lay, therefore, in the disgruntled state of the refugees,
which was due, in part, to their unalleviated misery and, in part, to
domestic

[Footnote 188: (cont.) to cooeperate with Agent Elder in negotiating
with the Osages, Coffin heard of "a sneaking conspiracy" that was "on
foot at Iola for the purpose of prejudicing the Indians against us
[himself and Dole, perhaps, or possibly himself and the agents]."
The plotters, so Coffin reported, "sent over the Verdigris for E.H.
Carruth who" was "deep in the plot," which was a scheme to induce the
Indians to lodge complaint against the distributers of relief. One of
the conspirators was a man who had studied law under Lane and who had
wanted a position under Kile. Lane had used his influence in the man's
behalf and the refusal of Coffin to assign him to a position was
supposed to be the cause of all the trouble. Coffin learned that
his enemies had even gone so far as to plan vacancies in the Indian
service and to fill them. They had "instructed Lane, Pomeroy, and
Conway accordingly," leaving graciously to Lane the choice of
superintendent. A Mr. Smith, correspondent of the Cincinnati
_Gazette_ was their accredited secretary [Coffin to Dole,
April 2, 1862, Indian Office Consolidated Files, _Southern
Superintendency_, C 1571 of 1862].

Further particulars of the disaffection came to Coffin's ears before
long and he recounted them to Dole in a letter of April 9, 1862
[Ibid., General Files, _Southern Superintendency_,
1859-1862].]

[Footnote 189: Perry Fuller had been in Kansas since 1854 [U.S.
House _Reports_, 34th congress, first session, no. 200, p. 8 of
"Testimony"]. The first time that his name is intimately used in the
correspondence, relative to the affairs of the refugees, is in a
letter from Kile to Dole, March 29, 1862 [Indian Office Consolidated
Files, _Southern Superintendency_, K 113 of 1862, which also
makes mention of the great unwillingness of the Indians to move to the
Sac and Fox reservation.]]

tribal discord. There was a quarrel among them over leadership, the
election of Ock-tah-har-sas Harjo as principal chief having
aroused strong antagonistic feeling among the friends of
Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la.[190] Moreover, dissatisfaction against their agent
steadily increased and they asked for the substitution of Carruth; but
he, being satisfied with his assignment to the Wichitas,[191] had no
wish to change.[192]

[Footnote 190: Carruth gave particulars of this m