heir evident purpose to unite with the government in
putting down any and all enemies of the peace, the crisis was passed;
and comparative quiet has again been restored. In view of the atrocities
committed by the Pillagers, and of the alarm occasioned thereby among
the citizens of Minnesota, Gov. Austin issued a proclamation requiring
all Indians to remain upon their reservations under penalty of arrest,
to be effected by the militia of the State, should it be found
necessary. In the present condition of things, however, a compliance by
all with this requirement is simply impossible; and there is danger,
that, without the exercise of great prudence and forbearance on the part
of the State authorities, further and greater difficulties may arise.
The "Otter Tail" Pillagers, to whom the difficulties referred to are
principally due, have the right to a home on the White Earth
reservation. They removed to it in 1871; but, as they were not provided
with the means of opening farms, nor with subsistence during the time
necessary to raise a crop, they returned to their former haunts. They
are now warned off from their grounds at Otter Tail by the State
authorities. The larger portion of the Pillagers, together with the
Winnebagoshish band, about fifteen hundred in number, live around Leech
Lake. Their general reputation for turbulence and worthlessness of
character is well known and of long standing: still there are those who
seem willing and ready to work if assisted by the government.

Agent Smith, in charge, says that their country is barren, with only
here and there patches susceptible of tillage, accessible only by canoe
or steamboat. In this connection, and adverting to the murders committed
by the Pillagers, it is but just to notice that all lawlessness in
Minnesota, in the region of the Indian reservations, is not confined to
Indians. The murder of two Indians of the Otter Tail Pillagers, for the
offence of camping on a white man's ground, is reported; while two
others, who had been arrested at White Earth on suspicion of complicity
in a murder, and lodged in jail for trial, were taken therefrom by a
mob, and hung. Such conduct can but have a pernicious effect upon the
Indian mind, and tend to arouse a spirit of revenge and retaliation.

_Mississippi bands._--These Indians reside in different localities. Most
of them are on their reservation at White Earth: others are at Mille
Lac, Gull Lake, and some at White Oak Point