September 28, 1885

In Relation to the Issues Between the Agency at Lapwai and the Misses McBeth

In view of the fact that Mr Charles E. Montieth, Government Agt for the Nez Perces has asked the Indian Commissioner to exclude the two missionaries Misses Susan & Kate McBeth from the Indian Reservation on the grounds of interference with the business of the agency, & the exertion of an influence every way detrimental to the peace & welfare of the tribe specific charges have been preferred.

1^st The Misses McBeth, particularly, Miss Susan have openly opposed the organization & the proceedings of what is known as the "Court of Indian Offences." This court was formed under the direction of the Agency & consists of three Judges with a proper police force. The Court has proved highly satisfactory to the tribe: its decisions have been respected & its usefulness is apparent. Miss "Sue" McBeth has taken the ground that her followers are amenable to the Church & not to the government of the United States agent. She has industriously & openly promulgated these views.

2^nd She has particularly made Robert Williams the local pastor, her former pupil, the mouthpiece of her views & he has not only preached resistance to the Court, but has excluded from the Communion Mr James Lawyer because he held office as one of the Judges in the Indian Court. At another time a man of the name of Wilson who had assisted the police in arresting a criminal was sent away by Robt when he came to Communion.

3^rd On several occasions where the Indians have celebrated the 4^th of July which they do by holding a sort of religious camp meeting & in which even the heathen Indians meet to discuss school, farming &c Miss McB has prevented the Indians on her side of the river from joining those on the other side thus creating divisions & jealousies & making the irreligious hate the truth & all its teachers. And on the last 4^th when the Kamiah & Lapwai Indians proposed to have a grand meeting together under the direction of Mr Deffenbaugh Miss McBeth kept back her Indians telling them that the Lapwai Indians were not fit for them to associate with. Mr Whitman an Elder in the Lewiston Church & former Interpreter here tells me that the same thing was done by Miss McB under the two previous Agencies.

4^th It is a requirement of the Govt that while it grinds the grain & saws the lumber of the Indians gratis, they shall cut & haul the wood to feed the engines of the mills. But Miss S. McBeth has uniformly told her Indians that they need not furnish the wood, that the Government is able to pay for the cutting &c. This report given by Mr Whitman as referring to the agency of Mr Warner is fully corroborated by Mr Crea the present miller at Kamiah who is present as I write. This is regarded as encouraging both disloyalty & laziness. It thwarts the efforts of the Govt agents to stimulate & elevate the Indians.

5^th It is the united testimony of Mr Monteith, Dr Bibby, Govt Physician & Mr Crea, Govt miller at Kamiah, that the two Misses McBeth have for two years lived in bitter enmity. They have lived a mile apart. Miss Kate has often complained to Mrs Crea of the abuse of her sister. Miss S. will not attend church when her sister is present & has not attended but three times in two years. Mr Crea had promised to carry the two sisters to Mt Idaho for a recruit but when Miss Sue found that her sister was going, refused to allow it. (She said to Mr Overmase, engineer at Kamiah that the hotel at Mt Idaho was not large enough for her sister & her self.) Miss Kate was obliged therefore to remain behind & take her vacation at a place called Moscow. This is related to me by Mr Crea himself. Recently the animosity has been somewhat less bitter, but it still exists.

6^th All parties report that the two ladies are doing so little real work that their employment even aside from their interference is a questionable use of funds. Neither has anything like a school. Miss Sue is now (Sept 28) at Mt Idaho where she has purchased a house with a view to spending much of her time there. When at Kamiah she has a daily average of not more than three pupils – all men. Her whole enrolled number is but 8 the reporter says. Her report gives 12. These men seldom stay more than two hours. None come regularly. Some of them are men of no promise & might better be at work. Some of them allow their wives to do their farm work. Miss McB encouraging them in this shirking and indolence. There is no hope of their becoming ministers or teachers. It is admitted that Miss McB has done some good work in her better days, but all claim that her usefulness is at an end. Miss Kate teaches not girls but women. Sometimes she goes to their houses, sometimes they come to her. But the work is desultory & irregular & very few are reached & little is done. Each lady continues to belittle the work of the other & both with good reason as these outside observers think.

7^th The latest difficulty caused by these ladies as alleged is that they have prompted Robt Williams & another of their disciples to circulate a petition for the removal of the present agent & the appointment of a Mr Bowers of Mt Idaho. The candidate is brought forward by Miss Sue & the proprietor of the Mt Idaho [hotel] with whom she boards & of whom she has bought her house. Mr Bowers who is a barroom lounger & every way unfit man (as these gentlemen say) owes the hotel a large bill & to secure his appointment as Govt Agt is the only hopeful method of getting payment. So the landlord acts on Miss McB & she upon Robt & his [illegible] & they circulate [missing] the Govt. During my stay of four days at Lapwai Indians have been coming in from Kamiah & in my hearing have corroborated the statement of the Govt officers here that Miss McB had instigated the movement. Two days ago an Indian came in from North Fork saying that the Indians there had been told by the Kamiah Indians that the Agent & the teachers would soon be changed for new ones and that it was of no use to send their children back to the Govt school till the changes should occur.

In consequence the school which should number 60 has about 10 pupils. This deed too is ascribed by all the gentlemen here & at Kamiah to the political interference of Miss S. McBeth. As there is no probability of a change of agts till next April when Mr Monteith’s term will expire this influence seems likely to seriously injure the School. Just now within two hours we have had an instructive scene here in the presence of Mr Montieth, Dr Bibby, Mr Crea, Mr Parker – Licensed trader here & myself. An Indian arrived from Kamiah to get some blacksmithing done. He belongs to the McBeth party & signed the petition as a chief. He was informed that according to the instructions of the Department no aid could be given to those who combined with whites against the existing authority - those particularly who prevented attendance in the school – that he & others were considered as doing wrong to proclaim a change & dissuade parents from sending [their children]. Finally, after a long & pretty plain talk he was asked directly whether Miss S. McBeth had been instrumental in the circulation of the petition for the removal & appointment of Mr Bowers. He evaded for sometime but finally admitted in the presence of the above named persons that she had. I have taken down these points as they have been given to me rather than trust to memory. I make no comment here but simply record the testimony proffered.

Lapwai Sept 28, 1885 – F.F. Ellinwood

We the undersigned have examined the statements as above set forth and pronounce them correct.

Chas. E. Montieth

S.E. Bibby

John Crea