, and what these things are tending to, no one can predict. We fear that something horrible is to be enacted on the frontier, and that this secret work will not stop among the Cherokees, but will extend to other tribes on this frontier. The Government should examine into this matter, before it becomes too formidable.
Cherokee Agency. Near Tahleguah C. N.
Hon. Elias Rector, Supt. Ind. Affairs
Fort Smith, Ark.
Sir: Yours of the 15th Inst, is before me, contents closely noted.
In reply I have to state, that I am in receipt of the Instructions of which you write, from the Indian Agt