20080, 20081. The Army and Navy Journal, Volume IX, Number 29, Saturday, March 2nd, 1872. To the Editor of the Army and Navy Journal (letter)

The Army And Navy Journal Volume IX, Number 29 Saturday, March 2nd, 1872 To the Editor of the Army and Navy Journal. Sir: My attention has been called to a letter addressed to William C. Peckham, Esq., Trinity Building, New York and signed by William Kruger, chief clerk to Captain C.W. Foster, assistant quarterm aster U.S. Army, pretending to give an account of the massacre near Wickenburg, in which Mr. Fred Loring and others were killed. Were I to consult my own inclinations and disregard the wishes of my friends, I would pass this letter by with the contempt it deserves. It is charitable to suppose that Mr. Kruger must be insane, for it is only on this theory that one can account for the falsehoods which his letter contains. Without going into details I positively assert that every statement Mr. Kruger has made in that letter as regards my treatment of him and “Miss Sheppard” and my conduct in the investigation of the sad affair, is false in every particular, and that no one is better aware of this than Mr. Kruger. The report of the attack on the stage reached me some twenty- two hours after its occurrence. I immediately ordered Captain Meinhold and Lieutenant Simpson, with a detachment of Troop B, Third Cavalry, to proceed to the point of attack, to pursue the assassins, and if not successful in overtaking them, to find out if possible from whence they came. I also sent the post surgeon to attend to the wounded. Captain Meinhold in his report states that the tracks, which he followed some twenty-five miles from where the stage was attacked, after leading for some distance towards this post, turned off in an opposite direction. There is not one particle of evidence to show that the Indians on the Date Creek Reservation had anything to do with the massacre. The statement that two Indians died from gunshot wounds on this reservation shortly after the sad occurrence is false; indeed I am informed by an officer who examined Mr. Kruger’s revolver on his arrival at this post that there was not one shot fired out of it. With regard to the charge of inhumanity towards Mr. Kruger and “Miss Sheppard,” I prefer to let others speak, and forward you herewith, statements from Lieutenant Ebstein, Twenty-first Infantry, and Dr. Evans, the surgeon of the post, which show conclusively that every comfort and attention that could readily be shown them was freely extended. I am loath to add, but simple justice compels me to statew ith the view of showing the character and standing of Mr. Kruger, that “Miss Sheppard” who was travelling under his To the Editor of the Army and Navy Journal- Continued. protection and to whom he so feelingly alludes, is a notorious prostitute (not—withstanding, I believe her to be much the better character of the two) who has for a long time, I am informed, enjoyed the questionable care and patronage of Mr. Kruger. With great respect, Your obedient servant, R.F. O’Beirne, Captain Twenty-first Infantry. CAMP DATE CREEK, ARIZONA, January 27th, 1872.