Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-03-12
KICKAPOO JIM'S STORY
BY APACHE GEORGE.

In the latter part OF last May, [ &C.
companieda party of Arizona Rangers
On 3 scout after bunch of Chiricahua
indians, under command of Bonito, who
had been raiding through the lower
portion Of that territory,
We followed the trail across the Rio
san Domingo and into the foothills of
the PInaleno Mountains, where the red
marauders camped several days.
We Travelled through the country
thlckly overgrown with Iechejier, and
our horses were so badly famed by the
sharp thorns that when We struck the
deserted Indian camp the commanding
officer ordered a halt to allow the stock
to recuperate.
The camp was IN beautiful canyon.
through which ran one of the narrow
creek tributaries of the San Domingo.
The water was good, there was plenty
OF grass and an, abundance of game.
We felt no apprehension of the near
presence of the Indians, for the sign
was at least ten days old, and when the
order was given to make a permanent
camp, many of the men strayed away in
search of game.
was one of the hunters. and climb
Ing the right wall of the CANYON in
which we were ,camped to the MESA
above, wandered about for several hours
without seeing any sign.
Ny walk had carried me some dis
stance from camp and as the sun was
fast nearing the western horizon, I de-
termined to go back.
Inc canyon wall was two or three hun
dred feet high at this point. and nearly
perpendicular; but, after considerable
search, | found place where [ could
make the descent.
1t was down rough arroyo, worn in
TO the solid rock by the action of the
water. There was so much scrambI1pg
and climbing to do that I strapped nv
: rH1e across my shoulders to have the full
use of my hands.
was half way down the arroyo: ard
meditating leap from the mario " LEDGE
on which was standing to large boul-
der about ten feet below, when heard
loud kissing on my right.
L looked up quickly, and saw, about
twenty yards distant, huge ella mon
ster with appraised head, advancing
slowly toward me.
His little eyes cleaned wiekedly, and
when he hissed I saw his red tongue and
sharp teeth.
unsIung my rife and hurriedly
pumped cartridge into the barrel.
By the time was ready to shoot the
huge drY-land eaurian was not more
than twenty feet away, and the sicken-
ing vapor which he emitted from his
large nostrils at every hiss nearly over
powered me.
Taking aim at one Of his eyes, Ipulled
the trigger, and before the smoke eff the
discharge had cleared away, fired three
more shots in the direction of the
monster.
The kissing stopped, and there were
loud groWls and savage swapping of
teeth.
When the smoke cleared sufficiently
to enable me to see him he was
writing in the agonies of death, and
the blood was streaming from his
head.
1 waited until he was dead before I
ventured to approach him, and then the
odor was go strong that it made me
deathly sick.
I had often met these land crocodiles
before, further up III the territory, but
had never seen one so large as this, al
though when [ was on the reservation
with the Mescaleros they told me that
further south, IN the Sierra Madre, the
monster often attained the length of
nine feet.
This one was at least seven feet in
length, and his sharp teeth were from
an inch to an inch and half long.
contented myself with knocking out
two OF the latter as trophy. and con-
tinued my journey back to camp.
All the men were in when / reached
there, and all had been successful in the
hunt. They chaffed me good-naturedIy
bout my non-success, as we gathered
around the campfire after supper, and I