In this conjunctive expression, the indefinite article a is twice repeated (“a wild and a hardened and a ferocious people”). The 1902 LDS missionary edition accidentally omitted the middle a. This edition was never used as a copytext, so its reading here was never transmitted into any subsequent LDS edition. Based on usage elsewhere in the text, the repetition of the a is expected here in Alma 17:14. For further discussion of this repetition, see under 1 Nephi 12:23 for the conjunctive phrase “a dark and (a) loathsome and a filthy people”. Also see the general discussion under conjunctive repetition in volume 3.
Summary: Maintain in Alma 17:14 the multiply repeated a in “a wild and a hardened and a ferocious people”, the reading of the earliest text.