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Lt. Carpenter made the following
statement to me,

[[strikethough]] At the request of Mr. Tibbles,
I make the following statement. [[/strikethrough]]

On the 28th of March, 1879, acting under the orders of my superior officers, I arrested the Band of twenty-nine Ponca Indians, under Standing Bear, at the Omaha Indian Agency, and brought them to Fort Omaha, Neb.  At the time of arrest, while holding a council with the party, Standing Bear made an able speech to me, in which he reviewed the situation of his people, and declared their desire to remain where they were; although consenting under vigorous protest to accompany me.  He stated that he had always been a firm friend of the whites, and that on one occasion, he found a poor soldier on the plains in midwinter with both feet frozen and nearly starved to death.