Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1881-06-01

turning the beam with nearly $50 pounds
of bone and muscle-and in hand to
hand encounter was very ugly customer.
He had all the cuteness and deviltry of the
Apache, and he used them after the most
approved Apache methods. While he
lived he was the terror of southwestern
New Mexico.
"Long Jim Norris" the man who killed
him, and whose exploit is immortalised on
the walls of the Minnehaha, Is a police
man in Santa Fe now. He went into the
United States service at the breaking out
of the civil war. ana renamed in it con-
tlnuously for sixteen years. For the larger
portion of this time he has been in the bor-
der service. Morris is a good natured,
handsome fellow, over six feet in height,
and very powerfully built. In 1873 he
was Sergeant of the Eighth Cavalry, sta
toned in this Territory. One day news
came that Mexican herder had been kill
ed by Apaches, and Morris and ten men
were detailed to pursue the Indians and
punish them if possible. 1t was in the
heat of summer when they started out, and
they soon got on the trail,
At first it was comparatively stale, but
by hard riding they hoped to reach the
murderers and surprise them before they
suspected that they would be followed.
1t soon became evident, however, that the
Apaches themselves were travelling with
unusual rapid y, and so decisive and in
telIgent were their movements that the
suspicion grew that Winnemuc was at
their head. The pursuit was a hard one,
as indeed all pursuits of the kind are in
this country. The soldiers went mile after
mile over the weary wastes of the sand
hills, Sometimes travelling for long hours
under the vertical rays of the sun without
water, and with no vegetation about but
the monstrous dreariness of sage brush and
greasewood. At the end of the third day
their rations were almost exhausted, but
the trail was lecoming fresher, and this
encouraged them.
The next day they rode until evening
without water, and when they did come
to little spring, the horses, which were
suffering more than the men, could not be
held, but rushed into the wafer and drank
1t eagerly muddying it in such way as to
make it distasteful to tine thirsty soldiers.
On the fifth day the trail became exceed
ingly fresh, in the afternoon they reached
the mouth Of AlaNosa CANYON, 2S5 miles
southwest of Santa Fe. They entered the
canyon cautiously, and could bear the In
dians, who had by this time given up the
idea of pursuit, shouting ahead. The can
yon was on the reservation, and the
Apaches, knowing that there were three
OF four hundred of their tribe but short
distance away, felt entirely safe.
| The soldiers were armed with carbines
of the old fashion, and with Remington
pistols; which might go off once, or six
times at once, or hot at all--it depended
upon chance. Detailing three of the men
to hold the horses, Morris placed the rest
in Indian file, with himself at the head and
followed noiselessly. At turn in the
canyon he came upon Winnemuc and thir-
teen braves, and with a yell the soldiers
charged through them, firing right and
left. Surprised at the sudden onslaught,
the Apaches sprang from their horses and
dashed up the canyon, followed by the
troops, whose balls were doing censidera-
BILE execution. Winnemuc had separated
himself somewhat from the rest, and was
running up the mountain in diagonal di-
itONANuf ~" oHa eA~N W
send an arrow at the soldiers.
His bow and knife were his only wes-
pons. Morris picked him out and started
in pursuit. He followed the fleeing chief
for about fifty yards, when Winnemuc
wheeled and shot at arrow, which struck
Morris in the neck. He dropped instant
lv, and the Indian, believing that his ar
row had done serious damage, drew his
knife from his belt, and with a whoop, ran
back to finish his work. IL was an unfor-
tunate move. Morris had dropped as q
ruse, and when Winnemuc came within a
few feet Of him he arose on his knees, aim
ed with his Remington pistol-and it
! would not go off.
The Indian, somewhat startled ct the
sudden recovery, would have started back
but the momentum of his run was too
great, and, before he could do anything,
Morris had dropped his useless pistol, seiz-
ed him by the legs and thrown him fer
ward. He struck his head with such force
upon one of the rocks that he was stun
ned, and, taking the revolver, Morris liter
ally beat his brains out. Winnemuc was
hastily scalped, his bow and arrow taken,
what provisions the Indians had seized,
and the heads of the horses turned toward
Fort Craig. Only one of the soldlers-a
corporal-had been killed and two wound
ed, while none of the Indians had es-
capped.
The ride back was far more dangerous
one than the pursuit, since 1t was certain
that other members of the tribe would dis
cover the bodies and follow. Fortunately,
however, the troops had such start that
they reached safety before the Indians
came up The body of the dead corporal
was thrown across Morris s.ddle and
brought in 10 be buried. Morris was men
toned favorably in the report, and
bronze medal struck off for him, and an
other which was sent to the family of the
corporal.