* Two new states coming into the union – Minnesota and Oregon. Arizona application to become a territory – Denied. Not enough people, among other reasons. U.S to enter into contract with Transatlantic Telegraph Company. “The Indian Appropriation Bill includes a sum of $700,000 for pacifying the natives in Oregon.” - “In the House, the Committee on Territories has reported a bill abrogating the laws passed by the Legislature of Kansas, and ordering a new election.”
“In the Senate the Republican vote has been greatly increased by the recent State elections. . . . The next Senate, it is estimated, will be composed of 37 Democrats, 20 Republicans, and 5 Americans.”
Governor Geary set forth, “in a long and elaborate message”, the state of affairs in Kansas.
“Mr. Preston S. Brooks, the assailant of Mr. Sumner in the Senate Chamber, died very suddenly at Washington, January 27, at the age of 37 years. He had been for some days confined to his room by a cold, but was apparently recovering, when he was attacked by croup, and expired almost before any serious danger was apprehended.”
“The vocabulary of crime, especially in New York, has been enriched by a new term descriptive of a new mode of robbery. It is performed by two or more, one of whom seizes the victim by the neck from behind, in such a manner as to strangle him and render him powerless, while the others proceed to rifle his pockets. This is styled garroting from its resemblance to the well-known Spanish mode of execution.”
The foregoing description is followed by a detailed account of the Burdell case, comprising more column inches than any other topic in the current events section.
Darn. Young guy like that, Zot. My son Vlad had croup a couple of times as a baby, but for an adult to be carried off by it is amazingly pre-modern.
A mistake that would have consequences for the next two generations. A territorial government might have been able to avoid the Bascom Affair and the Apache War that resulted from it--a war that was largely ignored at first because of the greater struggle looming in the nation.
Despite the efforts of people like Tom Jeffords and Cochise, it wasn't until 1886 and the capture of Geronimo that Arizona became "pacified." The Apaches, Hopi, and Navajo could probably have retained just as much, if not more land, without the Arizona war.
That $700,000 pacify the natives didn’t go too far. When my grandfather arrived in the U.S. from Macedonia in 1906, his first job was working on a railway crew in Oregon. They had cavalry escorts to keep the marauding Indians away. A couple times the crew had to take cover during a firefight. He shared this story with me when I was eight years old between matches of Championship Wrestling on Channel 4 and extoling the virtues of socialism.