The Portland daily press., 1872-01-12
THE PR ESS.
FRIDAY MORNING, JAN. 12, 1872.
A Singular Story.

Ahh APACHE CHIEF, COCHIsE, AND Hu
fArHER-THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN AMI
THE SACRED LEGENp-MAsoNRY AMONG
THE APACHEs.
0oirespondenee of the Chicago Tribune.
In the fall of 1870, while sitting ON the
porch OF the hotel in Santa Fe. New Mexico
a party of twelve horsemen annroaobed
Their horses were jaded and gaunt as from
long and difficult journey. The riders ,voro
dressed in buckskin overshirts, cavalry pants
heavy boots, and large Mexican spurs. Dis.
mounting at the hotel, the horses and men
were cared for. A tall, slim, hickory-irou
sort OF a man, who seemed to be leader, made
arrangements aside with the landlord. Afte,
supper, falling into conversation with the
leader OF the party, learned, in the course Of
the evening, that they were party of pros
pectors sent out to the mountains in the
northern part of New Mexico and Arizona.
IN the interest of company of st. Louis cap
ltallsts. The Captain, as he proved to be,
and so shall hereafter call him, was an edu-
Gated man, and a member of the company.
and went on this perilous and toilsome expe-
dltlon to satisfy rowing and restless DISPOSE
ton. They had gone beyond their intended
limit at starting and had penetrated into the
edge OF the Apacha country. They had nu-
merous fights with the Indians; but, being
all old Indian fighters, had brought all their
number back, though not without some ugly
scars. AT one time their whole number were
taken prisoners by midnight surprise and
double their number of Apaches. They were
held prisoners two days, and marched toward
the Apache chief town, where they were to
form the subject OF q grand roast. But the
second night, they escaped by stratagem,
taking with them the leader of the Apache
band, whom they afterwards released on GER
tain conditions. This leader is the blood
thirsty Apache Chief, the Chief who murders
men, women, and children.
The white party, before their escape, un-
derstanding something of their captor's Ian
guage, unknown to them, learned, from a
word let fall here and there, that the Indians
had knowledge of some very rich mines,
which the specimens that they had with them
amply showed; but, from the desultory char
acter of the remarks, could not learn the To-
cation OF the treasure; and it was to this fact
that the Chief owed his life. This Chief they
spared when making their escape, at which
time they sent the rest of the band to their
long homes. They promised the Chief his
life and liberty if he would show them the
"Golden Mountain and tell them the ''Sa-
cred legend of his fathers" which seemed to
be in some way associated with the Golden
Mountain. To this he finally assented, as the
price of his life and liberty. The riches of the
Golden Mountain are even greater than the
extravagant stories of the savages had led
them to believe; but it is located in the heart
OF the Apache country, and utterly inaccessi-
BILE till the Apaches are subdued. The guard
ing of this Gold Mountain, the keeping of the
whites out of gold-felds of absolutely inesti-
mable wealth, boarded and piled up in the
mountains of Arizona, is the first and great
est cause of the implacable hostility of the
Apaches, even greater than the second cause !:
revenge. This Chief showed them this
wealth, guarded by the whole Apache nation,
of which Captain --- is prepared to take
possession, with mills and mining apparatus,
as soon as the Apaches are subdued. The
Chief gave them his legend, and they, as men
of honor even to captive savage, set him
free.
Sand the legend" says the Captain, ''it
being late, 'sPn give you in the morning.
$50, here's to bed. Good night"
In the morning the Captain and walked
apart to the outskirts of the town, to grassy
knoll, and, sitting there he related to me the
following strange, weird story.
A party of Apaches, while lying in ambush
in Chihuahua, Mexico, ON the Rio Grande,
across the river from what is now the town
of Ell Paso, Texas, watching a travelling caval-
cade as it passed a clump of small trees, saw
one of the number spring from his horse into
the dense chapparal and disappear from the
view of the horsemen. The cavalcade fired
a few shots at or toward him, and half doz-
en- of them dismounted and pursued in the
direction he took, but Of avail. The es-
Gaping man ran directly toward where the
Apaches lay in the bushes, and ran into their
midst. They seized and bound him, mount
ed and lashed him to a horse, and at once
took flight. They travelled toward the Apa-
che chief town by a eircuitous and concealed
route, and reached it after six days travel.
The prisoner was much alarmed at first
but, finding that his death was not to be i'm
mediate, he seemed to put his mind to study
ing out some plan OF escape; but they kept
him securely bound till they arrived in camp.
Then they decided to keep him till grand
fete day, some months ahead, and then put
him through the gauntlet and end his life in a
grand carnival. He for some time was as
restless as acaptive bear, walked up and down
his small enclosure, and talked to himself in
cessantly. But before the day arrived for his
taking off,-this is the Captains term, moi
the Indian's,-he had become somewhat re-
signed to his captivity, had learned something
| VI tuc ApdCuC dilu gave tlltll SOluc
| thing of his history. They got interested il
him, and promised him his life in return fol
| his solemn promise that he would never at
| tempt to escape. He married the Chief
| daughter, and, ON the death of the Chief be
came Chief himself He had four sons and
daughter. The Oldest son became Chief il
his turn, and is the Chief who is the subiec
| of our story
The white Chief taught them, while among
| ha of he Cv~;r
these secrets have enabled them to make the
Apaches the strongest tribe in the West; tc
pass through the country of the white man in
safety everywhere; to obtain information o.
| their enemies and their movements always
and from their very enemies themselves and
by passwords and signs, to know an enemy
or friend as far as seen. They always hav,
kept, and still keep, one of their educated
halfbreeds in the camp of the whites, and by
the secrets of this great society, he is alway!
able to keep them informed of every move
ment of any kind, and of every plan of attacl
ON them, as soon as that plan is known to tn
Chiefs of the enemy themselves. And, whel
captured, they are almost always sure to et
feet an escape, released by some member O
the society among the enemy. The grea
white Chief told them that the society ex
tended all over the world; taught them al
the cereT Jnies connected with it; taugh
| this malC IN TO make tne DaugeS ana lnSlgnl
worn by the initiated, and on certain days
the 24th day of June, and some others the
walked in procession, and held grand dane
at night. They believed him to be the sol
of the Great Spirit. He is buried at the Col
den Mountain, and his grave is walled am
covered with gold, and is their sacred plac
of worship. They gather now every year ol
the oath of June.
This great white chief told them he wa
'tmoons'' (months) on his journey from hi
starting point; that he was taken prisoner il
Batavia, N. Y, and from there taken to an,
confined in Fort Niagara, in the latter part @
September of the same year in which h
came to the Apache country. The reason G
his Imprisonment was on account of his goin
to publish book divulging the secrets of tn
great society," He was kept prisoner at For
Niagara till September 10, when he was take
in a close carriage, and driven via Buffalo, N
Y, to Hennepin, ILL.,, on the Illinois river
and thence taken in fiat boat to the Missis
sippi river, down which he floated to Ne,
Orleans, There he was placed on vess,
and sailed to the mouth of the Rio Grand
river, and proceeded up that river on horst
back to Ell Paso, where the Apaches foun
him. His captors intended to give him int
the hands of some Jesuit priests among til
Indians, near where they captured him.
captors passed down through Mexico, al,
escaped. That great white chief was n
man supposed to have been murdered by tn
Masons, William Morgan, and the subjeeth
this story, his son, Cochise. to