Following the baseball game, Crane issued a series of requests to those who had witnessed the game and its aftermath to describe his confrontation with Evans and Marmon. This letter is from Pablo Abeita of Isleta Pueblo, who served as one of the umpires for the game. He appears to agree with Crane’s account of the game and its aftermath. He is not sympathetic to Marmon, whom he writes was “in the habit of criticising all Indian Department officials.”
Abeita, as a judge for the tribal courts, was himself an Indian Department official. Like his brother Louis, who served as chief of police, Abeita was one of many Indian people working for the federal government as the government exerted its wardship over the Pueblos. Such positions could be fraught with conflict, as the positions were highly desirable but also could place judges and police officers at odds with the people they served. Abeita was a tireless advocate for Pueblo people’s landholdings, spoke three languages, and had hosted well-known visitors, including the regional booster Charles Lummis and President Theodore Roosevelt. He criticized U.S. Indian policy himself while testifying before Congress in 1923 and was also publicly critical of New Mexico’s Spanish colonists.
Mr. L. Crane,
Supt., Southern Pueblos,
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Dear Sir:
I have your letter of yesterday where you ask me to make a report as to what I saw and heard of the trouble that took place on the ball ground in Laguna on Sept. 19th, 1920.
Will say first that I went to Laguna at your request to sit as Judge and hear some cases that had been pending for sometimes on account of Judge Wm. Paisano being ill. These cases were to be heard and were heard the day after the feast.
The day before or rather on the 19th a game of baseball was played between the Winslow Indian team and the Isleta Indian team. Before the game started I was asked to umpire the game together with Father Schuster. We both consented after both teams agreed and promised that they would abide by our decisions and that our decisions would not be disputed. We (Father and myself) took turns one umpiring at bat the other on bases.
During the first ½ of the 5th inning I think it was, a double play was made on which Father Schuster decided that a base runner on third was out, which the Winslow boys disputed. Father Schuster came to me and explained to me how and why he decided the man on 3rd was out to which I sustained him. The Winslow boys then became angry and called the Isleta boys names and otherwise became personal and called them a lot of cowards.
I ordered the boys to quiet down so that some explanation could be made. About this time a white man who I learned afterwards to be a Jack Evans started to butt in and talk in a loud and angry voice, which acted like oil on fire and very near started a riot. I noticed that you ordered this man Evans off the ground which only made matters worse and would sure have hit you had not Louis, Juan Chavez and Pedro Martin got hold of him and forced him off the ground, but the Laguna Indians were so excited that if Evans had remained on the ground longer a riot in which you and Louis and Juan Chavez would have been mobbed for sure.
I called out the Winslow boys to their places but they would not continue the game. I called their manager and asked him to ascertain if they would or would not continue to play. He asked them but they refused to play any further whereupon I decided the game as forfeited in favor of the Isleta team.
I also noticed that another white man who I afterwards also learned to be R. G. Marmon who I know is married to a Laguna Indian woman and has been living in Old Laguna for many years had started some sort of an argument with Louis Abeita the Chief of Police. I did not know nor do know what the argument was about but as I came near to the place where your car was to get in I heard Marmon say in a loud voice that all the United States officials were none but dam fools. It appeared to me that he wanted someone or all those who were around there to hear what he said, as before that he did not talk so loud while argueing with Louis.
Now this much I know because I saw and heard and I was there all the time.
I am sorry that such a thing occurred but to my way of thinking I blame Marmon as he is in the habit of criticising all Indian Department officials.
Very truly yours,
Pablo Abeita,
Judge, C. I. O.
Source: Pablo Abeita to Leo Crane, September 25, 1920; Consolidated Correspondence and Other Records, 1911–1934 Box 5; Various Pueblo Jurisdictions 106; Record Group 75; National Archives, Rocky Mountain Region.
Evaluating the Evidence