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About Weekly Chemawa American. (Chemawa, Or.) 189?-198? | View Entire Issue (July 13, 1906)
THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN 5 Fires of Incendiary Origin. The following letter from the Indian Office emphasizes the necessity of careful watchfulness at all Indian schools to guard against fires and outlines the policv which will lv pursued in such cases where the fires may be of incendiary origin and traced to pupils. The warn ing should be effective. Office of Idinan Affaiks, Washington. June 26, 190K. The Superintendent, U.S. Indian School, Chemawa, Oregon. Sir: Despite the fact thatthn office has emphasized the necessity for edequate fire protection and watchfulness at the vill ous Indian schools, fires still occur. Most of these are due to incendiary origin and in a number of cases have been traced to pupil.-, so that stern measures became imperative, and however distasteful such action may have been it was found neces sary to make an example of those con cern! (I in these unlawful acts. One of the most flagrant acts occurred on the evening of January 17. 1905, in the destruction by (ire of the boarding school on the Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin. After a thoiough investiga tion of the cause of this fire had been made, two Indian pupils of the school, l.ouisa LaMotte and Lizzie Cm i-dish, were charged with the crime, and Superinten dent Freeman, in charge of the Green B y Agency, was directed lo bring crimi nal action against th.w girls. , in O 'to ber, 1905, the U. S. Grand Jury o.- the L S. District Court returned an indict ment against Leui a LaMotte and Lizzie Canlisn, charging them with arson of the Government Boarding 8c ol iui Mings at Menominee. On motion of the attorneys for the de fendants this indictment was quashed. On January 25th, 1906, the U. S. Grand Jury again indicted them and they were arrested. Their trial came on at a ses sion of the U. S. Court held at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in June, 190B, when Lizzie Cardish changed her plea from "Not Guilty" to "Guilty" and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the penitentiary it Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Louisa La Motte was discharged on motion of the U S. District Attorney. The punishment for the crime was very severe, but should be a warning to all pu pils in Indian schools throughout the United States that this Office will not tolerate crimes of this character. You will publish these facts and this warning in your Indian school paper, so that all may be advised of the policv which will be pursued hereafter. While the financial loss in the destruction i f the Menominee buildings was large for tunately no lives were lost, but such chance exemption from fatalities mav not occur hereafter, and everv effort must be put forth b th by Superintendents and tl is Office to protect the lives of In dian pupils committed to the care of the Government. Very respectfully, C. F. Larrabee, A cling Ccmmitisioner. PROPOSALS for WOOD, FISH, plumbing and ELECTRICAL SUPPLIES, ETC. Chemawa, Oregon, June 23rd, 1906. Sealed Proposals, ilainly marked on the outside of the envelope "Proposals for Wood, Fish Etc.," and addressed to the undersigned at Chemawa, Oregon, will be received at the Indian School until two o'clock p. m. of Saturday July 14, 1906, for furnish ing and delivering at the School when required during the fiscal year ending June 80, 1907, about 2000 cords of wood, 5 tons oil meal, 26000 pounds fish, besides a quantity of packing, tees hubs, pipe tools, sewer pipe, valves, elbows, electric lamps sockets, switches, etc., as per full list and specifications obtainable at the School. Bidders are requested to state the price of each article to be offered for delivery under contract. All supplies so offered will be subject to rigid inspect ion. The right is reserved to reject any or all bids or any part of any bid if deemed for the best inteiests of the Service. Each bid must be accompanied by a cer-. titied check or draft upon some United States' deposi tory or solve.it National bank, made payable to the order of the Commission of Indian Affairs for at least five per cent of the amount of the proposal, which check or draft shall be forfeited to the United States in case a bidder receiving an award shall fail to execute promptly a satisfactory contract in accord ance with his bid:" otherwise to be returned to the bidder. Bids accompanied oy cash in lieu of certified check will not be considered." For futher information apply to E. L. CHALORAFT, Superintendent.