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white river poems 359
Meeker, with a minimum
smile, `What a lot of reasons
I had at that time ... It's clear
when God said Let there be light
and there was light, he set up
a dangerous model for us.
Then I've asked myself, if all
had gone well at White River,
would all have gone well for me,
when I felt myself prolonged
into the prose of running,
day by day, that Agency?
Succeeding, I'd have ended
like a mountain stream in sand
one day vanishing somewhere
out in an empty sage fl at.'
4
what happened then: general adams, the emissary who
later effected the release of the captives
Q. -- Then Major Thornburgh, moving his troops forward
to the Reservation border, sends a party
to fi nd a camping place; they meet some Utes
who he supposes may be hostile. So,
he deploys his line, the Utes deploy their line,
and the question of which side fi red the opening shot
has never been answered?
A. -- No, sir. The inquiry
was expert and painstaking, for General Hatch
is a man of some experience in such matters.
It could not be determined who fi red fi rst.
Q. -- And after this the Indians killed the Agent
and others, and took these captives?